Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Tom admits he was wrong about Halo 2
Huzzah!
Be warned that the passion hidden beneath the tender words of this post do not, in any way, convey the sheer joy I felt while playing Halo 2 last Sunday. I was planning on doing a piece about my new found love on Monday, hours after the initial event took place, but industry forces prevented me from relaying said material. I fear with each passing moment my memory of the events I am about to expound upon will slip ever further away from my eager fingers, so I will begin the actual meat of this post.... now!
Last Sunday, while sitting around doing nothing at my apartment, I remarked to Mr. Scott "You know, I still do want to play through Halo 2 cooperatively some day." He turned and looked at me in a way only Scott can and said, with the passion of a thousand dead corpses, "Why don't we play now?" As I couldn't think of any reason why Halo 2 shouldn't be enjoyed by all parties present at the specific moment (though I'm sure if a certain show on ABC Family was on I would not have been able to turn away) we started up the game that had sat idly in its game box since 2004.
Here's a quick recap of my life with Halo 2 before that infamous moment with Scott - I was as hyped as anyone for the game. Halo:CE was my favorite game this generation and I had no reason to believe its sequel wouldn't top it in every way. Some of my joy is documented on this very website, but most of it was either bottled up in my belly or bursting through my slightly ajar mouth. For the last few months the idea of Halo 2 was so overpowering that it seemed more like a myth than an actual game I would be able to play. It spoke of a perfect world so far in the future monkey and man have switched dominance several times and have decided to let wombats have a shot at it. When I would think about Halo 2 - mostly when I was alone - I wouldn't dare fantasize myself playing it. Rather, I would just imagine that it existed at all and a satisfied smile grew from my lips.
My first impression after playing it was just how amazing it turned out to be. I seem to remember saying it "exceeded all expectations" and other grandiose proclamations. It was love... at least insofar as a man can love a video game. I spent all of my free time online and all of my busy time thinking about going online. It was fantastic. But then I got kind of bored with it. After the shiny gloss dripped away I noticed some faults. Mostly, I was frustrated by the lack of levels and the imbalance dual wielding and the all too powerful sword brought to the table. Eventually, I gave up fighting the frustration and put down the game for good.
During this stretch of almost non-stop multiplayer gaming, I picked up the one player game only one time. I played through the first level very quickly, but was pretty bored. It was Halo... again. And Halo:CE did not have a very good Campaign mode. By the time I got all the way to the second level I was noticeably slipping. Fighting off the covenant felt so routine and boring. When I missed an audio command telling me to go a certain way and ended up lost in the huge, desolate city I gave up once and for all. Halo 2 is lame and I will not be lamed up with it.
Back to the present, where Scott and I fired up a co-op game right where I had left off. It started out very standard - gunning down the same enemies from Halo:CE - but it was more fun because I could at least complain to someone. After playing for just ten minutes we got to a point after I had reached when I first played the game in November. And from there the game just got amazing. We got a Warthog - I was the driver of course - and proceeded to cruise through the city. I took on a Ghost without even a weapon because it's just so much fun to crash into things. I rolled over rocks at awkward angles causing the vehicle to capsize. We entered a tunnel and I drove along the wall at some point. It was pure entertainment, and I loved it. From there we went to a narrow stretch of land patrolled by my deadly Scorpion. Ah, is there anything sweeter than just plowing through a brigade of enemy soldiers with a gun that's just way too powerful for its own good?
The game unfortunately tailed off after that, but it was still much more fun than I thought it could be. The missions where you play as the covenant really need to be scrapped; I don't like controlling someone who I will end up shooting later on. And they needed to get rid of all those lame alien weapons because, let's be honest here, they all suck. But, whenever I get to control a vehicle of any kind (except for the boring Banshee) or get my trusty shotgun, I will be happy though. I'm looking forward to finishing this game with Scott. It may not be great or terribly innovative, but nothing beats driving a Warthog.
