Halo 2 (Xbox)

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The opening is pretty uninspiring, but things become a lot more interesting..

Other flaws are more minor, but also stand against that which we have come to expect. New vehicles are criminally underused, while other more familiar armored beasts are utilized often only in areas offering very little choice in the matter. This extends also to the Banshee, which many thought could potentially bypass entire sections on the player's whim, or find alternate points of entry for more open ended, objective-based gameplay. Instead, the craft has once again been ushered into the occasional aerial dogfight.

Even a giant Starship Troopers style robotic scarab promises much use, only to offer very little. This, perhaps, as the biggest of all mechanical assistance in the game, can also be considered this facet's compounding factor, though for Halo diehards, an irritant as simple as overtly noticeable texture pop-in throughout the game will be just as indicative. Many may feel let down, be it due to reaction against the hype or just from holding unachievable elevated expectations, but plenty of this will be justified.

Campaign is only half of what it has to offer

To discount Halo 2 as a great game on these grounds, however, would be foolish, not least because Campaign is only half of what it has to offer. For not only does Halo 2 include the same split-screen and system-link options that attracted the original so many fans, but it now, finally, comes complete with ready-made online play. And what a playground it is.

Attempting something new in online shooters, Bungie have made the interface as simple to navigate as possible. Logging onto your gamertag, quick button presses can bring up friends lists, from where text or recorded voice messages can be sent. Swift menu selections can easily find players joining other random contestants for ranked or unranked variants of classic Halo gametypes. Custom teams and modes can also be created, clan matches set up, and entire teams taken across between gametypes to be matched against other teams of similar ability.

The energy sword proves to be a deadly weapon.

Of course, in early stages of an online title there will always be flaws; the inability to search for certain gametypes and choose a selection from a produced list is a rather large omission. As too, is the inability to carry a custom party of more than one person over into the Rumble Pit mode for some free-for-all Slayer, making it currently almost impossible to play ranked deathmatches in a team incorporating a mixture of friends and randoms. These however, are at least partially forgivable when considered against the ease with which the service is used, and the wealth of options currently offered. Moreover, Bungie's own homepage makes things more accessible still, allowing players to track their own rankings via gamertag and clan names.

These options though, however impressive, pale in comparison to actually playing the game online. New multiplayer maps, for the most part, replace the old Halo cast of arenas, with the few remaining ones having been given obvious facelifts. In all cases, it is clear that the up most effort has been made to tailor the game to its online mode, keeping a steady framerate and connection without sacrificing aesthetic values.

it is clear that the up most effort has been made to tailor the game to its online mode

Never is this clearer than when a pinpoint sniper bullet splits your target's skull in a frantic eight-player free-for all, operating with four people on your home machine. The most pleasing aspect however, is how natural this occurrence is made to feel. Indeed, the extent of the service's optimization can be felt on even the most basic connection; our own standard 128k upload, running through a router on four-way split, healthily accommodates two players on one Xbox playing with six other people online.

Remnants from the Campaign mode also start to find fruit in Halo 2's online mode, with the true genius of its new weapon balancing becoming instantly and obviously apparent. Level design, too, retains the focus on the vertical, with certain maps offering as tactical and deep an example of the genre as found anywhere on PC or console. Voice communication too, is a standard setter; providing the perfect means for relaying tactics, or even (cruelly) gaining an enemies attention, only to lure them to their doom at the butt of your smoking shotgun, with Halo 2's soon-to-be-imitated Proximity Voice.

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