Halo 2

Review by: Travis Mcfarland

1-2 Player Free Range Shooting Game

Company: Bungie Software

Version: US

System: XBOX (Exclusive)

Rated: PG (Violence against aliens and Warthog jeeps)

EXTERNAL EXAM

The destruction of Halo was only the beginning. Master Chief and Cortana must race back to Earth to stop the onslaught of the Covenant, an aggressive alien species bent on the conquest of all those who oppose them. However, the Covenant has discovered another Halo and Master Chief will soon discover that the fate of Earth is the least of his worries.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Time has served the Master Chief well as Halo 2 is significantly better looking then its predecessor. Textures are crisp, detailed and surprisingly colorful and vibrant in spots. Other then a few notably dreary spaceship interiors, you'll be hard pressed not to find a splash of color here and there. There seems to be a nice little glow effect present in much of the game, giving areas a softer feel and enhancing some already stunning outdoor vistas.

AUDIO: Sound effects are brought over from the first Halo and tweaked here and there, but you won't notice much difference. I'm quite impressed with a lot of the ambient background noise that can be heard in areas of the game. For example; there are a few levels featuring The Flood that exhibit an eerie feeling of dread and gloom. Very mood inducing.

CONTROLS: The controls are pretty much the same as they were in the original Halo. The new duel wielding of weapons can take some time to get used to. The left trigger fires the left weapon and the right trigger fires the right weapon. In a heated battle, it takes a bit of concentration (and fancy thumb work) to manipulate both joysticks and both triggers at the same time. Give it about 15 minutes though and it will feel like second nature.

EXTRAS: Halo 2 isn't exactly brimming with extra content, not unless you buy the collector's edition. If you do opt for the shiny silver collector's box you'll get a second DVD with stuff like a Making of Halo 2 documentary, deleted scenes and outtakes, and developer commentaries. I, being the poor reviewer that I am, stuck with the plain old vanilla version and thus I can't really comment on the worth of these extra. Though feel free to use the fancy box to hold loose change, cookies or that photo of you standing in front of a mirror wearing nothing but a Master Chief helmet while clutching a Halo 2 action figure.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: Cut scenes galore! The story of Halo 2 is presented through in-game rendered cut scenes that are fairly professional in their direction. Some of the character movement can be a bit stiff but it shouldn't be all that distracting. Most of the main transitions from level to level are punctuated by cut scenes that move the story forward.

BEST PLAYER: It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone by now that you play as both Master Chief and The Arbiter (the Elite Covenant mentioned above). Problem is, they both play exactly the same. There is absolutely no difference between either character in terms of health amount, agility or weapon possibilities. The Arbiter does have a handy temporary cloaking device that allows you to sneak up on enemies for stealth kills from behind. It's a moot point however as you can't just freely choose who you want to play as.

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: Sadly, there aren't any traditional cheat codes for Halo 2. I can't just leave you empty handed though, that would be bad manners on my part. How about this; did you know that you can trade weapons with your squad mates? Just face them and hold the "Y" button to trade what you’re carrying for what they have. You can use this to your advantage by picking up leftover heavy weapons (like rocket launchers or beam rifles) and giving them to your squad mates before a big battle. The computer controlled squad members have infinite ammo and a regiment of rocket launcher packing marines will make short work of anyone they come across. If you're feeling sadistic, you could always just take that marine's shotgun in exchange for your piddly little pistol.

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: Infinite grenades. The physics engine in Halo 2 just screams to be messed with and nothing is more entertaining then launching corpses in the air with a few well placed grenades. Is that wrong of me? The whole 'launching corpses' part?

FAN SERVICE: The amount of fan service you'll get from Halo 2 is relative to how much homework you've already done. Bungie is notorious for inside jokes and hidden meanings in all their games. An example being their obsession with the number 7 (I'm partial to the number 8......bit I digress). If you are one of the people who has read the Halo novels, scoured the internet for information on back story or even participated in the online alternate reality game (check out the archives of what went on at www.ilovebees.com ), then you'll definitely be in the loop. For anyone else, you may feel a bit left out.

FINAL EXAM

The Gamecube has Mario, Playstation has...well, a wealth of mascots such as Jak & Daxter, and the Xbox has Master Chief. To Xbox diehards, Halo 2 represents the second coming of the biggest game their system has to offer. Following a three year onslaught of hype, advertising, internet buzz and even its own alternate reality game; Halo 2 has finally arrived. But does it live up to the hype?

Halo 2 is a frustrating game to review. It consists of so many extremely professional and entertaining aspects (the music, graphics, new weapons, multiplayer and vehicles) that get wrapped over a dull single player game and a convoluted story. If you weren't very impressed with the original Halo there is little doubt that you won't find much to change your mind in Halo 2. Maybe it's me. Maybe I "just don't get it." Halo 2 doesn't bother to explain itself or fix the problems carried over from the original game.

Don't expect to spend all your time gallivanting around the surface of Halo. Master Chief makes the rounds this time; hopping from spaceships to Earth to Halo and even a few places you might not suspect. Levels are much more varied then they were in the original game. Most notable are the outdoor areas, which definitely must be seen to be believed. Vast open backgrounds lend a sense of space and openness to a fairly linear path of progression. The spaceship and Halo interior levels however still suffer from that feeling of sameness. Tight hallways leading to an open area full of enemies followed by more tight hallways. They have improved from the overtly monotonous interiors from the original Halo (remember The Library anyone?) but only slightly.

