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."

Comments

Games

[MyLongNickName]

Reviews of reviews of games? Even I don't have this much time on my hands!

Now, back to my Dukes of Hazard marathon...

Halo 1

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Good review, but leaves one thing out.

[pikakilla]

What really annoys me about halo multiplayer is how it is so untested and unrefined. My brother and i only have one xbox and want to play online in regular games. We cant use optimatch system (because guests cannot play in ranked (optimatch) games), so we must play custom games.

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) :(

Bought It, Enjoyed It

[FozzieCDN]

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.

A "simple" summary

[MrHen]

• If you don't want to read the whole thing (it is rather long), here is a "quick" summary of what they gets into. They get into a nice little bit on all of this and actually
• think before they write.
• From their own conclusion: Even our own re-readings of this article leave us wondering if we've been a tad too hostile. Perhaps we have; please use salt liberally when needed.

• Weapons
• Simple details seem to be missing (such as the shotgun's reloading).
• The pistol from H1 has no suitable replacement. They admit it was broken.
• The Magnum and the Battle Rifle could have used a bit of tuning (they also mention ammo).
• The grenades were nerfed.
• The rocket-launcher is too easy to use in dogfights.
• Weapon roles seem confused. "Removing the (I thought) rather clever ability of the energy weapons to freeze opponents removed a crucial variation and advantage of the energy weapons. Without it, they're just another bullet hose."
• "[M]any of the guns just don't feel like they are the actual instrument firing the bullets seen on screen."
• Paired weapons are mentioned. "... Now I find myself standing on top of a shotgun, trying in vain to trade it up for my slung needler, while trying to maintain my Sarah Michelle Gellar (SMG)/Pistol combo."
• The Sword is mentioned.
• The Covenant weapons are mentioned. "... the plasma pistol has been downgraded to "accessory" status."
• "Though the weapons are supposed to be more balanced than in the first, they invariably end up feeling rather impotent and bland, and the weapons that most teams scramble over each other to get at are the sword and the rocket launcher, leaving those unequipped or unwilling to use them with no truly effective countermeasure (ie. a powerful, universally distributed mid-range rifle, etc.). "

• Feel and Consequences
• "Campaign seems to lack many of the pensive, clandestine sections and well designed confrontations so treasured in the first..."
• The HUD: no health meter, the shield meter is "rather bulbous, compact shape, is difficult to read on the fly."
• Removal of fall damage.

• Draw-In
• The graphics glitches.
• "The added detail and plethora of shadowed nooks and crannies end up making the game feel, for lack of a better word, grungy."

• The "Teaser" Cinematic Redux"
• Yeah.

• User Interface
• The menu's UI is awkward.
• "To our disappointment, it honestly doesn't feel as though much care was put into the basic Heads Up Display and game status feedback features as well."
• "And if only the tutorial messages weren't displayed in the dead center of your screen. While being shot at, I've got more important things on my mind than being told how to play with the flashlight or flip a banshee..."

• Reasonable Difficult
• "This philosophy [H1's Legendary] was not kept up in H2, and seems to have been replaced with the single goal of making H2 Legendary especially impossible, as though H1 Legendary players had to be put in there place somehow."

• Glitches
• Some examples. "These and several other quirks contribute once again to the beta version feel of the game."

• Bosses
• All they had to say about it: "Most notable quote during play so far: 'If I wanted to play Metal Gear Solid, I'd have bought a Playstation.' He he."

• Levels and Encounters
• Campaign levels seemed "stretched, anticlimactic, and by game's end leaves you feeling like the entire experience was made up of only 2-4 huge landscapes, rather than the 10+ levels you supposedly just played through."
• "Ironically, the removal of the between level loading times and the new flow from one level to the next without moving to a different l

There isn't another like it

[joeytsai]

I liked Halo as well as Halo 2 and will play it for a few hours every week. I think it's a great game and Bungie should be proud of it, but I also don't think it's the most amazing thing ever made. While I did think this review was pretty complete (and certainly long), I had some of the same observations at first but now I've come to better appreciate Halo 2. Since all my Halo 2 gametime is spent in multiplayer, that's where my comments will be directed.

I'm not going to comment on the small details the writer of this review thought are were very important (the pump of the shotgun on reload, or the emission from the plasma weapons), because, well, I just don't think they're important. I understand it's a level of polish and can appreciate it, but as a developer myself I can see why you tend to remove superflous details and concentrate on what's important.

H1 Pistol vs H2 Battle Rifle + Magnum
In H1, the pistol was pretty unbalanced, and a slight skill difference between players would become a pretty large margin when one of them has the pistol. The zooming capability in itself makes a weapon more powerful, and I think a good compromise was reached with the Battle Rifle and the Magnum. I don't know why the reviewer says the Battle Rifle doesn't have range - anyone who plays on Colossus knows otherwise. It's not unfairly powerful like the H1 pistol, but mid-range you can usually beat someone dual-wielding SMGs.

As for the magnum, most new people to H2 don't think it's very powerful - until you find out that a headshot from one of them without your shields = death. I agree ammo for the magnum is scarce, but I think that's because for nearly all weapons there's just too much ammo.

Gernades
Gernades are definitely different in H2 and I can see difficulty in trying to balance them. I was really used to them in H1, and the author is right that not using them isn't a big disadvantage of dual-wielding. On the the other hand, when you want to play a game like H2, you want your kills to be a sign of skill, not just some lucky toss (which happened a lot in H1).

Rocket Launcher
I agree, there's no reason a close-range rocket kill shouldn't at least severly damage the shooter.

Covenant weapons
I hated the H1 covenant "freeze", and was fine to see that go. But clearly Covenant weapons are more effective at taking away your shields, so there is still a useful distinction. However, I do agree having both the human and covenant version of a Battle Rifle, Sniper, etc. does seem a bit silly.

Picking up dual weapons
The example of trying to exchange your non-current weapon, while a bit contrived, simply demonstrates one of the disadvantages of dual-wielding. When you're playing a fast-paced game like a FPS, you need to quickly decide what weapon suite you'll carry. If you're in a situation where you're going to be killed quickly, don't go through all those steps. It should also be mentioned that if the shotgun is that important, you can also just pick it up by holding X (though obviously you'll lose your dual guns).

Energy Sword
I think the energy sword is well balanced. You can only whip it out in the short range, try it in midrange against dual-SMGs, or even in close range against two people and you'll find it's hardly a superweapon.

Needler
I'm willing to be surprised, but I agree this weapon remains useless.

Melee
Like the gernades and the pistol, melee was really powerful in H1. Unless you're assassinating someone, I wouldn't count on meleeing someone to death without shooting them a couple times. I think this a much more realistic feel than H1.

Campaign
Honestly, I don't think either H1 or H2 have very interesting campaigns. The graphics are great, the AI is great, the gameplay is great... but the level design and story just don't do it for me personally.

Simplifications
I really like the simplificatio