- MegaMuffin16
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- Fabled Mythic Member
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Posted by: Reptoid2011
Rest in peace Halo 2 and it's fans.
Those who say Halo 2 is the best, how about back up your opinions? At least I have Bungie on my side.Okay, I'll do it.
What could we distinguish between games to say which is "better"? Hype? Gameplay? Graphics? Story? Experience? Memories? Impact? Reception? I'll talk about them all and explain why Halo 2 was the best Halo game to date.
HypeWhat is hype? The buildup and anticipation to a game. Granted, Halo 3 had hype. It probably had more hype than Halo 2 did. In fact, the numbers tell us that. Halo 2 had under 2 million pre orders, while Halo 3 had over 4 million.
Advertising also has a major impact on hype. The trailer for Halo 2 on television recieved huge positive reviews, reeling in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of more potential buyers. The problem with it, however, was that a lot of potential buyers did not understand what was happening in it. And the scale wasn't enough to earn their interest.
Halo 3's trailer did the same. For a potential buyer that had never played Halo, it would make absolutely no sense. But the difference is that in the marketing for Halo 3, they used live action and non-gameplay CGI. This initial teaser proves that, and made a lot of people think the game was going to look better than it did. This is unlike Halo 2, which showed pure gameplay. However I would disregard hype, because as you're going to see the more hyped game is not always better.
GameplayHalo 2 and Halo 3 have immensely similar gameplay, save equipment and minor balance details. And as they say, "If it aint broke don't fix it". Well, what wasn't broke? Halo 2.
In both games, the Battle Rifle is the main weapon used. Halo 2 and Halo 3's underpowered "counterparts", the SMG and the Assault Rifle, respectively, both fit the same role. Weapon balance, power and gameplay, was extremely similar. So much so that people began calling Halo 3 Halo 2.5.
Their is absolutely no debate that Halo 2 had more variety. Halo 2 had 24 maps, four of these were remade from Halo Combat Evolved. Halo 3 had 24 maps as well, but Halo 3 had six remakes from Halo 2 and Halo Combat Evolved combined (Valhalla is arguable).
Campaign environments were also very widely varied in Halo 2, unlike Halo 3. Halo 2 had 14 playable missions. Each of these were widely varied.
-Cairo, a human space station.
-Outskirts, the slums and alleyways of a human megalopolis city.
-Metropolis, the city center which involved rolling a tank across a bridge, cascading through the streets on a Warthog, and taking down a Scarab. (and back then Scarabs were actually terrifying)
-The Arbiter. You play as an Elite, first of all. Second of all you're doing some light fencing in a Forerunner gas mine.
-Oracle, fighting The Flood throughout the infected labs. Plus a boss fight, taking down the Heretic Leader.
-Delta Halo, scavenging the stone ruins on the new Halo.
-Regret, riding gondolas across the lake to another boss fight, this time with enemies guarding him.
-Sacred Icon, fighting The Flood in the close quarters Library.
-Quarantine Zone, racing through the infected open areas and holding out on a moving gondola to the end.
-Gravemind, moving through the Covenant's base world fighting Brutes.
-Uprising, moving through the chasms extracting vengeance on the Brutes.
-High Charity, the Covenant is collapsing and you're fighting the Flood through High Charity loosing power.
-The Great Journey, escorting a Scarab and taking down the one you've been hating most.
More to come.
[Edited on 02.20.2011 9:03 AM PST]