Halo 2 [part one]
By Will Bartos
Friday. Dec 17, 12:43 PM
The game people stood in line for... way too long.

I'll be the first to admit that I am not a fan of the Halo hype. When it first came out on the XBox years ago, I completely ignored it. I didn't want an XBox, and I didn't care for people going "Halo's the ONLY reason you need an Xbox.” Metrod Prime was the game for me back then.

And Metroid Prime 2 will be the game for me in a couple weeks. But in the meantime, I have one hell of a game in my hands.

Halo 2 continues the story of Master Chief and his exploits to stop the Covenant, but this time the Covenant brings their fleet to Earth. Gee, sounds like Doom 2. Unlike Doom 2, however, it's not hell on Earth; it's just a very messed up Earth.

Halo 2's presentation is excellent. The graphics engine, although the same from the last game, supports a lot more. The frame rate is quite a bit smoother, with much less slowdown. The physics engine is also really nice. One of the new weapons now has kick to it, so you have to watch for that as you aim. The vehicles themselves still need a little bit of work, but it keeps the player from getting frustrated. Light vehicles and flyers tend to bounce off the heavier tanks and such. The Halo 2 team gets a huge thumbs up from me in the presentation department.

The sound is just as impressive. The surround sound works extremely well. Bullets whiz past you, voices come from all directions, explosions happen right where they're supposed to: this game has it all. The music is also great, having hired some bands (most of which I never heard of, I mean, who are these Incubus guys, anyways?) to create some excellent tunes for the game. It's all easily a great excuse to go and buy that 200 dollar, 1000 watt, 6.1 channel Koss home theater system.

The Multiplayer is greatly expanded, now that Halo 2 has XBox Live support. For folks who don't have XBox Live, a 2-month trial period is included in the case. Once set up, the game has several modes, including Slayer (READ: Deathmatch), Capture The Flag, Oddball, and Territories. You can also vary what happens in these games by changing the options, such as making a game a team game, or banning certain weapons. All these modes are tracked online via Bungie's new website, which has gone completely overboard on tracking statistics. Absent from these modes is something I wish they would have included: the co-op mode. I assume Bungie wanted to focus their efforts on people blowing each other up, as opposed to blowing up Covenant forces in the game together.

For those who got the limited edition version of the game, you are treated to several different extras, most of which do not justify the five dollar extra price tag. The instruction manual is written in the point of view of the Covenant, which is a nice spin on things. There’s also a small pamphlet of fluff: “conversations” from outer space, you could say. You are also treated to an extra DVD bonus disc... which is completely useless. It's a lot of behind the scenes work, outtakes, art, and other things that make it just an extra disc. Now, if the disc had come with, say, extra multiplayer levels to store on the hard drive, or an extra chapter after the end of the first game, I would then justify the price. But it's only an extra five bucks for the hefty tin case and DVD, so I guess I shouldn't expect much. I also didn't like the way they stacked the discs on top of each other in the case – they could have at least sprung to make a case with an insert to store the extra disc instead of stacking ‘em, possibly causing some scratches along the way.

I was lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be) to participate in the long awaited launch of Halo 2, by standing in line for several hours listening to some morons talk about ilovebees.com and hearing some grade A nimrod DJ from Power 106 do his job. He ignored me several times while in line, giving away T-shirts and other junk to the people around me. The people around me were talking about how they'd stay up all night playing Halo 2 until they had to go to work in the morning. I really wanted to drop some people on their heads that night. I did get my picture taken with Master Chief, though. That guy and I go way back. You should have seen the chicks that guy got.

To those who waited to get the game after the big hoopla, you missed absolutely nothing. The game is worth waiting for, and most of the idiots waiting in line can kiss my ass. I'm sure those guys got fired from their jobs after staying up all night. As for the game itself, this one's worth the 50 dollar price of admission. The XBox has a system carrier yet again for another three years.
www.bungie.net

Will Bartos

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