Halo 2

Halo was a hugely original, unique game that offered an unprecedented method of playability to the gamer. Halo 2 expands in every way; graphics, narrative, character, accessories. This time it offers you the covenant perspective as you play another character, ARBITER; a disgraced covenant elite who must stop a rebellion in the galaxy; along with the consummate professional MASTER CHIEF as he vows to stop the destruction of Earth during the war. HALO 2 reeks of quality; nice fine touches of witty, purposeful additions to appeal to the hardcore, loyal players of the original; rock music used in the BUNGIE opener; Johnson and Chief at the awards ceremony; Captain Keyes daughter's introduction; the return of Blood Gulch in the multiplayer. Hell; this is so far the best sequel to a game ever. Ever!!!! Halo 2 is a sweeping; hugely epic adrenaline shot straight to the heart, with occasional cinematic breaks directed by the legendary Joseph Staten; of course the real battle begins when you clock the game on easy, normal and hard; and you find your way barely breathing through LEGENDARY mode. I can say that; as i have completed the game, it finishes comparably to the Matrix 2; you know there's going to be a third and it ends rather abruptly which is one of my main gripes; damn the excitement, this is not halo 2 but halo vanilla. A perfect consumer product that diversifies but never quite fulfills expectations as to the original. I would expect Halo 3 to ship in no more than 3 years time; rounding up the story with a thrilling climax; the end of a trilogy, the best FPS trilogy created by man...well, BUNGIE then (they're not quite human y'see) and if sales records are anything to go by it will probably be the best selling game ever. You owe your forty quid, your twenty hours time and infinite fun to BUNGIE; slaving away under fluorescent bulbs to perfect their craft! C'mon guys; the next step; TOTAL WORLD WIDE DOMINATION!!!

Halo 2, hmm....I thought I might try it out, I mean, I only spent 100000000 hours on the first one...

Anyway, this game is good. REALLY good. As a matter of fact, so good that if you have an Xbox and don't own this game, you should slap yourself.

I thought I might start on the story mode when i got it. Halo 2 begins with a ship orbiting Earth being attacked and of course, you as the chief, must save it. OK, and then you go down to Earth for a kick-butt battle (sorta) and then what? Well, the Covenant general in charge of protecting Halo is still alive, but he has been sentenced to death by the Covenant. However, the Prophets refute this death sentence and instead make him into the legendary Arbiter. Arbiter is the other main character introduced in Halo 2.

Chief discovers a new Halo and he is sent down to destroy it, and actually kills the prophet of regret, however, he becomes outmatched by the Prophetic Guards that guard the water pyramids. An odd creature captures him and Arbiter, so they meet for the first time. The odd creature transports them to find a key; he transports Chief to the Prophets' capital ship and Arbiter to a jungle area on Halo. However, the flood take hold of the ship and you are left to deal with both the flood and the Covenant Army. Meanwhile, Arbiter deals with the Covenant Brute Chief, Tartarus. Chief manges to escape the ship. Arbiter makes friendly with the general of Earth's army, a girl who I don't know the purpose of, and everybodys favorite character, Monitor (or Oracle, whatever). The game ends in a cliff hanger, Arbiter and the gang learn of the "Ark" from the Monitor and Chief zooms toward Earth to end the Covenant war by killing the final Prophet, the Prophet of Truth.

Yes, you do not end the crisis in Halo 2. However, I didn't beat legendary mode yet...(!!!) But anyway, I was sooo disappointed with the end, I ran to multi player. multi player online in Halo 2 is utterly so INCREDIBLY AWESOME I don't think that there is one word in the dictionary that can explain it. Let's just leave it at that.

Story: Ending: 1/10 Sniff, sniff Story: Other than Ending: 9.4/10 Co-Op- 10/10 Online: 10/10 because ratings unfortunately cant go higher... OVERALL: A+

Except for the ending.

Every new console launches with at least one killer title, but in Halo Microsoft had found one that would not only ensure the future of its fledgling machine, but raise the bar for games on every platform. This now-legendary first-person shooter even converted people who wouldn't normally look at a gamepad, winning them over with accessible gameplay, an involving story and the xenocidal charms of its protagonist, the enigmatic Master Chief.

