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Everywhere I go to read about Halo or watch videos of Halo, people are commenting that Halo 2 had the worst campaign. Every professional reviewer also calls it the worst halo-campaign. Even Bungie has apologized for the Halo 2 campaign in an interview.
Every time I hear or read one of those statements, I feel a need to reply, that Halo 2 was the best Halo game and had the best campaign. So now I will tell you why I think so.
Let me start out by saying that Halo 2 is the second best ranked Halo game. Go watch on Gamerankings.com yourself.
Game-base Ign.com recently made a top list for the halo campaigns. Guess which one was the worst? Halo 2. The funny thing is, IGN has given Halo 2 a better score than all other Halo games - in a review consisting of 8 pages... Weird.
I know I will get hated when saying this, but my opinion can be just as right as everybody else's - The Arbiter is what made Halo 2 the best Halo game. Why? He is a character. Unlike the Chief.
It was about time we saw the Halo universe through a 'living' character's eyes. A character with feelings. A character that developed throughout a conflict.
The story of the Arbiter who was marked a traitor by the Covenants, gave a completely new view upon the universe of Halo. Through the Arbiter we got a story that showed us what happened inside the camp of the enemy. A story that showed to us, that the Covenant weren't just plain evil buggers, that wanted to destroy the Universe. The story showed us the "other side" of the conflict between humans and aliens. Aliens that actually had values, and fought for something. Me, I personally liked the Covenant characters and their story better than the humans'. They appeared to have a "religion" that they all thought would save them. Something strong moving them, driving their thoughts and actions. The humans' values? I only remember combat-horny soldiers screaming "Booyah" all the time, or Sergeant Johnson telling the Chief to kick some ass. The Chief. Can you actually call the Chief a character? He is a war-machine. A stonecold killer obeying everything he is told. When I try to remember some of his few lines, I only seem to recall him saying "yes sir". And I certainly don't see much of a development in him, which is what defines characters and protagonists. Yeah, I agree, he is a great character to play in action. He is cool - you would like to kick some ass with him, but you would certainly not like to see the story unfold through his empty eyes. That is what the Arbiter did right (until he was nerfed in Halo 3 and made a dump "would like to be the Chief" character). He delivered an intense story - fighting for justice and truth among the enemy, that we, until now, had thought only were warmongers.
This whole idea of showing us two sides of the same conflict in Halo 2, was a brilliant idea which Bungie shouldn't be embarrassed about. It tweaked the Halo universe and made the game THE experience - constantly letting us shift between characters and stories, letting us see different aspects of a great sci-fi scope.
Halo 2 was just SO ahead of it's time. The graphics couldn't even be compared, the gameplay was excellent, the story exciting. The music was darn good aswell.
After Halo 2, followed Halo 3 - the highly anticipated ending to the series.
Sadly, everything just seemed to go a half step up, instead of a whole, with Halo 3. The graphics weren't that exciting compared to Gears of war (and games alike), that was released at the same time. The music was just poor remakes of old Halo tracks - yeah, the music was a lot better and more fitting/epic in Halo 2, with rock tracks fitting the action and stunning, sad themes fitting the story.
And the missions in Halo 3 weren't that exciting. When I try to remember them, I seem to recall all the levels as the Jungle level. But now when I think clearly, Halo 3 also introduced the worst level in a Halo game. That one where you have to save Cortana from the Flood. ARRRRRG!
Then came the ending: After a poor end-boss, that should have been against the Gravemind instead of a ball, the world was saved at the cost of Master chief, who FINALLY showed some humane feelings! Halo 2 was hated for leaving you on a cliffhanger, and letting you control the Arbiter in the last mission, but IMO, it was quite more epic to end Tartarus and the Arbiter's hunger for justice, instead of killing a flying machine and driving a jeep over crashing ground.
The story of the Arbiter seemed quite forgotten in Halo 3...I am glad they at least gave him the ending blow to prophet Truth.
Later, The Halo: ODST game introduced a new way of delivering a story, by making it a mysterious-thriller like plot. Great idea, but not as epic.
And then came Reach, which in my eyes were a great game, but one that lacked the same thing as the other Halo games (not Halo 2 though): Characters. We jumped into the armors of the Noble team that consisted of 'wanna-be chiefs' aswell. Icecold war-machines without any feelings or values, and only one purpose: To stop the enemy. Boooring.
Now you have heard my thoughts! For me, Halo 2 was just the best Halo game in almost every aspect, and certainly in campaign, thanks to the strong and intense story, that the Arbiter delivered.
I am 17 years old and danish, so forgive my language and grammar - I just wanted to tell you why the picture of Masterchief with two SMG's in his hands and flames in the back, brings such a nostalgia-feeling to me.
[Edited on 12.08.2010 9:14 AM PST]