Support NeoGAF

gollumsluvslave · Mar 13, 2016

After completing Witcher 3, I went back to MCC, and played through Halo 2 Anniversary for the first time, and I have to say, I've had a blast, it's MUCH better than I remember it being (last time I played through Halo 2 was the OG Zboz version a couple of months before Halo 4 came out.

I've always had Halo 2 / Reach duking out for worst Halo campaign, but this run through H2A has me seriously questioning that now.

I think there are a few reasons why I've enjoyed this run through so much more than any other Halo 2 run

1. Played through on Heroic not Legendary. I normally always play on Legendary, but a lot of my gripes with Halo 2 were related to frustrations with cheap areas of difficulty on Legendary, so I though I'd see if Heroic makes a big difference in terms of frustration, and I can definitely say it does. Still challenging, but the one shot snipers and other areas of fustration were greatly eased.

2. More cohesive story / presentation. Maybe it's just me (or it's the new cutscenes, and terminals), or the other games that have come after (4,5) but the story and narative seemed to flow and fall ibnto place much better for me this time round. Possibly the reduced frustration as well. The terminals are really well worked into the narrative with more information on the Heretic etc.

3. I always felt Halo 2 was a much uglier and rougher looking game than CE, and Anniversary has done a huge amount to rectify that. Halo CE Anniversary and Halo 2 Anniversary flow together much better visually and artistically. Therewere things in CE Anniversary that I wasnt sure I preferred over the original in many places, especially Forerunner, but H2A is consistently a big improvement to me.

4. Stuff like dual-wielding that I was never to fond of for some reason has clicked this time around, dual needlers are great fun.

5. Apart from my first run through, I would usually play Halo 2 straight after CE, and maybe it would suffer from both CE being so amazing, and also a bit of burn out. After a couple hundred hours of Witcher 3, it felt both fresh and completely natural at the same time.

6. Other stuff like 'not finishing the fight' and feeling like the game as cut short are not there anymore. It's a meaty campaign.

Maybe I'm just a bit older and less picky, but really enjoyed this, had a total blast.

Just got Tareterus to dispatch then it will be done!

Crv756 · Mar 13, 2016

H2A feels like a total different game than Halo 2 Vanilla. Not that one or other is better, but it feels fresh and up to date.

FUNKNOWN iXi · Mar 13, 2016

H2 provided us with a backstory to the Covenant and gave us reasons to care about the fiction. Solid game, but yeah.. I agree with you on CE Master Race ;b

The Arbiter is one of the best characters in Halo too, it should be noted! lol

gollumsluvslave · Mar 13, 2016

FUNKNOWN iXi said:
H2 provided us with a backstory to the Covenant and gave us reasons to care about the fiction. Solid game, but yeah.. I agree with you on CE Master Race ;b

The Arbiter is one of the best characters in Halo too, it should be noted! lol

Agreed on the Arbiter. I also liked that his sections changed up the gameplay a bit with the stealth mechanic of recharging active camo.

I don't know why, but Halo 2 and Halo 5 feel (at least thematically) very similar to me, especially after this playthrough of Halo 2. I can't quite put my finger on why though.

TM94 · Mar 13, 2016

Love how unbelievably powerful the BR feels.

Like you'll pop a headshot at a grunt and it'll fly 10 yards across the room from the impact.

Random17 · Mar 13, 2016

gollumsluvslave said:
Agreed on the Arbiter. I also liked that his sections changed up the gameplay a bit with the stealth mechanic of recharging active camo.

I don't know why, but Halo 2 and Halo 5 feel (at least thematically) very similar to me, especially after this playthrough of Halo 2. I can't quite put my finger on why though.

Two characters, intersecting story arcs, as well as other similarities in regards the breakup of the Covenant, etc

That being said, Halo 2 has the best fiction in the franchise, and Halo 5 the worst, so the similarities are superficial at best.