Halo 2, then, is a sequel with no small amount of hype to live up to. Picking up very soon after the events in its predecessor, the game begins with humanity's worst case scenario: religious fanatic alien alliance The Covenant invades Earth. Reprising your role as the bio-engineered supersoldier, you begin by repelling boarders on a planetary defence frigate but soon find yourself on terra firma, skirmishing with invaders amid the ruined cities then pursuing a key Covenant figure back to their neck of the galaxy. Far more polished than the original story, Halo 2's plot line drives the action well and, thanks to the judicious use of cut-scenes, gives a deeper insight into the Covenant, evolving them beyond faceless cannon fodder and probing the reasons for their galactic jingoistic instincts.

Which brings us to the most significant change in Halo 2. After wading through the first few levels as the Master Chief, the viewpoint switches to that of The Arbiter, a disgraced Covenant Elite. Apart from coming as something of a surprise, playing as The Arbiter is a subtly different experience. Equipping you with the Elite's deadly force blade and Predator-like cloaking field, the Covenant perspective provides an interesting counterpoint to the human levels — though remembering that the aliens are now your friends and shouldn't be gutted on sight takes some getting used to. The continuing narrative doesn't abandon the Master Chief, though, and you'll alternate from one side to the other as the story progresses, until the two come together in a final, satisfying synthesis.

The graphics, while not leagues ahead, have certainly been given a boost this time around, and the fiendishly addictive multiplayer mode now comes with added bells and whistles in addition to being Xbox Live enabled. Gameplay changes include the ability to wield two weapons simultaneously — a welcome addition that rules out the need to retreat and reload, markedly changing the strategies you'll employ in the many ranging firefights. New foes, vehicles and weapons have likewise been added to the roster. Halo 2 isn't revolutionary by any means, but as the follow-up to such a sublime experience as Halo, it really didn't need to be. The sequel's achievement is to give a second helping of the most accomplished title on the Xbox, with just enough tweaks and polishes to make this experience as fresh and enjoyable as the original.

Halo is probably one of the hardest games in history to follow-up. But alas, after three years of waiting, the fans are finally served a huge amount of 'Flippin sweet' in this incredible masterpiece that shouldn't be even considered a game. Halo 2 creates a genre of its own. It's still a first person shooter, but there are so many things about this game that put it into this 'own genre' I like to call: Impossibly good. Its so awesome that it is nearly inevitable to play for hours on end just to beat your friend down for that one-millionth time in a multiplayer game. So what if the ending is a huge cliffhanger? The games story is so excellent and mezmorizing, its easy to forget about it. Awesome doesn't even kiss the feet of Halo 2.

Halo 2 is Not flawless/Perfect! Don't get me wrong it is a great game but it is what the first halo should of been. I am going to point out what I mean, 1.In Halo marines couldn't drive so you couldn't be in the gun turret, 2. You couldn't blow up the warthog and scorpion, 3. you could only hold 1 weapon, 4. The graphics weren't that good, 5. there are not many weapons and 6. the game was short having only ten levels.

Lucky there is halo 2 that solved all these problems expected for being short. Some good points are: 1. You can be an elite, 2. New aliens, 3. New Vehicles and 4. New weapons ( some old ones are replaced the assault rifle is now the battle rifle with a scope, the pistol is now the magnum with no scope).

I will stop going on about how good or bad it is and get down to it. Story: The story is great so much happening at once The Covenant is invading Earth so it's up to master chief to stop them and then he finds out that there are trying to activate another halo (there are seven halo's in total). It kinda feels like the first halo was a waste since you destroyed one halo when there is seven. 9/10

Graphics: The graphics are the best I've seen on a xbox to date. They are really detailed and look like they have had a lot of time put into them. 10/10

Audio: The Audio is the best I've heard on an xbox to date. 8/10

Controls: The Controls is the same as the first which is good but with some new buttons (Locking on enemy vehicles, holding two weapons etc.). The controls are easy to learn which is good too. 8/10

Conclusion: Halo 2 is excellent and is worth buying, it maybe short but you would want to play again, with co-operative it is good, it is great on xbox live too but you shouldn't buy this game until you have the first or have finished the first. Overall: 9/10