Halo 2 (only for people that have beaten it)

[mkillio]

Let me first just say that I did not particularly think that the first Halo was all that great. I beat the first twice on normal on PC and XBox as well as beat it in co-op on Legendary, I liked the latter the best. It just wasn't my cup of Tea.

Now I was still a little pesamistic about the 2nd one but I figured I would give it a try. It had some nice new features and stuff but I felt like I was playing Halo 1 all over again. The controls weren't that great. I use South Paw analog sticks with default buttons which makes it tough to aim jump and shoot at the same time, I would have prefered for the left trigger to jump and if I have dual yielding weapons that are the same they should both have worked from the right trigger and had jump be the right trigger if they were different weapons then you would need the left trigger to shoot and send jump to the A button.

I also did not really like playing as the bad guy, it seemed counter productive. Not mention I never killed any Marines. There was no difference in game play for MC to the alien, sorry, I guess you could use the camoflauge instead of the flash light. I also felt that things were poorly explained.

The ciematics were real good looking and helped move the game along, but it was annoying how the graphics "twitched" .

Then I was finally getting into the game and was ready to get at least another 5+ hours of gameplay out of it, the game came to a very poor and abrupt ending.

These are just my feelings though, I beat the game on normal so I figure there's a different ending on Legendary. I would appreciate it if someone would tell me what it is, since I don't plan on playing campaign again.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

These are just my feelings though, I beat the game on normal so I figure there's a different ending on Legendary. I would appreciate it if someone would tell me what it is, since I don't plan on playing campaign again.

There isn't another ending, sorry.

I like Halo 2, you clearly do not.

 

[Guden Oden]

You waited like three years and you've ALREADY finished it?

 

[mkillio]

I like Halo 2, you clearly do not.

Don't get me wrong, I know that it is a good game. It is just that I was expecting alot more out of it and in the end I'm not even sure if I liked it better than the first one. Which I did not enjoy that much.

You waited like three years and you've ALREADY finished it?

I definitley did not wait for this game and plus it is way to short.

 

[Guden Oden]

I definitley did not wait for this game

So why did you buy it as soon as it came out? (Anyway, I didn't mean you specifically, I meant people in general who've clocked the game already.)

and plus it is way to short.

So you'd disagree with Edge's perfect 10 score then?

 

[mkillio]

I didn't buy it my roommate did. I don't even own an x-box.

 

[AlNom]

graphics twitching is inversely related to the number of loading screens in the game.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

You waited like three years and you've ALREADY finished it?

Well, I can still play it again, in co-op, in LAN, online,...

 

[DemoCoder]

I have to concur. What Bungie showed us in E3 demos, trailers, and stories *DID NOT HAPPEN*. There was no massive nuking of earth. No fight to survive. The actual earth attack in Mombasa is trivially short. The Halo1 plotline setup the Covenant and how it was vital they not find Eearth! Well, they found Earth, and we weren't shown much!


I thought the entire game would take place on Earth, fighting to prevent the extermination of the human race by the covenant. Remember the Halo2 teaser released with WMV9? "Save the human race from destruction <switch to view showing nukes going off all over the planet>...In Progress" Instead, we are forced to play from the *enemy perspective* and sympathize.

Imagine playing a WW2 game, fighting Stalingrad, Battle of the Budge, or Normandy. And sudden, you're forced into running a Jewish concentration camp.

Bungie really disappointed me on this one. The trailers gave the wrong impression as to the way the story was going to focus on Earth's invasion. HL2 on the other hand, seems to be delightfully eerily, as Earth is already conquered when you start.

 

[Shogmaster]

Let me first just say that I did not particularly think that the first Halo was all that great. I beat the first twice on normal on PC and XBox as well as beat it in co-op on Legendary, I liked the latter the best. It just wasn't my cup of Tea.

Beating Legendary with Co-op is easiler than beating it on normal by yourself. Weaksauce!

Now I was still a little pesamistic about the 2nd one but I figured I would give it a try. It had some nice new features and stuff but I felt like I was playing Halo 1 all over again.