Halo 2 is GOAT. It had the most infamous cliffhanger ending in video games, was unpolished, somewhat buggy and had major features (that eventually made it into Halo 3) cut before launch. It didn't have the level from its E3 reveal.

And it sits on a solid 95 metascore for Xbox. A testament to the quality of the parts that we did receive, both campaign and multiplayer. I enjoyed it more than Half Life 2, which I didn't think was possible (I'm more of a Episode 2 guy anyway).

And the GOAT soundtrack for FPS games, at least.

Segaswirl · Mar 13, 2016

Currently playing through this on Legendary Co Op with my brother. If one of you die you both restart at the nearest checkpoint. Fun times, although i'm glad they didn't do that with the other games.

We're going through them all on Legendary but I really want to get this one out of the way.

Blue Ninja · Mar 13, 2016

Halo 2 Legendary is cheap as fuck. I basically resorted to speedrunning strategies to finish it. That actually made it more fun, too: I saw and did things I'd never done before in this game.

Halo 2 isn't my favorite Halo, but it was my first and I still have some incredibly fond memories from that game. The BR is a magnificent beast of a weapon and feels incredibly powerful, which neither Bungie nor 343 managed to emulate until they just put the H2 BR back into Halo 5.

It's also pretty amazing how well Saber Interactive managed to 'get' Halo 2 while remastering it. Halo CEA was very hit-or-miss, but H2A was just a quality remaster all around. Only thing I didn't quite like were the CGI cutscenes, which, while cool, never felt really 'Halo' to me. I was always a big fan of the in-engine cutscenes Bungie used, but 343 has stepped away from that on more than one occasion, which is a shame.

angelic · Mar 13, 2016

I cant understand anyone likeing Halo 2 campaign, I played through it on the MCC aswell as 12 years ago. Its empty, uneven, barren, full of dead ends. The presentation is broken and messed up on sections such as teleporting into the covenant throne room with a dramatic cut scene, then suddenly into the game with no music. Delta Halo is terrible, empty, badly explained and nothing like Halo 1. The Brutes are awful, no fun to fight, a clipping mess as they roll through you and each other. Sniper alley near the start is a 1 hit kill bore, the earth levels are messy and invisible wall city (Zanzibar hotel etc), and instead of being a sprawling epic like Halo 1, full of long snowy valleys, mysterious swamps, open areas...you get placed into combat bowl after combat bowl of boring choreographed set pieces.

I hate it, Halo 1 kills it, so does Halo 3. Halo 2 is a 1 year developed game and it shows.

SmokedMeat · Mar 13, 2016

I lose interest quickly in the older Halos. They become a tedious grind of blah environments and enemies I don't evnjoy dealing with.

gollumsluvslave · Mar 13, 2016

Random17 said:
Two characters, intersecting story arcs, as well as other similarities in regards the breakup of the Covenant, etc

That being said, Halo 2 has the best fiction in the franchise, and Halo 5 the worst, so the similarities are superficial at best.

Halo 2 is GOAT. It had the most infamous cliffhanger ending in video games, was unpolished, somewhat buggy and had major features (that eventually made it into Halo 3) cut before launch. It didn't have the level from its E3 reveal.

And it sits on a solid 95 metascore for Xbox. A testament to the quality of the parts that we did receive, both campaign and multiplayer. I enjoyed it more than Half Life 2, which I didn't think was possible (I'm more of a Episode 2 guy anyway).

And the GOAT soundtrack for FPS games, at least.

Some good points, although I don't agree that Halo 5 has the worst fiction. It maybe has the worst narrative execution 'in game' (and before this weekend I would have given that to Halo 2!)

ODST GOAT soundtrack, but 2 is very close! CE still GOAT Campaign for me! Can't see that changing now.

For me at least the 2 Anniversaries have evened out the feeling of disconnect i've always had between CE and 2, which always bugged me.

