Halo 2

I beat this one in a matter of six nights, co-op style, with my girlfriend (her request). I needed to do so, not only because I need to beat every game I own, but also because I really want to play the Halo 3 campaign this coming autumn. While I was excited to play the first Halo last winter, and am excited for the third installment, I never really looked forward to playing this one at all. I can't really say why, either. A hunch? A lack of interest? Well, having just completed Halo 2, I can safely say that my unenthusiastic approach was totally warranted. Nothing about this game seemed special, unique, or memorable, in any way whatsoever. In the first Halo, half of the excitement comes from the mystery surrounding the world of Halo itself, as well as its origins. While I didn't even find the first game to be the epic classic it is widely considered to be, I can at least say that it was immersive, new, and interesting. The second time around, not so much. Rather than coming up with a new story or world, Bungie has instead come up with a plot involving a second ring world ("Halo") and a second mission to destroy it. Still, Halo 2 offers a few improvements over its predecessor. For one thing, the shield system has been redone, and health has become a moot factor. New weapons were added as well, and most importantly, half of the game is played from the perspective of an "Elite," a member of one of the antagonistic alien races. Plot-wise, I would even say that Halo 2 has a lot more to offer than Halo. The problem is, so little of it is actually new. My final beef is the ending. The first Halo ends with the most memorable and enjoyable level in the game and, you know, has a definitive and concrete conclusion. In Halo 2, your final fight is against a hammer-wielding apelike creature (the Brute Chieftain) and is very forgettable. Even the ending cinematic and story closure fell short of the first game's; Halo ends with Master Chief escaping Halo's detonation, while Halo 2 ends with more of a blip than a blast, as the second ring world is not destroyed at all, but merely deactivated. Worst of all, immediately afterward, it's discovered that there are about a half dozen additional ring worlds. Our story ends, and we're left waiting until Halo 3 for any kind of conclusion. Now, Halo 2 wasn't a bad game. Please don't think I'm calling it a waste of time or money. The thing is, the Halo series is the flagship series of the Microsoft Xbox platforms. It's their Mario. It was an instant classic long before it even came out. For such a highly anticipated and famous game, it just doesn't seem all that special. It's good, but it should have been great. Oh well. Here's looking forward to Halo 3; if that one doesn't provide an epic conclusion to the series, I'll be sorely disappointed. One more thing to note about finishing up Halo 2: I now possess zero original Xbox games in my backlog. Hey, it may be a small milestone, but it's still a milestone.