So like most of the Xbox owners in the U.S. I went and bought Halo 2 yesterday. Thanks to a very understanding wife, I was able to spend about 5 hours playing it. The game is simply awesome. First of all, the gameplay is built on the standard set by the first Halo, so it has a good foundation. Then, Bungie added enhancements in a very careful way so as not to change those foundations. This makes the game both feel familiar and very new. The graphics have greatly improved since the last game. Everything looks very crisp and clean. The human characters have started to fall in to the "uncanny valley", but it's not really distracting. The story is really interesting, and I got one pretty good plot twist only a few levels into the game.
I have yet to play multi-player, and probably won't until I finish the campaign mode. Once I do I will write a short update as to my impressions of it.
Posted by Noah Brimhall at November 10, 2004 11:13 AMMy friend gave an early report that multi-player sucks because of the change to the pistol. I'm curious about the game, but I've only played the demo version of Halo on the PC. I liked it though.
Posted by: Andy at November 10, 2004 12:38 PMThe pistol is now super weak, but the new Battle Rifle essentially takes the place of the old pistol. It has the same 2x zoom and is nearly as powerful. In place of the old "bullet hose" Assault Rifle is the new "bullet hose" SMG. The pistol was actually a bit unrealistic in the first Halo. It basicly functioned as a medium range rifle, which was wierd since it looked like a handgun. Now it functions as a handgun and looks like a handgun. I have posted a little page with the manual's description for both games basic human weapons: http://www.hawktaildesign.com/halo/
Posted by: Noah at November 10, 2004 01:53 PMHow do they expect you to get any accuracy with a pistol barrel so short? Do the laws of physics not apply?
Posted by: Andy at November 12, 2004 09:22 AM