‘Halo 2’ blasts away the competition

By Gerry Wachovsky
Online Forty-Niner
Diversions Editor

The messiah arrived for first-person shooter fans on Tuesday in the form of "Halo 2," the sequel to Bungie Studios' incalculably popular sci-fi epic.

Fans waited patiently in line at stores across the nation for the special midnight release that many video game and electronic stores conducted. "Halo" catapulted sales of the Xbox gaming console, which was suffering from dismal success in the United States and was a total failure in Japan. By mid-2003 the game had already sold over three million units worldwide. It also won numerous awards in the gaming community, including the coveted Game of the Year award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences in 2002. "Halo 2" is already shaping up to surpass the success of its predecessor.

Simply put, "Halo 2" looks gorgeous. When playing a first-person shooter I always prefer to play on PC, simply because the mouse and keyboard feel more natural and the aiming is generally more accurate, not to mention the superior graphics that the PC has to offer. As far as consoles go, the Xbox is about as close as you can get to PC gaming, and because of that "Halo 2" is able to achieve eye-pleasing graphics and there is nary an ugly texture.

One major improvement in "Halo 2" is the extremely enhanced gameplay. Players are allowed to wield two guns at any time, health meters replenish automatically, and, if timed correctly, gamers can steal vehicles from enemies while they are riding on them. "Halo 2" also features incredibly enhanced artificial intelligence, as well as new weapons, vehicles and locations.

The multiplayer option is where "Halo" really shined and the same is true for its sequel. Players can battle each other either as a Master Chief or Covenant Elite and armor and wardrobe is fully customizable. Additionally, "Halo 2" takes full advantage of Xbox Live, where gamers from all over the world can connect through the Internet for a no-holds-barred fragfest of biblical proportions.

All things considered, if you were a fan of "Halo" then not owning this game is sacrilege; if you weren't a huge fan of the original, however, this is a perfect place to start. Also, if history has told us anything about the success of "Halo," then "Halo 2" could very well be a competitor once again as one of the best games of the year. Pick up this game — Earth depends on it.