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3 out of 6 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"2 YEARS OF HYPE - 7 HOURS OF PLAY"
Pros: It looks great on my Shelf
Cons: I wasted $60 on the limited Edition pack
Summary: Halo 2 is probably the most hyped game ever. I mean, to a level of hype surpassing Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario 3 and all the final Fantasy games put together.
What we have here is a cleverly marketed game which fails to meet the expectations that all the E3 talk and all the sneak peek footage built up over the period of time between the release of Halo and November 2004. I don't think anyone knew when they lined up for Halo2 awaiting its release that the sequel was going to pale in comparison to the original. I must admit, after sitting down with it for 5 minutes after getting it out the box, I thought it was simply amaizing. Unfortunately, after sitting down with it for a weekend, beating it and then looking into its replay value, I must say, this was the worst waste of money I have ever participated in.
I won't bother reviewing the game because by now, everyone has played it. Many people went out and bought the rapidly obsolescing XBOX to play it. Other people will play it at a friend's house. The major inclusions of the sequel are dual wielding of weapons, mosre vehicles for multiplayer and more sound and video treats. The graphics have been upgraded with cinematic quality bump mapping and the Sound has been upgrades with all types of codecs and sound scemes to get the most out of a surround sound system or LCD TV.
Unfortunately the gameplay is boring, repetitive and its basic mechanics have been altered since HALO.
The Singleplayer experience is long winded and feels short because many levels aren't very exciting. Master Chief must now share his time with the Covenant arbiter who you must also control to see a different point of view of the game's storyline. The story ends with a cliffhanger and its anyone's guess how the 3rd installment of Halo will end since we were expecting a finale in this game but don't get it.
The levels in SP are heavily scripted at times and don't lend themselves well to freedom of exploration.
Multiplayer games have degenerated into run and gun battles where any player regardless of skill can rush up to the next and kill him prior to the same thing happening to him in turn. Then you have to worry about the X-Box Live cheaters who have figured out ways to MOD their Xbox's.
Other than that, multiplayer is an unrewarding, often boring experience where you jump from server to server battling all types of people based on the games difficult to understand stat system. I perfer the ease of use and fun of COUNTERSTRIKE.
Needless to say, HALO2 still sits unused on my shelf and it has been that way for months. I haven't played it since i can't remember. fortunately Counterstrike, which I purchased way back in Novemeber 2003, remains my favorite, XBOX game and has a multiplayer that is fun, derivative and actually requires skill to play.
I don't know if I will be jumping up to get HALO 3. Frankly, I was much more impressed by the original than this lackluster sequel. If I had known this game was this dissapointing, I would never have purchased it.
- 4 replies to this review
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This game has better multiplayer options than single player. You should've looked into that more.
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your review stunk, As much as I hate getting into a game with cheaters your review made me feel the same way. Yes the story was short and playing as the arbiator was unexpectied. But it stll held you to the end and suspends you to the next game. was I mad the way it ended yes, amd I going to right a review saying how the whole game sucks. No. My guess is your one of those people who could not handle the online experiance. I have a 360 and still end up playing halo2 every night. And for it not taking skill to kill someone who is better then you that its easy, please. I played conter strke and the xbox version sucked, even the reviews of it sucked. My guess is you do not even own a xbox or 360 but a fan by of another system. The hype was a bit much but for a game that still has thousends signing on ever night after two years must be more then 5 i am not saying a ten but at least a 8.
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Its been a little over a year since you made that post. Yes there were cheaters, but the system has now been almost completley purged of the little weasles. You'll still find the odd one, but only in custome games where the modds are used for pure fun, nothing like shooting a tank out of your plasma pistol.
So the rules are a bit difficult to understand at first. I remember the frustration of the first games i played. One thing i'll tell you is to not play any "training" games in matchmaking if your a beginner. There you get matched up with high levels that spawnkill the whole game and rub it in your face after. What you want to do is play the ranked games where you'll play with people close to the same level as you. Once you get to higher levels, you'll see some skill there, i know you don't think much skill is needed for this game but i think u'd be surprised at what some people can do. Since your post, loads of new maps and matchmade game variants have come out. Also you can play huge custome games with your buddy's which often turn out more fun than matchmade games. Anyway, get into it lol. I should've just wrote a new review.
Cheers
Gamer tag - Sidlexic -
The game play was probably 20 hours if you play on easy, try stepping up your game and doing it on legendary. I agree though, the best part of halo is multiplayer. What other game can you get together with 16 guys four tvs or projectors and play some team action. Halo two is great that you can play online and assult, ctf etc. It's just an improved version of counterstrike.
Where to buy
Halo 2 (Xbox):
$13.95 - $24.99
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$19.99 | Yes |
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$17.25 | No |
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$24.99 | Yes |
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GamesDirectOnline
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$13.95 | No |
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