Why is Halo 2's Campaign SO AWESOME?!

In a few hours, one of the most anticipated video games finally goes on sale. preparing to rewrite retail history. A video game is expected to have higher first-day receipts than any movie on its opening night at the box office! The largest retail launch in entertainment history. You know, dozens of grown men and probably about 3 women have come out of their parents' basements tonight to be the first in line to buy the new video game, Halo 2. Video games across the country are eagerly awaiting the midnight release. of a game called Halo 2. 45 minutes and counting until Halo 2 goes on sale.

There was only one boat. One? Are you sure? Yes. There was nothing I could do! The fleet that destroyed Reach was 50 times larger. I need a weapon. Right over here. There are few sequels that come out as strong and booming as Halo 2. But the question is: How do you build a worthy sequel out of a masterpiece like Combat Evolved, especially when no sequel or trilogy was planned in the first place? Bungie responded to that with a greater emphasis on story, world building, an outrageous hype train, and a multiplayer mode that would forever change the face of Xbox and online gaming.

No game up to this point had come out as big as Halo 2 did, and it brought with it some of the sickest guitar riffs known to man. So cool that they even added the Halo 2 theme to Guitar Hero 3, the most popular video game of 2007. This game is what cemented Halo as a serious contender in the gaming market. It made Master Chief a recognizable icon, it was one of the first games to take a more cinematic approach with its

campaign

. Halo 2 even had the guts to cast big-name actors, like Ron Perlman, Keith David, Kevin Michael Richardson, who's been in everything.

In addition to propelling voice actors like Jen Taylor and Steve Downes to become famous models in the video game industry. Halo 2 was so fucking great that they had bands create music for the game, like Breaking Benjamin, Incubus, and Hoobastank. In fact, Breaking Benjamin didn't get a dime for having Blow Me Away in the game, they did it for free, for publicity, which was certainly worth it, as the song would be used in hundreds of mediocre montages around the world. If Halo CE was the golden child, then Halo 2 was the badass little brother that just didn't give a damn.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows, upon its release Halo 2 was praised, but not without a lot of criticism directed at its story,

campaign

, level design, the E3 demo that had surprisingly little to do with the actual game, and who could forget the FINAL DAT! Where Combat Evolved received universal praise, Halo 2 was seen as something of a mixed bag. To make matters worse, since its release, the comically hellish development has been revealed. With so much controversy and praise surrounding Halo 2, it's time for us to pack in an extra SMG, become the arbiter and BXR be our direct path to this.

So right off the bat, Halo 2 picks up where we left off in Combat Evolved, though not in exactly the same place. This is the first time we learn anything about the Covenant other than just Aliens in Space. Your ears and eyes are glued to the screen as the Covenant recount the events of Halo in a sort of trial. This opening is fucking brilliant for several reasons: one, we get a better understanding of our enemy and see that the Covenant has its own society, rules, leaders, and hierarchy. Two, it allows people who didn't play CE to get a brief understanding of what happened, three, it adds more context to the events of the first game and motivates the pact, 4, it sets the stage for the referee's conflict with the Boss. 5, we see that Captain Keye's legacy lives on through his daughter, Miranda.

And 6, the consequences of our actions are laid out before us, so what we did in the last game is having an immediate effect on this one. I mean, you can't ask for much more in an opening scene. It also plants the seeds for the Referee's character arc. Showing the Covenants' perspective is only half the game, and as the scenes progress we get quite the dichotomy. The UNSC is celebrating its victory, while the Covenant enacts punishment for the Arbiter's failure. In a few sentences and with some pretty images you can get an idea of ​​what both parts are.

There can be no greater heresy! Let him be an example to ALL who break our covenant! Both sides are so similar in structure that Lord Hood's equivalent is the prophets, Johnson's Master Chief of the Arbiter, Tartarus. But the Covenant are much more fanatical, they're basically like if the Catholic church acquired some incredibly sophisticated technology, and then there were three popes who started calling themselves gods and conquered other worlds. With badass names like Truth, Mercy, and Repentance, we get a sense of the hierarchy of the Covenant and what motivates them. In classic graphics, this scene where the referee walks down the hallway was one of the first times a video game felt like a movie to me.

