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Insightfully Critical Fan Review of Halo 2
Anonymous the Cowardly Lion writes "While browsing the tome of data that is the online-Halo-community I came across 7hr33.org, a group apparently known for their pioneering work in the Tricks scene (contemporaries of the infamous Warthog Jump). What caught my eye was their critique of Halo 2 from December 2004: The Page of Woah|Woe. It's a little too in-depth for the casual player at first, but by the final third it really encapsulates the reactions of core players to the sequel." From the article: "The assessment is in: Halo 2 is... well, different. And I don't mean that in an entirely negative fashion. A lot of the changes are for the better, and we should certainly hope so. Online play, dual-wielding, boarding, the energy sword, stunning new vistas, and a compelling story arch... in many ways, H2 is a phenomenal game. There isn't another like it."
The author keeps claiming Halo 1 was completed in 6 months. I remember Bungie working on Halo since the late '90s, at least a few years in total.
This would be fine with us, but the problem is that there is no custom game search feature like in every other online multiplayer.
I just hope that they put in a game listing room so custom games (without inviting friends) can be played easily. However, i really dont have my hopes up considering there has not been any extra features added since i last checked (mid january)
It's easy to look back at this stuff in retrospect or to compare what the game was supposed to deliver if you were a fanboy and followed all this stuff and say that it didn't live up... but you can do this for any game that has been on the market.
I will agree that there are things I didn't like about Halo 2 (the only notable issue being its "ending") but there were many things that I did like as well. I personally feel though that I got a great entertainment value out of it so I am going to categorize this article in the "you can never please a fanboy nor a so-called hardcore gamer because they will always find something they don't like" section.
If you get stuck someplace up high and your vehicle is gone, all you have to do is jump off.
That's exactly the problem. If you get stuck somewhere up high, that's your mistake -- but you don't get punished for doing it, since you can just jump ten stories down to the ground, firing all the way. It's one fewer element of strategy required to play the game.
Bungie's biggest mistake was removing falling damage from Halo 2.
I certainly wouldn't call it their BIGGEST mistake, but it's definitely a mistake. What really kills me, though, is their reason for doing it: when you'd lunge with the sword at someone who was below you, you'd take fall damage. I mean, this company wrote an entire game engine -- they're telling me they couldn't figure out how to fix THAT?