Remiss without a Halo 2 review
Ok. Halo 2 is out now. Good. We can move on.
Or maybe we can't. Some people at work can tell you that I haven't exactly been kind to Halo 2 through its life-cycle. I have actually worked to not be into it. It even started to cumulate into a sassy Halo-Hater attitude, even once people had it in the office and were playing it today. I mocked the pop-in textures for LOD, I mocked the intro levels being near-mirrors of the 1st game, I mocked the silly human VOs for the aliens.
Then I played it.
Live Integration:
Their integration of Xbox Live with the whole product is amazing and by far the best done as of yet. I was sending voice mail to my friends as I played the campaign mode. My friend Chris M. was able to see that I was online, in campaign mode, AND how long I had been playing. We formed a "party" which is kind of like a non-persistent group so that we could play some online games. I got an invite from a friend and was able to slurp my whole party into the invited game instead of just abandoning people and then inviting them. It sounds complicated but as you do it you will appreciate its seamlessness.
Their menus seemed to have zero load-time and we were going into and out of MP games with zero problem. Paingod made a clan and we all joined (I even invited some peeps). Voice mail just plays when you select a friend. You don't have to go through any obtuse "play message" interface or anything, it all just works intuitively. The pre-fab text messages all make sense and really remove the need to ever type on a goddamned virtual keyboard. Thank god.
People on your friend's list have their little logo next to their name, which is a neat bit of customization to have. Makes it just a bit more than a name.
All in all the Live Integration is amazing. The game becomes a community no matter which mode you are in. Even if you only play the 1P game, the addition of live make the whole experience.... better.
Single Player:
Fun, smart, excellent. Really its Halo with some neat new bells and whistles. Actually it may be the weak point of the game, and even though I am really into it (haven't solved it yet) it does have some flaws. For instance, the fun stuff doesn't start right away, so if you just see the early levels you may scoff (I did). Once you start swinging swords and riding vehicles you start getting into the meat of the game. Also, going into space for periods of time is a cool touch.
Another issue with single player is the graphics. The LODs seem to have a hard time catching up to the action. Not noticeable at all when playing (or actually RARELY noticeable) but the cinemas suffer big-time. Also, the human models (mostly their faces) are ok to fairly poor very often. Its too bad, because the aliens and Master Chief look so cool it really makes the human faces stand out as poor.
One neat thing I was noticing is that the game gives you more checkpoints as you start to do poorly. I was getting my ass handed to me in a section and all of a sudden I didn't have to start from the beginning of that section anymore. They are doing some sort of dynamic checkpoint integration that I really like. The Jak and Daxter games do this very well and I'm glad to see the dynamic balancing here.
I've heard the ending... well it sucks flat out. I haven't seen it yet but that's too bad because the story is really compelling. Here is a hint Bungie, only Lucas can get away with "YOU SEE HAN SOLO FREED IN THE NEXT MOVIE" kind of endings. Do it right next time to avoid one small blemish on an amazing product.
Multiplayer:
SWEET GOD! This game is fun as hell. I was playing with a bunch of peeps (none of whom I knew except for Chris M.) and we were laughing and having fun! I felt like I was in my living room with a bunch of friends enjoying a game. Now I will admit that I probably got very lucky with my group of people I joined but MP was a gift.
The control and gameplay is (as it was in Halo 1) amazing. Polish, polish, polish. We played Slayer (deathmatch), Oddball (basically hot potato) and king of the hill (or some sort of variant where the hill would move around). It was awesome. I want to go back and play it more.
The one ding I am going to list for MP is minor but worth noting. They have many of the Halo 1 maps on Halo 2 and they are nigh-identical to the previous version. Come on guys, give us all new ones. The old ones should have been Downloadable Content.
Really giving this game a numerical score is silly. I'm going to take a page out of the Penny Arcade book and just reference my text above. Chances are if you are reading this you know me and you know the games I like. I really think that if you own an XB and don't buy this AND go on live (often) you really are just robbing yourself of a great experience. I will say that whoever called KillZone a Halo killer is really just a silly little person.
