Game Review: Halo 2
Here's an interesting new take on this site. A game review!
I finished the single-player campaign last night, or, rather, this morning, at about 4 am. I will start off this review with the main flaw of this game. I won't call it a flaw... a disappointment; a mistake; a weakness: the ending sucks.
It's a cliff-hanger to end all cliff-hangers. To compare to a recent film, The Matrix: Reloaded had quite a bit of a cliff-hanger. But we got to see the next installment in a few months. Who knows when Halo 3 or the Halo 2: Expansion Pack will be released?
Not that there's anything really wrong with cliff-hangers. But in a game, it seems quite odd. There's a fine line between not-so-subtly nudging at a sequel and stopping a story at the climax with little or no denouement. In fact, Halo ended the former way. Halo 2, however, went the way of the latter. It left me with the equivalent of a bad taste in my mouth because the game as a whole was quite entertaining but the ending was wholly and utterly unsatisfying. Truly. I thought that there was something wrong with my copy of the game when the screen went black and the credits started to roll.
Anyway, back to the game. I guess this is a review of the campaign portion of the game. I've yet to get on Xbox Live. The new weapons are good and have a pretty good feel to them. Each of them has it's own unique purpose and strength. The new dual-weilding of single-handed weapons option is also cool, fun, and at times useful. It's not always the right way to go, since, of course, two-handed weapons are two-handed for a reason. Two-player co-op is also fun. I wish I had a bigger TV. The small portion of the screen gave me a headache and strained my eyes.
One thing that I never saw mentioned in any other reviews was the fact that you can play as an Elite on the Covenant side in addition to the Master Chief. The two characters behave in much the same way in terms of controls. However, instead of a flashlight, the Elite has a dumbed-down invisibility cloak. It only lasts for about 5 seconds or until you attack or are attacked. It then takes another 5 seconds to recharge. Otherwise, the only difference in gameplay is the context of the story in which each character resides.
The paths of the so-called Elite Arbiter and the Master Chief are intertwined into a not-so good sci-fi story which sadly parallels somewhat the story of the original Halo (how much more can you do with the Haloes-as-weapons-of-mass-galactic-destruction?). The religous bent that the Covenant put on the Haloes is mildly interesting. Since we already know the purpose of the Haloes, they just end up looking stupid.
Vehicles. Lots of new vehicles. Lots of fun. More types of weapons are also available. I think the Scorpion's rocket reload time has been decreased (improved), which makes using the tank all the more fun. All flying vehicles have a speed boost feature which is useful for quick escapes from Ion Canon fire. Boarding occupied vehicles is a new thing and damn fun. There aren't that many opportunities to execute this manoeuvre, but I can see it becoming more important in mulitplayer matches.
The game as a whole was very entertaining and challenging, even on normal difficulty. The story was a little weak, the ending disappointing, but overall well worth the wait. The new additions to what made the original Halo so much fun were done well, which translates into similar gameplay and feel, but with a fresh face (better graphics) and new options for dipatching your enemies.
If I had a rating system in place, I'd give Halo 2 a high mark. As it is, I don't have a rating system, so I'll give it an arbitrary 90%. Five off for the crap ending and five for the lame story.