- EchoesOfWin
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- Honorable Member
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I know a lot of Halo fans aren't exactly thrilled about Halo 2 in general. They seemed to hate a lot of the aspects of the campaign that I actually have come to love and cherish. This is not an attempt to "convert" them in any way; if you hate the game, you hate the game. This is just me venting why it's one of my favorite (if not THE favorite) Halo game thus far, for anyone that enjoys reading (and discussing):
1) It is less "moody" and foggy. This is obviously due to better programming and better use of the original XBOX's hardware (they didn't have to use fog to hide polygon pop-ups in the distance nearly as much), but it just seemed to me like Halo: CE was trying too hard to be a thriller/suspense game. That's fine and all, it did the job well, but I'm more a fan of 2 for the simple reason that it's more about a war and explaining that war, rather than just trying to be "spooky."
2) It introduced dual-wielding. I mean come on, that's a given.
3) The graphical leap from Halo: CE to Halo 2 was probably the most significant thus far. Don't get me wrong, Halo: Reach is a vast improvement over, say, Halo 3. But it's not THAT far ahead of Halo 3: ODST. Halo 2 looks almost like it could be a first gen XBOX360 game, which is pretty damned impressive.
4) It delves into the story/mythos of the Covenant more than any other game. It explains more of their story, which is something the Halo series is pretty thin on the ground with. Most people hated swapping from Master Chief over to The Arbiter, but I found it very informative and they did it very seamlessly. Never was there a point where I went, "Oh, wow... bad time to do this now, isn't it?" It always left me wondering, "Hmm, wonder what's going to happen there when I come back to it?" But it never told too much of one story without going back to the other and keeping the status quo.
5) The ending may have pissed some people off, true. But think about how it setup Halo 3? Did a good job, didn't it? People were foaming out the mouth for it before they even turned off their XBOX's after finishing Halo 2. That was perfect planning on Bungie's part. They could have done it a little more elegantly, though. Built up the tension a bit more and THEN left on a cliffhanger. They way it was done was a bit shaky. Almost as bad as The Sopranos... but not quite.
6) Less Flood. I hated that about Halo: CE. They're annoying as hell. Challenging, yes, but annoying as hell. The Flood in 2 is not overwhelmingly annoying, and is more like an enemy rather than a... whatever it was in CE. Also, you mostly have to deal with them as The Arbiter and his gang, which makes it infinitely more enjoyable. The Flood in 3 is even more annoying than it is in CE. This is most true in the "Cortana" mission. Is there anyone that didn't hate that one?
7) More vehicles & weapons. That's pretty self explanatory. I think 2 has the biggest improvement/expansion of weapons and vehicles than any of the other games. Pretty sure, anyway.
8) Breaking Benjamin. You may not like them, but I personally thought it was awesome that they contributed a song to it (during the mission where you're on High Charity, fighting off a room full of Brutes & hunters, I believe, the song comes on... without lyrics of course). The song is called "Blow Me Away" for those of you who may have been living under a rock during the heyday of this game.
9) Bigger, lusher, more "fun" worlds to battle. Halo: CE seemed very open, but... bland. Halo 3 seemed very constricting, like you were playing the whole game on a very narrow, pre-set path. Same could be said for Halo 2, but it just felt less constricting. The level design was such that, even if you were on a pre-determined path, it didn't feel like you were.
I would have liked to make 10 reason, but this pretty much covers it. That all being said, I think from best-to-worst, in terms of the campaigns, my Halo list would be:
Halo 2
Halo: Reach
Halo 3
Halo 3 ODST
Halo: CE
Of course, they're all brilliant & fun games in their own right, so being last on that list isn't exactly a bad thing. Thoughts? Feelings? Opinions? Good or bad, agree or disagree, doesn't matter.
:)