The Official Halo 2 Thread

[Razola]

It's being hyped to high hell, and it's only a matter of time before the threads pour in.

It's coming in a week. Feel free to gush over it and talk endlessly about it once it's actually released. And hey, arrange some Live matches while you're at it.

Rawr.

[PNT510]

Thankfully I have Paper Mario 2, GTAA, and Tommorow(hopefully) Smackdown vs Raw to keep my mind of Halo 2.

It should also be noted, if you live in Pakistan you can get a pirated english version, instead of french.

[ryandude713]

im one fo the few that thinks that halo is overrated.
im pretty sure the sequel is going to be better than the first, but still kinda lame to me
i have gta sa ,and city of heroes, so i dont care.

[MetalScyther]

I played it a bit at a friends house a few days ago. It's pretty cool.

I'm not going to be buying it though, because:

a) no broadband, so no xbconnect or live
b) its 50 dollars - that is quite a bit of money for a videogame
c) my friends are buying it - I'll play co-op

I can't wait to geek out to 16 people halo 2 parties though.

[Crazy]

I already bought it. I put it on layaway and it is fully paid. Oh,and 50 dollars is the norm for a new game. You should know that. I got am getting the collecters edition. The first was overrated,but it was still a great game.

[PNT510]

I played it a bit at a friends house a few days ago. It's pretty cool.

I'm not going to be buying it though, because:

a) no broadband, so no xbconnect or live
b) its 50 dollars - that is quite a bit of money for a videogame
c) my friends are buying it - I'll play co-op

I can't wait to geek out to 16 people halo 2 parties though.

How could you play it at a friends house? It's not out yet.

[Razola]

How could you play it at a friends house? It's not out yet.

Halo 2 was leaked a few weeks ago.

EDIT: Pirate smilely removed because it licks dick.

[MetalScyther]

Yeah, this friend is kind of a little geeky, he knows how to pirate shit and stuff. He showed me how to pirate games off the internet. No idea how he got it on his Xbox. I think he downloaded it and 'chipped his Xbox or something.

I only played it for like 10 minutes - really cool, but I wanted to go to a party instead.

I know 50 bucks is normal for a new game, but that is still pretty damn high. 50 bucks goes a long way towards other stuff. Therefore, anything that I can pirate/freeload off of I do, and stuff that lasts long enough and is worth the 50 bucks (GTAA), I buy. :]

[shazza]

i can't wait for Halo 2 but i need my xbox fixed

[PNT510]

I just found out monday night that my gamestop is having a Halo 1 tourny, and the winner gets a free copy of Halo 2. But it starts the same time as wrestling! what am I gonna do?

[MetalScyther]

Give up watching two men grab eachother in a wild jungle sex manner and win yourself a $50 game.

[ryandude713]

Give up watching two men grab eachother in a wild jungle sex manner and win yourself a $50 game.

i concur
wrestling is the same every week, but halo can at least give you some long lasting pleasure
and its a sure bet that they will show the highlights on the next episode
so go play halo
and if u loose then that just sucks

[Razola]

Let me put it this way: it's a lot easier to just download wrestling off the internet than it is Halo.

[PNT510]

I think I'm gonna actually watch it, because I will be to busy playing Halo 2 after it comes out to worry about WWE.

[MetalScyther]

i concur
wrestling is the same every week, but halo can at least give you some long lasting pleasure

You're full of shit. What could be more pleasureful then watching two young, athletic men in spandex grabbing eachother in every position imaginable?

Oh wait.

On a serious note, my friends are having a Halo 2 thing on saturday. Assuming my weekend doesn't **** up somehow, I'll let you dudes know how it goes and if it is fun or not.

So far, from what I hear battlecreak and blood gulch are back. They were also talking about a new game type called "Territory," which apparently is pretty awesome.

[.hacker]

The game will be released at Midnight on Monday night where live!

I have a reserve for it, but I can't stay up that late on a school night. I'll probably pick it up after my classes are over on Tuesday. (And I don't want to wait in line with 1000 people for the game)

[shazza]

awesome it is the 9th here and it is out. my xbox is ****ed but my friend is borrowing me his. going to get it hopefully after school.

[homeofmew]

I heard Halo 2 is way better than halo 1, Paper Mario 2 is way too hard though.
Challenging is ok, but oo hard is not.

[PNT510]

Paper Mario 2 is too hard? When does that start? I am halfway through chapter 3 and getting bored with it because every battle is to simple.

[Razola]

Paper Mario 2 is very easy. No get me wrong, it was very fun, but if it's hard you have problems with gaming in general.

Going at midnight to get my copy. WoW, however, gives it stiff competition. I'll try to play it some, but I really would like to hit 25 by tonight...

EDIT: omghalo. I was at the midnight selling, and I was number 164. It was packed. Played it for an hour, and it's pretty good so far. Duel-wield was well implemented.

[PNT510]

Just got back from a 4 1/2 hour LAN Party. We started with 9, and ended with 3. All and all I would say its a blast. Most of the weapons were alot of fun and really well balanced(except the battle rifle and pistol, I found both all but useless). I also like the way you can edit all the game types and the indepth stat tracking. I am upset about not being able to play with infinite grenades anymore

I'll update on the single player after I try it.

[Razola]

I found the cutscenes to be graphically underwhelming. Too many times did I see minor slowdown and the details in MC's armor lagging.

(Spoiler:) Also, the scene with Master Chief sending the bomb back to the Covenant ship was stupid as hell. It was almost like Anakin shooting down the capital ship in Episode 1. "Oh, I managed to get to the ship's core in zero gravity. Oh, I managed to get out just in time. Oh, I manage to reach a friendly ship before being sucked in by Earth's atmosphere." Had he just launched it via some other instrument (trash disposal, a cannon of some sort), it would've been badass, but that just seem too over-the-top for me.

[shazza]

i got it nearly two days ago, and my friends xbox. most of it lived upto the hype, and i am very happy.

(Spoiler:) i don't really like playing as an elite in single player.

[Crazy]

Got it when it came out. Got the collector's edition. This game is better than the first. Looks better. 2 stories. Plays better. Online rocks. It lived up to the hype. YAY! I've been reading some of the bad reviews(because I am tired of good ones). Some idiots are comparing it's length to GTAan Andreas. They are 2 different types of games. No one wants to play a 150+hour shooter. Some complain about the controls,when they are exactly the same as the old. The game,from what I heard,is 10-12 hours long for most people. That's fine with me. I mean it has 4 different skill levels.

[Razola]

GTA isn't 150+ hours.

[Roy Karrde]

Just finished the game, it will go down in history as the most annoying game ever. Here is why

(Spoiler:) The Arc which can activate all the Halos and destroy the Galaxy arrives at Earth which is in the middle of a huge ass battle, Master Chief and the main baddies are on it. Earth Command orders to fire at the Arc when Master Chief contacts them. The dialogue goes as follows

Master Chief: This is Spartan 110 * I believe was his code number *
Earth: Find out where he is on that ship, Master Chief what are you doing on there?
Master Chief: Finishing This Fight.
Roll Credits

[MetalScyther]

spoiler: i am going to play the game tommorrow at a friends house

I heard something about CTF with more than one flag to capture. That sounds mad fun.

Anyway, is it true that ATV's and "snow-warthogs" were taken out? I was looking forward to ATV's the most out of everything. My magazine talked about a level called "burial mounds" made specifically for ATV's, and if those aren't on it anymore that would be sucky.

Wtf is a 'snow warthog' ?

[PNT510]

A snow warthog is a warthog that rides on snow and ice.

[Last Exile]

Well, I'd want a game that would actually last longer than that myself. Sounds like Halo 2 has the online capability though.

I doubt I'll be seeing it anytime soon though. All my friends and I either own PS2s or Cubes.

However, Halo 2 has sold about 8-10 times more than other games have in this country.

[Razola]

Halo 2's campaign was way short, and the story started nicely, but felt rushed at the end. It was good, but I was expected more.

But Halo has always been about multiplayer. It is fully online this time 'round, and loaded with personal stats for you.

[PNT510]

Well, I'd want a game that would actually last longer than that myself. Sounds like Halo 2 has the online capability though.

I doubt I'll be seeing it anytime soon though. All my friends and I either own PS2s or Cubes.

However, Halo 2 has sold about 8-10 times more than other games have in this country.

10-12 hours isn't that short for a shooter, also the game is longer on harder difficulties, and most play halo for the multiplayer anyways. Me and my friends have probably already played 15 hours of multiplayer.

[Outlaw JT]

The battle rifle is far from useless! While it lacks the single shot power of the pistol from the first game the zoom is identical and even when zoomed it maintains a faster rate of fire than the pistol. If you have any sense of accuracy the battle rifle can save you a lot of stryfe by picking off enemies at midrange before they can get a good line of fire on you. The new pistol is pretty useless though.

As for my impressions of the game:
The new multiplayer modes, while fun, are just copies of game types that already exist in several other shooters. The single player/co-op game so far is very good although the story is a bit more complicated than it probably should have been for a shooter. I am happy to say they did fix one of my biggest gripes with the first Halo. The environments are not nearly as repetitive as the first game. That's not to say that none of the rooms or hallways are identical. It's just a lot less obvious now. One last note; the energy blade is freaking awesome!!!

[MetalScyther]

My impressions:

Single player co-op is AWESOME. I only played the first three or four levels with a friend so far though. The story is great. Cut-scenes are gorgeous(I can't believe people bitch about graphics..). Gameplay is the best though. It's awesome since you can drive so many vehicles. So far the highlight of it for me was driving a wraith(covenant tank). I think that is so sweet. :X

Multiplayer was pretty sweet too, but not as great as I expected. Infact, I think I like halo 1's levels better. There doesn't seem to be too many smaller levels for splitscreen besides 1 or 2, most of them seem like 16 player levels meant for online play. I think the reason I didn't enjoy the multiplayer THAT much is because I sucked so much ass(had no idea how to dual-wield, hijack vehicles, and had no idea about the levels).

I'm gonna go to another halo 2 thing soon, and hopefully that will be better.

Anyway, CTF on coagulation(very similar to blood gulch) is as fun as ever. That is where it is for me. :]

[Razola]

Dual-wielding and hijacking are very easy to understand...if you actually read the manual. Not that it takes a genius to figure them out; I mean, if you get close enough to a vehicle the game will tell you how to jack it.

And there is no greater thrill than hijacking a wraith.

[Prodigy]

Dual-wielding and hijacking are very easy to understand...if you actually read the manual. Not that it takes a genius to figure them out; I mean, if you get close enough to a vehicle the game will tell you how to jack it.

And there is no greater thrill than hijacking a wraith.

How about hijacking a Banshee?

[PNT510]

How about hijacking a banshee and the person who was thrown out of the banshee falls down a bottomless pit?

[MetalScyther]

how about hijacking a banshee and throwing the person into a bottomless pit of SPIKES full of the halo 2 equivelant of sharks? surely that is the greatest

I did figure out how to hijack the vehicles, it just took me awhile. It doesn't matter if the game tells you how to, because you have to be right beside the vehicle to do it. And a ghost doesn't let you stay beside it very often..

[Crazy]

I beat the game 2 days ago. It was fun. ONLINE HERE I COME.

[freshmex]

Single player legendary decent, coop fun, xbox live/xbconnect ****ing own you. Glad I have english one now was getting tired of listening to my hero sarge speaking french

[Outlaw JT]

10-12 hours my foot! I beat the game the other day and I finished it in 7 hours. I could have finished it in probably 3 or 4 if I were to play through it on easy. Up until the credits started rolling I thought it was going to be a lot longer. As is, I actually think the single player/co-op is shorter than the first Halo. It took me twice as long to finish the first Halo on the same difficulty setting. That either means Halo 2 is a lot shorter or a lot easier, neither of which is good. Mind you, the single player game is still really good. It just ends way too soon. It also fails to deliver one thing that the first game did. That one thing would be any remote sense of resolution. Still a great game, still enjoying it, but these few things are starting to annoy me about it.

Also, the energy blade, while awesome, is completely unbalanced. Anyone who is halfway decent with it can wipe out 3 to 5 people with the best weapons in the game regardless of skill level. The only way to balance the energy blade is with a lucky grenade throw, an expert sniper, or a suicide grenade/rocket shot.