Late to the party: Just completed Halo 2.....

ElyrionX

Member
Ok, so I played the single player campaign till the 10th mission and got too bored and stopped about a month ago. Then, last night, a friend came over and we played co-op from there till the end.

Overall, it was a less than great experience. I mean, the whole repetitiveness from Halo 1 is back. Run into room, shoot, kill. Run into next room, shoot, kill. Run into next next room, shoot, kill. WTF? There's hardly any variety in the gameplay. The first half of the game basically showed you what the rest of the game had to offer in terms of gameplay variety. The vehicle sections of the game grew so tired the 1358435th time you board a Warthog/Ghost/Wraith/Scorpion.

As for the ending, I don't understand the fuss over it. Maybe, it's because by the time we got to the ending, we were so tired of the game that we just glad that it's all finally over.

Playing co-op certainly brought a much-need extra dimension to the game but it wasn't enough. The game was just too goddamn repetitive.
 
oh God...

people. Repetition is not a BAD thing when it comes to a videogame, please do NOT list it as a fault since EVERY videogame is repetitive.

What I think you meant to say Elryion is that you find the combat in Halo 2 dull. Fair enough.
 
Oh fuck here we go again.....cue the six pages of xbots trying to justify repetition and monotony in Halo 1 and 2.
 
rastex said:
oh God...

people. Repetition is not a BAD thing when it comes to a videogame, please do NOT list it as a fault since EVERY videogame is repetitive.

What I think you meant to say Elryion is that you find the combat in Halo 2 dull. Fair enough.

[Thumbs up]

xabre said:
Oh fuck here we go again.....cue the six pages of xbots trying to justify repetition and monotony in Halo 1 and 2.


Oh everybody that enjoys Halo has to be an Xbot?
 
rastex said:
oh God...

people. Repetition is not a BAD thing when it comes to a videogame, please do NOT list it as a fault since EVERY videogame is repetitive.

What I think you meant to say Elryion is that you find the combat in Halo 2 dull. Fair enough.

Good point there.

However, the "combat" is not exactly dull, IMO.

I still think "repetitive" is the right word to describe it. Sure, most if not all, games are repetitive in one way or another. However, in other games, there are elements like set-pieces, scripted events, storyline, atmosphere and gameplay mechanics that actually help to make you forget about the whole repetitiveness of it all. Granted that Halo 2 had its moments of great atmosphere (like certain Flood levels were scary as shit) but overall, the game fails to make you forget that you're actually fighting room after room of Flood/Covenant.

BTW, anybody else notice that the game never had you killing any humans, despite the fact that you spend half the time as the Arbiter?
 
Oh everybody that enjoys Halo has to be an Xbot?

It's one thing to enjoy the game, and it's another to go to the ends of the earth to justify its obvious flaws. That's all.
 
So i guess you couldn't get past the first goomba in SMB?
I guess LEVEL design is something in in your vocabulary.
 
MutFox said:
So i guess you couldn't get past the first goomba in SMB?
I guess LEVEL design is something in in your vocabulary.

I swear I killed my 1000th goomba the same way as my first, there is fucking NOTHING wrong with that.

I can’t stand people on these forums at are so dense they can’t realize sarcasm.
 
Bumping up the difficulty to heroic makes a world of difference. The game is garbage if you just play through on easy, might as well be playing serious sam.
 
ElyrionX said:
Sure, most if not all, games are repetitive in one way or another. However, in other games, there are elements like set-pieces, scripted events, storyline, atmosphere and gameplay mechanics that actually help to make you forget about the whole repetitiveness of it all.
Halo 2 had basically everything you listed right there. You sure you made it to this party?
BTW, anybody else notice that the game never had you killing any humans, despite the fact that you spend half the time as the Arbiter?
Wrong. The Quarantine Zone level is one example.

Halo 2 had flaws, but I don't think you've done a very good identifying them or remembering much of the game.
 
Set-pieces? Sure, but most of these involved a Scorpion spawning out of nowhere and then you getting into it and just blasting millions of lameass Ghosts away. Either that or you would suddenly run into a room-full of the Flood when there was none in the levels before. It's the same thing over and over again. Granted that these sequences were cool the first couple of times but not when it's done for the 1835th time.

Scripted events? I don't remember much, if any at all. Perhaps the Scarab fight at the beginning?

