To quote the lead designer of Halo 2:

"Halo 2 is alot like Halo one. Only, on fire, going 400 mph, through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas."

More true words have never been spoken. It's simply amazing. I have played the first two levels, and already it has topped the coolest moments of the first game. It looks amazing. It looks like Doom 3, only lit alot more real looking. The level design, as of yet, is not repetative at all. The cut scenes are a thing of beauty. They actually use focus in the cut scenes... which makes it look REALLY nice. Not to mention the dozens of little effects here and there. Dual weilding weapons is awesome. The submachinegun(s) is actually useful. The new battle rifle kicks ***, and I don't even miss the pistol. This is truly a SUPERB game experience like nothing I've played yet. It takes the good parts of Halo, and just multiplies them.... By about 1500 times.

If you got the game, post your own little review here.

I can't believe I payed 50 bucks for that crap...

I mean...seriously. They marketed it with a green master chief on the cover and in all the cutscenes, but they didn't tell you that you have bright pink until you beat the game once and "unlock" the green mode.

...

sarcasm aside, I played level 1, and so far, the game rocks. I already love it.

I can't believe you're enjoying that crap, i mean its on the xbox for gods sake

Beaten it already.

Awesome game, but now I'm horrendously pissed.

Spoiler: HALO 3 COMING SOON

Just a few screenies I nabbed...




Possible spoilers?

http://imagecorner.sorrowind.net/283/3.jpg

You get to play as Covenant! Whee!
http://imagecorner.sorrowind.net/283/4.jpg

Haven't beaten it. Gotta take a shower, grab some food, then play more Halo 2 until I have Physics RSD.

I'm not touching it until they make a PC version, which should be superior; while they make good use of texturing and lighting techniques, I can't help but notice how glaring the lack of anti-aliasing, possibly also anisotropic filtering, (can't tell too well at that resolution, especially as the screenies appear filtered) as well as low polygon-counts that make what I see appear a little boxy, and low texture detail, which is a pain to my eyes. However, the PC version, if they have the brains to make it far more hardware demanding than the SuXBox version... Might be a good way to show off the powers my 9800XT will have...

no

Actually Jon`C, halo 3 is *not* coming soon. Bungie is taking a break and their next game will be something else.

I also doubt halo 2 can beat my best gaming moment, the Serious Sam final boss being shown for the first time

My roomates have been playing non stop. How the hell did you beat it already Jon?

No.

Get it at midnight, go home, start playing?

Nah, he probably just cheated.

Damnit! I want mine... I have to wait for it to be shipped. Here's hopeing I get it Friday.

Has anyone played it with Surround Sound? I've read that the game sounds great without surround, but if you have it, you're a fool not to use it.

I wont touch that game until it hits PC, even then I might not.

Not until PC version, and when I get a better comp. I doubt I'll get an XBox any time soon.

I have full surround sound.. too bad the game sucked

*plays San Andreas*

Goldeneye is better.

I believe the ninjas were on fire too.

type "pinotnoir 21" (without quotes of course) in console

I Bought an Xbox (crystal edition..purdy), Halo 1 +2 other games the other night.. I get payed on Thursday, then i'll go buy Halo 2, go to hockey, go to the bar, then come home and play it like im 14 again

Haha. It's not even comparable to Doom 3. I've been playing it with my friends and it's pretty damn cool, but the graphics are nowhere near Doom 3.

My friend likes it, but I think most of that comes from the fact that he doesn't want to admit he isn't amazed by a game is stayed up til midnight to buy. He said it was more of the same, and when people asked him all he could talk about was the jumping on vehicles being cool. I admit, sounds neat, videos showed it and it looked neat, but one feature does not a game make. I'll play it myself and see later.

Haven't even played much SP at all.

Probably got a good 7 or so hours total of 4 vs. 4 so far though. That's the only real reason I bought it though. I only find it fun as a group game with lots of friends around. Other than that I can't stand it.

