Since writing about Halo however long ago it was, I've still not decided on how to play Halo. I'm probably leaning towards The Master Chief Collection, where everything will be in one place, but I know that given that I've waited this long to get around to playing them, waiting a little longer won't hurt.
And now here comes Halo 2, putting more pressure on me to play them sequentially. There will be more Halo titles on the 1001 list, by the way (spoilers), but I get the impression I'll have a smattering of understanding about each of them based only on their first levels for a while to come...
So, let's drop into the smash hit sequel and see what captured everyone's attention back in 2005, before trying to forget it all until I'm ready for it.
Ah. I bet that's a spoiler for the first game then. Try to forget that.
Frustrations
Yup, that's a spoiler. Lucky for me, I can't even remember how Halo: Combat Evolved started, so knowing how it ends shouldn't be a problem by the time I get round to going through it.
These alien fellas are having some kind of trial. I assume the defendant is an important character from the first game. I guess the judges are too. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that this PC port looks a little off.
It's quite dated, isn't it? Or do I still have the Doom 3 graphics in my head? Am I too harsh on Halo 2, being a console title, and all? I probably am. It's still watchable, right? It at least makes some sense to players who are coming into Halo 2 cold, like me.
We know the aliens aren't too pleased with the outcome of the last game then. What about the heroic Master Chief? What are we up to?
That... that's your first line of the game? That was rubbish, Chief.
After a teeny tiny calibration tutorial (look up and down, yeah, that's good enough) and some walk and talk gameplay, we're off and running into the rest of the intro videos. Incidentally, while I'm playing this on PC, I immediately picked up the controller, probably assuming that that's the way it's meant to be played, and completely forgetting that the FPS genre is better with a mouse and keyboard. So, uh, bare that in mind if you see any wayward shots from here on...
While the good guys are getting medals for their successes, the bad guys are getting tortured for their failures. It's a harsh universe, this, and once again it's about to hot up. The enemy is launching an attack on the defensive space-bases in orbit around the Earth. The Halo sequel is about to kick off.
Fun Times
And here we are, in familiar territory, chunky gun filling our view, nameless soldiers alongside us, no doubt ready to die for the cause. Our opponents are trying to board. Not on my watch.
Gameplay carries over from the first game, where you try your best to point and shoot at the invaders with the analogue sticks and the trigger buttons. I don't know if it's because of my lack of practice with playing FPS's with a controller or the actual sensitivity settings, but you can imagine my gun swaying too far in any direction before requiring a correction the other way, and lots of feet and scenery getting shot instead of heads.
Did the first game have a slight auto-aim to compensate? A snap to target if you're close enough? I can't remember. It might help me here. So would a mouse, I suppose. Next time.
New to the notion of only being able to carry a couple of weapons at a time is the dual-wielding of certain smaller weapons, each responding to their relevant trigger buttons for that added touch of realism, I guess.
Picking up a downed opponents pistol and using it against his comrades just saves me trying to remember where the reload button is. Everything I run over seems to give a HUD prompt of 'Press X to switch weapons' or 'Press Y to dual-wield', and not knowing the strengths or weaknesses of each weapon makes those decisions easy: click yes to all.
It keeps you in the action that little bit longer, as one weapon can be reloading while you still shoot with the other. Don't ask how the Chief puts new magazines in single-handedly - he's the Chief. Some of the alien tech allows you to charge up shots for bigger blasts of energy, and some overheat in your hand if you use them too much. Good to know.
So far, Halo 2 continues to provide those thirty-second bursts of action before you encounter the next wave of opponents, so it's not trying to change the formula drastically.
An explosion of another base alerts us to our foes plan - plant bombs and get the hell out of the way before they detonate. It means there's a bomb heading our way too - if it's not already here...
Further Frustrations
It took a while for me to get there, though. My cinematic route took me through a variety of environments, and even out into space itself. This first section allows you to encounter several different enemy types with a whole heap of weaponry, so players can get an idea of the action early on.
