Halo 2
Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie Platform: Microsoft Xbox Release: 2004 Players: 1-2 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.1 \ 10.0: Excellent
Above is Master Chief battling Covenant at a temple with a battle rifle
In late 2001, Halo: Combat was released alongside the Xbox to much acclaim from both gamers and critics. In 2004, along came the sequel. The game's plot resumes right after the end of Combat Evolved, with the Halo destroyed and the UNSC celebrating their victory. The game opens in the Covenant's mobile capital city, High Charity. Thel Vadam, the Elite shipmaster that led the attack on reach, has been put on trial by the Prophets of the Covenant. The Elite is stripped of his rank and branded a heretic for failing to protect the Halo. Meanwhile, the Covenant launch an attack on Earth, and it's up to Master Chief to stop them.
The campaign has a twist-- for the first and only time in the series, you get a glimpse of the other side of the war, as several missions put you in the shoes of the new Arbiter, the disgraced Thel. The Elite shipmaster was absolved of his heretic status and made the Arbiter by the Prophet of Mercy. The Arbiter is a Covenant warrior that is chosen to gain honor through death. The Arbiter's missions include killing the leader of the heretics and retrieving an artifact called the Index from a newly discovered Halo. Some of the missions face the Arbiter with battling the human and Covenant victims of the zombielike parasite, the Flood. When the Arbiter isn't fighting Flood, he's battling the Covenant, because (minor spoiler alert), the duties of the Elites become the Brutes', and the Prophet of Mercy orders a genocide of the race, sending most Elites into hiding, and the Brutes on a hunt. This entry in the series introduces many new weapons (most notably the battle rifle and the SMG), as well as the ability to dual-wield handguns (why remove that from the series, why?). The mechanic of hijacking has also been added. It feels super satisfying to kick an enemy off its Ghost or ripping a passenger out of a Warthog, and even more satisfying to cram a grenade down the cockpit of a tank and watch it explode or to tear a pilot from its Banshee.
The plot of this game is by far the most intriguing in the series. The campaign is not only the one of the most difficult, but one of the most entertaining in the series, in my experience-- except for the mission Quarantine Zone. When you're not playing the campaign, you can engage in two-to-four player competition in Split-Screen mode, or up to 16 players via system link. There's also the new Xbox Live mode, which allows players to play team matches in a variety of sub-modes against other Xbox Live users from around the globe. This mode has been credited with defining modern matchmaking. Sadly, the mode was discontinued in 2010, along with the original Xbox Live service. I will never get to experience this mode in its original form, but I have since been able to play a near-perfrect emulation in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The game features visuals that hold up well today, and rank among the best of the sixth generation. The soundtrack, however, is composed of some of rock tunes rather than the beautiful orchestrated pieces the series is famous for. The soundtrack is spectacular, and even some of the rock songs such as the Mjolnir Mix of the Halo theme and "Follow" (by the band Incubus) are enjoyable. The fact that your health meter is located inconveniently in the bottom-left corner of the screen is a hindrance. Although the campaign is very fun, it's very frustrating, and I can't imagine how insane Legendary difficulty is (I assume one-hit-deaths abound and individual checkpoints taking hours to reach). Additionally, sorry if this somehow spoils things, the campaign's cliff-hanger ending is disappointing. Even so, there's no denying that Halo 2 is a classic sci-fi shooter that can't be missed by fans, and if you weren't able to play the game back in 2004, it's still worth playing now.
The campaign has a twist-- for the first and only time in the series, you get a glimpse of the other side of the war, as several missions put you in the shoes of the new Arbiter, the disgraced Thel. The Elite shipmaster was absolved of his heretic status and made the Arbiter by the Prophet of Mercy. The Arbiter is a Covenant warrior that is chosen to gain honor through death. The Arbiter's missions include killing the leader of the heretics and retrieving an artifact called the Index from a newly discovered Halo. Some of the missions face the Arbiter with battling the human and Covenant victims of the zombielike parasite, the Flood. When the Arbiter isn't fighting Flood, he's battling the Covenant, because (minor spoiler alert), the duties of the Elites become the Brutes', and the Prophet of Mercy orders a genocide of the race, sending most Elites into hiding, and the Brutes on a hunt. This entry in the series introduces many new weapons (most notably the battle rifle and the SMG), as well as the ability to dual-wield handguns (why remove that from the series, why?). The mechanic of hijacking has also been added. It feels super satisfying to kick an enemy off its Ghost or ripping a passenger out of a Warthog, and even more satisfying to cram a grenade down the cockpit of a tank and watch it explode or to tear a pilot from its Banshee.
The plot of this game is by far the most intriguing in the series. The campaign is not only the one of the most difficult, but one of the most entertaining in the series, in my experience-- except for the mission Quarantine Zone. When you're not playing the campaign, you can engage in two-to-four player competition in Split-Screen mode, or up to 16 players via system link. There's also the new Xbox Live mode, which allows players to play team matches in a variety of sub-modes against other Xbox Live users from around the globe. This mode has been credited with defining modern matchmaking. Sadly, the mode was discontinued in 2010, along with the original Xbox Live service. I will never get to experience this mode in its original form, but I have since been able to play a near-perfrect emulation in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The game features visuals that hold up well today, and rank among the best of the sixth generation. The soundtrack, however, is composed of some of rock tunes rather than the beautiful orchestrated pieces the series is famous for. The soundtrack is spectacular, and even some of the rock songs such as the Mjolnir Mix of the Halo theme and "Follow" (by the band Incubus) are enjoyable. The fact that your health meter is located inconveniently in the bottom-left corner of the screen is a hindrance. Although the campaign is very fun, it's very frustrating, and I can't imagine how insane Legendary difficulty is (I assume one-hit-deaths abound and individual checkpoints taking hours to reach). Additionally, sorry if this somehow spoils things, the campaign's cliff-hanger ending is disappointing. Even so, there's no denying that Halo 2 is a classic sci-fi shooter that can't be missed by fans, and if you weren't able to play the game back in 2004, it's still worth playing now.
Ups
Fun campaign
Great plot with surprising twists
You get to play as the Arbiter
Great visuals (for the sixth generation, that is)
New Xbox Live mode(?)
Downs
Rock tracks not as good as orchestrated ones
Inconveniently located health meter
Frustrating campaign (yes, it's fun at the same time)
Disappointing cliff-hanger ending
ESRB: M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood & Gore, Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)
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