Halo 2 for Xbox

[Ego Woods]

Anybody else other than me, looking forward to what's going to be the greatest video game of the year????? Perhaps the greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!

[Ego Woods]

Anybody else other than me, looking forward to what's going to be the greatest video game of the year????? Perhaps the greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!
I guess not.........:o

[Mok]

i'll definitely be spending some weekends playing that game, anyone use XBConnect to play?

[Ego Woods]

i'll definitely be spending some weekends playing that game, anyone use XBConnect to play?
Halo 2 is going to be using Xbox live to play online...no need for xbconnect..that program was sorta a pain in the butt cuz everyone wanted to host the game and not join one...xbox live should be correcting it to make it more fair for all users...

[Mok]

halo was available on xbox live too right? the point of xbconnect was so that you don't have to pay the subscription fee for xbox live...

[TorontoGolfNuts.com]

halo was available on xbox live too right? the point of xbconnect was so that you don't have to pay the subscription fee for xbox live...
Halo was not available on xbox live.

[VBall]

I was on xbox live.. and when I requested to cancel, they offered me a free game... lol. I told I would only take halo 2 but unfortunately, it wasn't available at that time. but you guys should give it try and maybe you'll be able to get a free game!

[Jaydog]

i was getting my butt kicked in halo and look forward to getting my butt kicked in halo 2. :D i'm not very good but it's lots of fun to play.

[Mok]

Halo was not available on xbox live.
oh whoops...

first person shooters are fun, but i need a lot more practice on console...much better on the keyboard/mouse...

[Stablefordvet]

You also need to spend more than 30 minutes playing too Mok. When H2 comes out there will be no "I'm feeling sick":mad:

[Focker Singh]

Mok,
You sure you won't get motion sickness playing Halo 2? You didn't play Halo with us because of that reason, what makes you think Halo 2 is any different? Bring a plasic bag or take come gravel before you play...hahaha...looking forward to the sequal...should be good!

[Mok]

Mok,
You sure you won't get motion sickness playing Halo 2? You didn't play Halo with us because of that reason, what makes you think Halo 2 is any different? Bring a plasic bag or take come gravel before you play...hahaha...looking forward to the sequal...should be good!
i probably need gravol or something haha...but you know it's all in the way i'm able move using the controller...

[Ego Woods]

i probably need gravol or something haha...but you know it's all in the way i'm able move using the controller...
your not fit for war, soldier....

[Ego Woods]

I was on xbox live.. and when I requested to cancel, they offered me a free game... lol. I told I would only take halo 2 but unfortunately, it wasn't available at that time. but you guys should give it try and maybe you'll be able to get a free game!so which game did u end up getting?

[Kerudo]

Halo 2 should be awesome. I played a bit of the first one with a few of my friends. I can't play FPS game son console, I suck really bad without a mouse and keyboard. As far HL2 that game will own just about every FPS game including Halo 2. Has anyone seen CS: Source?? :eek: I'm jsut drooling thinking about it...

[VBall]

Halo 2 should be awesome. I played a bit of the first one with a few of my friends. I can't play FPS game son console, I suck really bad without a mouse and keyboard. As far HL2 that game will own just about every FPS game including Halo 2. Has anyone seen CS: Source?? :eek: I'm jsut drooling thinking about it...

I don't but I have a HL2 key for sell :D got it from my ati card.

[Mok]

Halo 2 should be awesome. I played a bit of the first one with a few of my friends. I can't play FPS game son console, I suck really bad without a mouse and keyboard. As far HL2 that game will own just about every FPS game including Halo 2. Has anyone seen CS: Source?? :eek: I'm jsut drooling thinking about it...
i quit computer games! it ruins lifes!!! i use to be counter-strike fanatic! haha...CAL-M!!!

[Ego Woods]

Halo 2 should be awesome. I played a bit of the first one with a few of my friends. I can't play FPS game son console, I suck really bad without a mouse and keyboard. As far HL2 that game will own just about every FPS game including Halo 2. Has anyone seen CS: Source?? :eek: I'm jsut drooling thinking about it...
No, Halo 2 will own HL2!!...:D

[Mok]

No, Halo 2 will own HL2!!...:D
lets not even talk about half-life 2 yet, will it ever come out? geez...haha...

