Reviewing Halo 2 is a hard proposition. Both the original Halo: Combat Evolved and the hype for the new game might have set the bar impossibly high for Halo 2 to live up to. Therefore it is a tribute to Bungie that the game really does live up to the hype and surpasses its predecessor in every way. And while the game is still not perfect, the few things that are wrong with it do not tarnish its core gameplay. So, if you don’t want to finish reading this admittedly too-long-for-the-Web review and want to know what I recommend right now, here it is: Run, do not walk, to buy this game. Get the limited edition if you can find it. If you don’t already have four controllers for your Xbox, buy more. If you are not on Xbox Live now, here is the excuse you’ve been waiting for to subscribe. If you don’t have an Xbox, poor fellow, buy one of those too.
Needless to say, the Master Chief is back and so is his arch nemesis The Covenant. As a matter of fact they have found earth, but the fleet they sent to the planet is quite small by comparison to the one they used to attack the Reach outpost earlier in the war. Thus kicks off the game, and from that point on Halo 2 delivers the almost non-stop adrenaline rush of combat that the original did so well. But this time the gamer does not play only as the Master Chief. Large portions of the game are played as the Covenant Elite commander who failed to stop the Master Chief from destroying the first Halo ring world and the bulk of his battle group. Now in disgrace, the Elite commander must redeem himself on a suicide mission. But political forces are moving within the Covenant union of species, and before the game is over there will be some galactic-altering events.
The story is far deeper than the first game. But two things about it concerned me. The first is the ending. It is a bit like the narrative equivalent of getting hanged: a fast fall with a sharp stop at the end. Halo 2 gets the player all tuned up for a last desperate battle at the end and then the battle doesn’t happen. When the credits roll instead of the battle playing out, a lot of things are going to go through the average player’s mind. What the gamer’s mind ultimately decides about the ending is going to vary wildly. At one extreme will be players who feel cheated that there is no story closure. At the other extreme will be those that see the ending as one of the most masterful cliffhanger endings ever devised, and it will have gamers clamoring for the next installment and will provide grist for fan fiction until the next game arrives. I find myself in the latter camp. After getting over the initial shock, I began to realize how masterfully I had been played between the cutscenes and the game action to feel as I had and how well timed the ending was. It is tough love, but great storytelling none the less.
The other story problem has to do with how much time was spent with the Covenant political intrigue and the segments played as the Elite commander. In my opinion, the Elite commander got the best combat work. Yes, the Chief does have some good and hairy situations too, but the Elite commander kind of steals the show. This bothered me a bit more than the ending. The Master Chief is the hero of Halo and the character fans want to be. To have so much of the game played from the Covenant side was disappointing. The story never had the Elite commander fighting Earth Marine forces though. His foes were of another nature. This makes the pill a bit easier to swallow … and the fact that you actually get to fight with the frightening Hunters in support rather than against them doesn’t hurt either.
Levels are large and well populated by enemies but little else. Only occasionally will it not be apparent which way to go but, like the original Halo, it is a little too easy to get turned around inside structures that look an awful lot alike.
There is a cooperative feature in the campaign mode that allows two players to tackle the game together. Sadly this is only possible via split screen on one system. No link or Live support was included for this cooperative feature.
The whole campaign can be completed in about 12 -15 hours. Not mammoth by any stretch of the imagination, but in a cost-per-hour-of-pure-fun analysis it is still a great value. And when the credits start to roll, be sure to watch them all the way to the end.
Gameplay is what fans of Halo have come to expect: desperate, adrenaline-soaked, first-person-shooter battles that pit the player against hordes of enemies. Bungie wisely took the attitude that it was not broken (selling a few million copies of a game will communicate that to a developer) and therefore did not need to be fundamentally changed. What came from this philosophy are some evolutionary tweaks that only improve the gameplay slightly.
One of the best and most challenging new elements is the ability to wrest control of vehicles away from the enemy and use them yourself. This is tricky because the player must get close enough to board the vehicle without getting run down in the process. It takes a little practice.
The Covenant energy sword that appeared in the original Halo is back and now is fully playable. Its presence drastically changes the melee dynamic in the game. Where melee in Halo used to be an ambush tactic or attack of last resort when you found yourself too close to an enemy, the energy sword in Halo 2 will have players actively seeking close combat.
Dual wielding is the ability to hold and use two smaller weapons at once. It has been done before, but never with the elegance that Halo 2 has accomplished. The price for dual wielding is the inability to throw grenades with both your hands full. In tight quarters where throwing a grenade could mean death for you and your enemy, it is the ideal way to put out a world of hurt quickly. In the campaign mode it is very effective. In multiplayer situations I have not found it as useful.
Speaking of the multiplayer component, it is here with all the bells and whistles that made the original Halo so great, but this time it is not only available via split screen and system link but also Xbox Live. And the online execution is perfect, with silky smooth, lag-free play that will make you swear that you’re sitting in the game room with a bunch of your buds playing a linked-system game. The online mode also supports the newest Live features such as clans. It even allows up to four players on a single Live account to play at once from one console. That would be a cool way to spend an evening with some friends.