Yeah, the game would have to be far darker before it'd look like Doom 3.

Lame and Unoriginal. I give the sarcastic and base remark a 1 of 10.

my father-out-law delivered it to my boys this afternoon. woohooo!!!

<3

I think Halo II is a bit too overrated. I'll wait til Christmas to buy it.

But...Perfect Dark is pretty close from what I hear to this..And I like Perfect Dark....

*go's back to playing San Andreas*

I think the story is more grabbing than DooM3's. The graphics aren't on par (which I question if it's due to the limited resolution on a TV and the limitations of the X-Box...?), and I think its weapons are better and more varied than DooM3's.

However, Halo 2 ends up rather short in the "scary spookiness" factor, in which I think DooM3 excels.

I love the game. Think it's great, but, sorry, Halo 2 fanboys, I still think Half-Life 2 is going to trump this.

halo one was fine, and i don't need anything more complicated anyway.

Well, just got done playing Halo 2 at the dorms here, and while it's a fun game - it was overhyped I think.

The game is just like Halo 1, throw in some awesome new features, and its just more of the same.

Kicking people out of vehicles is cool, the new weapons are cool, and it looks alot better than the first.

Still, if you're going to play MP you're going to need a decent amount of people for most of the maps. Some of the maps are just too damn big - even for 4 - to have a solid game. SP so far that I've played is just like Halo one except everything looks better and is more alive.

Still, for how much Halo 2 was hyped you would've thought it would be this be all to end all game.

After playing it - it's good, but it's not a 10 I'd say. A 10 requires it to be revolutionary and offer something completely different in my standards.

Without the increased graphics and presentation, I'd say Halo 2 just felt like a Halo mod (new features, same basic core)

Halo 2 is basically pushing the limits of the Xbox in terms of visuals if I'm recalling my reading.

As for your "scary spookiness factor", Halo and Halo 2 weren't supposed to be scary, or spooky (Actually, I can say that about Halo with 100% certainty, but not Halo 2 since I haven't played it. Even still, I find it doubtful it was meant to be that.) so that comment is rather silly.

No comment on the HL2 thing. Mainly because it's.. well... your opinion.

Anyone been to the Temple Level out in the middle of the Water where you have to kill Regret. When i walked into the temple no floors, walls, static messhes showed up only objects like alien crates weapons, latters and stuff were there... I could sometimes see a wall if I looked at just the right angle. It was wierd, very wierd. This was during Co-Op btw. The whole experience felt like skywalking as i could see through everything. Other then that Halo 2 is awesome people. I mean don't sell the original Halo but there are still some fun fun new gameplay terms and Online is intense.... CTF has never been this fun (maybe Tribes was as fun)

I'm loving the multiplayer.

If anyone of you Massassians out there are playing it on Live, send me a friend invite! My gamertag is Spectrael. Leave a voice or text message telling me who you are :).

I'm really wondering what you "it's just Halo 1 with some new features" shouters were expecting. A flight sim? Of course it's going to be more of Halo; it's Halo 2.

Got it a little after midnight, got home, played nonstop.

It isn't that long of a game either.

oS: It sucks that Halo 3 isn't coming for a while, because that means we.. you know.. won't get any sort of resolution to the Halo series for several years.
I mean, hell. The main reason I was so eagerly anticipating Halo 2 was for the storyline, and I got this for my trouble? It blows.

Goldeneye was great...in 1997. And this is from someone who played it 1997-2000 all the time. Looking at the game objectively, wiping my tears of nostalgia, it's just not on par with many games that were released after it.

That's not to say I still wouldn't rate it five out of five stars, thanks to the hours of single- and especially multiplayer fun I had with it. If it were only just released today with nothing but the visuals updated, I'm absolutely certain that I wouldn't rate it that high.

Halo 2 = pwnage. I'm sorry, but the subway chase was just a-****ing-mazing. I play massive multiplayer tonight, and boy can I not wait.