Gametropolis

Halo 2 review

This is another early review, and another example of my early writing style (shit!).

Title: Halo 2

Format: Xbox

Developed by: Bungie Studios

Published by: Microsoft

Genre: FPS

With the sequel to the hugely popular Halo: Combat Evolved Bungie has slaved away for the past two years to create something that not only surpasses the original but redefines what gamers expect from their FPS’s.

What has Bungie improved upon since Halo? Well the first thing you’ll notice is the graphical overhaul. Thankfully, the purple and grey colour scheme that existed in nearly every area of design in the first game has been toned down. And Bungie have really made the Xbox architecture sweat with some impressive use of bump-mpping. These are near enough the best graphics you are ever likely to see for this generation; everything has been lovingly crafted, the Alien and Human architecture is indeed as good as ever, far surpassing the original; the amount of polygons, particle effects and stuff going on at once is very impressive.

But it doesn’t take long for some cracks to appear. From the very first cut-scene there are an unnerving amount of glitchy texture maps, where a character suddenly pops from blandness to a super bump-mapped edition. Nothing major, but for a game that prides itself on an immersive story it’s more than a little irritating. There are also a lot of problems with repetitive geometry, something that plagued the originl Halo. Before, I had put that down to the measly 8 months Microsoft gave them to redesign the original game for the Xbox, but even with extra time and manpower available to them this time around Bungie have once again resorted to cut-and-paste tactics to lengthen levels. Many sections would have benefited from being shorter and in the long run would have had far more impact.

Gameplay-wise it’s all rather similar to the original, the same tactical warfare shooty goodness we’ve come to love, the major difference is the ability to wield two death-dealing mega weapons. Now one of my favourite elements from the first game was being able to shoot with one trigger and let fly a grenade with the other; it provided so many opportunities for on-the-fly strategy forming and was pretty funny to watch as you gun down a group of flood enemies and release a grenade into the pack at the same time. After reading about the dual weapons proposed for this sequel I really couldn’t wait to try it out. The scope for greater strategy was mouth watering but in practise? Well, lets just say I reverted to the old gun-in-right-hand-grenade-in-the-other way I was used to. It’s quite cool when you have twin SMGs on the go but when you dual-wield simple plasma pistols it just doesn’t feel right somehow, especially when one suddenly runs out of ammo and you find yourself lobbing a plasma grenade at a fast approaching Elite by mistake, causing instant death to both of you. It’s something that could work and will no doubt be a huge point of discussion for the multiplayer, but it does require some tweaking.

Elsewhere, Bungie have tinkered with their winning formula in the form of extra weapons, improved AI, more vehicles and new enemies. Some really work well (being able to hop on a passing ghost and nick it) and others actually detract from the experience (the weapon set doesn’t feel as balanced as before), but the brilliance of the original is mainly intact. Also worth a mention is the sound, the score here is again brilliant, both high quality and extremely moving in places. And if you have surround sound the experience is quite amazing.

Finally, while repetitive, the architecture of the levels is nothing short of stunning, levels trail off into the distance and are all physical geometry, not a single pre-rendered backdrop to be seen. You could easily lose a lot of health just staring at your surroundings.

Now on to the multiplayer, which seems to have been the main thing Bungie has concentrated on. Halo had one of the best multiplayer setups in any game, everything from level design to weapon balance it just felt so right and I’m very happy to say that Halo 2’s is far superior. The new weapons actually fit better in multiplayer than single play, the level design is fantastic with many easily rivaling Blood Gulch from the original, and there is a faster more frenzied experience on offer here. Of course if you liked the slightly more tactical focused multiplayer from Halo you may be initially disappointed as this time around the speed of the game is closer to Unreal Tournament, but after a few games you’ll be fragging away without a care in the world.

The only apparent issues with the multiplayer aren’t really Bungie’s fault. Firstly, for those of you without Xbox Live, get ready to miss out on half the mulitplayer experience. Secondly, and this is something Bungie really should have included, there are no Bots to fight. It has been argued that this would detract from the whole experience, but I say at least give us the choice. Halo 2’s AI has been lauded as the best ever created for a videogame, but after seeing countless enemies and allies aimlessly running into doors/walls/each other even on Legendary I beg to differ.

If Bungie is so proud of it’s realistic thought pattern coding why not give it the ultimate test and include it in deathmatch competition? For those with no access to Live or those unfortunate enough to have no friends available it would have been a godsend.

So apart from jumping on Xbox Live or rallying together some buddies, Halo 2’s campaign is somewhat lacking, even if you pace yourself it can easily be completed over two days. Would it have killed Bungie to maybe include some Perfect Dark style challenge modes to add a bit of lifespan? Simple capture-the-flag or king-of-the-hill challenges would suffice. Of course, if you have friends and Xbox Live, the game will give you many, many hours of gameplay with it’s wide variety of options.

Despite my personal disappointment with the campaign, I really can’t recommend it enough. Don’t let my negativity spoil your perception of this game, technically there is no equal and if you enjoyed Halo there’s more than enough to satisfy you here. If you have an Xbox you should get this. If you don’t have an Xbox then try and get one as cheap as possible and seriously consider getting this, especially if you have the capacity to get online and have tonnes of friends to take part in multiplayer goodness. Above all else the multiplayer is the real hook here and when you have bait as good as that you may not be able to resist snapping it up.

8/10