Cranster · Mar 13, 2016

Random17 said:
Two characters, intersecting story arcs, as well as other similarities in regards the breakup of the Covenant, etc

That being said, Halo 2 has the best fiction in the franchise, and Halo 5 the worst, so the similarities are superficial at best.

Halo 2 is GOAT. It had the most infamous cliffhanger ending in video games, was unpolished, somewhat buggy and had major features (that eventually made it into Halo 3) cut before launch. It didn't have the level from its E3 reveal.

And it sits on a solid 95 metascore for Xbox. A testament to the quality of the parts that we did receive, both campaign and multiplayer. I enjoyed it more than Half Life 2, which I didn't think was possible (I'm more of a Episode 2 guy anyway).

And the GOAT soundtrack for FPS games, at least.

Nah, I'd argue that Halo 3 and Halo Reach are the worst when it comes to the fiction.

Esque7 · Mar 13, 2016

H2A became my favorite in the franchise, it just has the highest highs and really improves upon the original in every way.

Banderdash · Mar 13, 2016

gollumsluvslave said:
ODST GOAT soundtrack, but 2 is very close!.

Nah boss, Halo 2 had unforgotten... instantly placing it above CE.

gollumsluvslave · Mar 14, 2016

angelic said:
I cant understand anyone likeing Halo 2 campaign, I played through it on the MCC aswell as 12 years ago. Its empty, uneven, barren, full of dead ends. The presentation is broken and messed up on sections such as teleporting into the covenant throne room with a dramatic cut scene, then suddenly into the game with no music. Delta Halo is terrible, empty, badly explained and nothing like Halo 1. The Brutes are awful, no fun to fight, a clipping mess as they roll through you and each other. Sniper alley near the start is a 1 hit kill bore, the earth levels are messy and invisible wall city (Zanzibar hotel etc), and instead of being a sprawling epic like Halo 1, full of long snowy valleys, mysterious swamps, open areas...you get placed into combat bowl after combat bowl of boring choreographed set pieces.

I hate it, Halo 1 kills it, so does Halo 3. Halo 2 is a 1 year developed game and it shows.

Interestingly, your thoughts are not dissimilar to mine prior to this playthrough, as last 3 times I played Halo 2 it was on Legendary, and as Blue Ninja has said, 'cheap as fuck'.

I actually think my insistence on playing previously on Legendary actually caused me to miss things / heighten the flaws in the game due to frustration levels.

Heroic was definitely a much more enjoyable experience for me, and maybe because of this I appreciated the presentation much more - maybe because I was paying attention and not throwing my controller across the room!

My two most hated Halo enemies, Brutes and Drones were nowhere near as annoying this time, which I can again only attribute to playing on Heroic.

nOoblet16 · Mar 14, 2016

Imo Halo 2 had the worst campaign out of all Bungie Halo games. It felt really empty, slow and the enemies were cheap. There's another issue with the gameplay in that there is zero hit reaction from both enemies and your player character, that and the bouncy physics whenever a big enemy like a mad brute hit you..which was annoying.

The best singleplayer for me was Reach, it had everything that made Halo great and more..plus Bungie really upped the ante with the art direction. My second favourite was ODST due to its uniqueness followed by Halo CE and Halo 3.

In terms of first impression Halo CE had the strongest first impression but today since it is quite dated it lags behind in some areas but still extremely enjoyable, Halo 2 not so much.

Ryouji Gunblade · Mar 14, 2016

I was really amazed at how much better Halo 2 Anniversary looks. I thought the color choices and limited textures in the city and ruins would've prevented it from looking half as good as it does in H2A. I was almost as impressed with the soundtrack too. Aside from flat out changing some tracks, the new covers are really, really good.

Triscuitable · Mar 14, 2016

The improved visuals are a godsend for H2A. Halo 2 has not aged well visually at all; it's brown and murky, with lots of blurry textures and uninteresting "vistas". H2A does away with all that garbage and goes for a clean, visually striking presentation that blows the original out of the water.

