Review: I'm not normally in the habit of writing reviews for games, but felt I had to in this instance, as Halo 2 is basically a lot more hype than substance.
I've been a first person shooterist since the days of the original Wolfenstein, and when I played the original Halo it felt like a breath of fresh air had been injected into the whole genre.
The levels in Halo felt expansive, whether on open plains or in the confines of an underground facility the game oozed atmosphere. It looks like Bungie have unfortunately sacrificed overall atmosphere and level length for cutting edge graphics in Halo 2 and this dramatically changes the gamesplayer's overall experience.The great graphics of Halo 2 effect overall framerate, and I was also constantly noticing enhanced detail being drawn onto objects (like walls) moments after entering an area. The overall effect may look stunning, but this type of "after draw" makes the gaming experience suffer.
In addition, when it came to action the original Halo just worked better with the old style shield system and weapons, Bungie even admit that they changed the effectiveness of weapons in Halo 2 to give a "rock, paper, scissors" effect.
I still don't understand why they did this especially when the original Halo worked so well. Halo's longevity was down to great level design and less infrequent save checkpoints. I can remember that when confronting the flood for the first time in Halo 2, I had pretty much a save checkpoint in EVERY room even when playing on hard level. No wonder there are a lot of people are able to finish it so soon. Let's hope that the next Halo game will be a lot like the original.
I'd sooner have longer levels and an overall immersive gameplaying experience than have cutting edge console graphics. |
PC & Video Games
