Author Topic: HALO II (Read 5300 times)

Jabba · « **on:** November 10, 2004, 06:05:10 pm »

I'm surprised this has not come up yet...Anyone here play HALO II yet? I don't have an XBOX, so I'll just have to wait for the PC release. *sigh*

Luxury · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2004, 07:11:35 pm »

try the consoles forum. bunch of threads there about it.

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2004, 12:01:33 pm »

OK, I guess I'll post the first little review here:

I wasn't one of the diehard fans that lined up outside BestBuy @ midnight or anything - I preordered my copy during some promotion so I got the limited edition for only $38shipped [the metal case is friggin' cool]. I was hyped about the game, but not to the point of rioting or anything...
The first session I had with it was story coop mode. This was one of my favorite features of the first one, and I was expecting this version to be even better. I was overall unimpressed. Dual-weilding is really cool the first time you realize you can do it, but the initial charm wears off kinda quick. This one doesn't feel any smoother control-wise (not that it's bad by any means, just not any better). The ingame graphics are great, but the cutscene graphics are very hit-or-miss - some scenes look terriffic, while others look like shite (master chief and all the bad guys look great and are animated well, but all the humans look like stiff, boxy crap.) The framerate was pretty crappy for coop - worse, I felt, than the original.
I know so far it sounds pretty negative, but alot of the criticism is kinda nitpicky, primarily because this the release of this game to some people has been regarded as highly as the second coming of Christ

, and I just want to point out that there's plenty to keep this game from being perfect. Some of the POSITIVE things about this game - the enemies seem smarter now, along with your supporting teammates. The enemies are harder to take down too, which makes the challenge a little better. Alot more opportunities to commandeer vehicles (which you can now do via a very cool, very addictive 'jack move'). The weapons have been balanced better (the needler rawks now), along with some pretty cool new weapon additions. The energy sword owns all.
Finally, the mode that everyone was clamoring for, XBox Live. I signed on shorly after playing around with the Coop mode. Takes several minutes to load up a quickmatch (it does all kinds of number crunching to determine the best possible match for you, based on level/skill rating, ping, etc.) Kind of annoying when you're impatient to shoot someone in the face (same gripe I have with the 3day gun purchase waiting period...). It finally loaded me up into a map, and the framerate/lag was HORRIBLE. I honestly couldn't even play it. I signed off after just a couple of minutes in disgust. The next day, however, I decided to give it another go, and I must say, it ran as smooth as silk. I think the servers were just totally capped out the first day - checking bungie.net showed me that there were over 50,000 people playing at the time, so I guess it's pretty understandable. On the topic of bungie.net - they've done an awesome job there - you can type in your (or anyone's) gamertag, and get their ratings, how many games they've played, even a listing of the last couple matches and their stats/outcomes.
In conclusion, I recommend picking up Halo 2 if you liked the first one, and especially if you play on XBox live. Not the greatest game to ever grace the earth though; if you want a great deep, all emcompassing game, check out GTA:San Andreas. If console FPS's are your thing, Halo 2 fits the bill well.

Luxury · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2004, 02:20:58 pm »

Just wanted to point out that you aren't playing on servers. Games are hosted on other players xboxes automatically and seemlessly. I don't know why you had lag - but I would guess that it was on your end since it should automatically run tests to host the game on the most suitable connection.

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2004, 03:55:19 pm »

Yeah, I just finished reading about that - must have been a burp in my connection or something. On another note - have any of you guys who have/play halo 2 on live checked out bungie.net yet? The stats they keep track of are friggin' staggering! You can even pull up data from any game you've played and see a 3d map of each death and kill! Insane!

wrxh8r · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2004, 04:19:15 pm »

I think the game is cool but i also think its highly overated.I think its one of the better games of the year but i also think a game shouldnt be able to get goty if its pretty much multiplayer that would make it so .The single player game which i finished in maybe 8 or 9 hours on normal (because i suck at fps) There were heaps of bugs that i noticed.One time the game wouldnt load.I jumped through a wall.Got stuck in several rocks.Shot 3 or four bad dudes through walls and had about 30 givaway kills because the enemy was stuck like a broken record half turning around skiping magicly back to start and trying again.Also the frame rate can get rather bad especially in cutscenes but it never lasts longer than a few seconds.I played through the first level again on a harder difficulty and havnt had much problems with bugs (not that that should matter) Lan multiplayer was good though and went without a hitch and no noticable problems.Cant wait for my xbox live kit to arrive in about a week.
I dont know what to think about the ending either.And game couldve been longer.And at one stage i forgot to save and lost about an hours game time so i ran through the entire level which took me about 10 minutes and i only had to kill 2 bad guys.There are cut off points where units cant pass.Its quite sad watching a unit chase you then suddenly turn round when they reach their limit.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #6 on:** November 12, 2004, 08:19:06 pm »

i just picked it up and played a few hours of it...i feel the same as i did for San andreas..not enough new material to warrant 50+ bucks..the weilding is nice ,but wears quick, and not to mention kind of clutters you firld of view.. plus you cant use nades..
its just more of the same......
i mean HALOS great, dont get me wrong, but i played halo.. i was hoping for something more..
another expansion pack..
i noticed alot of the bugs you mentioned, AI standing with you toe to toe doing nothing..
the textures on the cutscenes were horrendously dull. like during one of the first cutscens of the game ,they show one of the new stations floating in space, the spline of the station had absolutely no detail whatsoever, no windows. no lights nothing.just blicky polygons... the boss cutscenes in G-darius were better

yea this GOTY stuff has got to end.,the little boy who cried wolf syndrome is coming into effect..my faith in the gaming media is seriously strained.

