Last night I beat Halo 2’s single player campaign, so I think it’s time for a review. Note that I’m only reviewing the campaign and none of the online or multiplayer for now. That’ll come after I spend some more time on XBox Live.

I’ve read in countless reviews that the campaign was too short. I read that it took 10-12 hours when played at normal difficulty. I read that normal difficulty is easier than in the original Halo. I read that heroic and legendary are tougher than the original Halo and that legendary might be one of the toughest games out there.

I remember playing Halo on normal mode and seriously stuggling through many parts of the game. I also remember playing Halo on legendary and taking 4+ hours for some of the levels in co-op mode with my brother. It was difficult, but it was a blast! I’ve played through the entire game of Halo at least 5 times in the two years I’ve had the game and I had fun each and every time.

I can say a lot of the same things now after beating Halo 2 for the first time. I played on normal difficulty and it took me just under 10 hours to complete the game. So I’m on the low end of the scale I guess…must be a pro or something. I liked the fact that normal is easier this time around. After all, that’s what heroic and legendary modes are for…right? I can’t wait to tackle legendary with Isaac over Christmas break.

One of the things about Halo that made it so amazing was the story. This is back in full effect for Halo 2. When I play either game, I feel as though I’m playing my way through a long movie. It’s like I don’t even realize I’m playing a video game. With that said, I don’t think the Halo series should ever be made into a movie. That’s why we have and game and that’s why Halo 2 contains almost 2 hours of cinematics throughout it. The story pulls you in and you actually picture yourself as Master Chief. Could this be why we never see his face? Because we can live in the fantasy world while playing the game…I am Master Chief. You might think 2 hours of cenematics is a lot (and it is), but each one is essential to the game and more importantly, to the story.

There is a rather lengthy introduction to the game, but I think it’s a major piece to the story that makes the Halo series so great. At first you turn on the game and want to smoke some Covenant ass with the SMG, but you wait, realizing that some time has passed since you last saw Master Chief. I couldn’t wait to play, but I wasn’t going to miss out on something. Halo 2’s story is told more from the Covenant’s point of view than the humans. We didn’t get to see this in the original and it really adds to the story.

I started playing the game on Tuesday night after work. It was 10:00 at night before I realized what time it was. I hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. That’s how involved you get when playing this game. One of the major improvements Halo 2 has is loading levels. We’re all familiar with the “Loading…” graphics on consoles. Every game has them; every game before Halo 2 that is. Not once during the game will you be waiting for a new level (or chapter as Bungie calls them) to load up. Why didn’t someone think of this sooner? It’s one of the reasons you lose your sense of time while playing. You don’t realize when you beat a level and when the next one starts. Halo 2 loads your next level while playing the cinematic video between each level. It’s brilliant! Hopefully all other game developers will only follow suit. To go along with this, you never have to manually save your game. It’s all done behind the scenes as you pass checkpoints. Another great feature allowing the gamer to concentrate on what’s important…the game.

When creating Halo 2, Bungie clearly listened to what people thought were important pieces in Halo, because they’re all back. The graphics are even better. Some of the levels are huge and the detail that has been put into them is mind blowing. The levels do not repeat environments like they did in Halo. Everywhere you go you’ll run into new textures, lighting, obstacles, and overall design. The audio is the best in any game I’ve ever seen. It’s not even close. The sound effects and music are simply amazing. You need to play this game on a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound system to get the full experience of the game. Buy one just for this reason if you have to. The music throughout the gameplay really sets the tone and a few well known bands did some custom tracks for the game. The soundtrack just might win a Grammy. It seriously is that good. Oh yeah, Cortana’s sexy voice is back too!!

Ok, now on to some gameplay. I’ll start with the weapons. All of the old weapons are back, but they’ve changed. The pistol, which was extremely over powerful in Halo, has taken a major overhaul. It no longer features a zoom. I think this is great, but I’ve seen many of the pistol-whores whining through the online forums. The new battle rifle is pretty sweet. It features a zoom and fires 3 shots at a time. The shotgun, rocket launcher, and SMG are all back with minor changes. The Covenant weapons have gone through quite a change though. The needler has been juiced up and there are seveal new weapons. There is a beam rifle, carbine, brute shot, and a few others. And…can you say ENERGY SWORD!! Anyone who has played the original Halo hated those damn things, but this time around, you can use ’em. Does it ever pack a wallop! Instant kills most of the time and righly so for how many times the Elites did the same to us.

Two major impovements in the game that go along with the weapons are the ability to dual-wield and the option to switch weapons with another member of your squad. Dual-weilding is a great feature. At first it’s a little hard to get used to after playing Halo so much, but it’s easy to catch on to. You can use any two weapons at the same time, provided each only requires one hand. Easy enough. It wouldn’t make much sense to use two rocket launchers at the same time would it? While using these two, you can also have another weapon, such as the sniper rifle in reserve. A few things to note…if you use the melee attack, you’ll drop the weapon in your left hand. Also, when dual-weilding, you cannot throw grenades. Another no-brainer. The option to take a teammate’s weapon should have been in the original Halo. Instead, I remember killing them several times so that I could have the sniper rifle or rocket launcher.

Now for the vehicles, which play a much more important part in the game. All of the same vechiles you could drive in Halo are back with a few upgrades. There are some new Covenant vehicles as well and you can even drive the wrath now. One of the coolest new features of the game is the ability to “hijack” a vehicle that someone else is driving. The first time I did it successfully I had to stand up and put down the controller. Very very cool! The vehicles show damage now too, although it didn’t seem to affect their performance much.

The HUD has gone through some changes which I like. Master Cheif no longer has a health meter and a sheild meter. There is only a shield meter. Once your shield is depleted you can take a few light hits before you’ll die. To make up for this, the sheild recharges much faster than in Halo. I like only having to worry about one “health” meter. You also do not take any damage when falling because of your new and improved armor.

You’ll run into a few new Covenant types as you play. The drones will get on your nerves more than anything and the brutes like to charge you like a bull, but aren’t too tough to kill. Elites play a much larger role in Halo 2…hint, hint. You’ll have to play the game to find out what the secret is though.

This review wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention some of the bad things in Halo 2. Some of the graphics are a little choppy in the cinematics, but I was easily able to look past it. I had a sound glitch for 2-3 minutes at the beginning of the game where it sounded as if my ears were plugged. I don’t really have much else bad to say except that I would have liked to meet up with other Spartans besides Master Chief.

A lot of people have complained about the ending to the campaign, because it’s a cliffhanger. The same people probably didn’t enjoy any of the Lord of the Rings movies. I liked the ending and it makes me think about Halo 3, which you can bet there will be. I’m even wondering if there will be downloadable content from XBOX Live for new levels to play through the campaign. It wouldn’t suprise me.

I loved the campaign and will be playing it many more times to come. If I had to give Halo 2 a rating out of 10, I’d give it a very strong 9.9. It’s the best video game I’ve ever played.