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

Halo polarizes fans because...

[DesScorp]

...it's Xbox only.

I've never played Halo 2's multi-player

[PhotoBoy]

"No, Halo 2 polarizes fans because of its multiplayer mode... and, more to the point, the problems therein"

No, the single player game wasn't finished and that's the problem with it. I've never played Halo 2's multiplayer as I don't want to pay for Live. The simple fact is the game was too short, towards the end it had too many "copied and pasted" sections of levels and it didn't have an ending.

Comparing Halo 2's "ending" to The Empire Stikes Back is misleading, TESB clearly had a conclusion to its story, Halo 2 just felt like it had a bug that skipped the last level of the game. The game wasn't finished, it was rushed out and it suffered for it. Halo 2 did have some very good, very fun levels early on, but pretty much once you left Earth the game became repetitive and lost the epic feel the Earth levels had.

Author Misses a Few Points

[Undefined Parameter]

The first, mentioned above, is that there is a problem with the single-player. The entire campaign story of Halo 2 is one giant build-up with to a climax that simply isn't there.

Second, the hype did play a big role--that the I Love Bees A.R.G. had such a large following (and with due cause!), but such a small amount of actual interaction or blending with the Halo 2 game is a shame and, in my opinion (be it humble or otherwise), a flaw in both marketing and gameplay... because it isn't just the A.R.G. that should have had some sort of impression on the story--it was the books, too.

Thirdly, the author might be having a bit of cognitive dissonance, in that he or she laments the loss of the three-shot-kill pistol (a single weapon), and then laments the so-called "n00b combo" of the plasma pistol and battle rifle. The truth is, the pistol of the first Halo could kill faster than the combo of the second, and while not everyone starts with that combo, those who utilize it forfeit carrying the "power weapons" that can counter them--namely the sniper, rocket launcher, sword, and shotgun. Yes, a .25 or .5 second "overheating" delay between switching weapons might help gameplay a bit, but not nearly so much as increasing the speed of, and damage caused by, the needles fired from the Needler. An increased needle speed would allow the needles to actually hit a moving target, and an increased damage per needle would mean that a whole half-clip wouldn't have to be emptied at a moving target just to take it down.

~UP

Some problems...

[Wraithfighter]

1: It seems like the author of this is more pining for the old days of Halo 1 than looking at the new game. The non-timer-based weapon spawn means that someone can't maintain a full load of rockets, dooming their opponenets till eternity. Instead, they have 4-6 shots and then they have to switch to something else.

2: This guy has clearly not been on coag since the battle rifle modes were established. Yes, rockets are the best way to take out warthogs and banshees, but not the only way. Since every player has an accuracy based weapon, its actually quite easy to knock out the pilot's shields with a coordinated assault. Also, how do you take out the warthog? Snipe the driver.

3: Dual wielding. This guy has no idea what he's talking about. Plasma Rifle/SMG gets destroyed on open maps by Battle Rifle, and on confined maps either pistol shows what true skill is. And then there's the grenades. Most good players don't dual wield until they find a pistol because the grenades are so powerful now.