I'll be honest -- this game's "Slayer" (deathmatch) mode has always felt a bit... "off," at least in my opinion, even when compared to the first Halo.

Now I know why.

Give this a watch. It compares some things between the two games, and shows off some really ugly bugs/glitches that never should have made it past an alpha version.

Edit: I'll leave this here, since it's still worth looking at the stuff some "professional" game makers are capable of, while us "ameteurs" seem to catch major issues such as these long before the public sees them...

So soon after posting this, it was brought to my attention that an autoupdate from Bungie fixes many of the issues shown in this video. Oopsie.

That's hardly true. I played all three oldschool Doom games, all three Quake games, the original Unreal Tournament, and several other FPS title before playing the original Halo -- and I still enjoyed it, to a point.

The main reason why I don't care for Halo is just because it's not my thing.  I like games that enable me to really move around and defend myself.  Halo's gameplay just doesn't allow for that.  The only way for me to avoid damage is to either kill the other guy first or to be near some structure that I can take cover behind.  There is no retreating, you either kill or get killed, and that gets dull in my opinion.  (Counter-Strike is even worse because taking damage impairs your movment but at least the grenades help to mix things up.)

And while I don't really want to argue, the whole damn elitist attitude towards console games gets really old.  If you can learn to live with ping, you can learn to play with a damn controller.  If at first you don't succeed, try again.  Don't take your losses so damn personally and so damn seriously.

As for good FPS alternatives to Halo 2 on the X-Box:

Time Splitters: Future Perfect -- My room-mate rented this so I got a chance to check it out.  The single-player seems average, but it has a great sense of cheeky humor.  The multi-player mode has a shit load of options, a ton of unlockable content, and it really gives off that GoldenEye/Perfect Dark vibe which makes for a lot of replayability.

Unreal Championship 2 -- I'm still waiting for my copy dammit, but I've played the demo, and I've been watching this game since it was announced.  It's the direction FPS games need to go in my opinion, and I highly recommend you check it out if you have an X-Box.

DOOM 3: Collector's Edition  -- Runs like crap on your PC?  Want Co-Op?  Like the idea of split-screen multiplayer with DOOM 1 and DOOM 2?  Go pick it up.

And about X-Box Live:

Ok, I think there are some misconceptions about this service.  Granted, it is overhyped.  I was disappointed myself, but let's look at what you're getting...

A 12-Month Starter kit costs $60.
With that $60 you get a free game. (Crimson Skies sucks ass, try to find the older starter kits that have Mech Assault in them.)
A high-quality headset plus head-phone
And a year's worth of the X-Box live service for free.
And the X-Box Live service costs $50 a year (yes a year, not a month) after that.

If I wanted to get that same experience on the PS2 I'd have to...

Buy a network adapter for $40 if I don't have the PS2 Slim-line
Buy a seperate headset and headphone combo for $40 to $50
Be subject to individual pay-to-play services (generally MMOG's, but really companies can do what they want if people are willing to pay them for it.)
Be subject to individual companies maintaining master servers so I can play online
And I don't get a free game

Here's another thought, Microsoft has mandated that all titles developed for the next X-Box system be Live enabled.  Somehow I don't forsee having to pay for an X-Box Live account and a X-Box Next/360/Whatever Live acocunt, but I could be wrong.

Could X-Box Live be better than what it is?  Certainly.  I'd like to see some kind of standardization of X-Box live rather than each game implementing select features here and there and designing their own interface.  (It sounds like the new system is going to try and bring about this.)  I'd also like to see X-Box Live build in some kind of voice chat-room feature.  It's damn hard to contact somebody without them playing the same game as you are, and there is zero socialization without some game in your system.  I also wish they'd implement crappy little parlor games if they did the voice chat thing.  

And that's all that I think I wanted to say.



mecha:  For a guy that quit the "scene", you sure are posting on the forum often.  Looks like you just moved venues.  And also, what do you mean by "non-accelerated"?  PS2 games are not run in software-rendering.

The invulnerable player, it turns out, is someone playing over Xbox Live who has lost his connection. Apparently, Halo 2 requires a return signal or something like that in order for damage to be taken/dealt. There are claims that this has been changed in a recent autoupdate, but I'll believe it when I see it...

As for the autoaim, that's what made the game feel really "off" to me. The first Halo's aiming system was spot-on, and I never realized just how much it was -- when the video showed one person drawing an outline on another player with the Covenent plasma rifle, I couldn't believe it was that accurate. Then when he started taking shots with the plasma pistol in Halo 2 that should have very obviously missed... that speaks for itself.

Autoaim is good in Doom, when you can't aim up or down. Autoaim is not good in a game that requires pinpoint accuracy and seems to ask you to grow some skill and do it yourself.

It really saddens me that Halo 2 is what it is. I honestly enjoyed playing deathmatch with friends in Halo quite a bit, even though I constantly had my ass handed to me (console controlers are hard to use for someone used to mouse+keyboard). Halo 2 did nothing but frustrate me, because I was getting killed when I felt I shouldn't have... and it turns out that I was right.

the best part of the whole thing is where he tottaly contradicts himself by saying the rocket launcher is a noob weapon then at the end whining about how he cant hit the banshee..  other then the autoaim thing.. i like everything halo2 has added, its way more fun(with the exception to the vehicles being blown up now.. not as fun since you cant launch them anymore) than i ever had with halo.. half the tests he ran would NEVER happen in a real game. Live or LAN. ive played tonnes and never ever had half the stuff happen. And is it me, or when he was doing the shotgun thing, didnt he say you had to stuff it in their face in halo? then proceeds to show that you have to do the same thing in halo2? what was the point of that?


eh well, all i know is that me and my friends havent played halo1 since halo2 came out. its a blast, and any small miscomings are well made up for with things like headshots(and tbh ive NEVER had a problem sniping people over long distances), dual wield(dual needlers rock! even if they arent all that effective its just plain fun), the sword.. hell i think the sword alone makes halo2 better. nothing mroe fun than bashing down yer opponent.

and last but not least LIVE. did halo1 ever get new maps?.. ever? huh? well guess what, they are beginning at the end of this month to release new maps for halo2. at first they wont ALL be free, (like 5 bucks for extra maps).. but eventually, later this year they will be releasing them all for free(with free ones also interspersed in between).. i think its something like 16 extra maps but im not tottaly sure.