Halo 2 Reviews

Everything's designed with a master's eye for first-person intensity, extensively crafted and technicaly superb. [Dec 2004,p.75]

Unlike October's blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," Halo's masses of content have been tossed in a strainer and all serve to make the main game better, rather than simply providing more for the player to do.

Halo 2 is, without a doubt, a legendary entry in gaming history and one that left an indelible mark on me. Released in 2004 by Bungie, it took everything great about the first Halo and cranked it up to eleven. The story stands out as one of the most memorable aspects, diving deeper into the universe with a bold, dual-perspective narrative—switching between Master Chief and the Arbiter was a masterstroke that added layers of complexity to the conflict between humanity and the Covenant.Gameplay-wise, Halo 2 refined the mechanics of its predecessor, introducing features like dual-wielding and improved vehicular combat. The level design felt fresh and varied, keeping me on my toes from start to finish. And then there's the multiplayer—what can I even say? Xbox Live really came into its own with this game. The thrill of competing in online matches, exploring perfectly balanced maps like Lockout or Zanzibar, and experimenting with different game modes was unmatched. It was more than a game; it was a **** course, it wasn’t flawless. The abrupt ending caught me off guard, and at the time, it left me craving resolution. But even that frustration is part of what makes Halo 2 so iconic—it pushed me to eagerly await the next chapter. The game’s energy, innovation, and ambition are what keep it close to my heart and make it a standout in the Halo series. To me, it’s not just a game; it’s a defining piece of my gaming journey.

I remember my bro coming home with a crystal Xbox and a copy of this, what a game!

Enemies will change what they say based on what's happening too, so if you go in guns blazing they may scream like a little girl, but if you duck behind an object they will taunt you for being a coward. All of this adds to the total immersion that you get from playing this game and that feeling is overwhelming.

I get Goosebumps when I discuss this game, honestly. The genuine care that has been taken in making this game is awe inspiring.

A surprisingly disappointing story and a fairly short single-player portion are noticeable shortcomings, but there's just so much breadth of content in Halo 2, and the action itself is so outstanding, that there can be no denying its quality.

The end still lands with a blindsiding jolt. It doesn't help that the last moments of gameplay are so anticlimactic. Regardless of the game's end and its other problems, it takes a fool to say that Halo 2 is a bad game.

I felt so screwed out of some sort of satisfaction, screwed out of more levels off of the Halo, screwed out of many hours of my life that I just poured into one of the most amazingly bad excuses for a single-player first-person shooter campaign. I was bored, I was tired and by the end of it, I was just really pissed off.

It's a great game. I highly recommend it. It has a lot of action, its mechanics are very good, the story line is very solid and of course the master chief is great.

After having played the original Xbox version of Halo 2 online with the Xbox Live substitute Insignia, there are much better competitive multiplayer games that exist even on this console. It's certainly great, but it's easily overhyped. Lots of the features Halo 2 was praised for upon release already existed prior in other games. Culminating all of them together certainly makes it special, but the actual gameplay experience leaves much to be desired. Lackluster weapon balance, and gamemodes that easily wear themselves out make it hard to keep playing if you've already been in the space for some time, which wasn't expected in 2004, but still likely. Regardless, the multiplayer is held together by an objectively revolutionary custom games system that holds it together even in modern light and paved the way for the future of casual online gaming as we know it. Becoming the proving ground of thousands of homemade gamemodes, dozens of modes that would become series staples, and a few that would transcend the series and become genre staples, such as the legendary Infection gamemode. Regardless, Halo 2's praise can likely be attributed to the ease of gameplay and large scale online connectivity. It is arguably one of the easiest FPS games to pick up and play in the entire genre, hosting a casually competitive to incredibly competitive range of gameplay and gamemodes. And with the rise of high-speed internet access across the world, hundreds of thousands of homes would join the fun in Xbox Live and experience online multiplayer for the first time in a format that heavily facilitates community and communication. Outside of the multiplayer, however, the campaign is probably my least favorite of the Bungie releases. Yet again suffering from similar issues with balance and a seriously lacking runtime, only about 9 hours during a time where 12-14 hours wasn't just the average, but was expected from your money. But, you can't mention Halo 2's campaign without the infamous legendary mode, which has Master Chief in a supposedly upgraded set of armour, that can handle less bullets than Rookie can in Halo 3:ODST. The same ones you can slaughter in droves as Master Chief without really thinking too much about it. Who's the real spartan here? At the end of the day, without the nuance of nostalgia, Halo 2 falls below my expectations of a 2000's multiplayer-focused shooter, but makes itself easily approachable for those who are new to the space, making it a unique case where you can easily hop in and play without much knowledge of video games at all. But regardless, lacks the mechanical skill-ceiling or gameplay variety of the sort of game I would be looking for now, or even in 2004. -steeliest

this game is good but not as good as the first or third ones. that beind said it is definitely better than forespoken

Halo 2 was once a game you could spent literally hundreds of hours into online multiplayer, and now because its no longer online, must rely on its mediocre single player campaign. While Halo 2 was a great multiplayer for its time, the single player campaign suffers greatly from a lot of dark empty repetitive levels with terrible syncing music. Although Halo 2 has a more interesting story line with viewpoints from the Arbiter and Master Chef, ultimately it fails as a single player experience.

The most overrated game of all time. This game does nothing new to add to what the first game apart from the Arbiter who was a fun character to play as. Apart from that The game is very boring and the physics are horrible I found myself falling of the map a lot more than I normally do. The music is the exact same as in Halo CE and becomes extremely repetitive.

Rated M for Mature

Initial Release Date: Nov 9, 2004

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios