The second outing for Master Chief (Halo 2 (Xbox))

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	Halo 2 (Xbox)
Date:	25/07/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Challenging game, good replay value

Disadvantages: Out dated graphics

Halo 2 is an original Xbox game, but it can also be played on the Xbox 360.

In this segment of the trilogy Spartan 117 (Master Chief) must seek out and destroy High Charity. With the human military scattered Master Chief must work alone most of the time, although sometimes there are marines to help out. On some levels you play as Arbiter rather than Master Chief, who is waging war against the heretics.

The game allows for up to 4 players, and you can play over Xbox live where you can join clans, customise your armour and play against people from all over the world. There are more weapons and vehicles for Master Chief to use than there were in Halo 1, and there are new bad guys, the Brutes and the Prophets. You are able to duel wield weapons, which can be helpful in parts, but then it stops you being able to throw grenades.

The graphics are far superior to the original Halo game, but for anyone who has played Halo 3 they will look very dated. The video cut scenes leave a lot to be desired, and the play scenes are often very dark, making it very difficult to see where you are going, Master Chief has a flashlight, but it only lasts a few second, so you constantly need to be turning it on to find out which way you need to go.
The controls are similar for the Xbox and the Xbox 360, A to jump, B for melee attack, Y to switch weapons, X to reload, left stick to move, right stick for driving, right trigger for shooting, left trigger for throwing grenades (or shooting if duel wielding). The only differences between the two come when putting the light on, on the original Xbox controller it is the white button, on the 360 controller it's the left bumper then the black button switches between grenade, and on the 360 controller it's the right bumper.
The game has the normal 4 difficulty levels easy, normal, heroic and legendary. The higher the level there are more enemies and they take more shots to kill them.

For anyone who has gone straight into the Halo series at Halo 3, it's well worth buying the first two in order to fully understand the story. Although the graphics aren't as up to date as all the newer games, it's still a really enjoyable and challenging game to play, and the replay value alone makes it great value for money. Then of course you can spend hours playing online with your friends. If you have the Xbox 360, you'll have to remember to download the backward compatible software first, otherwise the disc won't work in your machine.

Summary: Well worth picking up a copy.