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Xbox  Halo 2: Evolved Combat 4.5
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by Chronic Apathy
Feb 11, 2007
Halo 2, the sequel to the incredibly popular and best-selling Halo: Combat Evolved, is what many people think is the best game out for the original Xbox, and possibly, the best game period. It features some of the best graphics, audio, gameplay, controls, and multiplayer of any game out today for any system. However, no game is without its defects, and Halo 2 is chock full of them. Many are easily ignored, but there are a few that can really ruin the game. However, when it comes down to it, it's still a fantastic game...here's why:

The gameplay in this game is some of the best to be seen in any Xbox game. The majority of enemy fire is blocked by an energy shield surrounding you. However, take to much damage, and the energy shield will start to deplete, measured by a bar on your HUD. When the bar is empty, it only takes a few hits to kill you. Another interesting feature is the large amount of weapons in the game. Most FPS don't have more than 7-10 weapons total, but Halo 2 comes in with an astonishing 14 weapons (that I can remember), as well as an assortment of vehicles and powerups!

There's also a large assortment of enemies in the game, and each one requires a different strategy to defeat. Don't worry, although it may take some time getting used to, once you learn how to use a weapon, vehicle, or you learn how to defeat an enemy, you won't forget it easily. A great multiplayer is the icing on the cake in this game, featuring an extremely large amount of maps, each a different size, and each totally different from any other map in the game. Halo: CE fans will be glad to know that several of their favorites are back, and re-done for extra fun!

The graphics in this game are easily some of the best for the original Xbox. The graphics upgrade Halo 2 gets when played on the Xbox 360 makes it better looking than most 360 games that came out within 6 months of the console. The various marines and Covenant warriors are extremely detailed and life-like, and stunning waterfalls, rivers, lakes, valleys, and everything else in the game looks incredible. The only complaint is sometimes the characters look shiny for no reason, and frankly, I hate shiny.

The audio in this game is, without a doubt, the best I have ever seen in any video game ever. Marty O'Donnel, the composer for all the Halo music, did an unbelievably brilliant job with the music, causing myself, and many other fans (fanboys) to go out and buy the soundtrack. The combination of the dialogue and voice acting is great, really making the story come alive. The sound of plasma whizzing over your head and a plasma grenade detonates 10 feet from you're standing really let's you feel like you're in the game. The sound coupled with graphics allows the game to fully come alive, which is a reason in itself for buying the game.

The controls in this game are extremely easy to get used to. Like most FPS, the "RT" is fire, "X" is reload, "Y" is switch weapons, and "B" is melee. Unlike many however, the "LT" doesn't aim, rather, it allows you to throw a grenade. "X" also allows you to pick up weapons, interact with certain pieces of machinery, and get out/get into vehicles. "A" is jump, and clicking the Left Thumbstick allows you to crouch. Clicking the Right Thumbstick allows you to zoom in (unlike Halo: CE, you can zoom in with binocluars, though many weapons won't let you fire while you're zoomed in).

This game has an unbelievable amount of replayibility. Although there is no online co-op, you can still play the campaign with a friend. The Xbox Live versus mode is one of the best it's ever been my privilege to play. More than 400,000 people sign on to Halo 2 Xbox Live daily, meaning you can get into a match in an unbelievably small amount of time. There are a large amount of game modes, each with their own custom settings, along with the large amount of maps, means there are literally millions of ways Halo 2's versus mode can be played. The big problem is the modders and glitchers that plague the game, other than those however, the multiplayer stands tall.

Overall, this is a game that suffers from a few defects here and there, though the main one is the modders in the multiplayer. It still features great sound, graphics, and gameplay, which are the only things required to make a great game. Excellent replayibility was a great bonus, and all in all, this game is something you cannot possibly pass up.