The problem I was having was one of boredom. Or repetitiveness. Tedium? At any rate, all I was doing was running, shooting, clearing a room of enemies, waiting for the next wave, dealing with them, moving to the next place, and doing it all over again.
I know that's what most games are, but having everything so chunked up and packed into those frantic bursts of action felt like I wasn't exploring a space base as it was being boarded by aliens intent on blowing it up from the inside. It felt instead like I was being taken along for a ride and following a script.
Here, Master Chief shoots some flying enemies while waiting for a lift. Then he kills some more enemies on the lift. Then he rides down the lift, and the doors lead to space, and he kills some more enemies before finding the bomb.
Oh, blimey! We've found the bomb. Better clear the room of enemies. How do we do that? Shoot until your hands start to burn from hot plasma, duck behind cover to let our shields regenerate, pop out and shoot until...
Aren't these guys supposed to be elite? Like, they're actually called 'Elites', but they don't have the brains to flank me, or stay in cover? Didn't the first Halo have that kind of smart AI?
Everything the plot was telling me was of a desperate last stand to repel opposition forces and start a counter-attack or something. Everything I felt was 'You're in a game, this is very gamey, look at this new area opening because you got through this part of the game.'
Again, that's what games are, but for some reason, I felt it much more obviously in Halo 2. I wasn't swept up in the action, I wasn't admiring the heroics. I was just going through the motions.
Return to sender. Mhmm. Well done, Chief. You've done it again, you Superman, you.
Amidst the dated graphics and the corny action, I was ready to call my run there. And then someone mentioned going down to the surface of Earth...
Further Fun Times
It looks garbage from space, but I was definitely interested in seeing what Halo would make of a future Earth. We land in New Mombasa, Kenya, and it most definitely doesn't look like modern Kenya. But it does look brown and sandy. The colourful space shooter Halo has come to a brown Earth. I can see why some fans wouldn't be in favour of that.
But the aliens are invading Earth, damn it. The plot dictates that we head home and defend it, so let's do just that!
Further Frustrations
Ugh, it's just wave after wave of enemies until the checkpoint, isn't it? Why, Halo 2, why? You could have been so much more than thirty seconds of fun.
As our fellow soldiers get whittled down, their radio chatter going silent one after the other, we run around the arena cleaning up shop until the game deems us worthy of progressing to the next challenge.
The skies are too hot and the courtyard too small for our ships to pull us out right now, and besides, there's a mini-boss of sorts we've got to prove ourselves with.
These two did cause some awkward running into walls, and frantic presses of the reload button, but they went down in the end, and we could finally move into a new area, after what felt like twenty minutes.
Oh, Chief. You went down like a little bit-
Final Word
That's where I called my time with Halo 2 for now, bloodied and slumped on the floor. Take the snipers out first, eh? Step behind cover once in a while. Recharge your shields before going all Rambo on the opposition. Many a lesson to be learned there.
As I probably mentioned in the Halo write up, I'm not a massive fan of the series, partly because I never had an Xbox, and partly because Master Chief is a silly character in my eyes. Yet I cannot deny how many units they sold and how much of an impact it had on video gaming, primarily console shooters.
I dare not step foot into an online multiplayer lobby for any Halo game, despite knowing that's really the only reason why anyone plays Halo. It is, by most accounts, something remarkable. Maybe it's because this is all console players had. Perhaps it's because it really is that well made, providing such a well-polished set of multiplayer challenges. I don't really know.
Like all good sequels, it picked up where the original left off, refined what worked, improved what didn't, and pushed forward all the while to become the juggernaut it did. I missed out on it at the time, but have my options for catching up with it now. Is it amazing me? Not really. Am I interested in it nonetheless? Yeah. I guess I am.
Fun Facts
Halo 2 was delayed on the PC because of partial nudity found in the map editor. "A photograph of a man mooning the camera was presented as part of the '.ass' error message", apparently.
Halo 2, developed by Bungie, first released in 2004.
Version played: PC, 2007.