Halo 2 "Post your initial thoughts" thread!
 

This game is fucking awesome! I just beat the first level and am part of the way through the second. AWESOME. GO BUY IT!

There were 500 people at Gamestop in the mall......me and Lasereth were about 80 people back in line, got the game in about 15 minutes......


So far it is fucking GREAT :thumbsup:

I like how when you shoot the controller moves up as your arm does in real life when you shoot.

I'm loving it, a good friend and I are going through the campaign together on Co-Op and are loooooving it!!!! Enjoying it more than Halo 1 at this stage, after the city missions you get thrown into the whole Arbitor situation, I was completely taken by surprise when the cutscene went into the game...

LOVING IT!

rock/10 so far.

Played a few multi-player before heading to bed:

Game moves faster now= good
the new guns are on the most part cool, still trying to figure out purpose/usefullness on a few (when the hell in multi would you think to whip out your whipping sword?)- gonna take some practice..
Duel wield is gonna take a little practice to perfect, but is awesome. Just figured out after playing how to fire both guns at the same time :P
Biggest plus: All the levels we played were awesome.

Well, my friend got his copy today. We're going to wait until later today though (it's midnight-ish here) for THE INSANE HALO 2 BASH! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our town is kinda small and yet there was about 300 people waiting in line, which is literally insane. I'd like to see Half-Life 2 create this kind of insanity. In this repsect, can Half-Life 2 step? Nope! I'll post back later today, hopefully high on lots of soda and pizza and general adrenaline from some massive Halo 2 LAN-party INSANITY! ^^

Not bad at all....

It's a lot like Halo, but it has a couple of new things, such as dual wielding and vehicle damage.... They are neat :)

I played for about an hour this evening, but wasn't all that impressed... but I wasn't a big fan of Halo either... I think it's cause I suck at it. :)

Don't underestimate the power of the sword in multiplayer. Unlike single player, it doesn't run out of energy. The charging attack covers a lot of ground very quickly and usually kills in one hit. It's one of my favorite weapons although it's usually a bit hard to find in the level.

The shiny case is in my hands right now. It's so shiny. I will keep it forever, my precious.

Damn you work, Damn you.

This game is INSANE. The Covanent sword rocks the house for tight Juggernaut battles. Racked up 9 kills using just the sword in one game alone..

This game is worth the wait. Bungie did it right.

Initial thoughts: Single player- just great. It has a little looser feel than the original, a slight disappointment for me. The best part of the first one was the tightness of it.

Multiplayer- I fell like I'm out of place. I feel I'm starting from scratch again. Most of the kills at this point are pretty reckless. The learning curve is steeper than expected.

Now that being said, I'm STILL a Halo fanboy. It is a great, awe-inspiring game.

Best so far this year.

Bungie just released an internal report saying they have done over 100 million in sales so far.

This game is hot.

I love the dual-wielding and am a big fan of either the Magnum or plasma pistol with any automatic gun.

My only real gripe with the game is that after you finish an online game you can't just play again, but have to quit out to OptiMatch again.

I know there are ways around this (Party invites, and private games), but it seems odd you can just play another game with the same guys you just played with..

I also really like how when the game times out and temporarily loses connection, it reconnects and doesn't crash. That's very nice, especially considering the amount of stress the servers are going to be seeing over the next few days/weeks.

I turned my look sensitivity a little higher so that I can spin around faster, but this is also makes aiming an adjustment due to the faster moving reticule.

Also, I am a little frustrated about the vehicles and how deadly they are.. Specifically, how if they hit you, it's instant death. The vehicles are a lot of fun, and definitely add to the game, but on the open maps I think it definitely lowers the skill level to get kills and instead turns into a race for the bigger vehicles. Again, this is my initial take on it. After I learn to take over vehicles and avoid them better, this could turn out to be a non-issue.

I haven't touched the single player game yet, but online is superb. I've experienced little to no lag, and have a blast playing the game. The clan system, group system, and player customization (colors and symbols), is really nice and takes the whole team experience to a new level IMO.

Lastly, the game is solid. You can tell based on the framerate, online crash "recovery" and just everything in general. This game took a long time to come out, but it's definitely a superb product and well worth the price of admission. I also see that there is an option for downloadable content (Maps, and more?), which should really extend the game even more.

If you're on the fence about this game, I think it definitely lives up to the hype. I have no complaints and have a ton of fun playing it, even though I am not that great, and have a lot of learning to do.

