replayed via Master Chief Collection w/ co-op partner MagesticSapling on Heroic

Halo 2 was the first ever FPS I played, back during its release of November 9th, 2004, when I was merely five. I have no idea how or why my parents were able to let someone my age touch an M-rated game like that, especially since the disparity between mine and my older brothers’ age were rather minimal to begin with, but whatever. It’s the game that cemented not only Halo’s status as an icon of gaming, let alone one for the new generation of FPS franchises, but also gave Microsoft a solidified position on the console market that they’ve been holding over with scattered, rather downtrodden results. That last part is also accurate to the development of Halo 2, due to it being so rotted with crunch and issues influenced from personal life and suit meddling that its bleeding turmoil permeates throughout the campaign, especially during its closing hours and on Legendary difficulty, that it’s a miracle this was ever released and held to high acclaim to begin with. Though, words from the people involved are able to detail this…

Unlike the first game where it felt like a retrofitted Marathon entry, 2 feels more akin to Bungie’s lesser known (and equally harder to access) Myth duology, which in turn was a large homage to the dark fantasy series The Black Company. It’s not quite as apocalyptic or doomed by comparison, but similar inkling is felt: Chief may have won the battle on the first Halo ring, but the war on the Covenant - soon revealed to be the Prophets and Brutes specifically - was ever brewing into catastrophic degrees, and one Thel ‘Vadamee became branded as a heretic due to the immense failure that had occurred for that faction, yet was given a chance, albeit suicidal and high in cost, by becoming the Hierarchs’ newly designated Arbiter. The dualist approach of storytelling gives way to both heroes’ conflicts, with Thel learning about the corruption and outright lies the Prophets have utilized in their false ‘religion’ to propagandized and weaponize sects of the troops for their own gain, Chief once again picking up arms to fight back against the threat, and both of them learning that there’s far harsher secrets the Rings have below than anyone could imagine. Although the depth in narrative isn’t quite significant, and to reiterate the inharmoniously turbulence of the development unearths obvious changes (Miranda Keyes lol), there’s a grander, more palpable pulse beating throughout the campaign’s oscillating beats, there being differences and unveiling of the key individuals involved as the progression continues. It also helps that the attempts of humor is more potent, not luxuriating in the solemn revelations for too long if one cares more about the action than the inspection.

The two sides of Halo 2 also give way to the gunplay, because as everyone knows it’s called such since you can wield two guns. This makes certain weapons more viable, such as the Plasma Pistol becoming a better way of softening up any enemy, but it also serves to crutch others, such as the Needler’s capped damage output for faster speed can only ever become as powerful as it once was by procuring both and going to town. There’s similar improvements and blows outside of this, where the Energy Sword’s dominance is established as one of the best close-encounter finishers, while the Shotgun’s pellet spread and range deduction means it’s nowhere near the force of nature it once was and serves as a mere sidegrade at best to some of the other arsenals it shares favors with. Weapon swaps tend to occur more frequently from either helpful ammo drops, or from beneficial gains via enemy or careful observations in the environments that allows for management and hold of the situations at hand. Plus, a lot of things sound cooler, be it from the arsenal as I hear the pings and energized blasts from each piece, ambiances to , or the way, way improved music, incorporated more often to help give weight to the type of things you’d be doing even if it was in the smallest of doses. Those benjamins knew what they were doin from their breaks, it’s easy to revel in hard-ironed bravado if I had some backing music accompanying me.

It also helps that level design feels a lot more fleshed out as to what it wants to be, emphasizing the linear nature but using that open-space philosophy 1 tried to dabble in more succinct manners. They still couldn’t quite get the reuse aesthetics down, but it’s not as egregious as before at the very least, with better signage and distinctions made to guide the protagonists throughout the structures. Both may be lone wolfing it for a majority of the time, but the way they go about it is fairly unique. Chief’s able to push forward with little issues, while Arbiter needs to camo in quick pace to gain the upper hand, or altogether avoid the firefights. Arbiter largely deals with corridors or otherwise tight compactors in the places he visits, while Chief is able to breathe more often until the chokes tighten up. Of course, the biggest hurdles to go over are all the times you wait for things to happen. Like, a LOT of waiting. Like oh my god why is Oracle like that and why must I and my friend suffer through connection errors that just got patched the day we finished this. You also got the dang gondolas and transfer vehicles in Delta Halo that could seriously use a speedboost. I believe people mark Quarantine Zone as the game’s worst level, but at least you can rush through to the end and only have to deal with a slow ride against the Flood! The last quarter, specifically when Gravemind starts, is when it truly begins to showcase its uneven and cobbled together nature, cause it’s when the first game’s trapping of “just throw a lot at them” rears its head again, only this time worse because of the aforementioned balancing muddying up the encounters. As far as I’m concerned, being able to beat this solo on Legendary is a mark of a hardened player, something I doubt I’ll ever do at any point in my life.

It’s easy to deride 2 for a lot of things, since it’s the second Halo entry to have the flaws out in full force (I’ll go over Reach later…), but when all’s said and done, I’m not sure I can bring myself to agree fully. Top to bottom, I’m fairly confident in saying this is one of the best FPS titles to have graced the genre, especially considering the period it was released in where more landmarks were either on their way, or already established themselves. This one’s definitely a case of rose-tints being tied on, but what can I say, when I first laid my eyes on this, I was blinded by its beauty.