Our worst fear has happened. No one ever thought they would find us…but they did. Yes, Halo 2, the game everyone has been talking about, is finally here. So suit up and grab your weapon, because in Halo 2, there’s no room for teacups and tippy toes. The game is filled with intense battles, mass destruction, beautiful sceneries, realistic sounds, and still manages to hold a masterful soundtrack.The game starts off with a crazy nine-minute segment of awesome CGI. It’s kind of hard to go through all of it, so I’ll just sum it up. Over all, what you’re seeing is the good guys getting their just rewards and the bad guys getting their punishment. It defiantly gives you sometime to be impressed with the graphic details of everything, both Covenant and Human. Once this is all done, the game actually puts you under control of Master Chief, and let’s you begin kicking butt. Right off you get to see some of the new weapons that will be available to you through out the game, along with some changes to old weapons. When you round the corner down the stairs, check out the gun rack. Here is where you’ll see one of the new human guns: the M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun, or SMG for short. This little guy packs a punch, especially when you’re wielding two of them. Yep, one of the new features is the ability to hold duel weapons, and trust me you’ll need that ability too. This only works for certain guns, like the M6C Pistol, SMG, Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, and Needler. Although the only new human gun is the SMG, they made a lot of changes to some of their older weapons. The pistol, sadly to say, can no longer zoom. Instead it has been replaced with binoculars. The BR55 Rifle (Assault Rifle) now carry’s a scope on it with a medium categorized zoom. The downfall to this is the rounds per a magazine have been cut from 60 to 36. With the last change being made to the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher, at first nothing can be noticed, that is until you target a vehicle. The M19 can now lock on to vehicles, so no more trying to shoot where you think it’s headed. Personally, I do think they made more down grades for the human’s weapons. Although on the other hand, the Covenant learned their lesson apparently and beefed up their arsenal with some new toys of their own. First up would be the Covenant Carbine. There’s not much to say about this weapon. It kind of made me think of a rip off of the human’s rifle that shot a little slower. Next is the Brute Shot and the Fuel Rod Gun, the Brute Shot is just like a grenade launcher. It’s mostly used by Covenant Brutes, a special feature about the gun is that you can bounce the grenades around corners and such. The Fuel Rod Gun is just like the humans M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. The specialties about this weapon are it shoots five rounds instead of two, and the rounds are radioactive…yep radioactive. Both guns are great against vehicles and personnel, although I found the Brute Shot better for anti-ground force and the Fuel Rod Gun for anti-vehicle. The last two weapons, which are my favorite, are the Particle Beam Rifle and the Covenant Energy Sword. The Particle Beam Rifle is just like the S2 AM Sniper Rife, although it’s harder to use because the gun can overheat like the plasma rifle. At best you can get about three shot’s in before it overheats, but with this gun that’s all you’ll need, assuming they are good shots. Now the Energy Sword speaks for itself. These are great for multiplayer games, but are kind of hard to use during normal game. But don’t get me wrong, try using them, they’re fun; they have three attacks: two basic attacks and one fatal lunge attack. You’re probably getting angry with me now because I haven’t gotten to the vehicles yet. Well here you go. The vehicles in the game are awesome, mostly because of one of the games new features: BATTLE DAMGE!! All vehicles in the game can be destroyed beyond belief. One example is when you destroy a ghost, all will be silent for a moment, until you see the ghost start twitching, followed by a high pitch squealing sound, then it explodes into pieces. The battle damage is so precise that you can shot off the hub caps of a warthog, or smash in the windshield. All the vehicles in the game will react in different ways depending on how they’re destroyed. Don’t get your panties in a knot, there are new vehicles too. For the humans, there’s not much. The only new vehicle really is the M12G1 Warthog LAAV. What’s special about this one? Well I’ll tell you. Instead of your basic machine gun turret, this one has a Gauss Cannon. It’s kind of hard to use. I really didn’t care for it, but it gets the job done. As for the covenant, they have a bunch of new vehicles, first up is the Spectre, which is kind of like the warthog, but only seats two. It’s small and highly maneuverable for small areas. Next is the Shadow. It’s like another tank, but this one carries a ghost with it that can be detached and driven. It’s also a two-person vehicle, with room for one driver and one gunner on top. There are also two other vehicle you don’t get to drive, but I’m sure after you hear about them, you will want too. First up is the phantom. This thing is like a flying armored fortress. From ground view, it has three mounted plasma guns that are unbelievably powerful. It also has the ability to carry a ghost with it in the back. The next vehicle, and when I found out I couldn’t drive this thing I almost put my fist through the TV, is The Scarab. You’d think that weapons like this would render the human forces as no challenge for the Covenant. At first glance you could confuse the Scarab with an AT&T Walker from Star Wars. The only difference is this thing looks like a giant bug and the front end of it, which resembles a head, is a giant plasma gun. Clearly you can see that the Covenant have had their dirty little hands busy getting ready for the fight. Along with new vehicles the Covenant also picked up two new characters: Brutes and Drones. Brutes look like giant bear creatures with tough looking, leathery skin. Don’t under estimate these guys; their name should warn you right off. When these guys get angry, they go berserk and that’s the time to get up high or run away. They only use melee attacks and they hurt. If you thought the hunters melee attacks was bad, wait until these guys hit you. The Drones, well they look like bugs as well. You’ve got to be careful with these guys because they can fly, and are hard to hit when in the air.The multiplayer mode is out of this world. The new maps are awesome. Although they still do have their awfully confusing ones, like Beaver Creek, which is down to every little detail just like Battle Creek. Some new features to the multiplayer are: now 50 isn’t the only high score, the game goes up to 250. Finally an excuse to crush the skulls of your friends longer. The maps can now support all vehicles, such as in the new Blood Gulch; you have the ability to fly a Banshee around if you want too. One of the coolest features that you can use, both in multiplayer and campaign, is the ability to hi-jack vehicles. Yes you can jump a bored any vehicle while someone is driving it and knock their sorry butt off it. Another fun new feature is that you’re no longer limited to just blue team and red team. There are six other color teams. So let the chaos roll, my good friends. The game also allows you to go more in depth in to how you play. Some examples are keeping track of: your average life, your best killing spree, how many times you killed other players and how many times they killed you, what medals you are awarded, how many times you fired a weapon and how many hits, along with head shots made. When picking out the rules, there are two new games to pick from: Assault and Territories. Assault is just like invasion but with bombs instead of flags and you have as many lives as you need. While in territories, the object of the game is to hold the most territories for a set amount of time. Both games are wicked fun for a group get-together, and just as fun with people you don’t know.Halo 2 is a great game. No matter who you talk to, you’ll always hear different opinions about it. The game kept its basic levels of easy to legendary. I managed to fly through normal and hard, but then I made the mistake of trying legendary. I’m not lying. This is a huge joke, because of how hard it is, I congratulate anyone that has made it even half way through playing legendary. My hat is off to you my friend. I loved the game, but at the same time, there where things I really didn’t like. Some of things like the length of the flashlight. Before you could turn it on and it would stay on until the battery died. In Halo 2, the light will only stay on for about 5 seconds then shut off. Another would be that you can’t hurl grenades as far as before. Now there’s something to argue, but that was always a favorite of mine. There are a lot of things in the game that are very, very confusing. There is one important character that you meet that I still am not able to explain, but if I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Don’t let these get you down, because there are plenty of good things to make up for this. To sum up everything, Halo 2 rocked my world, and is a great addition to any gamer’s collection. The story line is awesome and the multiplayer ability will make the game’s appeal last forever. You’ll never get tired of it.
Platform: X-BoxGenre: First Person PlatformRating: 10 out of 10