Storyline? Half the goddamn time, I have to strain my ears to hear what Cortana or any other character is saying in the middle of gameplay. There should be subtitles for such things. Gripe aside, the story is hardly compelling. It's more of a mess than anything else. Sometimes, I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on especially near the end when the game switches between Master Chief and the Arbiter so much. And most of the time, I have no idea WHERE I'm fighting. Halo? Some weird Covenant system? Some random Covenant warship? Earth?

Atmosphere? I've already accounted for that in one of my posts. Anyway, I think the game could have done a better job at conveying the fact that Earth is being invaded. That's what the game's commercials and trailers were promising. The first stage felt like the Autumn of Pillar all over again.
 
I feel pretty much the same way about Halo 2, it's just more of the same. I found Halo 1 to be one of the best FPS' on consoles, topping even Goldeneye imo. But Halo 2 ... well I couldn't wait to beat and be done with it after about the third level.
 
Halo 2 has some (big) flaws, but the core gameplay is so much fun to me I never get tired of it. When you say all you do is run into next room, shoot, kill, I say that's what makes the game a joy to play. "HALOOOO!!" :lol
 
Yep, Halo 2 single player is crap in comparison to the first. I mean what the hell, the best bits of Halo were the outdoor sections, Halo 2 had hardly any of that, the whole game was like walking down a long corridor with rooms on either side. Also, the few outdoor sections it did have were like playing a fucking multiplayer game; there was no feeling of exploring an alien landscape, it was just pure action the whole way through in mostly uninspired locales. The pacing was terrible, and the plot was far worse than the one in Halo. Certainly, the vehicle jacking and dual wielding were excellent additions, but they simply did not make up for the game's other flaws. Also, ANOTHER Library level!? WHAT the FUCK!? And it was possibly more annoying than one from Halo 1 due to those damn laser machines. Talk about repetitive, boring an unimaginative level design...
 
Optimistic said:
The pacing was terrible, and the plot was far worse than the one in Halo.
What the?... How? I was with you on HALO 2's Single Player Campaign 'til you said this. What was it about HALO's story that made it superior to the sequel's? There was much more going on in HALO 2, and it was presented much better.

Also, ANOTHER Library level!? WHAT the FUCK!? And it was possibly more annoying than one from Halo 1 due to those damn laser machines. Talk about repetitive, boring an unimaginative level design...
The Library in HALO 2 was shorter, and had far less repetitious areas than the first. I know you're not going to say it was inferior than the first Library just because you had to shoot a few pillars to progress to another area.

My only complaint about HALO 2's Library, and pretty much every other Flood-centric level in HALO 2 is that there were far less Flood to fight. In the first game, the Flood could seriously overwhelm you at times. But in the sequel, Flood encounters felt just like any other battle with the Covenant almost.
 
Sai said:
My only complaint about HALO 2's Library, and pretty much every other Flood-centric level in HALO 2 is that there were far less Flood to fight. In the first game, the Flood could seriously overwhelm you at times. But in the sequel, Flood encounters felt just like any other battle with the Covenant almost.

You don't have to fight any flood in Halo 2 Library, using your camo shield well you can actually run through the whole thing without stopping to fire at all. That's how I beat the level in Heroic. And I'm sure they made it that way for people who didn't want to (Halo 1 experiences..)

I disagree that the game was very repetitive, it's no more so than any other FPS out there. FPSs *are* about move, shoot, kill, move. *shrug* It's a game, and if you don't like it, fine. Everyone has games they disagree with, what's the big fuss?
 
The excellent A.I takes the place of scripted events in traditional FPSes, to provide fresh challenges, I think you probably need to bump the skill level up since then every run, shoot, kill room will force you to be on your guard and cautious. It's very much a Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) type of experience, sure you're doing the same thing over and over and over, but if you stop playing with concentration, you get punished.
 
I'm guessing you played the game through on Normal. That makes a big difference on the experience for a first run through.

I do find it sad that so many people will pick one of the best games of the year and then rip it apart and say how it was a waste of their time.
I just don't understand what people are expecting. The only game that came out this year that people should really be upset about is Driv3r. That game is worth making a thread complaining about how bad the game is. Not Halo2. Not Paper Mario. Not Metroid Prime 2. Not GTA:SA....................
 
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