I grew to love Halo 2 Anniversary during my Legendary run of the series on the MCC. I had to get my Helioskrill armor in time for Halo 5, so I buckled down and took down every game on the hardest difficulty, solo. Halo 2 was the only one that gave me any real trouble, but thankfully I learned and managed to work around the cheapest, shittiest parts of the game.

My favorite was definitely the combo of Delta Halo and Regret: one level has you dealing with dozens of those godawful Jackal snipers, while the other puts you up against the Prophet of Regret, backed by infinitely respawning Honor Guards that can near-instantly kill you with dual-wielded plasma rifles. I actually had an anxiety attack during that level, and I had to take a break to sleep (said dreams were full of nightmares of me being unable to kill Regret). When I woke up, it took about ten tries before I finally did it, and let out a triumphant roar that I hadn't done since I beat Artorias of the Abyss in Dark Souls. After that, H2A on Legendary was a cakewalk, and Halo 3 and 4 were super easy. I unlocked Legend, and felt really good about what I'd accomplished.

I don't wear Helioskrill, of course.

gollumsluvslave · Mar 14, 2016

Triscuitable said:
The improved visuals are a godsend for H2A. Halo 2 has not aged well visually at all; it's brown and murky, with lots of blurry textures and uninteresting "vistas". H2A does away with all that garbage and goes for a clean, visually striking presentation that blows the original out of the water.

I grew to love Halo 2 Anniversary during my Legendary run of the series on the MCC. I had to get my Helioskrill armor in time for Halo 5, so I buckled down and took down every game on the hardest difficulty, solo. Halo 2 was the only one that gave me any real trouble, but thankfully I learned and managed to work around the cheapest, shittiest parts of the game.

My favorite was definitely the combo of Delta Halo and Regret: one level has you dealing with dozens of those godawful Jackal snipers, while the other puts you up against the Prophet of Regret, backed by infinitely respawning Honor Guards that can near-instantly kill you with dual-wielded plasma rifles. I actually had an anxiety attack during that level, and I had to take a break to sleep (said dreams were full of nightmares of me being unable to kill Regret). When I woke up, it took about ten tries before I finally did it, and let out a triumphant roar that I hadn't done since I beat Artorias of the Abyss in Dark Souls. After that, H2A on Legendary was a cakewalk, and Halo 3 and 4 were super easy. I unlocked Legend, and felt really good about what I'd accomplished.

I don't wear Helioskrill, of course.

Regret was reasonably easy for me this time on Heroic. I'm not sure I could ever go through H2 on Legenedary again!! Dual Needlers sort out those Honor Guards super quick!

But yeah the Jackals on Legendary were the thing of nightmares. That said the hardest part I remember from Legendary playthroughs was being stuck in the Cairo Station hangar after missing some grande throws and having to get past 6 or 7 dual wielding Elites. God that was horrific.

Hardest part on my Heroic playthrough was the 2 Hunters in the Mausoleum just before Sanctified, they gave me hell!

JumPeRJumPzZ · Mar 14, 2016

Yeah MCC is still a good collection if you care about well made Halo games.

I loved H2s campaign back in the days and loved the Remastered stuff too. The CGI Cutscenes were amazing.

Ochi · Mar 14, 2016

Unless you had compelling reason to play on legendary, halo 2 legendary is the assiest of all the campaigns

Blue Ninja · Mar 14, 2016

Triscuitable said:
My favorite was definitely the combo of Delta Halo and Regret: one level has you dealing with dozens of those godawful Jackal snipers, while the other puts you up against the Prophet of Regret, backed by infinitely respawning Honor Guards that can near-instantly kill you with dual-wielded plasma rifles. I actually had an anxiety attack during that level, and I had to take a break to sleep (said dreams were full of nightmares of me being unable to kill Regret). When I woke up, it took about ten tries before I finally did it, and let out a triumphant roar that I hadn't done since I beat Artorias of the Abyss in Dark Souls. After that, H2A on Legendary was a cakewalk, and Halo 3 and 4 were super easy. I unlocked Legend, and felt really good about what I'd accomplished.

