Halo2

[Ravon]

That will be the dodgey copy you got

[Chadruharazzeb]

Imagine if you'd slept outside a shop all night for that.

[Valken]

What's it like lag wise with 16 players?

I take it hosts aren't silly enough to run 16 player games on a 128k upload anyway but in medium - good conditions how does it perform?

[anephric]

Halo 2 = buggy as hell.

Imagine my surprise, I pick Level 1, choose Normal difficulty, then it goes onto the Loading screen, but doesn't actually load. No bar moved across the screen, or anything. Reset Xbox time. I had to do it THREE ****ING TIMES before it started to load. Shoddy.

It does do an install first time... it takes a fair while...

[NeilMcRae]

Haven't experienced this at all Tom.

Halo 2 = buggy as hell.

Imagine my surprise, I pick Level 1, choose Normal difficulty, then it goes onto the Loading screen, but doesn't actually load. No bar moved across the screen, or anything. Reset Xbox time. I had to do it THREE ****ING TIMES before it started to load. Shoddy.

[charlesr]

Mine's crashed as well. During the menu.

[the shape]

Anyone else playing in Very Loud Surround notice the whole soundscape change when you step out the airlock into space? It sounds all compressed and vacuumy. Reduces your sensory awareness, making you feel more vulnerable and, well, like you're in space.

Attention to detail gets respect in my house.

Also enjoying in both Campaign and online. Liking Campaign more than original Halo. I care not that this is heresy. Feels more solid, I feel more involved, but that could be because I didn't get Halo until two years after launch and with this one I was playing on the first day.

If you want to test the texture pop-in, just pause, go to your Friends list or something, and come back. The game throws all the normal mapping back on just as you come out of pause. I agree that it's glaring in the cutscenes, but I never bought a game for cutscenes and never will. I bought H2 to shoot things and drive vehicles.

Loving it.

[anephric]

I really liked the vacuum effect. I thought I was going deaf for a minute so I started to learn British Sign Language for "how much for the ****ery?"

[the shape]

What's it like lag wise with 16 players?

Seems suspiciously good. Suspicious like there's some clever way the lag is being hidden that will reveal itself in the next weeks, or suspicious like we'll all wake up and find it was a dream.

Generally, it's totally smooth. I've only seen one person dancing about in the laggy fashion (that'd be you, Lee) and it didn't affect the rest of us.

No ice skating like Rainbow Six.

I think it does something clever like figure out who has the best connection in the party and switches host accordingly. Witchcraft, in other words.

[Adam Stone]

I should have this by tomorrow. Am looking forward to delving into its splendor.

I?m another who thinks all this talk about textures, pop up etc et is quite insignificant and trivial. Pfft. I mean, Halo was not entirely ground breaking graphically, but that didn?t matter (Repetitive, bland, some poor character models etc). BUT It was still an incredibly solid game? as i?m pretty certain Halo 2 will be too.

(though, I understand the importance if some glitches etc distract from the believability and overall experience, mind?)

Anyhoo... I agree anephric that I enjoyed Metroid Prime far more then Halo 1 (and Halo 2 will be a good way to help pass the time until Echoes) but I also appreciate that making comparisons between the too isn?t wise (im not making a comparison? just simply pointing out a personal preference)

I sadly wont be able to play this on Live (not yet anyhoo) but nonetheless I am still really looking forward to spending the entire weekend with Halo 2 ^_^

[anephric]

I agree anephric that I enjoyed Metroid Prime far more then Halo 1 (and Halo 2 will be a good way to help pass the time until Echoes) but I also appreciate that making comparisons between the too isn?t wise (im not making a comparison? just simply pointing out a personal preference)

I was referring to my built-up expectation (and now initial disappointment) rather than any fundamental similarities as games, and the fact their sequels are released in the same sales window...

I like things to be "polished" - when they're not I'm sad.

Halo 1 was far more "polished" than Halo 2 is, btw...

[mezzanine]

One of the best things about the original Halo was how it told it's story without long non-interactive cutscenes. Halo 2 is full of them I wouldn't mind if the story parts were entertaining but I keep getting reminded of bad sci-fi movies while watching them.

[Tom Salter]

Mine's crashed as well. During the menu.

Thank god it's not just me.

[Adam Stone]

Anephric, appreciated buddy. I didn?t mean for my post to sound like you were making a comparison between the similarities (or the games' foundations as you put ^_^) - i was just generally speaking.

Kind regards
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[Inertia_]

Halo 2 is, imo, a strictly multi-player classic. The glaring fact that the online MP is, without doubt, the best that exists on any console shines a rather unflattering light on the SP. In Campaign, the game wallows in the 'above average' category - not somewhere I'd really expected it to be.

This isn't down to the inevitable loss of the 'wow factor' - it's down to the SP game feeling more like an expansion pack than a sequel.