Gameplay - 4/5
Graphics - 4.5/5
Sound - 5/5
Controls - 4/10
Replayibility - 4.5/10
Overall - 4.5/10
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Xbox  Halo 2 4.5
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by Explosions Hurt
from In The Middle, , Of An Explosion
Dec 24, 2006
THE GOOD:
Good graphics
Very good combat
Large maps to explore
Nice multiplayer
Lots of weapons to use

SUMMARY:
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter. It has very large maps in the Campaign. It has a wide vary of weapons and vehicles to drive and use.

Halo 2 takes place primarily on Earth. The Covenant Alien Race has invaded and it is up to Master Chief to put a stop to them. At points in the story you are able to use the Arbiter, a Covenant Elite, who will help out the Master Chief while being in space aboard Covenant Alien spaceships.

The Campaign is very entertaining, as it has tasks that suit shooters, unlike some games with tedious tasks such as trying to protect hostages, etc., Halo 2 simply has tasks where you must kill enemies, and take residence in specific areas. The Campaign is long enough to have lasting fun, and the maps are very big, enabling you to have lots of exploration and secret items to find.

One of Halo 2's main points is the Online Multiplayer (or Multiplayer in General.) It has very large and detailed maps, each with it's own strong and weak points. Halo 2's Online games range from Rank-driven Matchmaking games, where you move up in the ranks in various game types, such as Team Snipers (everyone spawns with Snipers,) to objective based games, to Team Slayer (default slayer, with default weapon spawns, etc.)

I highly recomend you try this game out, as it is very entertaining, has a nice length in the campaign, and is a blast to play with friends.

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Xbox  Halo 2 Was Surprising, But In What Way? 3.8
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by NSX
from , WA, United States
Oct 2, 2005
Halo 2 Review

The Halo series has been very popular ever since 2001 when it was released on a few different platforms, and the PC. Halo was acclaimed because of its supposedly great storyline, or "campaign," its excellent multiplayer factor, and, of course, the graphics, sound, and replay value. Unfortunately, even though that was true for most, I thought the game was overrated, more than slightly. I thought that the multiplayer was good, and the story mode was decent, but other than that, I wasn't really impressed. I was slightly skeptical when I got Halo 2 has a Christmas gift last year, but needless to say, I was surprised at the results.

Graphics

Halo didn't wow me with the graphics, and Halo 2 is only above average. Even though the textures, backgrounds, and characters are very well designed, everything else isn't worth your time. Most of your main characters, like Master Chief, are designed with intentions of bringing the character seemingly to real life, but, even though Bungie did do a good job with this, it is still smudgy and the lighting issues are all but gone. I may sound like I think Bungie failed here, but, actually, I thought the level design was relatively top-notch. If Halo 2 can get around of the pestering little things, then the visuals should be very pleasing.

Gameplay

Think of Halo, only with different levels, different characters, a shorter storyline, and an online option. Halo 2 didn't improve on anything from the first Halo, but in fact, they went a step backward. The story in the first one was, even though somewhat thin, wasn't cut down as short as Halo 2 was a victim of. It is likely that the average gamer, who did play the original, realizes that this was shorter and less innovative than Combat Evolved. Halo 2 has an online mode, but unfortunately, unless you are an online enthusiast, wouldn't mind passing this up.

Sound

This is the second best part of Halo 2. I haven't found many problems in this particular category, thanks to the great audio perfection managed by the shooting drills, dialogue, weapons, and character reactions. But, as stated, this section is not perfect. Some of the dialogue is very questionable as the character's mouth sometime doesn't go along with the words. Otherwise, though, the sound for Halo 2 is nothing short of very impressive, which, was a downfall in the original.

Replay Value

Probably, if not the most important aspect of a game, possibly a close second to gameplay, is the replay value. The single player mode could be worth a possible second go, but the multiplayer is likely where you will be spending most of your time in the hours for playing the game. Online Mode is also a good portion of the replay value, and this game, overall, does keep you coming back for more, but, that is only the case if you have another partner to play along with.

