REGULAR VISITORS AND those who know anything about me at all will already be well aware of my general lack of…fondness for Halo. Nonetheless, being that there are only the Reaper, Charlie and myself making regular contributions at the moment, and Halo being one of the most successful and popular games franchises in the current gaming market, it seemed like a bad idea to cut them out completely. And, well, it seems that I am currently in the best position to muddle through. So here I am, back again with my take on the second chapter in this, most decidedly love it or hate it series.

I was rather critical of the first chapter, far more so than I really intended to be. And whilst I still feel my opinions were justified and correct from my perspective (opinion is a personal thing after all) I still made a genuine effort to offer a more impartial review. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find anything at all about Halo that appealed to me. But my views on the first game are already documented and available of this very website for all to see so I don’t need to go over them again. But it’s important that I add perspective because the paragraphs to follow may come as a surprise to many.

Halo 2 improved immensely over the original both technically and atmospherically. The scripting was significantly better, with the characters being fleshed out far more than in the predecessor. Most notably the Chief himself, who was, not to put too fine a point on it, a right arrogant…so and so. He develops a more approachable and ultimately more compelling personality in his second appearance, moving away from the cheesy, gung ho “I’m going to save the galaxy” bs. He gains more of a grounded perspective, making him seem more likeable and less of a douchebag.

The plot, also, had a better flow to it, though a lot of that was ruined when the ending became, more or less, a repeat of the original game. Only the locations changed, and the introduction of a new playable character, the Covenant Arbuter, offering a slightly different perspective. I still wouldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed the game, but I can at least say that I didn’t out and out hate it either. I’ve never been a particular fan of First Person Shooters at the best of times, and Halo 2 did nothing to draw me in and leave me with anything more than a so-so impression. And, again, I didn’t bother with the online play because that also has never appealed to me. I know that the online matches are a large part of the appeal for many gamers, but I’ve always been more interested in the main game so my impressions are always going to be based from that first.

It didn’t help that I was running a built for Vista game on XP Home either. I needed a number of home built and edited files to allow the game to even run on my rig, and faced a number of problems along the way from a technological stand point. Though this, of course, has nothing to do with the game itself, and could have been avoided by running the game under the correct OS, it didn’t exactly endear me towards it when I had to use the Task manager to close it down because it had frozen for the umpteenth time. Still, I do accept that that was my own fault and should be taken not as an attack on the game, but as a heads up to those who, like myself, still use XP and wish to play the PC version of the game.

Basically, Halo 2 is a lot like the first and will likely always divide the gaming world. Some will love it, others will hate it. Me? I was wholly under enthused and can say only that it wasn’t really bad, but wasn’t really very good either. As always, it would be best to decide for yourself. Just don’t expect to see me running through it again any time soon. Though it does offer 1000 achievement points which are attainable without needing a subscription to Live for online so…maybe.

Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Audio/Music: 7.5/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

P.S : WTF?!? Cortana went Emo. Hmm…

Emoness : 9.5/10