The lighting, the music, the dialogue, everything seemed cinematic. We want our game to feel like a movie, we want it to feel like something that is just amazing to experience. They marketed Halo 2 as a movie and it paid off as a movie, breaking the world record for highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in the first 24 hours. This game surpassed Dead Man's Chest just to put that into perspective. And what Blur did with the remastered cutscenes is basically how I saw this game back in 2004. Halo 2's story grew out of all the elements not seen in CE.

This process began with the end of Halo and realizing everything we had left aside. In Halo 1 we focus on the perspective of the humans, their fate at the hands of the covenant. But we never get too much into the covenant side of the story itself. What are the motivations for the Flood, the Covenant, and how does it all relate? What's the bigger picture beyond the Halo ring? This game was certainly off to a great start, but delving behind the scenes opened up a lekogolo can of worms. Bungie's process for creating great games has worked so far.

But is it possible that there is some pressure or ambition beyond what we can actually do? So if we're going to talk about Halo 2's campaign, then we have to talk about its development, since that shapes a lot of what's wrong and what's right in Halo 2. It took Bungie 7 months to complete the infamous but brilliant E3 trailer and showed off much of the gameplay that would later be dismissed and described as all smoke and mirrors. What you good people are about to see is an operation in progress. This is a real-time broadcast! No smoke and mirrors, pre-recorded shit! *Applause.

This whole section had to be removed because Xbox couldn't handle that environment, couldn't render it. The cliffhanger ending was the result of massive story cuts due to us being forced to ship the game on time. No, you know we can't wait another year. You know, I'm sorry. We can not wait! This game has to come out now! It's really cool to have this deadline that we can't move at all because it forces us to finish it. When the producers come up and take our hands off the keyboard and say, okay! You can't play it anymore, we have to start making these records.

I think that's the point where we'll have to stop and that will be the end. And many Bungie employees felt that the lack of polish at launch was a result of Halo 2's shortcomings. There's seemingly no end to the ideas and features that were cut from Halo 2 due to time constraints and deadly ambition. You know, what I knew about the campaign is that they probably cut, I mean, at least a third of the entire game. Maybe even half, I honestly don't know. And that's why Halo 2 ended with such a jarring ending. It's really amazing, there were plans for an entire level to be on a Covenant ship, but instead they had to settle for this incredible scene.

There were those Flood Juggernaut forms that were found hidden in the files, and so on. It makes you wonder, what if? What if this game had been released as Bungie intended? Well, it certainly would have been one of the best games of all time, and I think it still is. But I can understand why some Halo fans were upset when the game didn't launch as they expected. Bungie had made a lot of promises and didn't keep them all, which is typical in game development. Frankly, I think it's a miracle that Halo 2 released in the state it did.

But as upset as you may have been or still are with Halo 2, I don't think anyone was more upset than Bungie. I don't think anyone in this world has ever done anything worthwhile without being their own worst critic. We made mistakes, as if we didn't have the design, we didn't have the story. Once we started seeing how long it took to produce the missions and how long it took to design and write the script, it just wasn't going to work. After conducting extensive research into the development of Halo 2, it appears that the cause of the massive cuts was Bungie's own optimism and ambition.

There's no real malice behind this, just bad luck mixed with a strong desire to make the most epic sequel EVER. Despite the hell they went through, I'd say they accomplished what they set out to do for the most part. It was extremely challenging to bring all those different, you know, ambitious angles together into one nice, polished product. And especially at the end of the campaign, there just wasn't enough runway to land what we really wanted to land. But when it comes to gameplay, you'd think it would be an automatic improvement. If it weren't for the absurd Legendary difficulty and sometimes bad level design, I'd say it is.

I love Halo 2 to death, but no matter how many times I've played it on Legendary, no matter how good I think I am, I always get angry. Because it's just not fair. But life isn't fair, Act Man sssshhhut up! Games must be fair! When you have level design so bad and enemies so strong that you can literally die before you see your damn scope appear, you know something is wrong. There's really no sweet spot for Halo 2's difficulty, I've tried it on heroic mode with a variety of skulls. But it doesn't have that perfection that Combat Evolved had, where every difficulty feels exactly like it's supposed to be.

