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Halo 2- Combat Even More Evolved.

  • Writer: Sam Cawley
    Sam Cawley
  • Dec 2, 2021
  • 6 min read

Halo Infinite is right around the corner people, promising a story-driven campaign more expansive than any we've seen before. With that in mind, it's only right that I take another look at the Halo game famous for its story-telling, world building, and impressive gameplay additions, Halo 2.

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Opinions on Halo 2 are confusing to say the least. Some would say it's the pinnacle of the series, re-defined the modern shooter, and knocked it out of the park with its story and gameplay design, and they'd absolutely be right. However, Halo 2 is not perfect, there are flaws, not huge ones, but flaws nonetheless. And with that, let's take a deep dive into one of the most hyped up games ever released.


After the outstanding masterpiece that was Halo: Combat Evolved, the developers of Halo at the time, Bungie, were quick to jump into a sequel. They had the full backing of Xbox in this as well as thousands of new fans cheering them on, how could they fail? And, they didn't, they got the game released in 2004 to critical acclaim. But the journey they took to get to release was not easy, not by a long shot. Game design is hard, the amount of work that goes into every detail of making a game fun, control well, look appealing, have every interactive segment work as planned, it can make or break a team. Bungie knew all about this with Halo: Combat Evolved as they made a number of changes during development that could have absolutely hindered the game if they were the wrong decisions. It's even stated that four months before the game released, they found the multiplayer to lack the fun they envisioned and opted to scrap the whole thing and start over, four months before release.


So it's safe to say Bungie knew the labours they were about to face, especially considering how fans will have expectations set based on the first game. What followed was essentially development hell.


The game's writer Joseph Staten said "We ordered ourselves a giant sandwich, took a bite but didn't realize exactly how big it was before we started in. And we did that across the board, technically, artistically, and story wise. But of course, we didn't figure that out until way too late."


Ambition essentially got the best of them and led to a lot of brilliant ideas being cut, remade or repurposed, which is actually what led to the creation of Halo 3, which wasn't planned ahead as they never intended to make a trilogy. They had to make an impressive follow-up to Combat Evolved, as well as create an industry defining online multiplayer to work alongside Xbox Live.


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Despite all of this, despite all the trials, they did release Halo 2, and it did live up to the hype. There were some elements that were heavily criticised on release, but looking back, the majority of fans believe that Halo 2 is one of the better games in the series.


So what's the story? Previously you were simply the Master Chief, you land on a ring world known as Halo and shoot aliens to save the universe. Halo 2 took this and said "well if it ain't broke don't fix it" and has the same type of story, just bigger and louder, leaning more into the idea that humanity is at war with an alien race. However, there's a twist. At the start of the game you're shown the aftermath of Combat Evolved. From Chief's point of view, when he destroyed the ring world, stopped the aliens and escaped in one piece, he gets celebrated as a hero. On the other hand, we're shown the perspective of the Elite who was in charge during the events of Combat Evolved. He lost, and now he's paying the price for it, being labelled a heretic and being stripped of his authority and on the verge of execution. This opening perfectly encapsulates how vastly different Halo 2's story will be as it gives players a much deeper look into the universe and what powers are at play.

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This expands to gameplay too, as this unnamed Elite receives the title of Arbiter, and becomes a playable character, with missions switching from Chief's perspective to Arbiter's and back again throughout the campaign. While the gameplay itself remains the same it offers different playstyles as Arbiter has temporary invisibility and has access to non-human weaponry more frequently than Chief's missions, such as the Energy Sword.


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Speaking of gameplay, Halo 2 offers more variety in it's weapon and vehicle sandbox, new enemies, some boss fights, and more opportunity to fight alongside AI teammates to add to the intergalactic war feel of the game. The most notable addition are the Brutes. Large, hulking, ape-like opponents that replace the Elites are enemies around half way into the story. They're very weak to shots to the head by at close quarters are extremely strong. Additionally, because they fight in packs, when one Brute remains they'll go berserk, dropping their weapon and moving at incredible speed to physically attack you. They're fun to fight as you have to either take our the group simultaneously or evade the last berserk one enough to finish him off.

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Weapons also feel really varied, with the addition of the Battle Rifle and Covenant Carbine as the standard mid-long range rifles. Then there are close quarters options like the Shotgun and Energy Sword, and finally long range options like the Sniper Rifle and Covenant Beam Rifle. This just scratches the surface too, as one handed weapons can be dual-wielded, offering more tactical strategy. For example, a Plasma Rifle is a one-handed weapon that works best on shielded enemies as it drains them quickly, the SMG works best on non-shielded enemies, so dual wielding them lets you put down foes quickly for more variety.


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Overall the gameplay feels fresh but familiar, but there's one glaring problem, the difficulty. Due to the developers having to rush a bit to hit the release date, it meant less time refining the small details, with one of the big ones being how easy or hard the game is. On Easy difficulty, it's what you'd expect, easy, however move onto Normal and there's a decent challenge, then Heroic becomes extremely tricky and finally Legendary, which is hell. Higher difficulties turn the damage the enemies deal out to ridiculously high levels, to the point where even a few shots kill you. Adding to this, the accuracy of enemies also increases, meaning evading them is just as difficult as finding an opportunity to strike back. It really is the biggest flaw of the game and still receives criticism to this day and for good reason, however it's obviously very situational in the way it effects your experience of the game. If you're not likely to play higher than Normal, you should be fine.


Now I love the gameplay, and the story is engaging and memorable, but my favourite part of Halo 2 is the soundtrack. Halo: Combat Evolved presented a mystery in it's world design. Yes you were fighting back hostiles, but during the quieter moments the emphasis was on Halo, what it is, what it's for, what makes it work and so on. Due to this there were mystical and angelic chants and harmonies in some of the soundtrack, showing just how intriguing Halo is. In Halo 2, we know what Halo is and we know how dangerous it is, so the main focus is preventing the Covenant from using it. This gives us more bombastic, rock and roll type soundtracks. Guitar riffs, drum beats, and a rhythm that adds to the combat is what I personally take away from the music, just take a listen here.


Each piece lends itself to what's happening at the time and still has a few quieter tracks for when you're moving from point A to B. Ultimately it's masterful and in my opinion hasn't been exceeded by the soundtracks of the Halo games that came after it.


So, let's wrap this up. Halo 2 is amazing, and honestly it's been difficult to write this up as there's just so much to talk about when discussing it. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before and it's available through the Master Chief Collection for Xbox One and Series X consoles, as well as for PC gamers as well. With that being said I'm gonna end this now and get back to playing Halo 3 and count the days down before Halo Infinite comes out next week!

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