And lastly, I just want to provide a heads up. If you want to talk to your entire team, you need to press the White button or up on the D-Pad. If you just talk into the mic without pressing either, you will just be talking to those in earshot. The white button/D-Pad acts as a sort of radio that allows you to talk to your entire team, and I think there are quite a few players that are talking into their mics and not being heard.

Jimellow.. Good call on the white button. I love using the proximity voice though, cause you can scare people you are coming up on. I was playing Ninjanaut with the adaptive camo, and snuck up on a buddy. As I got closer I would say "here's Johnny!" and shit like that. It was HILARIOUS watching him turn and whip around looking for me, only to hear me talk again.

Haha nice!

I remember hearing about people running around in Splinter Cell 2 and saying, "I'm Rick James, bitch!" before killing their victim, and I think that has the potential to be taken to a whole new level here.

I actually didn't realize that proximity talk is heard by enemies until you mentioned it, and it certainly does open up a ton of possibilities, like your example. :)

I'm playing as Jimplication online, and I don't think there is a way to change a XBox gamertag, but I do have you on my friends list. We should play some time.

Take care.

Played co-op with my friend for 4 hours last night, fucking awesome.

Classic moment: Grabbing on to a Covenant vehicle, punching the shit out of the driver, then throwing a grenade in and watching it explode. Pure genius!

(had very little sleep, spelling might have suffered)

I saw this in the penny-arcade forum and thought I should share:

The multiplayer is as amusing as ever. Even more so with random n00bs to plug on live.

Voice comms is the shiznitch, especially with two other mates and a warthog. More fun than you can shake a stick at: on offence, CTF, Zanzibar:

me: goddammit hold still so I can toast these guys
driver: I'm getting shot. Shit dammit
me: godammn they're coming, I can't hold them. run flag dude run!
flag dude: (storming out of base with flag) aaaaaahahhaaa
driver: get in the car... get in the damn car
(enemies pouring out of the base after the flag dude, shooting and throwing grenades)
flag dude: slow down dammit
me: drive! drive!
driver: get in the fucking car aaaahahaa
flag dude: aaaahahh
(rocket launcher smoke trails all over the show)
me: aaaahhahahaaa
flag dude: I'm in! go go go!
(manic driving ensues, all of us getting shot and grenaded, me hosing the general area with the autocannon, before we finally escape the vicinity)
all: woooohoooo!!

Guess you had to be there... but you just can't get that funny shit with counterstrike when you have to type everything.

Meh... It's not as good as Halo 1, imo.

Bah... it's WAY better than Halo 1.

My Live gamertag is Xepherys. Hook me up with an invite if you want to get fragged :)

Know that my review is of X-Box Live only, in the last 18 hours I haven't touched the Campaign.

Some spoiler maybe . . . I don't know what you might consider a spoiler.


When you boot up the game, and attempt to go Live, the first thing you have to do is download some new patches or whatever. I'm thinking ok, I've been waiting 2 years for this game, patches are good. They don't take long at all to download. Finally I get all booted up and get into the "choose your path" type screen. I check my friends list and see like five people online. Ok . . . Cool. I'll just join one of thier games. I get in seemlessly. Without a hitch.

We're playing CTF, and it is AWESOME. This is the most fun LIVE game, (except the original Ghost Recon/(when no one is glitching)) to date.

I went to bed at about 6 o'clock this morning, slept about 4 hours and have been playing it ever since. (6 pm. CST) The graphics and gameplay are amazing.

Now, I do have a few complaints. The biggest one is this. In EVERY OTHER LIVE GAME . . . you can join a room, and then become a member of what they call in H2 their party. Meaning when the game is over, who ever sets up the room, can change the settings and such. Not H2.

In order to join a game, it has to be either 1. (One of your friends has created a room) or 2. Join a room with complete strangers.

With option 2 you can take your party with you, (If you have created one.) You may even be able to invite friends in, (not sure). However once the game you join is over, everyone gets booted from the room. You can't keep playing with the same people. Sure it doesn't take any time to find another room, but when you are playing with no friends, you don't get a chance to become aquainted with the people you are playing. That is one of the "selling points" of Live.

That having been said, I have a ton of friends and we are having a BLAST, being in a party and moving from room to room, but if you get Live because of H2, you might be disappointed due to lack of "established friends". Well, there's my rant . . . I'm done.

Peace.

The only fault I can find with this game is the inability to just keep playing with the same non-party group of people.

I LOVE the new weapons... much more balanced than the initial Halo. The magnum(Pistol) is much better without zoom - no more half-map 3 headshot kills. The sword is a really nice addition also.

I really like the new Covenent Carbine too - so nice to finally have a balanced midrange weapon.

The Banshee is also nice, as is the new Warthog with the railgun-thing on the back. Overall, I'm reallyhappy with the quality of the multiplayer environment.

Haven't played much campaign, so I can't really comment on that.

Also, has anyone noticed how "Coagulation" is really similar to Blood Gulch? Anyone else think that's an easter egg (Coagulate = thickening of blood after death... maybe a "thicker" blood gulch after the "death" of Halo 1)?

It and Battle (something or another) is the same as (or at least close) To battle creek.

Uh... yeah Coagulation = Blood Gulch and Beaver Creek = Battle Creek

I love it. I only played the first 2 levels so far, and partly through the third. Amazing. Graphics especially. Some of the cut scenes look like a movie or something. I love the Halo storylines too - they're so deep and real. And it's awesome how it adapts to you and how you play. I wish more games were like that.

Well, theres too many things I love to list, so i'll just bring up a few things I don't like. (Conserning campaign)
-Vehicle handling. The ghost and Warthogs seem real heavy. They don't seem near as agile as they did in the first Halo. I loved getting all kinds of air in the Warthog even on some smaller bumps, but now it seems stuck to the ground 90% of the time. Ghost too. Also, the Warthog approach angle seems real shallow. It has a hard time driving over a lot of things, which doesn't make sense, as the front tires stick out the furthest (I felt this was a problem in the first Halo too though).
-Sometimes the Marines have TOO good of AI. I have a tendancy to have my Warthog stolen... I'll jump out to shoot some covenant, then I turn around and my Warthog is speeding off in the opposite direction with no way to stop it. This was especially annoying in the middle of the huge tunnel on level 2. I later found the wreckage (accompanied by some corpses) of what used to be my Warthog.
-The duel wield controls will take some getting used to. I love running up and bashing an enemy. But when I do this, my 2nd weapon gets thrown away, making me have to go hunting for it. I also have a tendency to get buttons confused when dropping/switching/throwing/doing-what-ever-else to weapons in a panic.

I haven't fired up Live yet, so I can't comment on that.

Thats my 2 cents.

Multiplayer is incredible...then again the original was incredible...this one is just more polished...with dual weapon insanity :). However, Half-Life 2 single player (I won't even compare it with Counterstrike: Source) already wipes the floor with it...sorry Halo lovers...the incomplete beta looked better then it. Why do the cut scene sequences jerk like bad claymation? optimization problems? i dunno, nontheless it is solid and i love it...but its not going to ruin my grades...HL2 is a different story. :)

During the initial load I thought oh crap if the load times are this long I'll never play this piece of poo. Then it started and it was awesome. Fighting in the city was just too damn cool. The Arbitor mission is where I am now, I think towards the end of it and it has been great. Using the sword is awesome.

The multi options are tremendous...

The campaign is awesome...

The special edition is definately worth the extra $5.

Go get it now...

I have no idea how far into the single player campaign I am right now.
Spoiler: I'm trying to find the heretic right now if that tells anyone anything.

My only complaints with the game so far have been cosmetic. The switch from low-res to high-res textures is very jumpy. One second the Master Chief looks like a big green gumby and the next, voila nice and bump-mapped. It's pretty distracting because it happens all the time in the cut scenes and the game. Some parts at the start are pretty hokey and it seems like they are reaching just to make a "big moment", IMO. But if you just sit back, smile, and wait until you get the controls again it's all good.

There have been a couple of times where I ran out of ammo and had to slug my way through an area. Probably just poor marksmenship/ammo conservation on my part. But it's pretty satisfying to wander through turning the grunts and jackels into wall smears. hehe

Can't wait to try out multiplayer even though I'm going to SUCK.

I haven't had a chance to look at the multi-player stuff, but the campaign is fantastic so far.

I like how there are so many new cutscenes to check out. Halo wasn't big on talking or explaining much of anything, but Halo 2 seems to be heading the other direction.

I'm not sure what the hell to think about the Covenent side of things. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out who the bad guys were in that mission. I was so confused that I started to running up to everyone to see if the targeting reticle turned red before I'd fire.

