Fixing Bungie's Broken Masterpiece

1up.com has an unflinching article looking at what is broken about Halo 2, and what can be done to fix the problems. From the article: "The problem isn't the cliffhanger ending, because then you'd have to hate The Empire Strikes Back. Nor should you blame the prelaunch marketing plan that had consumers believing Halo 2 would be a battle for Earth -- it was documented before launch that the adventure would take place across the universe. It's not the Metal Gear Solid 2 hero-fakeout trick; while Master Chief represents Halo to many people, Bungie's use of the Arbiter to show another facet of the Halo universe demonstrated the company's commitment to the world of Halo and not the characters of Halo. And it's certainly not because Halo 2 didn't have cooperative online play. No, Halo 2 polarizes fans because of its multiplayer mode... and, more to the point, the problems therein. "

Comments

Mostly fair...

[Fred Or Alive]

I've played a lot of Halo 2 on Live. I've not really played the single player game since the one play through I did when I first got the game.

I'd say this article is mostly quite good, pointing out the gripes with Halo 2's online aspects. Although I'm not sure if the weapon controlling is as much of an issue, I've not had that much of a problem, it usually only comes into play if you're already being beaten, or on Collossus, with it's stupid weapon layout.

The Plasma Pistol (and the incredably cheap "noob combo" it leads to) is the real "completley broken" bit IMO. It's tracking is way too good, it seems to be almost impossible to dodge it. The fact it kills an entire overshield is a bit OTT as well, just taking one sheild bar off, or dropping the player down to a normal shield would be less annoying IMO.

Vehicles are probably a touch too hard to take down, but luckily the real bastard (the Scorpian, with) is only on one map AFAIK, and that has two rocket launchers about to help counter it.

The fact that the matchmaking system apparently prefers hosts in the US is annoying for people in the UK, as some weapons like the Shotgun and Sword are ver badly affected by lag. It often seems like it takes one point blank shotgun blast then a meele attack to (hopefully) kill someone, whilst other people can kill me in one shot six feet away.