[Kerudo]

lets not even talk about half-life 2 yet, will it ever come out? geez...haha...
November something, it got delayed agian haha. Yeah i gotta quit computer games too, it's ruining MY life.
And Ego, no way HL2 is untouchable.

[Ego Woods]

Here is the official review of Halo 2 from an XBox magazine from the UK!!! I took this from a Halo 2 fan. :$

Do not read any further if you do not want to be spoiled about any surprises!!!

============================

The Legend is Reborn: Halo 2
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who invert the thumbsticks and those who look at us 'inverters' like we've just walked off another planet. Choosing the setup you're used to makes a huge difference. Make the wrong choice and even a veteran killing-machine becomes somone who stares ficated at the floor when they should be paying attention to the purple plasma-toting kestrel soaring above.
I'd like to think that one day in the future all 'inverters' will stage and uprising. Just like the Covenant, we might command a fleet of galactic battleships and could try to nuke Earth for our zealous upside-down cause. But when you start thinking likke that, you know it's time to relinquish the Xbox controller adn take a rest.
It's little wonder that at the end of three days of hammering on Halo 2, I want to destroy everyone. Having completed the game on Heroic difficulty, this relentless exercise in carnage and destruction is finally over. Even now, i still can't come down from the buzz of excitment and the brain-frazzling ferocity of the whole experiance. Not since the 2001 prequel has any FPS nut spent so long 'in the zone' in one sitting. Halo 2 pushes the extreme limits of competitiveness and concentration, leaving you physically shattered but flooded with endorphins at the end. You'll love every minute of it and here's why....

This is the point where i have to 'chill out' so to speak. To lose control of my enthusiasm and blurt out all of the game's biggest suprises would be downright irresponsible. Particularly so, because one of the best cards in Bungie's hand is to play on the expectations set by the first game and throw them back in your face in a new and startling way. Like the prequel, Halo 2 doesn't try to revolutionize the FPS. Instead, it takes all the features the fans loved and gives them a fresh and crowd-pleasing upgrade.

It's not originality and certainly not the plot (although Bungie's marketing people would have us beleive otherwise) that makes Halo 2 great. It's all down to the excellence of execution; the exquisitely balances weapons, the staggeringly brilliant AI and simply unbelievable art direction.

Although there's not much of the story we can talk about that won't ruin the surprises, the first chapter is almost a carbon copy of the original game's opening level, the Pillar of Autumn. This time, the fleet defending Earth comes under attack. Master Chief and sergeant Johnson must reclaim their space-bound manor from the Covenant. Earth itself is also very much under threat, for the next two levels at least. The immense concrete metropolis of a new Mombassa is the staging ground for some insane street-to-street fighting - like Stalingrad and seven-foot tall alien Nazis.

Despite the battlestar galactica premise, we have a far more complex and conspiratorial tale than it at first seems. At the heart of it all is the Covenant's religious fanaticism pitted against the humans' adulation of hardware, technology and the man himself, Master Chief. Hearing th Covenant describe MC as "The Demon" while the Marines boast "I've got a SPARTAN killing machine - what have you got?" are just two examples of inspired in-game speech that drives the story and characters forward.

Halo 2 is one of the very few FPSs confident enough to place multiple non-player characters at your side. Despite being expendable in terms of the mission, these gun-crazy marines make the total war experiance unbelievable. They sweep the area and take cover when the Covenant is attacking in force. They even jump into vehicles and let rip with homing rockets, all the time hollering with vitriolic put-downs and macho boasts (of which Sergeant Johnson is the undisputed King).
On the other hand, when the chips are down, they'll scream for help and sulk just so you know that Master Chief should pull his big green finger out.

The high-pitches shrieking of Covenant grunts never fails to raise a smile. Elites have also expanded their vocabulary way beyond "wort, wort, wort". They now have human voices and we even heard one eloquently shriek "Retreat and regroup!" as he ran away into a cave. The in-game dialogue is witty, intelligent and varied. You rarely hear the same line twice. Enemy AI is just as sharp as their ugly forked jaws. Elites are way more ferocious than in the original Halo, and they are just as unpredictable. Almost all of them now carry plasma swords as their secondary weapons. They've become a new definition of pain on Legendary mode.

