Video Game Review: Halo 2

The BEST shooter that I have ever played! Halo 2 is the Xbox 360's premier shooter with single and multiplayer modes. When I first cracked this game opened I started off with the single player missions just like most people and I found that the game was pretty easy right off the bat.

When you start off you are playing the role of Master Chief with a varied arsenal of weaponry and a voice that guides you through the main storyline. The game is pretty simple if you follow what the game tells you to do there is really no errors that I found in the missions like when playing Quake 4 for the Xbox 360, such as the wrong mission objectives or no placement of mission markers on the map.

For the most part there really isn't a strategy to the game besides the classic "Run & Gun", but that is what I like the best. If you want to get more involved with the game there are hidden items such as the skulls and the achievements. But, like I said, for the most part you can breeze right through the single player mode in just a few hours and if you really want to turn it up a notch you can always turn the game up to the highest difficulty level and spend some time going over the missions again either in single player mode or you can co-op with one of your friends and take on the Covenant with some semi multiplayer action.

The weapons in Halo 2 are imaginative, with the use of laser blasters, plasma blasters, sniper rifles, and the sticky and regular grenades make the weapons in Halo 2stand out as being extremely futuristic and fun to use. My personal favorite combination of weapons is duel wielding SMG's and having a full stock of sticky grenades makes the round especially fun. The fact that you can beat people down and get achievements and points in the game is a huge plus as well. I love it when I can walk up to someone when they are not paying attention, as in when someone is sniping, and take them out with one hit to the back of the skull. The beat downs in this game sort of remind me of the ability to knife people in Counterstrike for the PC.

In the next Halo version it would be awesome if they added knives to the fighting. There are swords in Halo 2, but it would be nice to be able to start a round of knives only round on Halo 2 without being able to glitch with it like you can with the swords in Halo 2. With the swords you can lock on to someone on the complete other side of the map and then zoom over to them and kill them so fast that it doesn't make using the sword fun, it makes it tiring when you keep getting killed and you never see who it is, I can deal with people sniping me from the other side of the map, but to knife someone from the other side of the map like that is just plain ridiculous!

The gameplay is fun and exciting especially if you play the multiplayer aspect of the game, which that is what everyone I know bought the game for. The graphics are state of the art and do not disappoint in the least, the shading of shadows on the water and the lighting effects are magnificent. The sound quality is superb as well. There are many different sound effects in the game and the voiceovers are not as bad as they are in some of the other games that have come out in this Genre.

The multiplayer aspect of this game absolutely rocks! After playing the single layer mode over and over again I decided to jump into the multiplayer. There are many different maps to choose from, with varying starting weapons and options that the game creator can choose from. I usually played in the Rumble Pit on in Team Slayer. I preferred playing the team games, since there is friendly fire enabled; it makes the team play harder than in the Rumble Pit where it's every man for themselves and most people just run and gun the whole time... "Spray & Pray" became one of the staple comments on Halo 2, after the SMG was label a noob weapons. Noob (New players to the game) players would duel wield the SMG's and run around shooting all the time, not aiming, just shooting at everything until something died, so that weapon combo got a bad rap, but I still use it. If used properly the duel SMG's are a highly effective combo.

As much fun as I had playing Halo 2 I cannot wait to play Halo 3 and give it a proper review! I hope that everyone goes out and gives this game a try, you will not be disappointed. To those who already have the game, I hope to see you there! Gamertag: TwiztidManiac