Multiplayer

By far the best part of Bungie's creation is the multiplayer. If you have one or more friends, this will probably keep you busy into the wee hours of the morning, and that can be said on different varieties. Not only can you play against each other, but the co-op campaign is a very good portion of the game, and will outmatch single-player anyday. One warning though: Make sure you have quite a few cups of coffee, because if you have a party over at your house, and you have this game, expect to lose hours of sleep.

Overall

Halo 2 is better than I thought it would be. It isn't great, it isn't good, but it is above average. I enjoyed the single-player mode the first time thorugh, and even though that is probably the only time I will ever play that mode, I still liked it. For the multiplayer, I thought Bungie did a very good job on, and so did the online mode. If, and only if, Bungie can fix these pesky mistakes, then it has the makings of being the superstar it has been believed to have been.

Ratings

Graphics : 3.5/5.0
Gameplay : 3.5/5.0
Sound : 4.0/5.0
Replay Value : 3.5/5.0
Multiplayer : 4.5/5.0
Overall : 19.0/25.0 = 3.8/5.0 = 76%
7 out of 13 people found this review helpful.Did you find this review helpful? YES  NO


Xbox  Return to Earth 4.8
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by Lehvak80
from Medina, MN,
Jul 6, 2005
THE GOOD:
The graphics have improved and they fixed any problem with the first game. Vehicles can blow, hijack vehicles, dual wielding, plasma shot look sexy, and X-box live

just a ton of stuff

THE BAD:
The story was too short and it shuns in Comparison to CE. The cinematics aren't as "artistic and creative" as the first. You kinda have to play Halo 1 to really fully understand the story too.

everything else floats the boat

SUMMARY:
Many new things sparked by love for this. I had good time creating avvys for my characters and I like the wider variety of weapons. I think it's nice you can now use Feul Rod cannon and Sword. Creating Gametypes is especially fun for you and your friends. This game seems more based on personalasation. X-box live is a must. I say beat Heroic and you should then get Live. Campaign doesn't have much a replay value except Skulls.

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Xbox  get Halo classic first though... 4.5
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by unknown000
from Moses Lake, WA, United States
Jun 20, 2005
THE GOOD:
awesome graphics, gameplay, and storyline. has Xbox live enabled. able to play as an elite. no health bar just sheilds(more realistic, we dont have a health bar now do we?). able to pilot banshee in multiplayere. able to duel wield one handed weapons. able to weild a sword. better, more focused, and equipped with a scope battle rifle and the plasma rifles are worth having. all new covenant carbine, feul cell cannon, sniper rifle, brute plasma rifle, and brute shot. all new human battle rifle, pistols, and smgs. new human gauss warthog and able to drive the covenant wraith and spectre. a wider span in difficulty levels (like easy is a walk in the park and legendary is mission impossible). and when you look down you can see your feet!

THE BAD:
in multi player there is no fuel cells on the banshee. plasma pistols only take down sheilds and are worthless otherwise. and say you're playing on legendary on co-operative mode, if one of either of you die you lose(go back to last checkpoint)

SUMMARY:
if you havent played any of the halos or are new to Xbox, id HIGHLY recommend getting classical Halo first before getting Halo 2.

go through the game on easy then work your way up to legendary(no co-op at your own risk on legendary).

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Xbox  Pretty good 4.0
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by Deathman48
May 25, 2005
THE GOOD:
More weapons
Ability to dual wield
More enemies and interactions between enemies

THE BAD:
Pretty short single player with a less than satisfactory ending

SUMMARY:
The sequel to the game that saved the Xbox. You once again play as Master Chief but in a new introduction you also get to play as a covenant soldier, The Arbiter, who is held responsible for the destruction of the first Halo. The only difference between playing with either of these two is that while Master Chief has a flashlight, The Arbiter has temporary invisibility, everything else gameplay wise is pretty much the same. The storyline of this game is that there’s a new threat and more Halo rings. The Covenant believe the Halo rings to be something different to what they really are, which are powerful weapons. The higher ranks of the Covenant are keeping this information from the masses. As the game goes on the story unfolds and things are revealed.

