In Response To: Mothergoat's Second Opinion of Halo 2 (mothergoat)
: I love you all. This is the best community ever. You guys have really
: supported my anthems and music. I thank you so much for that.
Your music was great stuff man!
: Please note: This is a critique not compared to video games in general, but
: compared to Halo 1, the best first-person shooter on a console. Halo 2 is
: a good game compared to most games, but definitely not Halo 1. Although
: some of the contentions may seem intense, I am not ashamed of my opinions.
: Bungie is full of great guys that I respect and I know they welcome
: criticism and hopefully will listen to the many disconcerted fans across
: the world when trying to get the series back on track with Halo 3.
Amen, even with the flaws, there is no doubt (in my mind) that Halo 2 is the console game of the year. I can't speak for PC because mine sucks... word processing, internet, and programming- not much else happens on that machine.
: “We are the jaded crowd.” -Jason Jones
: Hollow
: “You could fit all of Halo 1 into a canyon of Halo2.” -Bungie
: Huh? That definitely doesn’t apply to the length of time is takes from
: beginning to end. Playing Halo 1 on Normal is still much longer than Halo
: 2 on Heroic. Halo 2 is short. It doesn’t matter if you rush through it or
: take your time…it’s shorter. So maybe this quote was about the actual file
: size of the levels. Maybe you could the file size of Halo 1 into a file
: size of a canyon in Halo 2 since it theoretically had more complex
: geometry. That has to be what that quote meant.
: The length definitely won’t be spent standing around in awe at the grand
: landscapes. Halo 2’s repeated corridors, weirdly cartoony jungle
: environments, confusing layouts yet linear design don’t ever seem to try
: to touch such architecture, purpose, landscapes and playscapes of Halo 1
: levels like Halo, Assault on the Control Room, Silent Cartographer or
: Truth and Reconciliation. I felt claustrophobic on too many of the levels
: of Halo 2. Especially the outdoor levels, ironically.
I'm going to wait to comment on the campaign until I've played through it more than once. I'm currently working on beating legendary. Longevity's the key here. Will I be able to enjoy a battle through Uprising as much in 3 years? Time will tell...
: Silent Denominator
(multiplayer)
Your complaints about weapon balance are valid. However, as a multiplayer game on the whole, Halo 2 places much more of a focus on the team dynamic. I never used to run flags, hold oddballs, etc. Now it is a necessary task, and I love it! Nothing like shoving the flag into an assailant's skull as you rush out of their base and back into your own. This team dynamic makes me love Halo 2 multiplayer all the more- where I used to be a one-man killing machine, now I am a part of a deadly TEAM.
: Assault on the Grenade Boom
: The change that is not recoverable via download and the one change that
: dampened much of the satisfaction I got from playing Halo 1 single and
: multiplayer is the newly nerfed physics engine. Puzzling. Disappointing.
: This is the one area that Bungie was absolutely silent about changing. Did
: Bungie really think we wouldn’t notice? Not only is the blast radius of a
: grenade and rocket severely and reduced for no good reason, but the force
: with which they impact a vehicle is not only unsatisfying but hardly
: existent.
: I remember Blood Gulch (Halo 1). I saw an enemy warthog incoming. I threw an
: accurately placed grenade to detonate on the backside of the moving hog.
: The hog would gloriously fly with correct trajectory, killing some or all
: of the passengers while a great deal of rewarding satisfaction came over
: me as the wonderful explosion animation full of dirt and grass subsided.
: In Halo 2, the hog keeps on going, not flinching. In fact, place a grenade
: by any non-moving vehicle. It hardly moves. Makes sense for tanks and
: Wraiths just like Halo 1, but grenades and the physics have lost almost
: all of their fun factor.
: The minute I saw that Bungie was using the Havok physics engine I knew I
: should probably prepare for the reduction in fun but with exaggerated body
: movements. So was it so that the net code would be smoother? If so, it
: still wasn’t a good tradeoff. Halo lost a ton of personality with the
: physics changes.
That moment you described with the Warthog is downright orgasmic and I will miss it, but all-in-all I love the new physics- the death animations are crazy!
: 343 Lonely Spartan
: I am all about playing as the Arbiter. Great twist! But the human element of
: Earth’s destruction is non-existent. We’ve been led on with “Earth will
: never be the same” for the sole purpose of setting us up for the big
: twist. Earth is neglected almost entirely. The ending sets up a second
: level on Earth, but of course, the credits start to roll. I wanted to
: learn about Chief. The story seems way too rushed and convoluted. This
: really lends a lot to the Halo 3 next year theory. Since Halo 2
: essentially ends where we thought it would start.
I feel you there. I loved the level Outskirts, but Metropolis was indeed a ghost town. Just no emotional power there.
: The Asymmetry
: [Something like] “When you see a map, you’ll say ‘hey, that reminds me of a
: single-player location.’” – Bungie
: Somehow, Bungie listened to the wrong people. Since when does asymmetry =
: better? It may look like a more “realistic” locale, but what does realism
: have to do with a game that features aliens, cybernetically enhanced
: super-soldiers, slipspace jumps and ring-shaped planets? Aside from the
: fact that there are ridiculously few multiplayer maps to begin with, most
: of them are really, really, dull. Although more graphically detailed, the
: overall design in both symmetrical and asymmetrical maps leaves much to be
: desired. Aside from Lockout, Midship and Headlong, Halo 1, Gearbox’s Halo
: PC maps and some select maps from the Halo CE community kick these maps in
: the rear. Why? These maps had “fun” in mind first and foremost.
