Mr Vociferous said:
I've always liked the story in Halo 2 more than the one in the first game, but after playing through "Uprising" in Halo 2, I can honestly say that it is one of the best levels in the series (thus far). I mean it has everything I like about Halo. Several of the environments are large, exploratory and the areas which aren't don't feel cramped. The gameplay is very encounter based, but not in the "wave after wave" format of predictability, like via a dropship. The enemies actually feel organic, even the Brutes which I've gained a lot of respect for. The visuals in the level are pretty damn incredible, particularly the outside portions. There's a lot of vehicle combat if you so choose and some pretty impressive weapons (the fuel rod like pops up four or five times in that level - quite bad ass).
At any rate, "Uprising" is definitely my favorite level of Halo 2 and I'd even go as far as to say, even with its flaws, that it's become one of my favorite Halo series level, including "Assault on the Control Room" and "The Silent Cartographer" which both suffered from some entirely too confusing and disorienting interiors. "Halo" is still my all-time favorite of the series, ironically/iconically.
I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention a few of the reasons I enjoy Halo 2's campaign over the first. I've never really articulated them, so what the hell. Might as well toss out a few notes pre-Halo 3.
You've already mentioned a big one - the story.
Halo 2's was complex and went in very unexpected directions after the setup from the first game, introducing some great characters along the way. The Prophet of Truth, Gravemind, the Arbiter, Half-Jaw - they all were strong characters that helped suck me in.
Another is music. I know this is a debate that will never die, but I prefer the more emotional, wide-ranging Halo 2 score to Halo's more narrow range. Classics like
Under Cover of Night, Brothers in Arms and the signature Halo theme never fail to rouse, but
Unforgotten, In Amber Clad and
Heretic/Hero among many others just hit the right notes for the more character-driven story.
The last of course is the gameplay. It's been debated to no end, but to me it's pretty simple, when broken down into the basic components of Halo's gameplay.
I'm a big fan of vehicle battles. In Halo, fighting in a vehicle was usually a pretty lonely affair - you had a gunner or not, and had some guys ride on the Scorpion that one time. That's about it as far as company goes.
In Halo 2, the major additions were damage states for the vehicles (yay), friendly AI drivers and vehicle boarding. The latter two mean that most of the vehicle sequences are far more interesting. Imagine Outskirts with no Marines driving around with you along the beach and through the tunnels. The boarding adds a big element when both fighting troops on the ground and while against vehicles while on foot. Vehicular combat is more fun than in Halo.
I also love fighting with Marines, but I prefer playing on harder difficulties - and in Halo that meant you don't fight with them for long. They only carry the AR, the last part of T&R aside (or the occasional sniper rifle), which is ineffective in most situations. Worst of all, in most levels they would just stop following you after a certain point. They get picked up in Halo, hang back in the control room of T&R (to get killed before you return), stop after the beach landing of Silent Cartographer, and refuse to go inside in Assault on the Control Room. Both of these are fixed in Halo 2 - I can equip the Marines with an appropriate and arsenal complimentary to my own, and there don't seem to be any limits in where they will follow. I managed to get two guys almost to the fight with the Prophet of Regret once - the hauled all of the way through that level with me, with sniper rifle and BR, god bless'em. Fighting with Marines is more fun than in Halo.
I'll stop there, but I see most parts of the gameplay in similar light -
the better AI, ability to board/drive vehicles and use of shielding in the Flood, the added maneuverability of the Banshee and scale of the dogfights, the addition of active camo on the Arbiter - I just find Halo 2 more enjoyable. All that is before we get into the mission structure, and how the environments are larger and more seamless - but Halo 1 showed that even with repetetive environments, if the gameplay is excellent then it just doesn't matter; gameplay is king. The story, the music, the broader set of options in each combat scenario - to me, it's just more fun to play the Halo 2 campaign
I do have many of the common complaints about Halo 2: the weapon feedback loop is not nearly as strong; the melee is nerfed to near ineffectiveness on any setting higher than Normal, meaning to melee you'd better have a sword; there are not as many memorable climactic encounters as in Halo (though I think Halo 2 is more consistently excellent - it just lacks those punctuation moments, like the hanger bay in T&R and the beach landing in Silent Cartographer).
It's pretty flawed, but it still manages to be my favorite game ever.
I've taken a lot of crap for not being critical of these games much, but the reality is I'm just past all the problems. When Halo 2 came out, I was pretty active on the TeamXbox forums (went there when HBO shut down after the leak) and left that place in a huff after the game came out, because I wanted to talk about the flaws it had, but all of the criticism was relegated to a "Halo 2 bitch thread" - any and all criticism was unwelcome outside of that thread.
I remained vocal about the flaws for about the first six months to a year, but it's in my personality to want to talk about stuff I enjoy rather than stuff I don't - so I don't get caught up into the topic of how the Halo 2 pistol sucks ass any more (but boy does it ever). Been there, done that.
From mid-2005 on my mind has been on Halo 3, and how I hoped it would address every issue in Halo 2 and and then some. What I've seen so far is a resounding "fuck yes".