I don't wear Helioskrill, of course.

I spent more time perfecting the tricks that skip a large part of the level than actually progressing during Delta Halo/Regret. Triggering the final loading zone in a Ghost is the true final boss in Halo 2.

Flintty · Mar 14, 2016

I've been playing through the MCC with my son on Legendary (currently on Halo 3) and we're both loving it. Specifically Halo 2, we found it to be brutal, especially with numerous explosion/grenade/physics enhancing sculls on. I enjoyed it a lot more this time around (was it because we played co-op?) and the HD graphics and cinematics were epic. I found myself being more diverse with weapons than ever before, out of necessity and I loved it. WRT campaign length and not finishing the fight - I agree that it felt about right and sets up Halo 3 perfectly.

I was glad to go back to individual respawns in Halo 3 though

VoltySquirrel · Mar 14, 2016

Even at the time I was baffled by people getting mad about the ending. I don't know how one can interpret that ending as anti-climactic or whatever. It wraps up the majority of it's story threads, and the ones that aren't finished yet are left teased for the inevitable sequel.

But yeah, Halo 2 is real good.

Also I will always love Bungie for pulling a Raiden and hiding A) All the Covenant stuff and B) Chief not being on Earth for most of the game in all the marketing.

Monocle · Mar 14, 2016

I've only played the first level of the Anniversary version tbh, but I was well impressed with the updated graphics and cutscenes. Visually, Halo 2 has aged the worst out of all the games. It's not apparent just how much that's true until you actually switch between the old and new graphics. From what I've seen, it's everything you'd want in a remaster. I'm excited to play through the rest when I can set aside the time for a full run.

Random17 · Mar 14, 2016

Ochi said:
Unless you had compelling reason to play on legendary, halo 2 legendary is the assiest of all the campaigns

To be fair, every Halo has had total bullshit on Legendary.

Halo CE had grenade combine explosions and infinitely respawning enemies (or waves) literally dropping on top of you.

Halo 2 had Jackal snipers, and a tough boss fight with Regret.

Vehicle combat was absolutely broken in Halo 3, as Ghosts would totally wreck everything including Scorpion tanks. You were literally safer outside of a vehicle when facing an enemy ghost, because the damage would transfer directly to the player. In the other games, the vehicle would actually take hits.

This was at its worst in ODST, where Coastal Highway combines bullshit Ghosts with an escort mission. Although overall I'd say ODST was way too easy, and the game was went to be played with the Blackeye skull.

Reach enemies often had no obvious weaknesses and were very bullet spongy. Even the Brutes in Halo 2 went down really quickly with Carbines.

Halo 4 had teleporting Prometheans.

Halo 5 had Prometheans with lock on aim assist weapons that would travel around corners. Strafing is useless in the campaign as a result.

VoltySquirrel · Mar 14, 2016

Monocle said:
I've only played the first level of the Anniversary version tbh, but I was well impressed with the updated graphics and cutscenes. Visually, Halo 2 has aged the worst out of all the games. It's not apparent just how much that's true until you actually switch between the old and new graphics. From what I've seen, it's everything you'd want in a remaster. I'm excited to play through the rest when I can set aside the time for a full run.

Late-era 6th gen games seem to generally have that problem. There's a weird charm to lower-poly models paired with low-res textures. Halo CE is sort of timeless in a way. Meanwhile Halo 2 used techniques that at the time were cutting edge and made things look a whole lot better than they actually did. However, those same techniques looks awful in HD. The remake is revelatory in the fact that it looks the way you remember it looking (despite being nowhere near that).

gollumsluvslave · Mar 14, 2016

VoltySquirrel said:
Late-era 6th gen games seem to generally have that problem. There's a weird charm to lower-poly models paired with low-res textures. Halo CE is sort of timeless in a way. Meanwhile Halo 2 used techniques that at the time were cutting edge and made things look a whole lot better than they actually did. However, those same techniques looks awful in HD. The remake is revelatory in the fact that it looks the way you remember it looking (despite being nowhere near that).