And for some reason, probably time constraints, quick note, whenever something in Halo 2 feels off, 99% of the time it's time constraints, but for some reason Bungie decided to simplify the gameplay. No health bar, regenerating health. And this took away one of the best parts of CE when you had a full health bar, you could afford to play recklessly and you could get away with some crazy things, you strategized around your health bar and the health packs available. But in Halo 2 they said screw all that! You don't get any STINKIN health bars! I can't think of a better way to illustrate and demonstrate the ridiculous difficulty of Halo 2 than this: So in Halo 1 it takes exactly 23 shots to kill you with a plasma rifle, now do you have any idea how many it takes in Halo 2? ?

Do you want a clue? 6. 6 fucking shots and you're dead. They also fire weapons faster, a single burst can kill you in less than a second. What the fuck is this, Warzone Firefight? The exact time to kill I recorded just standing still was 10 seconds for CE and 1 and 1/6 seconds for Halo 2. I mean, what in the name of Truths happened? Well, from what I understand, the development of Halo 2, as we all know, was hellish at best. Then, in a time crunch, Bungie realized that the game wasn't difficult enough, but he didn't have time to properly balance and adjust the number of enemies and their toughness.

So what they did was increase the lethality, since they didn't have time to go through every encounter to rebalance it. So what we got was a frustrating and difficult legendary experience. And if you want to see an in-depth video on what makes it so difficult, keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming collaboration with Hokiebird428: Why is the Halo 2 campaign SO HARD? And Sniper jackals, I can't say shit about those guys. His reputation as one of the deadliest enemies in video games speaks for itself. Let's not forget that the co-op mode had greater difficulty because if any of the people died, it was reset to the checkpoint, as if legendary wasn't difficult enough without a permanent iron skull.

But even with its absurd difficulty, the level design, for the most part, is inferior to CE. Remember all those big areas with vehicles that made the world seem expansive and open. Well, many of the sections became incredibly linear or were condensed into smaller, tighter locations. There are a few standouts like the Banshee section in The Heretic or the tank portion in Delta Halo, but I don't understand why these levels don't give you more paths to move around, a larger, more open area. or that same expansive, explorer-type feeling you had in CE. NoDon't get me wrong, the level design isn't terrible, it's just not as good as CE and a badass little brother like Halo 2 should have nailed it.

But the good news is that there are hardly any repeated sections like Combat Evolved had. Of course, those are just the negative points. And to me, it's a lot more fun in heroic with the mythical skull on. The amount of new sandbox elements in Halo 2 is UNREAL! Using two weapons was always very satisfying and just blowing things to pieces! Dude's on the cover with 2 SMGs, bro! And what I liked the most was adding the sentry beam and energy sword as weapons for the player to use. It was like, oh yeah, those

awesome

, cool weapons you saw in the first game?

Now you can use them! You have Covenant carbines, snipers, Brute plasma rifles, Brute shot grenade launchers. The gauss boar, Spectre, power-ups for ghosts and banshees, ability to pilot the specters, new turrets, the ghosts. Everything was great! And of course all new enemy types! White elites and grunts, brutes, drones, elites with jet packs, sentries with shields and a more powerful weapon, those giant robots, the enforcers. Those giant robots, the enforcers, could lift your vehicle and crush you like a bug. Hunters no longer had that unfortunate one-shot weakness and were enhanced with improved melee attacks and a damn beam cannon!

Some Elite flood forms had shields, I mean, whatever you say about Halo 2, you can't say it didn't feel new. Or add a bunch of

awesome

new things. Now think about CE and what the levels were like, basically everything was in place, nothing could be moved. But Halo 2 added moving objects, things you could manipulate. Things you could destroy. As the vehicles were damaged, chunks and debris were sent flying, I mean, that was really cool! It may seem like a simple thing, but damn, it creates an immersive world, when you can just run around, hit things, and watch them fly everywhere.

And it's crazy to think that many FPS games, even released TODAY, don't have this type of environmental interaction. Faction fights are back, making the game fun, dynamic, and not always one against them. And while impressive, it's not as grand in scale as CE. When I spoke with Hardy Lebel, the lead designer of CE's multiplayer. He said that Bungie had seen GTA Vice City and was so enthralled by the idea of ​​vehicle hijacking that they added it to Halo. Which was incredibly awesome! And it was a good way to balance the vehicles and give more options to players on foot.