Or maybe we can't. Some people at work can tell you that I haven't exactly been kind to Halo 2 through its life-cycle. I have actually worked to not be into it. It even started to cumulate into a sassy Halo-Hater attitude, even once people had it in the office and were playing it today. I mocked the pop-in textures for LOD, I mocked the intro levels being near-mirrors of the 1st game, I mocked the silly human VOs for the aliens.
Then I played it.
Live Integration:
Their integration of Xbox Live with the whole product is amazing and by far the best done as of yet. I was sending voice mail to my friends as I played the campaign mode. My friend Chris M. was able to see that I was online, in campaign mode, AND how long I had been playing. We formed a "party" which is kind of like a non-persistent group so that we could play some online games. I got an invite from a friend and was able to slurp my whole party into the invited game instead of just abandoning people and then inviting them. It sounds complicated but as you do it you will appreciate its seamlessness.
Their menus seemed to have zero load-time and we were going into and out of MP games with zero problem. Paingod made a clan and we all joined (I even invited some peeps). Voice mail just plays when you select a friend. You don't have to go through any obtuse "play message" interface or anything, it all just works intuitively. The pre-fab text messages all make sense and really remove the need to ever type on a goddamned virtual keyboard. Thank god.
People on your friend's list have their little logo next to their name, which is a neat bit of customization to have. Makes it just a bit more than a name.
All in all the Live Integration is amazing. The game becomes a community no matter which mode you are in. Even if you only play the 1P game, the addition of live make the whole experience.... better.
Single Player:
Fun, smart, excellent. Really its Halo with some neat new bells and whistles. Actually it may be the weak point of the game, and even though I am really into it (haven't solved it yet) it does have some flaws. For instance, the fun stuff doesn't start right away, so if you just see the early levels you may scoff (I did). Once you start swinging swords and riding vehicles you start getting into the meat of the game. Also, going into space for periods of time is a cool touch.
Another issue with single player is the graphics. The LODs seem to have a hard time catching up to the action. Not noticeable at all when playing (or actually RARELY noticeable) but the cinemas suffer big-time. Also, the human models (mostly their faces) are ok to fairly poor very often. Its too bad, because the aliens and Master Chief look so cool it really makes the human faces stand out as poor.
One neat thing I was noticing is that the game gives you more checkpoints as you start to do poorly. I was getting my ass handed to me in a section and all of a sudden I didn't have to start from the beginning of that section anymore. They are doing some sort of dynamic checkpoint integration that I really like. The Jak and Daxter games do this very well and I'm glad to see the dynamic balancing here.
I've heard the ending... well it sucks flat out. I haven't seen it yet but that's too bad because the story is really compelling. Here is a hint Bungie, only Lucas can get away with "YOU SEE HAN SOLO FREED IN THE NEXT MOVIE" kind of endings. Do it right next time to avoid one small blemish on an amazing product.
Multiplayer:
SWEET GOD! This game is fun as hell. I was playing with a bunch of peeps (none of whom I knew except for Chris M.) and we were laughing and having fun! I felt like I was in my living room with a bunch of friends enjoying a game. Now I will admit that I probably got very lucky with my group of people I joined but MP was a gift.
The control and gameplay is (as it was in Halo 1) amazing. Polish, polish, polish. We played Slayer (deathmatch), Oddball (basically hot potato) and king of the hill (or some sort of variant where the hill would move around). It was awesome. I want to go back and play it more.
The one ding I am going to list for MP is minor but worth noting. They have many of the Halo 1 maps on Halo 2 and they are nigh-identical to the previous version. Come on guys, give us all new ones. The old ones should have been Downloadable Content.
Really giving this game a numerical score is silly. I'm going to take a page out of the Penny Arcade book and just reference my text above. Chances are if you are reading this you know me and you know the games I like. I really think that if you own an XB and don't buy this AND go on live (often) you really are just robbing yourself of a great experience. I will say that whoever called KillZone a Halo killer is really just a silly little person.
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