Yeah this is a really good way to put it. I've never really considered myself a graphics whore, but H2A is such a good remaster it makes worlds of difference.

With CE Anniversary, I was constantly flicking back and forth and couldn't really decide whether the remaster was an improvement, ESPECIALLY inside Forerunner structures, but I think I only flicked back on H2A once or twice and both times it was night and day obvious improvement.

Got to give Saber some props here. I know MCC as a whole got a roasting and that must have really hurt Saber considering how good H2A is.

jizzlobber · Mar 14, 2016

Playing through it again in MCC was so good, the cut scenes were so well done.
I really enjoyed the cut scenes and story telling, plenty of humour too... sgt Johnson at his best and the brutes are bloody funny too, wanting to eat the arbiter etc.

Great game.

SilverArrow20XX · Mar 14, 2016

I remember playing through the series on Heroic when MCC came out (I had previously played them on 360 on Normal) and thinking it was a much more satisfying experience. A perfectly tuned difficulty. At some point though, I guess I got better at the games, because my next run through the series on Legendary actually seemed easier on a whole than my first Heroic runs other than a couple of spots. Also very satisfying. It's crazy looking at my profile and seeing I've died 3878 times in MCC alone. I bet most of that was in a handful of encounters.

VoltySquirrel · Mar 14, 2016

I gotta say, the best part of the remake to me are the cutscenes by Blur (who in case you didn't know were also the vis effects team for Deadpool, along with the director being the CEO of the company). There are a number of reasons why (#1, just fucking look at 'em), but one of the biggest is how they handle Miranda Keyes. I don't know about y'all, but when I first played the game I got absolutely nothing out of that character. She just seemed to be there. However, with the new animations, it actually breathes some life into the character that was always there. You just couldn't see it.

gollumsluvslave · Mar 14, 2016

VoltySquirrel said:
I gotta say, the best part of the remake to me are the cutscenes by Blur (who in case you didn't know were also the vis effects team for Deadpool, along with the director being the CEO of the company). There are a number of reasons why (#1, just fucking look at 'em), but one of the biggest is how they handle Miranda Keyes. I don't know about y'all, but when I first played the game I got absolutely nothing out of that character. She just seemed to be there. However, with the new animations, it actually breathes some life into the character that was always there. You just couldn't see it.

Your points about Miranda Keyes really does underpin some how the improved presentation on the whole gives H2A a much more cohesive feel and manages to convey the whole story much better.

I'm normally a 'cut-scenes in-engine' kind of guy, but these were really well done and improved the story a lot for me. I guess the fact H2 dated so badly graphically really hurt the story / cutscenes. I think the terminals were pretty well done as well (although halo Channel load times are atrocious!!)

AcePartyN7 · Mar 14, 2016

H2A is just amazing, the work done on the Anniversary version is really good. I was not sure for CEA because they changed too much the visual aspect of the first game (sunny landscape for the crash on the rings, rocks in the sea of the silent cartographer...)

The music is just beautifully remade, the art is perfectly respected and make H2 even better and much more similar to HCE.

My congrats to 343i and Saber Interactive.

Jawmuncher · Mar 14, 2016

Still my favorite Halo title. Really felt like it had the best mix of being linear while still feeling open. Even on the regular stages with no vehicles, I always felt like I had a lot of ways to approach levels.

7DollarHagane · Mar 14, 2016

Being able to roll right into halo 3 makes halo 2 a much better game.. The frustration over the ending at the time was a huge part of people's disappointment.

I've finished the game 4 or 5 times of and I put it right up there with any other halo campaign.

After all, halo 5 set the new low mark for the series..

krang · Mar 14, 2016

gollumsluvslave said:
I've always had Halo 2 / Reach duking out for worst Halo campaign, but this run through H2A has me seriously questioning that now.

