ic-games Review - Halo 2 - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Halo 2 - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Halo 2

Information
Reviewer: Andrew Lobley
Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Microsoft
Reviewed: Xbox
Genre: FPS/Vehicle
UK Release: 11th Nov 2004
Article Date: 17th Nov 2004
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £39.99/£49.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 97%

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Pros

Pro’s

Xbox Live

So, So, So well thought out.

Can this Box fit any more in?

Cons

Some aspects of Xbox Live still a little buggy.

Screenshots

35 of 72

The early rumours of the original Halo were of a first person shooter that Bill Gates and Co were so excited about that they bought the developers Bungie to ensure that this game appeared on the shelves on the launch day of their new console. Looking back, you can really see why Microsoft took such drastic action; Halo is a fantastic game, on which many people feel the whole success of Microsoft’s new console hinged. It has won just about every industry award going, has generated a huge fan base and is still played by Xbox owners the world over as a multiplayer game. As a result of this huge loyal fan base, Halo 2 pre sales reportedly topped 1.5 million, despite Bungie and Microsoft being pretty tight lipped about the games content, other than stating that it would fully support Xbox Live!

The good news is that the millions who pre ordered Halo2 will not be disappointed. At all, in any way shape or form. Bungie have done it again, and produced a truly fantastic game, building on the extremely solid foundations they laid a few years ago with the Master Chiefs first outing. Everything you loved about the original is still there, and on the whole, every feature has been improved or added to in some way. From vehicles to weapons, all have been re-examined and tweaked to heighten further the gaming nirvana that is Halo 2.

The masterpiece begins with an awards ceremony staged to allow the Master Chief to receive the praise and military decoration he deserves for successfully beating the Covenant the last time. This is unfortunately cut short as the alien scum are at it again, and are in the early stages of mounting at attack on the human race, resulting in the Chief anyone else who knows one end of a rifle from the other being called to their battle posts to defend the base. It would e easy to spill too many of Halo 2’s storyline beans here, so only general undertones about the actual campaign will be included from here on. The reason for this is that the story is one of the games selling points, and we don’t want to ruin it for you before you have even played the game.

The controls are pretty much as they were in the original game, which is a good thing as they worked very nicely before. This seems to be very much the attitude Bungie have applied to the whole of Halo 2, realising that there is absolutely no need to try revolutionise the game, just make subtle additions to make it feel fresh. One such addition is the ability to dual wield selected weapons, and indeed combinations of different weapons. It is obvious that a great deal of thought has gone into workings of the dual wielding system, as each can be fired independently by using each of the two triggers, and fired together by holding both triggers. A number of steps have been taken to ensure that dual weapons don’t over power the game, such as the fact that the biggest weapons cannot be held in this way (Dual RPG’s? Nice idea, but in reality would be detrimental to the game, so aren’t allowed). Another consideration when choosing the dual wield is the fact that you can no longer throw any grenades, as you have both your hands full. This is a very nice limiting factor, as everyone knows how much of a valuable weapon grenades were in Halo, meaning the gamer has to make a decision between dual firepower at the expense of not being able to throw grenades.

There are a number of new gameplay features associated with the vehicles in Halo 2. Along with most aspects of the game, the vehicles have been improved. The most enjoyable of these improvements is the ability to board and capture moving vehicles. This particular feature has been extremely well implemented, and is truly fantastic to pull off, especially in multiplayer mode (more on that later). When being approached by a Banshee or a Ghost it can be boarded by pressing X at the right time. It takes some practice, but when executed properly you will see the Master Chief jump onto an available wing or panel of the vehicle, and remove the original occupier, resulting in him being left a dusty heap on the floor. Extremely satisfying gameplay. Noticeably there is no longer any fall damage on the game, which balances this new form of attack, so that your now vehicle-less opponent will be left only red faced rather than bloodily-red. The vehicles are just as much fun as they were before, and the single player campaign features some exhilarating vehicle sequences, which are fantastic to play, and would certainly have some serious replay value, as they are simply that much fun.

So where are we at so far? Halo 2 improves on Halo in every way, which considering that the original is considered to be one of the best computer games ever, and certainly the best ever on Xbox, so it looks like this is a good game then. The whole gaming experience of the single player game is fantastic. We knew the graphics would be good, they were good before, and they are slightly better now, but not overly noticeably. The sound in Halo 2 does really stand out though, particularly the soundtrack, which fades in and out as the action dictates, and really does add to the action on screen. I have to admit that I don’t really notice sound too much in games, but it really does add another dimension to the gameplay of Halo 2. Its difficult to put words to exactly what the sound does in the game, phrases like making the hair on the back of your neck stand up sound over the top, but it does something along those lines, it energises you as you progress through the game and the soundtrack kicks in.

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