Halo 2

What worked: The action on this game is so intense and the production values and story is so great this could have easily been a movie. Playing this game on legendary with a friend is incredible. The graphics are possibly the best on the Xbox. And if you have surround sound crank this baby up, you'll be ducking and dodging at every bullet ricocheting off the wall. The level are incredibly huge! The missions with the SCARAB will have you looking at the screen in awe.

What didn't work: I wish the game would have spent more time on Earth fighting off the Aliens and I wish we could have seen innocents slaughtered mercilessly by the Aliens and why is this game rated M, most of the violence is against the Aliens anyway.

Overall: This game is possibly the best game on the Xbox. Recommended 10/10.

Just beat the game an hour ago, if there is such a thing when playing this game. I'm going to do something different and speak on the issues I had with this game, then I'll speak on the pros.

First, the Cons: 1. The BIGGEST problem, and I shouldn't say problem as much as irritation, was the fact that every time you change weapons/go to single-wield mode, you DROP your off-hand weapon. Personally, I don't believe the OH weapon should be discarded; it should be put back into your inventory just like your second weapon in the primary hand.

2. AI. Now, I know A lot of people out there will disagree with me, but my beef with the AI is simple; the Humans seemed to be more.. I don't know.. dumber than the Covenant AI. That's the best way I can put it; the Covenant seemed to play with more tactics than their Human counterparts. There were even times I had to go track them down from areas I just left just so they would continue the advance with me. I never seemed to have this problem with Covenant.

3. This is another irritation, but less of a hemorrhoid than the weapon-switching. I noticed that certain weapons and vehicles were reduced in their damage, damage radius, or effectiveness. Let's start with the frag grenade; the blast radius seemed to be reduced. Same with the Rocket Launcher (the lock-on mechanism more than made up for it). Scorpions; their damage and damage radius definitely been noticeably reduced (although the frequency in firing compensates very nicely).

Now for the Pros: 1. Everything.

Side notes: -- I haven't played the game online, although I doubt much of the mechanics of game play will change. The online environment will remove 1/3 of my gripes, so I'm sure it'll be a pleasurable gaming experience.

-- I'm a little disappointed at how short the game was. I read somewhere that game originally had 90mins of dialogue, but they reduced it to 50mins for brevity's sake. I'm sure we all would have enjoyed seeing this missing footage in the game.

-- I was surprised as hell when the game put me in the eyes of the Covenant.

That was a refreshing change. In fact, I don't know about the rest of you H2'ers, but I actually PREFER playing as the Arbiter than as MC (I know, that's blasphemy). I see more of an advantage in the stealth that the Arbiter brings than I do the light that MC can emit (even though it lasts for like 10 seconds).

-- Favorite weapons: Shotgun, Plasma Blade, Dual Plasma Rifles (BLUE!!!), Beam Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Needler. Notice that I list very little Human weapons; mainly because they need no reloading. There are those that argue that the reload factor means that you will always have a weapon that is capable of firing. All you need is ammunition; plasma weapons run out of ammunition at some point, which makes them useless. My counter argument is that I found very little ammunition throughout the game, but multitudes of discarded Covenant weapons; more so than Human. Also, if you've played the game, you'll know what I mean when I tell you that there are battles that require every second of your attention. Reloading takes away from that. I chose the Beam Rifle explicitly because it needs no reloading. In melee combat, nothing comes close to the Plasma Blade; next would be the Shotgun. Careful regulation of trigger pulling will keep you from overheating your Plasma Rifles. The Rocket Launcher.. well, that needs no explanation. And the Needler has been improved since the first game; it seems to be stronger.

I also like the fact that it sticks to your opponents, then blows them up.

-- Word of advice. Should you ever come across Brutes, Honor Guards, or their equivalent as Flood, and you find that conventional weapons fire isn't doing the trick.... a well placed Plasma Grenade does the trick. Saved my @ss more than once; just make sure you have room to flee.

-- I can't wait for Halo 3... and when you beat the game, you'll agree with me too (hint, hint).

Protocol, the amateur critic. L8.

Every new console launches with at least one killer title, but in Halo Microsoft had found one that would not only ensure the future of its fledgling machine, but raise the bar for games on every platform. This now-legendary first-person shooter even converted people who wouldn't normally look at a gamepad, winning them over with accessible gameplay, an involving story and the xenocidal charms of its protagonist, the enigmatic Master Chief.