OP you cray cray.

gollumsluvslave · Mar 14, 2016

krang said:
OP you cray cray.

As of now Reach is definitely my lowest campaign. It was my least favourite straight after I played it, but I warmed to it a BIT on next playthrough to the point that it was on a par with my Halo 2 issues.

I think my big issue with Reach is how it retconned the book. I also really didn't like the squad side of things (Halo 5 improved on this to an extent, but Halo to me is about being a lone wolf in campaign)

But maybe Reach will be better on a Heroic playthrough.

UltimaPooh · Mar 14, 2016

R E A C H clearly had the best campaign of all the games.

krang · Mar 14, 2016

gollumsluvslave said:
As of now Reach is definitely my lowest campaign. It was my least favourite straight after I played it, but I warmed to it a BIT on next playthrough to the point that it was on a par with my Halo 2 issues.

I think my big issue with Reach is how it retconned the book. I also really didn't like the squad side of things (Halo 5 improved on this to an extent, but Halo to me is about being a lone wolf in campaign)

But maybe Reach will be better on a Heroic playthrough.

I'm a big fan of the Halo EU, but was the retconning really that big of a deal? I mean, later editions of TFoR were tweaked to accommodate Reach, but even so the changes were fairly minor.

I always see the EU stuff as secondary canon anyway.

Triscuitable · Mar 14, 2016

Blue Ninja said:
I spent more time perfecting the tricks that skip a large part of the level than actually progressing during Delta Halo/Regret. Triggering the final loading zone in a Ghost is the true final boss in Halo 2.

Oh, I never did the Tartarus fight legitimately. I mastered the Johnson cloning glitch fairly quickly, and occasionally pull it out when my buddies are over as a party trick. Their giggles as I greet each Sgt. Johnson as they materialize into existence are priceless.

Ryouji Gunblade · Mar 14, 2016

UltimaPooh said:
R E A C H clearly had the best campaign of all the games.

It is a contender, but it doesn't win that title for me because it starts a lot of ideas and then abandons them. The professor's daughter has no further appearances, Jun is unaccounted for in the game after a certain point, nothing happens if you save the civilians in Nightfall, etc. Also it is push buttons the game, right after Spartan Ops.

Triscuitable · Mar 15, 2016

Ryouji Gunblade said:
It is a contender, but it doesn't win that title for me because it starts a lot of ideas and then abandons them. The professor's daughter has no further appearances, Jun is unaccounted for in the game after a certain point, nothing happens if you save the civilians in Nightfall, etc. Also it is push buttons the game, right after Spartan Ops.

Yeah, people give Halo 4 a lot of crap for pushing buttons, but I honestly think that's just because they added animations for interactions for the first time in the series (Halo 4 had other problems, anyway). Meanwhile, your squadmates in Reach are constantly telling you what to do, where to go, and what buttons to push. It got old pretty quick.

SpartanSlayer117 · Mar 15, 2016

It's a better remake than Halo CEA for sure. I also had the same problem as you, i thought of Halo 2 as less graphically impressive game than CE and had more of a rough look, but H2A looks great while also staying faithful to the original art and i love Delta Halo, Outskirts, Metropolis and a few others.

Still, most of my favorite levels from the Halo franchise are from Halo CE, like Halo, Assault on The Control Room, The silent Cartographer, Truth and Reconciliation, Two Betrayals and the Maw. Just amazing levels. Sure Halo CE had it's flaws but the overall experience is still amazing to me.

Ozzy Onya A2Z · Mar 15, 2016

Credit to Bungie on H2 even after all these years. Kudos to 343 for the care taken in giving us the anniversary edition.

Also Heroic is always more "fun" than legendary, it's the sweet spot to enjoy campaign IMO.

Support NeoGAF

RTTP: Halo 2 (Anniversary) - Much Better Than I Remember

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Gamer™

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Neo Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Walks in the Light of the Crystal

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads