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Monday 3 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
I finally get to play the co-op with my friends and I must say, the experience was way better than I thought! We can choose the level difficultly and different locations as we wish. Another element that I noticed and was not in the single player mode is the ability to save the other teammate. This is extremely helpful in times when a high number of enemies are fighting against you. As we play together, we eventually came up with a strategy to save each other and fight through the waves of enemies.
What I liked about the levels is the way how everything is so realistic. Even though players are situated in a science-fiction world, we can still feel and see many real-life elements. The weapons choices definitely brought the game to life. The ability to switch between different weapons and incorporate each special’s move is breath-taking. For example, if you are on top of a tower, it is reasonable to swap to the sniper and secretly take out the enemies on the bottom. There are many ways to approach the enemies, and especially since playing with a friend, we can collaborate and come up with a best approach.
The most interesting aspect of the fighting techniques is also hijacking vehicles and duel wielding. Holding two weapons together can greatly enhance your survival time since killing the enemies is much easier and takes less time. Plus, experimenting with different weapons to determine which works best for different enemies is also quite entertaining. However, once the weapon on your left hand runs out of ammo, you are stuck with it unless you throw it away. This can get troublesome at times when you are in the middle of combat and there is simply no time for you to find a new weapon to replace the old one. Despite that, tanks are definitely a plus to the game as well. When battling with a friend, one player can jump into the drive seat while the other shoots the gun from the back. Teamwork and communication is a key at that point, since each player is relying on each other. Overall, the gameplay experience of Halo 2 was fun and challenging and kept me entertained the entire time. Love this game!
DESIGN
The design of Halo 2 is one of the best I’ve ever seen. The levels are very detailed and precise. For example, when players are situated in alien worlds, they actually feel like they are in this futuristic foreign world. Furthermore, because of this element, the level worlds are so complex and different in each of their ways. There is always something new to do and left unexplored. Even for new players like me, walking around the world is not so much difficult. In addition, the replay value is also quite high. Nothing seems to be too repetitive and enemies always appear from new directions. Players are constantly moving forward and rarely retracing their steps; thus, they are always making progress which in return, is another motivation to keep them playing. Moreover, the team battle is another element that makes the game so popular. This is one of the games where two players are actively engaged in the game and constantly motivating each other.
The artificial intelligence of the game is executed perfectly with no flaws. For instance, the human fighters are constantly engaged in dialogues that enable the players to be in the gameplay zone. It pulls the players into the game; thus, creating a magic circle for them to relate to. Furthermore, the weapons design is very accurate and you can tell the designers of the game spent a lot of time trying to make each of the weapon’s detail greater and more realistic. Last but not least, the sound of the music increases the players’ attention to the game and compels them to fight on. No matter what the situation is, the music and sound effects are playing in the background in order to push the player forward in the game. Finally, the weapons sound great as well, especially the plasma weapons in my opinion. Although at times it is difficult to hear the music in the background, props to the designers for making it so realistic.
Overall, the design of Halo 2 is outstanding and this is definitely one of the best games ever released on the Xbox console.
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