: I remember visiting Gearbox in Dallas before Halo CE was released. We were
: talking about what makes a good multiplayer map since I planned on diving
: into mapmaking. I’ll never forget what I believe is the best advice for
: any aspiring developer. “Multiplayer maps are all about moments. You have
: to build moments into your map or it will be boring.” So true. Gearbox did
: a magnificent job with their PC maps. Perfectly moment-crafted and perfect
: for Halo. Halo 2 makes another dip into the dull and ordinary with many
: moment-less maps.
: What also makes the 11 Halo 2 maps (Foundation doesn’t even count), feel even
: less in number is that time wasn’t taken to make them friendly for all
: gametypes. I could play almost any gametype on any Halo 1 map and feel it
: was fun. Halo 2, not so much. While this isn’t necessarily a horrible
: thing, the fact that it exists should’ve prompted Bungie to release at
: least twice the maps with the shipped version of Halo 2.
: The Halo 2 maps just don’t scream Halo.
They scream Halo 2- and I love them... Have you ever tried CTF on a map like Chill Out, Derelict, or Wizard? It is ridiculous to say that those maps could sustain any gametype. Halo's maps were built with a specific purpose in mind, just like Halo 2's. So far, I'm liking the design of the new maps better. The only map I really find myself missing is Damnation. Moments... how about watching as two of your teammates rush the base ahead of you in Burial Mounds with the bomb and are quickly killed, then entering, killing the defenders with the Noob Stick (I love that thing...), picking up the bomb and arming it before anyone can do a thing? How about being locked in a tie on a Lockout head-to-head. "30 seconds remaining..." You scan the map and see your adversary up on the sniper ledge, so you whip out the battle rifle, shoot the fusion cores behind him and finish him off with a shot in the head. Game Over. Those are moments. They're there...
: Screw reality. Exalt fun.
: Keys
: Vehicles. Poof! They’re gone. We get to drive a Wraith and a Spectre now.
: Okay, cool. What? That’s it? Where is the human answer to the Banshee? The
: Kestrel was there. Ready to go. Perfectly in place as a cool new air ride.
: Not even in single player. Couldn’t tame the ATV? I don’t buy it. It
: flipped too much? So does the new ‘hog. But there is a rolling assistance
: that usually gets the ‘hog back on its wheels. Could’ve done the same with
: the ATV.
: The new Banshee handling is bad. It can no longer hover. Worried about
: Banshee camping? Just make it more fragile. It wasn’t that bad in PC at
: all. Even with the fuel rod pulse bomb thing. I played PC religiously and
: NEVER was Banshee whoring a factor in non-noob games.
: The new warthog isn’t as fun, either. In Halo 1, the ‘hog would always
: automatically compensate for wherever the reticule was pointing despite
: the swervy wervy-ness of it. Whoever said that the Warthog handling needed
: to change was wrong. It was easy to get used to. Now it’s wound so tight
: that it’s hardly fun to use anymore even with the e-brake. Even using
: ramps isn’t as fun. The air it gets feels stale and ordinary…like the UT
: 2004 vehicle physics. Blah.
I'm sorry, but vehicles for vehicles' sake is not any better than weapons for weapons' sake. The ATV didn't fit- it didn't serve a purpose and firing from that thing would have been damn near impossible. It would have been the sitting duck... whoa did you see that air... dead machine. I've never been good with the banshee, so that change hasn't really impacted me. The Warthog however still feels great to me, and the e-brake gives me the power to control the swerve that was so prevalent in the first Halo. I like the changes overall to the Warthog.
: The Paws
: Dual wielding is a great idea on paper and works really well in single
: player. But in multiplayer when you always spawn with one short range
: bullet hose, especially the uber-weak SMG, it’s off to the races to find
: at least something else. Single wielding a dual-capable weapon is an
: immediate imbalance. By making dual wielding a focus, you immediately cut
: the usability of just one of those weapons in half. Instead of
: concentrating on strategy or defending your flag when you respawn, you
: have the added task of finding something useful to dual wield so that when
: you engage in the spray and pray battle, you have at least a hope.
: Let me say, again, that there was no reason to make the pistol weaker. Just
: make the other weapons stronger. One of Halo 1’s awesome assets that set
: it apart from spray and pray shooters was the weapon set. That is all but
: lost. And for the love of God, Bungie, give the ranked gamers a medium
: range weapon to spawn with.
Definitely sucks to single-wield any dual-wieldable weapon now. Have you played a team slayer game on Burial Mounds yet? If all of the weapons have been picked up you are screwed. You might as well run around and look at the sky because you can't get close to anyone else. I went from a game with 14 kills to a game with 2 the next time I played because I died early. On maps that large, it'd be great to start with a battle rifle.
: In the end, I will be playing a lot of Halo 2 on XBL because Halo 1 isn’t on
: there. I guarantee you that if Halo 1 was re-released with the same Xbox
: Live capabilities, more people would prefer Halo 1. No doubt in my mind.
Too early for me to say... I'll hold off on final judgement for quite a while and see how this game's longevity stacks up to the first one's.
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