Also, your allies' AI improved A LOT! Now your teammates really chipped in and helped! Instead of firing 3 bursts every 5 minutes with a 60 shot gun. Smart players used the new mechanic of giving your allies weapons to maximize kill potential and survivability. This added a new layer of strategy that made replaying the levels a lot of fun. And holy mother of Posiedon, there's a part where you can fight DAMN HUNTERS! That's the rudest thing there is. 10 out of 10. Halo 2 also added boss fights, a first for the series that would never be developed in later games, except for Scarabs & Guilty Spark in Halo 3 and Warden Eternal in Halo 5.

And we all know how that went. While it's not the best example of boss fights in FPS games, you have to respect the ambition. The bosses you fought had more impact because you, the player, had to defeat them. Which is much more satisfying than watching a cutscene. Honestly, if Halo 2 had the same fair and satisfying difficulty that CE had, I'd say it's the best game in the *burp series. I would say it is the best game in the series, without a doubt. Because this game added a lot of new weapons, vehicles, items and sandbox tools, but it's not so easy to enjoy all that when the game (for me) is too hard or too easy.

And that's the most critical flaw of Halo 2. People identify with humans, people care more about humans, so we really have to put the referee in a position in the story where he matters and where he the player cares about him. You want to look at this guy and see that he's just as cool as Master Chief. Depending on your point of view, one of the best or worst additions to Halo 2 was being able to play as The Arbiter. We are the arm of the prophets, referee. And you are the sword. The Arbiter was one of the most controversial additions to Halo 2, as people wanted and expected to play as the Boss.

Frankly, I would agree with them, of course, if Arbiter wasn't such a tough and likable character. You have attracted a large crowd. If you came here, please, you will be disappointed. It took HUGE guts for Bungie to go ahead with this decision for a campaign split between two perspectives, but it was worth it in the end. The referee is to elites what the boss is to humans. Both are revered and iconic figures who carry the weight and hopes of their people. And this is appropriate since Elites were always meant to be your equals, now the Boss has one.

Now there's this idea that Halo 2 had fake marketing and showed a game or story that people expected. Like saving the Earth and all that, but it wasn't fake marketing. They obviously left out the Referee role because that was a twist. As a player at the beginning of the game, you don't realize that you're actually going to play this elite general who has fallen from grace. But you can take a quick look at: Ahh, that's the flip side of what happened to the Covenant at the end of the first game. A couple of levels into the game you realize: Oh my God!

I can play this guy. And the same goes for Gravemind and Flood. Of course, we see in these advances that the defense of the Earth had to be an important issue. And it's not like he didn't get any screen time or missions in the campaign we got. But it was downplayed. So no, Halo 2 didn't have any fake marketing. And these two characters get a glimpse of both sides of this giant war, and instead of seeing them as boring, one-sided aliens, bad guys, good humans, the addition of the Arbiter allows this conflict to play out. This time, essentially two stories were being told simultaneously, going from one level to another.

So just to illustrate how important Thel Vadamee is, let's imagine how different Halo 2 would be without him. We would have no one on the opposite side to relate to or guide us through the Covenant. And because Shipmaster is such a crucial point in Arbiters' character arc, he would be scrapped as well. And without Halo 2's story having a greater emphasis on the Covenant side, I don't think playable Elites would have existed in Halo. The Covenant civil war would be ruined, and what we would be left with were 4 villains about whom we know almost nothing, in a plot that would be exactly the same as the combat evolved.

Without Arbiter we completely lose any understanding or empathy of the Covenant. So I think Halo 2 is better off with the Referee, as we gain a lot from his presence, especially a great rivalry between two pinnacles of badassery. Chill out. I'd rather not piss this off. Devil! What makes Halo 2's story so AWESOME? Well, it's the characters, of course! Everyone has a purpose, everyone has motivations, friends, enemies, rivals. Everyone is likeable, whether they are heroes or villains. It doesn't matter how deep the story is or how complex the universe is if we don't have characters we can understand or identify with.

So let's take a look at the cast of Halo 2. The boss is pretty much the same, but this time he has new armor and a chip on his shoulder, he says, yeah, I destroyed that fucking ring that was going to kill everything, yeah, fuck yes! Chief barely speaks in this game, in fact I think he only has 15 lines of dialogue, but his character is shown through his actions and what happens around him. Not to mention, this guy has the best one-liners. Just one question: what if you fail? I won't do it. Cortana, who I think looks better in original graphics, has a new haircut and is back with her trademark wit and cunning.

