Well, I finally beaten the damn game the other day after playing it off and on while I visited my sister in orange county (Her husband owns the game, not me). Anyway, I thought it was a good game but not as good as the first one. The pacing of the game was a bit off and the story wasn't too interesting. What got me mad about the game though was the ending - of lack of it! Man, that ending suck so bad. The way the game ending on a cliff hanger was so lame. It almost felt like the developers forgot to add the final battle and just shipped the game "as is". The so called "final battle" against the ape-like alien was so easy. I didn't even know it was supposed to be the final battle until after the credits rolled. Despite the lame ending, I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series.

The future is very shiney!

Try that last battle on Legendary. Try ANY of it on Legendary.
So damned frustrating, but very rewarding.

Halo 2 has actually spoiled me to the point where I almost can't play the first one in some spots. I've caught myself trying to dual wield, cursing fall damage when it just about kills me over "smallish" drops, trying to use the binoculars on weapons with no scope, getting totally peeved that the rocket launcher WON'T lock on, trying to boost in the Ghost, trying to use the E-Brake on the 'Hog, and trying to turn the turret on the Scorpion independantly from the rest of the tank. It's helped me though too... Made me a better sniper, I consistently get more headshots now with any precision weapons, I've learned to balance my weapon choices better.... It's kinda like I now miss all the special stuff in Halo that Halo 2 has, but it helped me gain a load of technical stuff that vastly improved my game in the first Halo.

I think both games have their shining moments and their pitfalls.

Very much agreed, it was rather disappointing in alot of parts.

The "final" battle is ridiculous, you can just take that air-lift thing up to the next floor and wait for them to weaken the ape dude. Then you just walk in and hit him with one sword swing when his shield is down.

I was hoping for more Warthog areas as well, would've been nice if they had had larger beach areas and such.

It does feel alot like they have taken stuff for granted and decided to not finish everything. Multiplayer could use a few tweaks, and larger maps.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-03-18

I'd just like to point out, that honestly, if you played through it on Easy, it's really a crap experience. It's almost impossible to DIE on Easy. Normal or Heroic is alot more fun.

There's a single player version of Halo 2?!

Just wanted to point out that I complete the game on normal mode, in case it sounded like I was playing on easy mode.

Ever take a guess at why it's called easy mode?

I think he was just saying alot people normally choose easy to begin with as if their skills are probaly on par considering they are playing a new game. But since their is no learning curve just enemies with better weapons and cheaper tactics it dosn't offer the rewarding experience that the harder difficulties offer which is the way the game was 'meant' to be played.

I never digged the Halo series.