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A Negative Review of Halo 2
KaiEl writes "An avalanche of glowing reviews has already made Halo 2 the second-highest ranked game of all time on GameRankings.com. Looking for an alternative viewpoint? The Video Game Ombudsman has gathered the bad points from nine separate Halo 2 reviews into the only negative review of Halo 2 you're ever likely to read. Useful as a cautionary tale about out-of-context quoting and as a reference manual for rampant Microsoft haters who might want to make the Halo 2 argument a little less one-sided."
Ok, let me say up front I never thought Halo was that amazing. It was missing things that I had grown used to in games like Perfect Dark, but I did enjoy playing multiplayer Halo with some friends and co-op. My friend got Halo 2 yesterday so I went over to play some multiplayer.
Ok, I'll start with what I liked:
The vehicles are more fun.
The banshee and ghost have a boost now.
The ghost has a gun that can actually kill someone as opposed to just stunning them long enough to run them over(though running them over is still far more fun)
Some jeeps have a cannon instead of the machine gun.
Vehicles can be detroyed and damaged, but they respawn.
You can jump higher.
The way Master Chief looks can be customized more.
You can play as the lizard thing(I never pay attention to the names) None of us used him yet so I can't comment on if that changes game play dynamics or not.
The rocket launcher can't be outrun quite as easily.
You can always zoom, though weapons without a zoom automatically retract if you fire while zoomed(It is like binocs embedded in your visor)
Dual weapons.
More than two teams.
It tracks more stats such as hit percentage and who killed who.
Ok, now dislikes:
It seems to take an hour to kill anyone.
Most of the weapons seem weak. Even saw a friend take a direct hit from a rocket with no overshield and survive.
The sword(lightsaber) is too powerful in close quarters. One direct hit and you die and it gives you super human speed when you are close to your target.
He throws grenades like a sissy girl.
When you melee you lose one of your dual weapons.
In order to throw a grenade you toss down one of your dual wepaons. (Why not put the second weapon away for a moment instead?)
If you have two weapons and you could dual wield them, you have to toss one down and then pick it up to dual wield instead of just switching to dual wield.
Can't play Xbox live in a rated room unless everyone has a Live account.
Picking your profile before multiplayer is a one at a time ordeal instead of everyone choosing at the same time.(Not sure how that got ruined from Halo 1, but it is horrible and slow and you have to do it log off as well.)
No fall damage
Still only two team multiplayer ctf.(though it seemed like you could play more. Maybe we just missed the option.)
Still doesn't track favorite weapons. Doesn't track where you shot most often though it does tell you how many head shots you had.
It added "catch phrases" to let you know how your enemy killed you. (You were assassinated means someone meleed you from behind), but they don't seem very funny or original.
Still no bots.
To play 16 player on live you have to have friends to invite or everyone has to have a live account.
Anyways, it is about time for class. That is most of what I can think of off the top of my head. I am not impressed, but I am going to give it a chance still. I haven't played single or co-op so I can't comment on that.