The controls are pretty much the same as they were in Halo except for the introduction of the new dual wielding system. Any weapon, such as pistols and the Needler, that you can use one handed, you can now carry a second one and fire 2 at once, basically doubling your firepower. It doesn’t even need to be the same weapon, you can use a human pistol and a plasma pistol at the same time. While dual wielding you can’t throw any grenades because you don’t have a spare hand to do it with, the button to fire the second gun you’re carrying is the same as it is to normally throw a grenade. There are a whole bunch of new Human and Covenant weapons to use including a grenade launcher, Covenant sniper rifle, beam cannon and a fuel rod cannon. The range of weapons is far greater than in the first Halo and while you can still only technically carry two, tactics can come more into play. Taking 1 long range and 1 short range weapon is a good tactic or in 2 player, have 1 long range person with sniper rifles and rocket launchers while the second blazes in with shotguns and SMGs. The new range of weapons was one of the best things in the game for me, in the first game I stuck with the shotgun and assault rifle except when I came across a rocket launcher or sniper rifle, but in this game I often found myself spoilt for choice.

There are also more enemies in this game, Brutes are the main one that comes to mind. These hulking things are even harder to kill than Elites and because of the storyline later on you’ll see Elites and Brutes fighting each other. The one thing the first game had was a lack of different enemies yet the game was done so well it was rarely mentioned. Here there are more enemies, not loads more, but again enough so that you don’t really think “Damn, I wish there were more types of enemy”.

I’m not sure how necessary it was for Bungie to give us a Covenant part to the game. Sure it’s a change and shows us a different part to the story, while Master Chief is off doing one thing The Arbiter is off doing another and I guess it expanded the storyline giving you two different points of view, but I feel that while concentrating on that Bungie missed out other things. One hilarious thing about being able to play on the Covenant forces is that often I would see a Covenant soldier and immediately shoot as a reflex while totally forgetting that I’m on that side at that part of the game. Obviously in Halo you could only play as Master Chief so I was nearly always on the lookout for Covenant and I’m sure I can’t be the only one who did this. It did feel pretty good running along at one point knowing that I had 2 Hunters in front of me clearing out a path. But the game feels pretty short when you compare it to other games that are out at this point in time. The end of the game at the moment is pretty lame and is clearly geared for a Halo 3 (which we now know will be on the Xbox 360) but if there were no more Halo games then the ending would be pretty rubbish as endings go.

I’ve also not played on Xbox Live so I can’t say anything about that but I would say overall the game was fairly good, just not as good as it was hyped up to be which is a problem for so many sequels after the first game in a series blows everyone away.

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Xbox  Combat Pefected 4.8
0 comments
by Neo Master
May 24, 2005
THE GOOD:
The gameplay, the graphics, nearly everything. The storyline has an excellent pace, and it's definitely worth your wait. The music is quite good as well and fits perfectly. Picture is amazing as well. Even the Easter Eggs are interesting. The multiplayer is the most enjoyable.

THE BAD:
Sometimes there are glitches and imagery is sometimes pixelated (I only noticed this with some explosions). This game wasn't as good as expected, but that's just because I expected too much out of it.

SUMMARY:
The second Halo installment is just amazing. I was thrilled to play the game.

The storyline is great and keeps you wanting more. The gameplay is absolutely "fun" and the more popular reasons to play this is because of multiplayer, or Xbox Live. The music is quite well and it's a masterpiece for this video game. The graphics are very complex, like your environment. Not only the graphics and features of the game is superb, but also the artificial intelligence. You can have your enemies taunt you or even your allies (if you hurt them, that is ).

All I can say is that the game is very addictive and mind-blowing. The Xbox Live is a very good thing for Halo 2 because of the exciting multiplayer. I hope you will enjoy this game just as much as I did.

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Xbox  The truth About Halo2 (non partisan) 3.7
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by drkforce202
from , Massachusetts, USA
May 17, 2005
THE GOOD:
The suberb graphics
Plasma sword
New Vehicles
Better AI
New weapon selection
Live capable

THE BAD:
1) Very poor story line

2)They warped many of the brilliant things that should have been carried over from Halo I
examples include: covenant weapon sounds effects, melee attacks, covenant voicing...