look at the first max payne..no one heard of that game before its release.. no hype machine...no goty BS, it came out ,it ROCKED, and THEN people bought it BECAUSE it rocked..
the present marketing strategy is in complete contrast to this..

Gunstar Hero · « **Reply #7 on:** November 13, 2004, 02:13:57 am »

Halo 2 = Great Multiplayer (XBL!!) but really really disappointing campaign mode.

I was all pumped for more then the credits started rolling. I almost screamed.

I haven't had this bad of a letdown since I smoked Onimusha in like 2 hours and the game ended without letting me brawl with Nobunaga.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #8 on:** November 13, 2004, 09:05:43 pm »

and im really not sure how i feel about the covenant speaking full blown english like a bunch of UN politicians..
once again, a science fiction no no,,everyone in the galaxy speaks english...
in the first game they grunted and made noises with the occasional english ,like they were mimicking ,but didnt speak it..

and once you first reach the surface..you can empty as many clips as you like into the guy with the sniper rifle...he wont die......VERY STUPID...nothing like pumping 11 or 12 anti-material rounds into someones head and having them go," im gonna pretend you didnt mean that"

clanggedin · « **Reply #9 on:** November 15, 2004, 11:44:27 am »

In one of the last missions I actually fell through the rock and to my death 3 or 4 times in different places while killing brutes. There werren't any holes that were visible. I just fell though them.

I wish they would have used subtitles for the alien languages like they did in KOTOR, but they went the "Hunt for Red October" route where when master chief hears them they are talking in their language, then Cortana presses the feed and the prophet begins to speak english.

I wish you could engage the Elites cloaking device in Multiplayer. Master Chief needs one too. I actually enjoyed playing the Arbiter more than Chief.

It still was worth the $50 I pad for it...... Now on to beating Sly 2

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #10 on:** November 15, 2004, 11:49:52 am »

Quote

. I actually enjoyed playing the Arbiter more than Chief.

INDEED!! now that woud have been a great and original sequel instead of rehashing the same ol crap.!
using the active camo was awesome, walking up behind people and jamming that energy sword deep into their cerebellum was very satisfying.. but alas far too short..

and you can turn on subtitles ,its deep in your profile settings out of game.

actually, why do they even call it halo?? theres no halo in it!

clanggedin · « **Reply #11 on:** November 15, 2004, 12:16:15 pm »

Halo refers to the ringworld. That's what they call it in the game. I swear they say that in one of the cut-scenes.

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #12 on:** November 15, 2004, 12:20:00 pm »

haven't really been playing thru the 1 player campaign, but I'm loving the online play... amazes me how smoothly it runs even with so many players (even when there's more than one player on each system!) If anyone wants to kick ---my bottom--- on xbox live, my gamertag is johnnysmitch

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #13 on:** November 15, 2004, 12:36:47 pm »

anyone else having the 480P problem on your 16:9 televisions?

Quote

# Halo 2 480p - HUD is clipped on either side of the screen. Reticles and radar and other round objects are oval shaped and no autodetect

==========================================

Quote

but I'm loving the online play...

do you have to pay a monthly subscription fee? i dont have live

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #14 on:** November 15, 2004, 01:21:51 pm »

Quote from: DYNAGOD on November 15, 2004, 12:36:47 pm

do you have to pay a monthly subscription fee? i dont have live

Yes, there's a monthly fee, but you should've gotten a trial subscription card with the game - good for 2 months free I believe. Still need a credit card to sign up for the trial months (and have to cancel after 2 months to keep from getting billed), but I highly recommend trying it out; I'm not even sure Halo2 would be worth buying if it wasn't for the amazing online/multiplayer [unless you've got friends with extra xboxes and tvs and controllers to system link with]

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #15 on:** November 15, 2004, 01:40:14 pm »

yea, im gonna have to sign up i guess.. bungie wins again

thats why theres no pc release yet,which i would much rather have as the money i already pay to be online would be my subscription fee, instead of paying for live and an ISP as M$ would have it be..
there using this as their killer app to sell xbox live subscriptions..
shame of it is , i didnt buy it to play multiplayer..they should have marketed it as such..

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #16 on:** November 15, 2004, 02:32:27 pm »

hmmmm

Quote

Tyson Green: There are some very minor changes in the way grenades bounce and behave,it is now possible (albeit extremely difficult) to snipe and detonate them midair , but they are pretty true to the original aside from that

how do you detonate a nade,, right trigger?

