Print

[yaazz]

Well, after playing the entire campaign twice, and about 50-60 hours of Xbox live, I went back to the original halo today. wow, this game is so much better than the second one. The levels in the second one, while decent, really dont warrant a second playthrough (but I DID give it a shot anyways). as soon as I got to Halo, then T&R, I was amazed at how much more fun this game is then the second. The levels even seem bigger than those in "2".
Sure on paper, New mombasa is huge, but dont forget folks, there is a LOT of water around that bridge, which would cound, and there is a lot of unreachable territory. In Halo 1, you could go pretty much wherever you wanted.

Another thing that really bothers me now. I realized how much I suck with the pistol now that I have moved on to "2". I didn't realize it until now, but the weapons in halo 2 really are "spray and pray" as many have stated (and I defended them stating they werent until today)! The only weapon that is better in 2 than 1, is the sniper rifle. In the original, its amazingly difficult to get a head shot on an elite. To this day, I still havent figured out why when I shoot the top of his head, it only depletes half the elites shields, yet if I shoot an inch lower, it depletes them all, plus the health! In 2, this was fixed, and I am happy.

The next issue I have with halo 2, is the mediocre multiplayer modes/nazi-esque delivery method. When I play halo 2, unlike everyone else, I dont mind the wait (its not THAT long people, and it almost guarantees no lag). My issue is the games you are FORCED to play! 1 flag ctf, and that stupid bomb game suck. with 1 flag ctf, once you have the flag, and are halfway back, you are pretty much guaranteed a capture. I don't know about you folks, but a pretty much guaranteed loss isnt much fun to me. I like classic ctf, where you could get in a fight anywhere on the map, not just in a small camp site. I am not the only person who says this either, every game that says the words "assault" or "1 Flag CTF" you hear at least one other person cursing under their breath.  
On top of that, with the exception of zanzibar, ivory tower, lockout, and the 2 Halo 1 remakes, the maps suck. Burial mounds, the worst of them all, has a team of people going into an almost impenatrable fortress to lant a bomb, or get a flag. Almost every single game I play in this level (unless it's team slayer, Which isnt even in playlists, you have to make a custom game) ends up as 0-0. Wow, that was really exciting bungie.

I think I will go back to king of the hill on Hang em high now bungie, and quietly sob about the game that I wish I didn't hate.
Hopefully halo 3 will solve all the problems I have (even a playlist update would help)

[IronestMaiden]

well if halo 1 had the more than 4 xboxes could join in a single game i garanteee ppl would still be playing that over 2

[esc1]

Who cares?  Yea the SP in the original may be better, but the core of Halo is the MP.  You can call it spray and pray, but I find it more strategic.  You have to pick your battles, know the environments, and then what weapon combos are best.  Then you are set to compete.

[Foe-hammer]

QUOTE (yaazz @ Nov 20 2004, 07:32 AM)

The levels even seem bigger than those in "2". Sure on paper, New mombasa is huge, but dont forget folks, there is a LOT of water around that bridge, which would cound, and there is a lot of unreachable territory. In Halo 1, you could go pretty much wherever you wanted.

So true.  The outside level environments, in halo2, are smaller (as far as actual playable territory) and less detailed then halo 1.  The textures are all bland and gray, and don't look as sharp up close as halo 1's did.  They are also much more linear; there is not too many angles that a place can be approached or entered in.  With all the other added detail in characters and vehicles/ships, bungie just did not have enough power to go around, and it shows.  Halo1 pushed the xbox as is, in halo2 they had to cut corners somewhere to improve on some things.  I can't wait for the xbox2, then bungie will not be limited by the systems power.

[gcskate27]

QUOTE

the original premise of halo promised so much, micosoft bought it then delivered so little

god im getting sick of these stupid comments... yeah im sure bungie had this crazy spectacular game that could live up to your expectations but the evil money grubbers that are ms made them take out everything that you thought would make it cool...

halo2 is an amazing game that some people do not give enough credit, to both the game and to bungie... just because it isnt 100% exactly what you thought it was going to be does not make it a poor game... quit bitching, grow up, and for the love of god stop making incredibly unfounded acusations towards ms...

[Crypty]

The reason halo 2 mp is so shitty is because they ripped it of all accuracy and turned it into a spray game to compensate for the lag you get on live. If it had the same pistol and sniper as halo 1, nobody would ever sink a shot. Have you noticed on live how you can snipe a little bit to the right or left of someone and still hit them? That's what I'm talking about.

And while live is good and I enjoy how easy it is to get in a game, I COMPLETELY agree. The games are balls. For each room, I get dragged through the same 5 preset lame ass game settings. Is there a way to make my own game and have strangers join up who would also like to play it? Why no, that must have slipped their mind when they were busy dumbing down the gameplay.

Then for the clanmatches. Ugh. I hope I'm not the only one who thinks that a clan should not be ranked in games of oddball and landgrab. There must be about 8 preset games. My clan and I have played 3 plots at midship 7 times out of 30 games.

I don't know how long I can continue to play this halo 2 if they are just going to cycle the same shit games constantly. The only reason I play it over halo 1 is because it has live, but apparently they don't want people having fun on live so what is it good for?

[yaazz]

QUOTE (gcskate27 @ Nov 21 2004, 05:24 AM)

god im getting sick of these stupid comments... yeah im sure bungie had this crazy spectacular game that could live up to your expectations but the evil money grubbers that are ms made them take out everything that you thought would make it cool... halo2 is an amazing game that some people do not give enough credit, to both the game and to bungie... just because it isnt 100% exactly what you thought it was going to be does not make it a poor game... quit bitching, grow up, and for the love of god stop making incredibly unfounded acusations towards ms...