I believe this is what all the fans that made the game #1 on the charts would have wanted, but what do I know.

The controls weren't that great.

What's wrong with it? It's the best FPS controls for console by far IMO. But then again, I like FPS so.....

I use South Paw analog sticks with default buttons which makes it tough to aim jump and shoot at the same time, I would have prefered for the left trigger to jump and if I have dual yielding weapons that are the same they should both have worked from the right trigger and had jump be the right trigger if they were different weapons then you would need the left trigger to shoot and send jump to the A button.

Halo 2's jumps are very floaty, so you can simply push A to jump, and then look/shoot for about a second or two, which is a long time in a FPS. I really don't see a problem with not having left trigger as jump. It takes all of two seconds to get use to. And making left trigger away from the secondary weapon takes away one of the coolest espects of the dual wielding weapons: being able to double the firepower at once.

I also did not really like playing as the bad guy, it seemed counter productive. Not mention I never killed any Marines. There was no difference in game play for MC to the alien, sorry, I guess you could use the camoflauge instead of the flash light. I also felt that things were poorly explained.

You obviously need to play through the game again. First of all, the Arbiter is obvisouly not a "bad guy". He is a protagonist in this game. And second, you missed the whole point of Halo 2 that explains that there is no "bad side" per se. The Covenent are just a bunch of misled religious fanatics. The Flood (whether they are natural or artifically created/manipulated by the Forerunners) are just carrying on their inate biological processes. The humans, might not be as guilt free as it appears since <BIG POSSIBLE SPOILER> they might be the children of the Forerunners that created Halo and perhaps let loose the Flood on to the unsuspecting Galaxy (the reason I say this is that the humans are the only ones able to activate the index, and that they are constantly refered by the Guilty Spark as "reclaimers". Obviously, the human genetic make up is like that of the Forerunners. Also, the "ark" that Guilty Spark refers to at the end of Halo 2 just might be Earth, since that's where the Prophet Truth went to, and that's where Guilty Spark said is the place to activate the other Halos remotely. <END BIG POSSIBLE SPOILERS>

I think you missed the whole story if you ask me.

The ciematics were real good looking and helped move the game along, but it was annoying how the graphics "twitched" .

It only "twiched" when a new scene was loading, and for ever so briefly. No big deal at all, unless you decided to focus on it. Obviously, this game is spanking the XBox hard. Most of the problem I suspect, is the low amount and relatively slow RAM used in the XBox. The framerates during those cutscenes were surprisingly passable to me.

Then I was finally getting into the game and was ready to get at least another 5+ hours of gameplay out of it, the game came to a very poor and abrupt ending.

Abrupt, I agree with. Poor, I don't. It was such an intriging story that I didn't want to see it end. Waiting for Halo 3 is gonna be inbearable. The story in Halo 2 was very engaging. I liked it even more than the first. Certainly goes a lot further since the Covenent and it's motivations are better explained, and that they are not some one dimentional enemy with simplistic goals of galaxy conquering and end of humanity for the sake of it. <MORE POSSIBLE BIG SPOILERS> I think the Prophets of Covenent is well aware of the earthlings being decendants of the Forerunners, and that truth jeopardized their entire social structure and beliefs. That's why they are so hell bent on wiping off the humanity from existance: To purpetuate their falcky religion and the social structure that's wholy based upon it. <END POSSIBLE BIG SPOILERS>

These are just my feelings though, I beat the game on normal so I figure there's a different ending on Legendary. I would appreciate it if someone would tell me what it is, since I don't plan on playing campaign again.

Playing through campeign only once is waste of money you spent on the game. You miss out ALOT. I played through twice so far (both on Heroic), and I can't wait to get started on Legendary.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

HL2 on the other hand, seems to be delightfully eerily, as Earth is already conquered when you start.

Off topic: not that I have any info, but you're making a big assumption here... are we sure City 17 is on Earth?