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #17 on:** November 15, 2004, 03:29:05 pm »

Quote from: DYNAGOD on November 15, 2004, 02:32:27 pm

how do you detonate a nade,, right trigger?

I think he's saying that you can SHOOT them while in midair, not remote trigger them.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #18 on:** November 15, 2004, 03:45:09 pm »

hmmm,.its odd that i found that article today cause i was watching the E3 dem , when the master chief walks up to an overwatch position taking out coventant troops below by a stationary gun (just before he uses it) you can clearly see him throwing conventional nades that seem to detonate almost instantly..
not the usual 3 second wait...

had me wondering..

Jakobud · « **Reply #19 on:** November 16, 2004, 02:07:34 pm »

This game was such a letdown

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #20 on:** November 16, 2004, 02:50:11 pm »

indeed..
not that its a bad game, but theres just no way a game can live up the overzealous advertising and propoganda that surrounded it...

from a marketing standpoint, its a total friggin success, but they are trading dollars for customer confidence..

eventually ,if this practice of releasing games that dont live up to their hype continues ,people will no longer buy games out of the gate,and preorders will become a thing of the past..they will wait a week or two ,let the reviewers do their job and make an informed purchasing decision based on product in hand,,not hype and speculation force fed to them by the developer...
the publics not gonna take this much longer..especially at 50 bucks a pop

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #21 on:** November 17, 2004, 09:19:21 am »

i love this latest fiasco.
looks like im going to be forced to get xbox live one way or the other.. me and about a million other people with widescreen tv's..
the 480p bug is going to need a patch,which means xbox live..
nothing like selling a defective product then telling people that in order to get it fixed you need to get a subscription service..

johnnysmitch · « **Reply #22 on:** November 17, 2004, 10:23:01 am »

is this really a suprise? I mean, it IS Micro$oft we're dealing with here...

I other regards, I'm not really let down by the game, as I didn't really get into the hype much surrounding it, and I didn't play the first one religiously like many did - so I'm pretty happy playing Halo 2 for what it is, which happens to be an excellent multiplayer experience.

clanggedin · « **Reply #23 on:** November 17, 2004, 11:38:40 am »

What's been really bugging me now is trying to unlock the extra MP level. I have tried it twice with what they say to do and nothing yet. I'll try it again tonight.

Once that's unlocked I plan on finding all of the hidden skulls in the game.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #24 on:** November 17, 2004, 11:58:09 am »

just buy an action replay...
then you can have the foundation map without all ther hassle.

versapak · « **Reply #25 on:** November 17, 2004, 12:57:24 pm »

Quote

i love this latest fiasco.
looks like im going to be forced to get xbox live one way or the other.. me and about a million other people with widescreen tv's..
the 480p bug is going to need a patch,which means xbox live..
nothing like selling a defective product then telling people that in order to get it fixed you need to get a subscription service.

I am sure that it will be available by other means as well. Most likely on the OXM disc.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #26 on:** November 17, 2004, 01:30:08 pm »

either route would likely result in a dsh update..
something i dont want to do as it will disable my XBMC..

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #27 on:** November 17, 2004, 02:08:28 pm »

"MTV: Music Television today announced that 'Making the Video Game: Halo 2' will premiere on MTV on Friday, November 5th at 11:00pm ET/PT, and MTV2 on Saturday, November 6th at 9:00pm ET. The special will give viewers an unprecedented inside look at the most anticipated video game of 2004."

versapak · « **Reply #28 on:** November 17, 2004, 02:25:21 pm »

Quote

either route would likely result in a dsh update..
something i dont want to do as it will disable my XBMC..

Gotta lose the softmod,. :p

If you have an older Xbox (version 1 or 2, and maybe 3) you could mod it by flashing the onboard tsop. You can keep Live functionality by adding a cheap switch from radio shack (or wherever) to switch between modded bios & retail.

It does require some soldering, but it is all extremely easy stuff, with the exception of one tiny lil point for the switch.

Seeing as you don't seem to be on Live though, you could do this mod just by bridging two little contacts on the xbox mb.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #29 on:** November 17, 2004, 02:29:14 pm »

Quote

Gotta lose the softmod,. :p

i know, but it just seems so damn complicated.. the softmod was soo simple..

versapak · « **Reply #30 on:** November 17, 2004, 02:39:01 pm »

If you aren't installing a switch for Live functionality, then it is actually SUPER easy. Literally just a matter of taking a tiny little bit of solder, and dragging it across two little contact points, and by drag we are not even talking millimeters.

DYNAGOD · « **Reply #31 on:** November 17, 2004, 06:33:13 pm »

is this a mod chip we are talking about?
and if so which one?

clanggedin · « **Reply #32 on:** November 17, 2004, 10:56:17 pm »

BUNGIE just announced today that there will be a XBOX LIVE update that will fix 480p and give the Foundation multiplayer map without having to do the whole loop and roll session on the last level.

They said they will have it ready in the next day or so.

wrxh8r · « **Reply #33 on:** November 18, 2004, 02:23:28 am »

yeah its up now


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