Halo 2

Por mais relevante pra indústria que o primeiro Halo seja, pra mim, é no segundo jogo que a franquia ganha um corpo suficiente para sustentar um título mesmo quase duas décadas depois do lançamento.

Absolutamente tudo melhora: a campanha é mais interessante, as arenas são mais divertidas, as armas, mais variadas, e os cenários ganham muito mais personalidade. E, não sei explicar bem porque, achei que atirar nesse jogo é muito mais satisfatório.

O tom militaresco do roteiro ainda não é minha praia e o final é muito anticlimático, mas fora isso, Halo 2 é irretocável.

Not to say that it's necessarily a bad game by many stretches, but it definitely hasn't aged very well. Balancing issues alongside a myriad of other issues, and an overall lack of content sees it kind of just overshadowed by many other games, even just by its' own brothers and sisters within the Halo series.

Only people who seem to say this game is a masterpiece are the ones that grew up with it. Decent game, but there's definitely better games, especially in the series. Obscured and overlooked by the games that came after.

halo 2 for some reason is everyone favorite but i find this one to be really boring. im convinced it's a nostalgia thing but i dont know for sure. though the arbiter levels and duel wielding were cool.

Is this the most hyped game of all time or what? Few remember that before Halo 3, its predecessor was raved about wildly like the second coming of Christ. At least that's how I remember it, the hype for this thing was surreal. Halo 2 is certainly not without its controversies, graphically it is hideous in a lot of ways and is infamous for not "catching up" in certain cut scenes, the games missions also feel severely truncated and the open world feeling of the first game is sorely missed. But all of those really pale in comparison to the Arbiter. Like any good sequel, a game series sets up a slowly building pantheon, or in this case, dipole of playable characters and Halo 2 is exemplar supreme of this in FPS form.

The Arbiter has always been a controversial edition in a lot of ways and Ive certainly waffled on his inclusion, but narratively speaking it is the glue of this entire games campaign, practically. Lets face it, your faceless hulking green death machine lacks a narrative punch to drive a game like this, which is trying to also explore the machinations and motivations of the series primary baddies, the Covenant.

Another chief controversy is the ability to Dual wield, and we have the severe neutering of several classic weapons to point to as casualties to what should be a kick ass mechanic. Remember the Magnum, the Needler, the Plasma Rifle/Pistol from CE? Remember how much of a punch these weapons had? How awesome would it have been to transplant those same weapons with their same damage output into this game. Devastating the battle field with Dual Wielding Plasma Rifles, or Magnums should be a dream come true, but in a need for balancing, the Duel Wielding feels more superfluous then fun.

Overall theres a million things you can nitpick about Halo 2, narratively speaking its among my favorite games in the series and returning to an undiscovered 2nd Halo and hell, fighting your way through the capital of the Goddamn Covenant, make up for any complaints I have. A dirty gem, a black sheep, nostalgic af.

get BXR’d kid

the combat is more visceral than Halo 3. H3 makes me feel too slow. H2 does not give you what you want and if you slack off you get dicked at the drop of a hat.

Halo 2 is probably my favorite game ever. The Campaign of the game is the best in the franchise, not to mention that it also leads into Halo 3, which is almost just as amazing. The Multiplayer is very close to perfection, with the greatest maps as well as glitches that made combat even more fun than it initially was.

Within the campaign is a very well crafted story, along with a very tightly knit weapon sandbox. Every gun serves a purpose. Alongside these is THE most frustrating difficulty in any FPS ever. Legendary is already hard enough, with enemies that melt you in seconds, snipers that could one shot the you without warning, and many other factors that make the game complete torture. Factoring in the modifier skulls, you get the unofficial difficulty "LASO" (Legendary All Skulls On), where the game becomes the ultimate test of your skill and patience. Many complain about how hard the game can get in this setting, and they would be right. Neither legendary or LASO seem like they were tested by the devs before they released the game, but if they ever did, there is no way they would be half as fun as they are. Just try to play Gravemind on LASO.

On the other hand, Halo 2's multiplayer on the Original Xbox is one of the key pioneers of the modern online FPS experience. Like really, if the Original Xbox was more popular, it would not be hard to say that a lot more people would choose Halo 2 as their favorite game in the franchise. The multiplayer is fantastic, and is only enhanced by the player discovered button combos such as BXR and Double Shot, proving that the game was blessed by the same kinds of imperfections from the development process of Super Smash Bros. Melee, only benefitting from it more due to the FPS context. Button combos add to the game way more than they detract, and it's sad that they turn some away from the amazing multiplayer. Aside from that, the modes are the same as they appear in the other Halo games, and are just as, if not more enjoyable here than any other Halo. 2 Is also where the Franchise's map design peaks, with the additions of fan favorites Zanzibar and Headlong. Personally, District is the best map in the franchise. I could be considered a genius if the knowledge I had of the map went to something useful. Overall, everything in the multiplayer is perfect.

Many games do have imperfections, and Halo 2 is no different, but I don't think any other game will have imperfections that work for a game as well as they do here.