I'm somewhat split on the actual character models however. While they have received a very nice upgrade in polygon count and overall appearance, they just don't look right. Everyone is very shiny, as if they're made of plastic. It's frightening watching your commanding officer in the first few opening cinematics. He resembles something like a melting Madame Tussaud wax dummy of Gerald Ford. Covenant enemies suffer from the plastic looking skin as well, however it's not as distracting on a Brute as it is on a human.

One of the areas that Halo 2 really shines is difficulty progression. You never feel that overwhelmed or frustrated. That being said, the Legendary difficulty setting will challenge even the most diehard of Halo fanboys and girls. Trust me; you will learn to despise rampaging Brutes on higher difficulty levels. They will haunt your nightmares and invade your waking dreams. Stupid apes....

The biggest flaw is just how dull the single player campaign can get at times. It suffers from the same deja vu formula whereby you move from one identical area to another battling an endless amount of enemies. The only real breaks in the doldrums arise from vehicle based areas that pass by far too quickly. One area has you commandeering a Tank to blast your way through the enemy, but it's over before you can even really get into it. And the Flood....ugh, they once again make their annoying as hell return! After killing my 3,000th Flood converted marine, I said to myself "could they please do something other then just run straight at me?" I get that they're brain-dead zombies; they just aren't that fun to fight against.

Then we have the story. Have you ever had to leave in the middle of a movie to go to the bathroom, and then when you return you realize that you've obviously missed something important as nothing makes any sense? That's pretty much how I felt all through Halo 2. There is this prevalent feeling that I'm missing out on what is going on. I've never read the Halo novels nor do I know how the ilovebees ARG fits into the game. I don't want to have to research a story before I even play the game! It's a shame that the storytelling style couldn't be tightened up in Halo 2 as there really is the groundwork for some amazing depth. Instead, all I am left with is questions. Who are all these prophets? Who are the Forerunners? What in God's name is friggin Gravemind?! Gah!

Then you have the new character, the Arbiter. It really would have been nice to have him feel, or at the very least control different, then Master Chief. Instead, he's a carbon copy of Master Chief with Elite legs and a cloaking device. What's even worse is that the storyline behind the Arbiter is far more interesting then anything that the Master Chief is involved in. What this does is sort of disconnect you from the main lead in the story. There is a sort of rift between the two characters that tears the game in two. You could care less about either one of these characters.

Now for a bit of spoiler territory. If you're keeping yourself fresh on the storyline, feel free to skip this paragraph. Okay, still with me? Let's take a little moment to discuss the frustrating, idiotic, chopped off ending. It is probably one of the most blunt and horribly executed cliffhanger endings I've seen in a game. Just as it's getting interesting; just as we start to get some answers to all the new questions, it just ends. Pop! I can't help but compare the endings of Halo 2 to Half-Life 2. While both games feature cliffhangers, Half-Life 2's ending still wraps up quite a lot of loose ends. It feels like a strong lead-in to a sequel game. Halo 2's ending on the other hand feels more like a "to be continued..." text crawl at the end of a too long television show.

So whar are the saving graces? Multiplayer, Voice Acting and Music.

Plain and simple, Halo 2 is going to be the single most played Xbox Live game out there. It adds so much that works in multiplayer that seems insignificant in the single player campaign. Vehicles are now extremely destructible (by "extremely destructible" I mean that they 'splode real purdy like). The dual wielding makes from some good strategic options during team play and I'm quite fond of the new maps. Halo 2 is great fun in multiplayer battles and the new weapons, vehicles and game modes simply add to the enjoyment. If you're an Xbox Live user, you owe it to yourself to pick up Halo 2.

There is a definite increase in voice acting and just as much attention was paid to the characters as it was to the soundtrack. Master Chief utters a few throwaway lines here and there but you don't expect the stoic Spartan to be talkative anyway. The real shining stars are Cortana (played by Jen Taylor) and The Arbiter (played by Keith David). Cortana is the ever-present A.I. who always seems to help Master Chief out of a tough spot. She's got some serious sarcasm here and delivers some great lines throughout. The Arbiter is an Elite blamed for the destruction of the original Halo. Keith David seems to really take the role seriously and it shows. Along with those two mentions, there are a wealth of cameos from people who just seem to want their voices in the game. See if you can spot the likes of Orlando Jones, Ron Perlman, John Michael Higgins, David Cross, Laura Prepon or Michelle Rodriguez.

I have the Halo 2 soundtrack blaring over Winamp as I write this review. That in itself should be enough to gauge the awesomeness of the soundtrack. Composer Marty O'Donnell has really taken the groundwork laid in the original Halo and bumped it up to Hollywood levels. Some gorgeous instrumental music is mixed in between the dark ambience that signifies the flood and the pulsing techno of heated battle sequences. The requisite monk like chanting of the original Halo theme seems to creep into a lot of the music, but it works very well given the sci-fi opera feel the game presents. People might not be to keen on the inclusion of some fairly heavy rock music (including an updated Halo theme) but I kind of enjoy it. It fits well within the Halo 2 setting and can really draw you in at times.

I just feel conflicted about this game. I had fun with it in sporadic chunks. Yet I still can't help but focus on the inane hallway crawls that just never end. Really, you're going to pick the game up no matter what I say about it and truthfully I'd encourage you to do so. There is always the chance Halo 3 will help answer some of the questions. You may have more fun with it than I did. However as a flagship game for the Xbox, I can't help but feel a little short changed this year.

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