Be warned that the passion hidden beneath the tender words of this post do not, in any way, convey the sheer joy I felt while playing Halo 2 last Sunday. I was planning on doing a piece about my new found love on Monday, hours after the initial event took place, but industry forces prevented me from relaying said material. I fear with each passing moment my memory of the events I am about to expound upon will slip ever further away from my eager fingers, so I will begin the actual meat of this post.... now!
Last Sunday, while sitting around doing nothing at my apartment, I remarked to Mr. Scott "You know, I still do want to play through Halo 2 cooperatively some day." He turned and looked at me in a way only Scott can and said, with the passion of a thousand dead corpses, "Why don't we play now?" As I couldn't think of any reason why Halo 2 shouldn't be enjoyed by all parties present at the specific moment (though I'm sure if a certain show on ABC Family was on I would not have been able to turn away) we started up the game that had sat idly in its game box since 2004.
Here's a quick recap of my life with Halo 2 before that infamous moment with Scott - I was as hyped as anyone for the game. Halo:CE was my favorite game this generation and I had no reason to believe its sequel wouldn't top it in every way. Some of my joy is documented on this very website, but most of it was either bottled up in my belly or bursting through my slightly ajar mouth. For the last few months the idea of Halo 2 was so overpowering that it seemed more like a myth than an actual game I would be able to play. It spoke of a perfect world so far in the future monkey and man have switched dominance several times and have decided to let wombats have a shot at it. When I would think about Halo 2 - mostly when I was alone - I wouldn't dare fantasize myself playing it. Rather, I would just imagine that it existed at all and a satisfied smile grew from my lips.
My first impression after playing it was just how amazing it turned out to be. I seem to remember saying it "exceeded all expectations" and other grandiose proclamations. It was love... at least insofar as a man can love a video game. I spent all of my free time online and all of my busy time thinking about going online. It was fantastic. But then I got kind of bored with it. After the shiny gloss dripped away I noticed some faults. Mostly, I was frustrated by the lack of levels and the imbalance dual wielding and the all too powerful sword brought to the table. Eventually, I gave up fighting the frustration and put down the game for good.
During this stretch of almost non-stop multiplayer gaming, I picked up the one player game only one time. I played through the first level very quickly, but was pretty bored. It was Halo... again. And Halo:CE did not have a very good Campaign mode. By the time I got all the way to the second level I was noticeably slipping. Fighting off the covenant felt so routine and boring. When I missed an audio command telling me to go a certain way and ended up lost in the huge, desolate city I gave up once and for all. Halo 2 is lame and I will not be lamed up with it.
Back to the present, where Scott and I fired up a co-op game right where I had left off. It started out very standard - gunning down the same enemies from Halo:CE - but it was more fun because I could at least complain to someone. After playing for just ten minutes we got to a point after I had reached when I first played the game in November. And from there the game just got amazing. We got a Warthog - I was the driver of course - and proceeded to cruise through the city. I took on a Ghost without even a weapon because it's just so much fun to crash into things. I rolled over rocks at awkward angles causing the vehicle to capsize. We entered a tunnel and I drove along the wall at some point. It was pure entertainment, and I loved it. From there we went to a narrow stretch of land patrolled by my deadly Scorpion. Ah, is there anything sweeter than just plowing through a brigade of enemy soldiers with a gun that's just way too powerful for its own good?
The game unfortunately tailed off after that, but it was still much more fun than I thought it could be. The missions where you play as the covenant really need to be scrapped; I don't like controlling someone who I will end up shooting later on. And they needed to get rid of all those lame alien weapons because, let's be honest here, they all suck. But, whenever I get to control a vehicle of any kind (except for the boring Banshee) or get my trusty shotgun, I will be happy though. I'm looking forward to finishing this game with Scott. It may not be great or terribly innovative, but nothing beats driving a Warthog.
// posted by Tom @ 9:27 AM 
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