She always has a plan and she always has a backup plan. Then we have Johnson, who works as a comic character alongside Cortana, helping you from time to time and always keeping the troops motivated, just like a real sergeant would. Miranda and Lord Hood serve primarily as exposition, and what they say often raises the stakes or reveals danger. And this is okay because not all characters need to be as deep and complex as Harry Potter. Guilty Spark is back, but his screen time has been reduced. He reveals the truth to both the heretics, the referee and Tartarus.

He also helps you in the final level to close the ring. Of course, the Marines, Soldiers, Elites, and Brutes all have their own characters and add some personality, charm, and comedy to the game. Gravemind is now seen by many as a controversial and unnecessary character. People thought this Venus flytrap was the brain of the flood and eliminated any mystery behind the Flood. But I say we had the mystery in the first game and that was enough. So now we were like, oh shit, this is the flood king?! Definitely one of the coolest characters in video games and his existence makes sense when we look back at what happened to Captain Keyes, who was going to become a new Gravemind.

Just the idea of ​​thousands of sentient beings pooling together their knowledge and memories to create and fuel this abomination with the sole goal of consuming all life in the galaxy, I mean, that's fucking terrifying and creepy! Without Gravemind, a second appearance of the Flood would have turned them into cliché space zombies. So he's a welcome addition to the cast. Tartarus is the great brute that helps characterize and give insight into this formidable new race. A violent and barbaric alien species that roams in packs. That enormous gravity hammer shows that he is serious and that he serves no one but the hierarchs, seeking to prove that he and his race are superior to the Elites.

The Heretic Leader represents one side of the pact that was dissolved, seeing through the lies and manipulation of the Prophets, fighting these heretics sets the stage for Arbiter to learn the truth and do what is right. The hierarchs are basically space popes, as I said before, they rule with religious fanaticism. I'm sorry for being younger and more reckless, Mercy for being older and wiser, and Truth for being everyone's middle-of-the-road manipulator. He is cunning and cruel and will use any means necessary to achieve power. Finally we have Arbiter, who has the deepest character arc. Starting as a commander, then stripped of his rank, his honor and his pride.

Subjected to torture and humiliation in front of a large crowd. He learns to find a new purpose in serving the hierarchs as an arbiter, but neither the ship's captain nor the Tartarus accept him. He finally came face to face with the man who destroyed everything he had. Everyone expects him to die, but as the story progresses, both Tartarus and Shipmaster gain some respect for him. Near the end, there is a moment where Arbiter is talking to Tartarus and you can tell that he doesn't want to fight. He wants Tartarus to learn and understand the truth so that he can come to a peaceful resolution.

But the stubborn brute cannot accept that he has been manipulated and is living up to a lie, so he explodes. You see, each character represents a point of view from a different group in the Halo universe. Because of this, we see and understand much more of what we are participating in. All of these characters work and play with each other to form a cohesive universe and make it feel real. Dear humanity, we're sorry we're alien bastards, we're sorry we came to Earth, and we're definitely sorry the corporation blew up our tattered fleet. OH RAH! Please Be Careful.

This recoverer is delicate. One more word, Oracle, and I'll rip your eye out of its socket!! The dialogue in Halo 2 gets its own section because of how absolutely brilliant it is and how incredible the voice acting and delivery is. This is not your grave, but you are welcome in it. Man, how the hell did you make those? Oh wait, that's Dee Bradley Baker! Oh man, that guy is known for making all kinds of crazy noises with his mouth! Those of you who have ever written your own stories or fanfiction know that dialogue is one of the hardest things to get right.

Without a doubt, this game has some of the best writing I have ever seen in a video game. Almost every line can be quoted, remembered, and memed. If I had to narrow down the list of quotes to use in this video, it would probably be about 80% of the Halo 2 story. A vivid memory I have playing this game with my friends was the speech Half-Jaw gives to the Halo troops. he. The first time I saw this, my friend recited the speech word for word as he played it. And that's when I realized that what the characters were saying was so powerful.

On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our children, we swear to keep the Covenant. Even until our last breath! The dialogue in Halo 2 does EVERYTHING, it makes you feel like a badass. Your friend, where is he going? He makes you laugh. You told me there would be no cameras. And you told me you were going to wear something nice!It makes you sad. Tatar the prophets have betrayed us. It scares you. And the most important thing when it comes to video games is that it gives you the information you need in an interesting way.