Bungie themselves said they wished they had more time (watch the LE edition dvd), and arent happy with some of the features

[gcskate27]

i have seen the le dvd, and yes they do mention they want more time, but they dont blame ms... they say that it wouldnt be possible to delay it without heavily pissing off the fans... but i didnt see any part where they say they are disappointed with aspects of the game, where was that? (i hope you arent talking about the modellers who are upset that stuff they worked on didnt get in, as that is completely different)

[zot23]

I agree that more MP variations should be added.  As a matter of fact, I think each variable should be chosen independantly and at random to ensure that you can't prepare for what you'll get.  For example, when playing rumble pit it should first choose a small map at random, then the objective (oddball, slayer, king of the hill, etc.), then the starting weapon, and so on.  That way you never know what you will get and given enough games will cycle trhough all the permutations to get the best all around players.  A few more maps for each set wouldn't hurt either.

The rest of the stuff I can live with.  This game was definitely worth my $50 in entertainment value, the online component is totally fun.  BTW I have about 30 friends and a 60 person clan, there's usually 2-3 people to find a match with so no complaints there for me.  

[Sentient]

I have to agree that the outdoor environments did feel a little more cramped than in the first game, but that is only because of what is actually accessable(sp? yeah im too lazy for spell check).  The actual levels themselves are fuckin HUGE... as for the "Spray and Pray" statement... that is just a flat out lie... sure the SMG, Plasma Rifle, and the Needler spray and pray but thats what type of weapons they are.  If you call the battle rifle spray and pray.. you are a tard, if you call the covenant carbine spray and pray... you are a tard, if you call the sniper rifle/covie sniper spray and pray... you are a tard, if you call the brute shot spray and pray... you guessed it, short bus for you.  I just can't understand why people complain about the weapons in halo2.  Regardless, if you don't like halo 2 then keep playing halo 1 single player... and we wont see you on live

[gcskate27]

very true, plus the needler, assault rifle and plasma rifle were all 'spray and pray' in the first one.. even more so in fact as they were heavily outmatched by the pistol, sniper, shotgun and rockets...

[enderandrew]

QUOTE (trentdadi @ Nov 22 2004, 07:25 AM)

Also, I dont think ms would tell Bungie to take a bunch of shit out of their game.  A lot of it they had to because they were testing it on dev machines which are more powerful then stocks.  It seems to me that since Bungie is backed by the largest software corporation in the world, some one would/should have thought of this though.

You obviously know nothing about game development.

I'm trying to get a career in game development.  I'm a serious forum junkie on many developer boards, and know some developers personally.

I can not tell you the number of times I hear a developer/designer scream that they wanted to include certain features but the publisher demands that a certain deadline be met, and the game ship on time and under budget.

Certain publishers are more notorious than others for shipping games with horrid bugs, or demanding feature releases.  The Fable team bitched up and down about how M$ demanded half of the features change, and then a bunch of other features be ripped out of their game.

M$ has a horrid reputation for how they've treated developers.  They're not as bad as EA, but no one really is.  Halo 1 was going to have realistic physics, destructible environments, co-op online play and more.

M$ bought out Bungie, and before you know it, a PC only title became an XBox only title with half of the features ripped out.

I've had fun with Halo lan parties, but I still feel that Halo has got to be the most overrated franchise I've ever seen in video games since Crash Bandicoot.  Halo 2 has crap single-player, and multiplayer hasn't proven to be great either.  While ten-million fan-boys are screaming that Halo 2 is the greatest video game ever, I'm curious how many people will be playing this game in 5 years, or 20 years for that matter.

To all the Halo fan-boys, I'm curious how long you've been gaming, what systems you own, and how many PC FPS games you own.

[gcskate27]

QUOTE

I'm curious how many people will be playing this game in 5 years, or 20 years for that matter.

the only game that has, and will, survive that long is tetris... video games just do not have that great a shelf life...

name any other game that you regularly play and could captivate new players...

this should be good  

[Sentient]

just had to point this out: halo has been on the shelf 3 years and has one of the largest fanbases in gaming history... yeah I think there are years to come.  

as for what consoles I own and how many years I have been gaming,  I honestly cannot put a date on when I started gaming.  The NES came out about a year before I was born and we had one since I can remember.  We also had an Atari 2600.  I will be 20 years old this christmas eve and have been around games that long.  
I own:
NES
SNES
Sega
N64
Playstation
Xbox
PC

the Atari is in storage and has been since I was about 13, hopefully I can get it and get it to work.


As for the games you mentioned, yes they are great games because they are "classics".  The games that really started the video game revolution.  While they may be fun and playable still, there are only so many times you can beat SMB before you have to play another game... I'm not saying that it loses its "fun factor" but you do have to give those games a rest.  How about you try to play ONLY:
Pong
Pitfall
Mario Bros.
Zork
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Lurking Horror
Hack

[Foe-hammer]

QUOTE (trentdadi @ Nov 22 2004, 07:25 AM)

One last thing, please stop bitching about the walls looking blurry close up.  Do your self a favor.  Stand back 10 feet from the wall and look at it.  Now, move one feet against the wall but keep your eyes the same as when you were standing 10 feet away as if you are trying to look beyond the wall.  Does it look blurry?  Yes it does.  Go complain to an eye doctor now cuz your eyes suck.

This has to be one of the stupidest statements i have ever read.  So when you read a book or type on your computer, you do not focus on the book/screen, but just look past it to make it look blurry?  That makes sence.

The point is, halo 1 had detailed up close textures, and it was a disappointment that halo 2 didn't do as much of the same.