It really needs no introduction, does it?
It was a mega hit coming off the coat tails of another mega hit that we touched upon before on this very blog. Basically, there was no way that this game could possibly fail...and yet, it did.
I will be entirely honest with all of you - I have fond nostalgia for this game. This and the first Halo were two of the first FPSes I ever played. But at the same time, I temper my nostalgia with the knowledge that this represents the pinnacle of everything that Halo was.
Oh, yes. It is, quite literally, all downhill from here. Before anyone makes the comment, no, it's not just because of the lackluster cliffhanger of an ending, that itself is a symptom of a bigger problem. A problem that both you and I know by, ironically, a single word. It is a word that stifles the creativity and imagination put into games. A word that almost always obliterates any hope of a good single player campaign. A word that kills dead the hardwork of the developers who work for hours upon hours to make a good story...only to have it slashed and resources taken in order to put work into it for their publisher to make a quick buck.
Multiplayer.
Specifically, the online multiplayer through Xbox Live. The original Halo only had split-screen multiplayer (unless you had the PC version, anyway), but online multiplayer became a force to be reckoned with when this game came out. And while, save for the ending, this doesn't ruin this game...Halo 2 basically started the trend of subscribed online multiplayer coming into mainstream popularity.
But as for the game itself...how does it hold up? Not too bad, given that I'm going by the original version and not the re-release (which, I'm told, has something to do with Halo 5's story that I could care less about). The Master Chief has returned triumphantly to Earth along with Sergeant Johnson and a handful of the Pillar of Autumn's crew (despite Cortana saying there was "dust and echoes" left at the end of the first one). But now, along with the Chief's crazy antics as he tries to save Earth from an invading Covenant fleet and then follows said fleet, we have a new protagonist in the middle of things.
Enter the Arbiter, voiced by Keith David (FREAKING GOLIATH, EVERYBODY!). Despite my enthusiasm at the choice of voice actor...I really don't care for the guy, or for trying to make it seem like the Covenant are good guys. While I enjoy the plotlines started in this and that carry over (to an extent) to Halo 3, it really wasn't all that necessary to forcibly switch our perspective to another character when we'd been following around and acting as the Master Chief for an entire game by this point.
All said, he has about the same number of missions as the Master Chief, and while I understand why they did this...it just wasn't necessary and ultimately only serves to pad out the game...which is embarrassingly short to begin with. Even at the ripe young age of thirteen I managed to play out the entire single player campaign on Normal in a short marathon, compared to the longer time it took me to finish the first one.
Of course, I got it even worse with 3, but that's a tale for another time.
Also, because it is the elephant in the room, yes - the cliffhanger is awful and serves no purpose besides to create hype for Halo 3...which sucked, though it wasn't exactly because of the game itself, but I'll get to that when I actually do review Halo 3. Needless to say, again, something that Bungie could have easily avoided if they chose to. And they chose to not.
As for the combat, its pretty enjoyable. The gun variety isn't bad and dual wielding comes into play, which is never not fun. Sadly, you can't fulfill my dream of dual-wielding shotguns, but I remain hopeful that I will one day see it realized considering we've seen ridiculous weapons in my reviews like Scrooge McDuck's pogo-stick cane or a Super Soaker filled with Holy Water. That being said, dual wielding Needlers makes for being seriously OP and I think you should enjoy that, since it pretty much varies from here out on just how powerful Needlers are in the series.
Other than that, not too much to say. Like I said, I have a bit of nostalgia fondness for this game even if it began the bottomless quagmire that is Online Multiplayer, so I'm inclined to treat it with some kindness. Kindness, alas, that I will not deliver unto the game that follows...
Halo 2 is now available from Bungie and Microsoft Gaming Studios for Xbox and Windows.
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