3) It seemed to me it seemed less realistic than the than the first Halo game (overall)

3) The elites speak english

4) Level Designs: seem to be much more lineal than the the vast open levels of Halo I

4) Poor ending

5) cut out promised features

6) Occasional glitches

SUMMARY:
This game is good but not perfect. I'm pretty nit-picky about my games and therefore halo II could not deliever the great performance its precursor gave.

If you're one of those gamers who gets into games seriously, then i'd rent this game before buying it. For example, the original Halo seemed much less sci-fi and could be construed as actually being reality within the future. However, HaloII lacks that important quality. It alienates the gamer so the he/she feels that they're just doing something that seems so fake; like it'd onlt happen in a video game. (this'll make sense to you only if you're one of the these types of gamers)

The weapons were ok. I didn't like the battle riffle replacing the pistol and the assault riffle from HaloI but it doesn't matter. Covenant weapon effects could be improved on. The plasma sword could have been visually improved with the white-fire glow it had from HaloI. Sound effects for those weapons weren't up to standard either. The plasma guns sounded like wimpy water guns going off.

Gameplay was so so. It lacked variation. You went from one area to the next killing any enemies you found. It got pretty repetitive. Their was no real variation. Its true you could duel wield which made for a nice change in combat. Your enemies and allies also have a boost in AI so that's a plus. The vehicles are pretty cool; allows you to hijack vehicles from enemies.

They also only put three Earth based levels in Halo2. Most people expected more because of the 2003 trailer.

The ending was put together rather abruptly. It seemed to anger almost all Halo players.

However, this game is still very fun to play, despite the addictiveness it seems to lack in single player mode. It has repeatability up to a limit upon which its glory comes to an end. Overall halo2 was a good game, but lacked a lot and had so much more potenial. Better luck with halo3

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Xbox  One of the greatest Xbox games ever. 5.0
0 comments
by hieijagan
from , ,
May 8, 2005
THE GOOD:
-excellent storyline and campaign mode
-very good multiplayer
-You can dual weild weapons and hijack veihicles
-Great music

THE BAD:
-sometimes there are graphic glitches
- - -- - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- - -

SUMMARY:
When i first got this game I thought it was going to be over hyped and not that good.I was wrong. Everything in this game is an improvment from the original, hijacking vehicals,music,duel wielding, graphics, variety of weapens, multiplayer, and the story. This is one of the greatest first person shooters i have ever played and I highly recommend it to anyone ---- --- ------ ----- ---- ---- ------- -------- ------ --------- -------- ------ ----- --- ----- -- --- --- ----- ------------- --------- -------- ------------- --------------

13 out of 34 people found this review helpful.Did you find this review helpful? YES  NO


Xbox  The Halo:CE Killer! 5.0
0 comments
by Seamore28
from , FL,
Apr 26, 2005
THE GOOD:
1. More Aliens and Weapons
2. New Vehicles
3. Improved Graphics
4. Many multiplayer maps
5. Xbox Live

THE BAD:
1. The Campaign ending - (Cliffhanger)
2. Cheaters on Xbox Live

SUMMARY:
Halo 2 is the greatest game to come to the Xbox since Halo:CE was released. Bungie remade the whole physics engine from Halo:CE so you get a better feeling while playing. The campaign does lack a little, the ending isn't the greatest. But most Halo players play it for the multiplayer, And Halo 2 delivers the best multiplayer experience you will get with any FPS out on any console. As long as you have Xbox Live. You can play matchmaking games, for ranks, or you can simply play custom games with friends. The downfall to Xbox Live is the cheaters who just want to get a higher rank.

Halo 2 is a must buy for all Xbox owners, and especially for people who liked Halo:CE.

15 out of 33 people found this review helpful.Did you find this review helpful? YES  NO


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