TLDR: Was Halo 2 a Disappointment for you?
When I speak to people about the Halo series, one thing I often hear is how Halo 2 is the weakest of the games. Now, I'm not one to argue one opinion over another, but I'll just throw my two cents in.
I quite honestly found Halo 2 to have the best singleplayer of the series by a long shot. Yes, that is including the admittedly shoddy ending. To me, it really felt like an exercise in world building, and it pulled it off phenomenally well. The secondary focus on the Covenant's culture as seen through the eyes of the Arbiter helped characterize the foe beyond a collective hell bent on destroying humans. I felt that the political ramifications of the Brutes rising to power, and the subsequent coup were really well played.
The levels themselves all stand out in my mind as fantastic. The first Halo's level design fell apart after the Library, where the whole game began playing in reverse, resulting in the entire second half feeling like an excessively long backtracking venture. Halo 2's levels all stand out in my mind. The highway chase in New Mombassa, the bridge attack on the Scarab. DELTA FREAKING HALO. They even managed to make the Flood levels exciting, such as High Charity or Quarantine.
They were varied, they were lush, and I loved all of them.
Weaponry was given a nice overhaul, the implementation of dual wielding and all the combinations that followed gave a new layer to the gameplay. The AI was still strong, and the inclusion of Jackal Snipers, Brutes, and Drones helped liven up the gameplay even more.
As for the music, I'd go so far as to say it is the best in the series after ODST. It's much more sombre than even Halo Reach or Halo Wars, while still retaining some epic guitar solos, like the Mjolnir Remix.
What I'd like to point out is that I find all of the Halo games fantastic. All of them are very close together in my book, but Halo 2 has enough spark and spirit to be put on top of the list.
When I speak to people about the Halo series, one thing I often hear is how Halo 2 is the weakest of the games. Now, I'm not one to argue one opinion over another, but I'll just throw my two cents in.
I quite honestly found Halo 2 to have the best singleplayer of the series by a long shot. Yes, that is including the admittedly shoddy ending. To me, it really felt like an exercise in world building, and it pulled it off phenomenally well. The secondary focus on the Covenant's culture as seen through the eyes of the Arbiter helped characterize the foe beyond a collective hell bent on destroying humans. I felt that the political ramifications of the Brutes rising to power, and the subsequent coup were really well played.
The levels themselves all stand out in my mind as fantastic. The first Halo's level design fell apart after the Library, where the whole game began playing in reverse, resulting in the entire second half feeling like an excessively long backtracking venture. Halo 2's levels all stand out in my mind. The highway chase in New Mombassa, the bridge attack on the Scarab. DELTA FREAKING HALO. They even managed to make the Flood levels exciting, such as High Charity or Quarantine.
They were varied, they were lush, and I loved all of them.
Weaponry was given a nice overhaul, the implementation of dual wielding and all the combinations that followed gave a new layer to the gameplay. The AI was still strong, and the inclusion of Jackal Snipers, Brutes, and Drones helped liven up the gameplay even more.
As for the music, I'd go so far as to say it is the best in the series after ODST. It's much more sombre than even Halo Reach or Halo Wars, while still retaining some epic guitar solos, like the Mjolnir Remix.
What I'd like to point out is that I find all of the Halo games fantastic. All of them are very close together in my book, but Halo 2 has enough spark and spirit to be put on top of the list.