The AI is extremely sophisticated. It's almost as much fun watching two groups of enemies fight each other as it is taking part in the genocidal roay rumble. Three-way battles are so unpredictable that each play through is a totally unique experiance. You can experiment with different weapons and survival strategies each time through.

Lengthy non-interactive cutscenes(of around four-eight minutes) are superbly created with in-game graphics and really give you an idea of how talented Bungie's artists are. Technically, it's nearly flawless despite some odd occasions where the textures are noticeably mapped on while the scene is already in progress. In terms of plot, it doesn't fare so well, deliberately asking more convoluted questions withoung answering any from the first game. Instead, it prefers to set stage for the inevitable Halo 3.

But there's plenty of Halo 2 to get through before we start thinking about the next one. Fifteen massive levels to be exact - five more than the original. Okay so none of the levels are as lengthy as the Assault on the Control Room, but that's a good thing in my book. Most take 60-90 minutes to complete on Heroic on there's no repetition or backtracking at all, from start to finish - an awesome achievement considering the immense size of the game and the attention to detail that's gone into each level.
Hard disk caching means you'll never have to watch a loading screen mid-level. Automatic checkpoints also prevent your enjoyment of the game being interrupted. Checkpoints are fairly frequent and paced intuitively after every major battle. You always know that you just have to survive a little longer to make progress but don't have to worry about being penalised too heavily if you die.

The entire campaign mode paces as beautifully as one of Martin o'Donnell's hypnotic symphonies. Halo 2 sneakily lays down moments of peace and tranquility amidst scenes of outright chaos. At one moment you can quite happily be walking through a forest, admiring the sun's rays glistening through the rustling leaves, or watching a fish dart playfully through a babbling brook. It's just enough breathing space to appreciate just hwo much the graphics have improved. Old Xbox bedfellows: bump-mapping and anti-aliasing are joined by newer graphical tricks including soft-shadows and per-pixel shading. But beauty can be deceptive. In the very next instant a Covenant mothership blocks out the sun completely and an entire battalion of Grunts, Elites, and Hunters are raining down from the Sky. This slow, quick, quick, slow approach to level design creates peaks and troughs of deafening silence followed by jaw-dropping action. The way I like to see it is if you have time to admire the scenery, it's time to be very afraid (and reload your gun).

Of course, there are a lot more reasons to be afraid this time. New species have joined burgeoning alien congregation, most noticeably the Prophets and the Brutes. The latter are extra terrestrial gorillas that even Dian Foseey wouldn't get on with. They're slow but more durable than Elites. Ammo and accuracy are at a premium if you don't want to get your head ripped off by their devastating melee attacks. Twice as bad and three times more ugly, the moken-esque Prophets are the leaders of Covenant society. To make things worse, some of the nebulous marauders, particularly Elites and Jackals, have access to new weapons like the Covenant Carbine and Beam Rifle (a new version of the sniper rifle).

If you think that sounds bad, imagine coming up against four Wraith tanks at once! Thankfully, the new hijacking feature makes things a little more even handed. Getting close and pressing X can capture and vehicle in the game, from mortar-launching Wraiths to flying Banshees. With the tougher vehicles like Scorpians, you have to batter the hatch to get it open, and then press the L trigger to throw in a grenade or two. Hijacking is a double-plasma sword, though. Elites and Brutes will return the favour and remove you from your vehicle given the slightest opportunity.
Far more than just a gimmick, this simple trick also fine-tunes the multiplayer portion of Halo 2, making it a lot more balanced. No longer can one player go on a ten-minute rampage in a Scorpian (ZeRo Ed: i can't wait to teach my tank hogging friend who's boss now) - they simply won't last that long. This is crucial because over half of the 11 multiplayer maps are packed with fully destructible vehicles.
Considerably bigger than those from the first game, these maps are also a leaf out of the Unreal Championship book. They're multi-tired, labyrinthine and there are always several different routes to a single all-important location. Brilliantly the best weapons are placed in the most exposed positions, creating satisfying risk/reward scenarios. He who dares wins!

continued on next post......

[Ego Woods]

continued from the previous post......