Halo 2, then, is a sequel with no small amount of hype to live up to. Picking up very soon after the events in its predecessor, the game begins with humanity's worst case scenario: religious fanatic alien alliance The Covenant invades Earth. Reprising your role as the bio-engineered supersoldier, you begin by repelling boarders on a planetary defence frigate but soon find yourself on terra firma, skirmishing with invaders amid the ruined cities then pursuing a key Covenant figure back to their neck of the galaxy. Far more polished than the original story, Halo 2's plot line drives the action well and, thanks to the judicious use of cut-scenes, gives a deeper insight into the Covenant, evolving them beyond faceless cannon fodder and probing the reasons for their galactic jingoistic instincts.

Which brings us to the most significant change in Halo 2. After wading through the first few levels as the Master Chief, the viewpoint switches to that of The Arbiter, a disgraced Covenant Elite. Apart from coming as something of a surprise, playing as The Arbiter is a subtly different experience. Equipping you with the Elite's deadly force blade and Predator-like cloaking field, the Covenant perspective provides an interesting counterpoint to the human levels — though remembering that the aliens are now your friends and shouldn't be gutted on sight takes some getting used to. The continuing narrative doesn't abandon the Master Chief, though, and you'll alternate from one side to the other as the story progresses, until the two come together in a final, satisfying synthesis.

The graphics, while not leagues ahead, have certainly been given a boost this time around, and the fiendishly addictive multiplayer mode now comes with added bells and whistles in addition to being Xbox Live enabled. Gameplay changes include the ability to wield two weapons simultaneously — a welcome addition that rules out the need to retreat and reload, markedly changing the strategies you'll employ in the many ranging firefights. New foes, vehicles and weapons have likewise been added to the roster. Halo 2 isn't revolutionary by any means, but as the follow-up to such a sublime experience as Halo, it really didn't need to be. The sequel's achievement is to give a second helping of the most accomplished title on the Xbox, with just enough tweaks and polishes to make this experience as fresh and enjoyable as the original.

Halo is probably one of the hardest games in history to follow-up. But alas, after three years of waiting, the fans are finally served a huge amount of 'Flippin sweet' in this incredible masterpiece that shouldn't be even considered a game. Halo 2 creates a genre of its own. It's still a first person shooter, but there are so many things about this game that put it into this 'own genre' I like to call: Impossibly good. Its so awesome that it is nearly inevitable to play for hours on end just to beat your friend down for that one-millionth time in a multiplayer game. So what if the ending is a huge cliffhanger? The games story is so excellent and mezmorizing, its easy to forget about it. Awesome doesn't even kiss the feet of Halo 2.

Halo 2, hmm....I thought I might try it out, I mean, I only spent 100000000 hours on the first one...

Anyway, this game is good. REALLY good. As a matter of fact, so good that if you have an Xbox and don't own this game, you should slap yourself.

I thought I might start on the story mode when i got it. Halo 2 begins with a ship orbiting Earth being attacked and of course, you as the chief, must save it. OK, and then you go down to Earth for a kick-butt battle (sorta) and then what? Well, the Covenant general in charge of protecting Halo is still alive, but he has been sentenced to death by the Covenant. However, the Prophets refute this death sentence and instead make him into the legendary Arbiter. Arbiter is the other main character introduced in Halo 2.

Chief discovers a new Halo and he is sent down to destroy it, and actually kills the prophet of regret, however, he becomes outmatched by the Prophetic Guards that guard the water pyramids. An odd creature captures him and Arbiter, so they meet for the first time. The odd creature transports them to find a key; he transports Chief to the Prophets' capital ship and Arbiter to a jungle area on Halo. However, the flood take hold of the ship and you are left to deal with both the flood and the Covenant Army. Meanwhile, Arbiter deals with the Covenant Brute Chief, Tartarus. Chief manges to escape the ship. Arbiter makes friendly with the general of Earth's army, a girl who I don't know the purpose of, and everybodys favorite character, Monitor (or Oracle, whatever). The game ends in a cliff hanger, Arbiter and the gang learn of the "Ark" from the Monitor and Chief zooms toward Earth to end the Covenant war by killing the final Prophet, the Prophet of Truth.

Yes, you do not end the crisis in Halo 2. However, I didn't beat legendary mode yet...(!!!) But anyway, I was sooo disappointed with the end, I ran to multi player. multi player online in Halo 2 is utterly so INCREDIBLY AWESOME I don't think that there is one word in the dictionary that can explain it. Let's just leave it at that.

Story: Ending: 1/10 Sniff, sniff Story: Other than Ending: 9.4/10 Co-Op- 10/10 Online: 10/10 because ratings unfortunately cant go higher... OVERALL: A+

Except for the ending.