Halo 2 Game Review

Halo 2 has finally come out, and pcgamerarena set out to take a look at this blockbuster game.

We have been waiting for Halo 2, like the rest of you, since the first Halo was released. We were hoping to see improvements on many fronts from the sequel to the awesome Halo 1.

The single player campaign does not deviate much from the style of the original Halo, but there are some noticeable differences. The campaign puts you back in the brain meats of the Master Chief and you run along with him on his adventure to save mankind. The Covenant are coming to invade earth and things get a little crazy along the way. The story is a bit more complex. The cinematic sequences are much improved from the original Halo, and seem to be longer and give more information.

There are quite a few improvements in the single player mode. First, they do a great job of creating a dark and dreary mood, which tends to keep the player on their toes. The next thing they improved on was the intelligence and toughness of the enemies. This makes the single player mode a bit more challenging. Another thing we really enjoyed was the improved soundtrack to go along with the game. One last addition was the ability to use two guns at the same time. This gives the player extra fire power, which is always more fun.

There are several new additions to the arsenal on both sides of the fence. The new human weapons are the SMG, a bullet hose that can be used in pairs to an impressive effect and the battle rifle, which is like a short-burst machine pistol with a scope on it, presumably to make up for losing the scope on the handgun. As for the Covenant Elites, they have a few new weapons as well. The energy sword used by Covenant Elites is probably our favorite new addition. This includes a Covenant style sniper rifle, and a really fun carbine rifle that roughly matches up to the new human battle rifle.

Also, on top of the added weapons, there are a few new vehicles on the Covenant side of things and a new weapon for the warthog on the human side.

The settings and graphics are sharp and beautiful, but can be confusing The layouts and looks of a room can be so confusing as to cause you to wander aimlessly for minutes on end looking for a door or a switch that works.

The levels and the areas where combat takes place are well designed, more varied then the original and a lot of fun to fight through. There are plenty of places to sneak around, things to hide behind, openings to take down enemies from a distance.

Of course, Halo 2 is really all about the multiplayer, and we take a look at that next.

The new maps are larger than Halo’s and much more dynamic. After a bit of time playing, we can say that the new maps are pretty great and require the same amount of familiarity to master as the set in the original Halo did. And since downloadable content is a reality this time out, by the time we know these maps like we knew Blood Gulch and Hang 'Em High, there will be new maps to learn.

The play seems smooth and responsive in both system link and over Live. Live does offer you a nearly unlimited amount of opponents anytime, day or night.

Bungie also took a radical step and created an entirely new way to match players online. In addition to creating a swift stats system that is highly resistant to cheating and manipulation, they automated most of the process of finding a good game.

There are some legitimate complaints about Bungie, however. It is more difficult than it should be to set up or join a custom game with random strangers. All custom games are private and require you to invite people from your friends list, clan or from the post game carnage report of a match made game. If you just want to start a game, you need to use the matchmaking service and play one of the preset playlists. The other major legitimate complaint is a lack of variety in the playlists, which Bungie has promised to rectify.

So, Overall we give Halo 2 a 8/10. We believe they did a great job with this game and we could only think of a few things that could be better.

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