Because, let's be honest, exposition in video games is usually handled in the most boring, unengaging, and sleep-inducing ways. But if we take this section here, let me point out how brilliantly this is handled. Madam, now an object appears. Cortana, what exactly am I looking at? That's another Halo. What what?! So this is what my father found. Miranda's facial expression indicates something serious, we wonder what she sees. She asks the question and as floating debris flies off the screen to reveal the Halo, Cortana says, "That's another Halo." So this is what my father. Events repeat themselves and the fact that there are more Halo rings was honestly unexpected and mind-blowing at the time.

Johnson's surprise is meant to mimic the surprise we, the audience, feel in the moment! And the way the cigarette falls out of his mouth also adds a bit of comedy. There is so much going on in every moment of Halo 2's story that I could describe it for hours. Sir, permission to leave the station. For what purpose, Master Chief? To give the Covenant back their bomb. Permission granted. I love this because Lord Hood starts off very serious and then says okay, fuck it! The game opts for a less-is-more style of storytelling. For example, with two lines of dialogue, Halo 2 shows us that the Arbiter is a very important rank with a long history.

Do you know where we are? The Mausoleum of the Referee. That's how it is! Here rests the vanguard of the Great Journey, every Arbiter from the beginning to the last. Each created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis. And with this line of Mercy, we learn that the formation of the Alliance brought with it numerous conflicts. The taming of the Hunters, the Grunt Rebellion, if it weren't for the Arbiters, the Pact would have been broken long ago! With the location these characters are in and the few lines of dialogue they say, we learn a lot about the story and the universe.

These key points could serve as excellent areas to develop expanded material. So now as a player, you're thinking about the bigger picture. How was the pact formed? You're curious about things like that. Now, it's one thing to write good dialogue, but it adds a whole new layer when a character's body language reflects what they're expressing. When the referee says, I'm already dead, in fact. We see the great shame in his body language, she shuffles, covering his mark of shame. We see Thel Vadam at his most vulnerable in the presence of the most sacred role of the Heirarchs and his people.

Even on my knees I do not belong in his presence. Halo2 is also good with the subtle moments, like when Shipmaster is giving his speech, the grunts are a bit fucked up. Then, in another scene, we see a grunt slide as he tries to climb a turret. You might think these are inconsequential details, but they reinforce the role of the growl. And these details are all over Halo 2, from the way different characters move, react, and are especially well captured in the remastered scenes, making their facial expressions much more realistic. One of the most interesting details about Halo 2 that you probably didn't notice was when the ship's captain is giving his speech, all the other Elites are reciting it and you see his mouth move, but in this scene we see that Arbiter doesn't. this.

This small detail shows us that Arbiter is not one of them, he is a kind of outcast which is reinforced in the following dialogue. This armor fits you well, but it can't hide that mark. Nothing ever will. You are The Arbiter, the will of the Prophets. But these are my elites, their lives matter to me and yours doesn't. We are two now. Hmmm, there's a reason you hang on to every word said in Halo 2, of course it's well written, but each character has a different way of expressing themselves, they have unique and discernible personalities. It's short, sweet, and nothing is without purpose.

If there was a gold standard for dialogue in video games and especially first-person shooters, this is it. Boss, when you get to Earth, good luck! After I'm done with the Truth, don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it. There is a lot going on in Halo 2, it almost borders on being TOO MUCH. But the game strikes a good balance and doesn't spend too much or too little time on one plot point. It's a split approach, as Chief you have to defend the Earth, then you discover a new ring, you move in to eliminate one of the Prophets to cripple the Covenant, then you get captured and have to track down the index to stop the ring from firing.

On the other hand, as an arbiter you work with pact allies to quell the heretics, then you must recover the sacred icon, discover the truth and be betrayed. Treason! Betrayed! And finally join the ship's captain to stop Tartarus from activating the ring. But because we switch sides and so much happens and the content is cut, some things aren't really explained. Like how the Covenant found Earth or how Guilty Spark took down the heretics. But fortunately, many of these gaps were filled in the terminals, and 343 did a great job of expanding the story and background of a game we all love.

