Change Your Image
The-Amateur-Critic
that's the life.
Reviews
Halo 2 (2004)
Game of the Year contender, if not winner.
Just beat the game an hour ago, if there is such a thing when playing this game. I'm going to do something different and speak on the issues I had with this game, then I'll speak on the pros.
First, the Cons: 1. The BIGGEST problem, and I shouldn't say problem as much as irritation, was the fact that every time you change weapons/go to single-wield mode, you DROP your off-hand weapon. Personally, I don't believe the OH weapon should be discarded; it should be put back into your inventory just like your second weapon in the primary hand.
2. AI. Now, I know A lot of people out there will disagree with me, but my beef with the AI is simple; the Humans seemed to be more.. I don't know.. dumber than the Covenant AI. That's the best way I can put it; the Covenant seemed to play with more tactics than their Human counterparts. There were even times I had to go track them down from areas I just left just so they would continue the advance with me. I never seemed to have this problem with Covenant.
3. This is another irritation, but less of a hemorrhoid than the weapon-switching. I noticed that certain weapons and vehicles were reduced in their damage, damage radius, or effectiveness. Let's start with the frag grenade; the blast radius seemed to be reduced. Same with the Rocket Launcher (the lock-on mechanism more than made up for it). Scorpions; their damage and damage radius definitely been noticeably reduced (although the frequency in firing compensates very nicely).
Now for the Pros: 1. Everything.
Side notes: -- I haven't played the game online, although I doubt much of the mechanics of game play will change. The online environment will remove 1/3 of my gripes, so I'm sure it'll be a pleasurable gaming experience.
-- I'm a little disappointed at how short the game was. I read somewhere that game originally had 90mins of dialogue, but they reduced it to 50mins for brevity's sake. I'm sure we all would have enjoyed seeing this missing footage in the game.
-- I was surprised as hell when the game put me in the eyes of the Covenant.
That was a refreshing change. In fact, I don't know about the rest of you H2'ers, but I actually PREFER playing as the Arbiter than as MC (I know, that's blasphemy). I see more of an advantage in the stealth that the Arbiter brings than I do the light that MC can emit (even though it lasts for like 10 seconds).
-- Favorite weapons: Shotgun, Plasma Blade, Dual Plasma Rifles (BLUE!!!), Beam Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Needler. Notice that I list very little Human weapons; mainly because they need no reloading. There are those that argue that the reload factor means that you will always have a weapon that is capable of firing. All you need is ammunition; plasma weapons run out of ammunition at some point, which makes them useless. My counter argument is that I found very little ammunition throughout the game, but multitudes of discarded Covenant weapons; more so than Human. Also, if you've played the game, you'll know what I mean when I tell you that there are battles that require every second of your attention. Reloading takes away from that. I chose the Beam Rifle explicitly because it needs no reloading. In melee combat, nothing comes close to the Plasma Blade; next would be the Shotgun. Careful regulation of trigger pulling will keep you from overheating your Plasma Rifles. The Rocket Launcher.. well, that needs no explanation. And the Needler has been improved since the first game; it seems to be stronger.
I also like the fact that it sticks to your opponents, then blows them up.
-- Word of advice. Should you ever come across Brutes, Honor Guards, or their equivalent as Flood, and you find that conventional weapons fire isn't doing the trick.... a well placed Plasma Grenade does the trick. Saved my @ss more than once; just make sure you have room to flee.
-- I can't wait for Halo 3... and when you beat the game, you'll agree with me too (hint, hint).
Protocol, the amateur critic. L8.