Last week I found Halo 2 in a Limited Collectors Edition tin a pawn show for $15 bucks and I honestly have not taken it out of my Xbox since then. The limited edition comes with a making of Halo 2 DVD and a metal tin.  This is a but of a surprise since my friend and I have had a running joke going about how long this game was hyped by hard core Xbox fans. Right now I think it was a little harsh because I have been blown away by how much fun this game is.

Halo 2 is a massive budget game that was developed by Bungie, one of the highest regarded game developers in North America. Not only is Halo 2 the continuation of Halo but they cranked up the overall experience and delivered a game that stands out high above the current batch of games.

The graphics are so good that I have to keep glancing at my Xbox 1 and tell myself that it is not an Xbox 360. There are real time physics effects, particle effects, bump-mapped textures, advanced lighting and huge environments with almost no load time. The levels feel like a real locations that were designed for a real purpose instead of cheep level editor product. One of the major complaints about the first Halo game was that the levels were a bit repetitive but Bungie took that to heart and poured countless hours into the design and layout of the new game. This game does not suffer from the Tomb Raider syndrome where sequels are way to similar as the original game. Bungie also added a whole new slew of weapons and vehicles. I am partial to the Scorpion tank. The gun battles are fast and powerful and require more thinking than just running around and hitting the fire button without any thought.

Halo is a first person shooter about a science fiction war between space marines and an alien force called the Covenant. While the first Halo was set on a giant ring with planet like surfaces this game is set back on earth and on other really well fleshed out locations as well as another massive Halo ring. There is quite a lot of cut-scene animations featuring almost movie quality animated story telling and the in game audio helps tell the story as you are playing through it. You play “Master Chief” a space marine that never takes off this body armor much like the faceless guy from Doom.  They also added a story-line with a disgraced alien soldier that fights on the other side. So at least a good third of the game you play The arbiter and it helps keep the game diverse.

The first Halo game was a staple at Xbox LAN parties and Microsoft designed Halo 2 to be a flagship title for the Xbox Live service. many of the vehicles work much better when multiple players work together as a team.

There was a surreal amount of hype that lasted for years about this game but now that I am hooked I regret not issuing Halo 2 the respect and reverence that it deserves. I am giving this a 10 out of 10 because I can’t think of any games in my game libraries that even come close to this game’s massive scale.


- Jacob Metcalf