We get to see the taming of the Hunters, the Heretics learning the Truth, the story of the Arbiter and Thel Vadamee, how important his role is. We see the grunt rebellion and who knew you could feel empathy for such horrible creatures. And the way this Arbiter hands a plasma pistol to this Grunt Leader brings tears to my eyes and gives new respect to what I used to see as nothing more than lowly cannon fodder. One of the reasons Halo 2's story turned out the way it did is because writer Joe Staten kept pushing for more and more, kept pushing the boundaries.

And I think his immense passion for telling this story, this vision that he had, for sharing it with the world, is part of the reason why Halo 2's story is as good as it is. We're actually pretty good at hitting things right at the end. In fact, I think we do some of our best work that way. Now, of course, there is the end. And I actually made a whole video about that ending! So if you want to hear me talk about it, check it out! It's a plot that keeps your attention from start to finish, never loses momentum, never gets boring.

You're jumping through many levels, but each section is as entertaining as the last. If there is something that sticks with me in the story of Halo 2, it is the amount of sensations I felt while feeling. Nothing better to tell a story than a wide range of emotions you feel while experiencing it. And Marty O Donnel, our lord and savior, praise be to his name, absolutely KILLS it with the soundtrack, and I mean, KILLS IT! If I were stranded on an island with only one Halo soundtrack, it would be Halo 2. I'll never forget the thrill I felt when those drop pods crashed on Delta Halo.

Or how worried she was when the Chief fell into the water. Or that shit I can use at the time of the energy sword. Working with Steve Vai and Michael Salvatori, Marty created a soundtrack with so many unique pieces that flow with the gameplay and scenes. Like when Tartarus and the Brutes drag Arbiter towards the Prophets, and that slow, eerie pace serves to characterize the vast, mysterious city of High Charity. What makes this campaign and this story memorable is that it has a lot of those moments that stay with you, vivid moments. For example, when you start the Uprising mission and Arbiter looks at a bloody rock to pick up a plasma rifle, it sets the stage for what you're about to see.

The brutes have betrayed the elites and massacred them. You can feel empathy and sadness just from the images and music, without a single word being said. That's why I made such a big deal out of the show, don't say it, in my review of Halo 5. Compare and contrast these two tragedies. Alright, the elites were shown being slaughtered, but in Halo 5 they were told that the Guardians had destroyed 4 colonies. It's okay, when you're in a character's shoes and you experience something firsthand, it's much more impactful than when it's told to you. By the prophets! What have these brutes done?

They have shed the blood of our brothers, and that is why they must DIE!! Halo 2 is full of these moments. For example, you'll see the Referee's Mausoleum in one cutscene and then later in the game you'll fight in that area as the Boss. Or in scene 1 we see the trial of the Arbiters and then in Gravemind we start the mission there. So the game feels connected and these locations leave an imprint on us. Boo! Speaking of which, Covenant and High Charity tech in general look pretty fucking fantastic! Now, a narrative like this becomes much more powerful when it gives you something to think about.

Or more importantly, when it teaches you something. It can be difficult to hold on to what we believed in, but it is better to admit that we have been living or serving a lie than to continue pretending otherwise. That's what Arbiter taught me: when to admit I'm wrong. What would the world be like if it were governed entirely by religion? There's more than I mentioned here, but I want you to think about what the most important message behind Halo 2 is and share it in the comments. It's a little hard to explain, but you feel a lot of emotions when you play Halo 2, and that's a sign that the story and the game have made a connection.

Now this video is mostly about the campaign, but it's worth noting that Halo 2 cemented the series as a serious contender and franchise, it's what really made Master Chief the face of Xbox and the cultural icon he is today. . And none of this would have been possible if it weren't for the solid multiplayer and Xbox Live that kept people coming back. Giving players the ability to play as Elites and customize them with the different colors and emblems that appeared on your armor, I mean it was amazing, it was revolutionary. And it was amazing to play Halo games online on a console for the first time.

And it was this jump to online multiplayer that would fuel gaming culture, and hundreds of other games and companies would follow suit, trying to emulate the success of Halo 2. Overall, Halo 2 can have a perfect undifficulty campaign , it may have promised too many things that it didn't deliver, it may not have had as good a level design as CE, but what it does have is the best story in the series. A story that makes you feel. New interesting enemies to fight and weapons to kill them with. And characters and dialogues that you will remember for years. And that's why Halo 2's campaign is SO AWESOME.