Another feature that alters the natre of multiplayer games is dual wielding. It's as simple as walking over any of the single-handed weapons you can find and pressing the Y button. It's a little confusing at first because you can only swap your primary weapon in the tradition way (pressing the X button) and your secondary weapon must be discarded before you can pick up a new one. Once you've figured it out though, the possibilities are endless. Despite plaing it for hours and hours, we've yet to discover the ultimate weapon combo...but it's only a matter of time.

One thing I'm not all happy about is the removal of the pistol. The new magnum just doesn't cut it for accuracy and stopping power. That weapon was so brutally refined; it makes no sense at all why it should have been taken out (apart from to make things easier for newbies).
Despite this, you couldn't accuse Halo 2 of dumbing down. Every new feature the fans asked for - from being able to play as the Elites to detailed post-match statistics - are included.
Perhaps most significant of all is the brand new abiltiy to field up to eight different teams in a single battle. This won't in obvious two team game modes like Capture the Flag and Assault, but give it a try in Oddball or kind of the Hill and you will discover how it requires completely different strategies to succeed.
Excitingly, it's still possible to play two-player co-op split-screen. I'll be the first to admit I'm certainly not brave enough to try to beat the game on Legendary without another veteran Halo player at my side.

Above all else, Marcus lehto's art direction is what astounds us the most. Sharp graphics don't mean a thing if the enemies and environments are cliched or silly. There's certainly no danger of that happening here. Halo 2 has real elegance in its design, from the architecture of the alien buildings to the Covenant's curvaceous and insect-like motherships. Apart from the Silent Hill series and Ninja Gaiden, I've never played a game with so much visual integrity. It's all down to creating a world apart, something completely unique that you could never find in your standard generic FPS.
The trailers have said 'Earth will never be the same.' Now that i've played and finished Halo 2, i realised what they meant. It could be years before we see another FPS of this unbeleivable standard. Three days ago i could never have imagined a game could be so intense, so polished and so eager to give the fans everything they asked for. A full-metal assault on the senses, Halo 2 is an astounding game that will never be forgotten by those who play it.


The summary:
1. The AI is so entertaining in its own right, you almost don't have to play the game to enjoy it. Watching enemies fight is brilliant fun!

2. Almost every type of multiplayer setup has been catered for. Split-screen, System Link, and Xbox Live. No Live co-op though.

3. Takes all the best bits from the original Halo and builds upon them with new features like dual wielding and vehicle hijacking.

4. Fifteen levels, all absolutely massive, and without any of the repetition that tarnished the prequel.

5. Some of the best Graphics and art design in videogames history. A fascinating and unforgettable sci-fi vision.

THE VERDICT:

We doubt you'll ever play a better single-player and multiplayer game on this generation of consoles.
10/10

[Focker Singh]

NICE!!!! I'm even more excited than before...last night I saw a commercial for H2 and that was already good enough...dang!!! can't wait...next TUESDAY is circled on my calender and i'm not sleeping that night!!! hehe...

[Jaydog]

i wasn't that hyped before but after reading the review....wow...can't wait.

[patlo]

I didn't get anything for cancelling xblive... oh well :(
Yeah, i can't wait for halo2 either. Halo was the only game on the xbox that i've played beginning to end, so I'm excited, hee hee.

BTW, nice site guys. You guys are nuts!! hehee... especially that mok guy :D

[Ego Woods]

NICE!!!! I'm even more excited than before...last night I saw a commercial for H2 and that was already good enough...dang!!! can't wait...next TUESDAY is circled on my calender and i'm not sleeping that night!!! hehe...
Just don't forget...it's Monday night (well, Tues 12am) that it comes out...don't circle the wrong night!:)

[Milestones]

I'm very excited about it. I'm also wondering how it compares to Half Life 2.

[Focker Singh]

I'm very excited about it. I'm also wondering how it compares to Half Life 2.

I'm not really a gamer Milestones but I've played both. I must say, Halo ROCKS Half Life!! Both emphasize on team play but Half Life doesn't have a campaign does it? The campaign on Halo is enough to make me spend hours and hours on it. HL you just run around and kill the terrorists. Just more excitement and different scenerios in Halo in my opinion.

[Milestones]

actually HL2 does have a story mode. The story line is actually very well written as well! you should give it a try. I think HL2 is suppose to be a lot better!

[Ego Woods]

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