 

[kyleb]

The controls weren't that great. I use South Paw analog sticks with default buttons which makes it tough to aim jump and shoot at the same time, I would have prefered for the left trigger to jump and if I have dual yielding weapons that are the same they should both have worked from the right trigger and had jump be the right trigger if they were different weapons then you would need the left trigger to shoot and send jump to the A button.

I too am a SouthPaw, but I don't see where your arguments are coming from. We quite simply need two triggers when going akimbo as some weapons are automatic while the pistols are semi-auto and the plazma pistol can be charged. Also, jumping isn't really an issue as it just takes a little lean of the thumb to hit A while pressing forward on the movement stick. However, I do have the complaint that it is too hard to move and meliee, switch weapons, or reload at the same time as those buttons button on the same side of the controler as the movement stick and it takes some really foolery to use the stick and one of those buttons at the same time. It would be nice if they let us lefties use the d-pad directions for the A, B, X, and Y buttons.


Regardless, I get past all those issues by using one of these:

http://www.gamesterusa.com/xboxfps.html

 

[Guden Oden]

HL2 on the other hand, seems to be delightfully eerily, as Earth is already xxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx.

Thanks for the gratuitous and completely unexpected spoiler man... Looks like you saved me $50 there, I guess I should thank you.

 

[kyleb]

OMG you whiner, The videos Valve released have made that detail blatently obvious and that is just from the video of the very intro of the game. Although if you are just looking for an excuse not to buy the game, now you have one.

 

[-tkf-]

OMG you whiner, The videos Valve released have made that detail blatently obvious and that is just from the video of the very intro of the game. Although if you are just looking for an excuse not to buy the game, now you have one.

Yeah, the videos everyone have seen, NOT.

Hopefully the knowledge you" provided" was gained only from those videos, since this discussion shows that HALO2 videos/previews didn't hold what was "promised"

 

[kyleb]

It was DemoCoder who made the comment, not me. Regardless, and no matter if you have seen the videos or not; complaining that someone pointed out that the Earth has been concurd in the begining of hl2 is like complaining about someone telling you that Snow White is a story of a princess with an evil stepmother.

 

[Guden Oden]

complaining that someone pointed out that the Earth has been concurd in the begining of hl2 is like complaining about someone telling you that Snow White is a story of a princess with an evil stepmother.

No it isn't! Jesus, what the fuck made you think I've looked at any of the stuff Valve has released or watched any videos? Just because YOU don't think it is a big deal to just go ahead and tell shit about the plot doesn't mean everybody reasons the same way. Use your head and show a bit of consideration for others FFS.

 

[3dilettante]

complaining that someone pointed out that the Earth has been concurd in the begining of hl2 is like complaining about someone telling you that Snow White is a story of a princess with an evil stepmother.

No it isn't! Jesus, what the fuck made you think I've looked at any of the stuff Valve has released or watched any videos? Just because YOU don't think it is a big deal to just go ahead and tell shit about the plot doesn't mean everybody reasons the same way. Use your head and show a bit of consideration for others FFS.

Wait, you're biting someone's head off because he cited publically and widely available information? It's been discussed at and shown at official media releases. There's not even full certainty that what was shown is the full story.

How can anyone hope to discuss anything if they have to worry about what of the million things possible someone else has decided to hide from themselves? If you don't want spoilers on something as fundamental as the basic premise, you might as well not read anything dealing with video games.

By the way, you play as Gordon Freeman. OMG spoilerz1!!!!11

 

[kyleb]

No it isn't! Jesus, what the fuck made you think I've looked at any of the stuff Valve has released or watched any videos? Just because YOU don't think it is a big deal to just go ahead and tell shit about the plot doesn't mean everybody reasons the same way. Use your head and show a bit of consideration for others FFS.

It was blatently obvious that you haven't watched any of the videos, but that is beside the point. If I were to show consideration for your desire to not know anything about the plot of the game, I'd have to do the same for everyone else and never mention anything presented in a movie trailer or book preview. To try and play such things of as spoilers is downright absurd.