06.26.07
Halo 2
I honestly can’t see what the big fuss about Halo is. I played the first game on PC and thought it was a below-average shooter in a mildly original setting, but I reserved my judgment until the day I could play it on its native platform, the Xbox. Now I’ve bought Halo 2 for my 360, and… well, it’s fun and all. I mean it’s clearly a solid game with nice artwork and some fun gameplay features (namely the limited arsenal - 2 weapons for nice balance - and the dualwielding), and some of the setpieces are really nice, such as the bigass AT-AT-ish walker I just boarded from a convenient catwalk, but still… it’s just your standard fast-paced corridor shooter. And even when the level design occasionally opens up (as I know it did a few times in the first game but has yet to do in the sequel), it’s still just a solid shooter. Compared to Gears of War it’s only so-so (admittedly Gears is next-gen, but even disregarding the graphics…)
Maybe I should try it in split-screen co-op.
EER said,
June 27, 2007 at 07:16
Finally something I have to say something intelligent about, having played Halo for days on end.
The first thing about Halo ofcourse is that it was one of the first exclusive games for the XBox and as such it was the one game _every_ xbox owner would buy.
The reason I enjoyed playing Halo on XBox was the split-screen co-op mode. Looking back on the game, well it wasn’t all good, but it did offer some good co-op action, and cool exploits (bugs). The most important thing I remember is that I think it was pretty much the first game (or at least the first one that I played) that allowed two players to ride in the warthog with one shooting and one driving.
Graphics were pretty sweet for the time as well, with the PC release, well… nobody really cared for the (by that time) outdated graphics and the fools got rid of the co-op mode as well (and as such, the very appeal of the game).
Halo 2 I hadn’t played until late last year/early this year. Also in co-op mode, but for me, it didn’t really work out. Maybe because I haven’t played it for weeks, but more like .. 1 day, but it just didn’t really appeal.
GoW is pretty nice ofcourse, again the co-op is well done, and even though I played it for only one day as well, I still like it a lot more than Halo 2.
Anyway, for me it’s all about the co-op, if you ever want to play Halo 1 co-op, I’d like to join in on the fun (geographical distances be damned)
Jonas said,
June 28, 2007 at 13:08
Hmm well maybe I can procure a version of Halo 1 for my 360 and we can try it out if I get around to subscribing to Live. Halo 1 for PC was destroyed for me by the Flood. Those guys are just not really fun to fight at all, it’s like their AI has just been toggled off :S
I admit it’s unfair to compare Halo 2 solo to Gears co-op, maybe I’ll change my mind about Halo 2 once I get around to playing it in split-screen with somebody; possibly Casper; on the projector in our big meeting room at work; just like Gears
EER said,
June 29, 2007 at 09:22
I especially hate the level “The Library”, with the mandatory wait times and floods of Flood. Their strenght is obviously in their numbers, not their AI (although they sometimes can kill you easily when they get hold of a rocket launcher).
Halo 2 … well, I just didn’t really like it as much as 1. I don’t know why, it’s pretty much the same so it shouldn’t matter. Maybe it’s the lack of interesting innovations.The multiplayer is generally considered better in Halo 2 (I just read some forum thread about it), but I only play it co-op anyway.
Jonas said,
June 29, 2007 at 23:49
I just played it co-op with a friend up ’till around the first level as the Covenant arbiter, which incidentally was the first example of genuinely fine storytelling in the game (and far more interesting than anything the first game did in that department). It’s very very interesting how Halo 2’s cinematics so far have chosen to focus more on what the antagonists are doing than what the good guys are up to.
But it was fun in co-op, I must admit. Not quite as fun as Gears, as it doesn’t seem as tactical, but a lot of fun none-the-less.