I've only played a bit of it, but overall I'm very pleased with the new improvements and the fine tuning. I especially like jumping on tanks and tossing grenades down the hole. Good times, good times. The marine AI is dramatically improved as well and you can trade guns with them. So much more humane than gunning them down for their weapon.

My only bitch is that some of the levels are so big. That's not really the problem, but in the original if you got lost, a beacon would pop up and help you get to point B. It doesn't seem to be like that in the second game. I must have spent 20 minutes doing circles around some ruins on the second Halo world before I accidentally stumbled into one of "my" marines.

That's only about Mission 5 out of 13, according to the strategy guide, I only got the guide because it has bad ass maps of all the multiplayer levels.

The part on the bump-mapping, jumping back and forth during cut-scenes is true, its very annoying.

I thought the first mission in the campaign was boring, kinda like the first mission from Halo, Spoiler: Where basically the base you're at, gets attacked. Until I got to the level where you're Spoiler: On the highway in a Warthog in one section, then driving a Scorpion tank taking out Covenant Ghosts, Banshees, and Wraiths on a long, open bridge in the other, and near the conclusion of the level you jump off a huge ledge onto this giant walking robotic "scarab", to take out the Covenant on board, and the machine itsself, is so awesome, that has to be one of my favorite levels in any video game.

Multiplayer for the most part, is the same from Halo, but with new additions. There is only one weapon that's extremely cheap (like the noob cannon, pistol, from Halo), which is the Energy blade. You can't really block or dodge attacks when you're going up against a guy that has one, and it basically takes you out in one hit (especially when they use the special lock-on lunge attack). Multiplayer is also pretty laggy, I don't think its my connection, because I was playing on a 64 player Counter Strike: Source game with no lag at all, I think its because there are huge amounts of people playing the game at once, hopefully, Microsoft will upgrade the servers/bandwidth soon. Its not terrible lag, as long as you are in a small room full of people, it should run fine.

Xbox-Live was more fun then I thought it would be. I like all the new vehicles and weapons so far. Just getting into the single player but from what I have seen so far, it'll be spectacular!

Halo 2 definetly kicks ass! Dual-wielding is a great idea. The Assault Rifle is much better.

I was a little thrown off by the Elites speaking English. It's pretty cool, because now they, as well as the grunts, talk about you.

-BD

just reading that i am already imagining every moment of that scene. dammit why must i work for a living...i want some halo2 now!!!!

ok i didnt want to look in this thread until after i played it for a little while.

Everything is way better than the original. wow i haven't even played it on XBL yet....
however Spoiler: i was a bit upset that we didn't get to remain on earth for a little longer than the one level of Zanzibar.

This really is an amazing game. I stayed up way too late last night playing. I just played the campaign but I am loving it. It's so easy to just pick up and play and get right into it. I'm only at the Arbitor level now, but it is hella fun. The dual wielding took some getting used to, but the additional firepower is incredible in certain situations! All in all I'm having a blast!

played a bit more online today. I gotta say the hi-jacking of vehicles is the funniest thing.

Great music and storyline...that's about it :D

--jaded

I am on stage 4, played for 3 hours, got dizzy (yes, I know I'm weak, it's like this with every first person shooting game for me :( ) so I stopped. I'll continue some other timewhen i'm not dizzy. It's kicking ass so far, enjoy every single aspect of the game. Can't wait to duke it out with my friends this weekend. :D

Storyline is cool...but the ending kind of bites. Wasn't impressed with the graphics, they were the same (maybe a little worse) than Halo 1.

Dual wielding is kind of neat, but doesn't seem to make a big difference. Just the looks of it is kind of cool though. Didn't really seem like the new vehicles were as great as I expected....there wasn't many chances to use them.

Multiplayer seems to be promising, but it seems an awful lot like Unreal Championship to me...doesn't take much skill just running around shooting. Maybe I just need to learn to play better.

Overall - I'm a bit disappointed. Probably a victim of "overhype".

this all sounds great...i didn't like halo 1 very much,but i think halo 2 really could be great.

Damn. Halo2 seems like it will be even shorter than Halo1 if the Arbitor level is 5 of 13 :(

Day one: Single Player Game - Wow this game is the best ever! Online Game - Wow, online is so much fun...
Day two: SIngle Player Game - What?!? I don't want to play as that guy?!? Online Game - What a bunch of dicks online!! How can I be a noob when the game is only 24 hours old?!?!
Day three: I think I'll play Rainbow 6 BA...