I’ve played the original Halo up the ying-yang. For over a year at our office the Xbox was turned on and Halo co-op was our lunchtime activity. We had another stint of it in the afternoon/evening to blow off steam. I heart Halo.
Last night I played through the first two levels of Halo 2, and a ton on Xbox live to boot. There are quite a few things that I loved about Halo that have gone missing in it’s sequel. However, Halo 2 comes to the table with enough new and wonderful things to offset any of my disappointment for what’s missing. Here are my first impressions and any differences I’ve noticed between the two games after playing for 5 or so hours.
General Impressions
The first level is far more interesting. ++
The game’s sounds are much better. Crank up the surround sound! +++
The in-engine cutscenes are sometimes gittery but they’re also nice, long, and produced fairly well. Good voice acting. Some skin textures don’t look so nice, but considering the first game’s general lack of cutscenes this is easily forgivable. +
The controls are same old Halo, and that makes me very happy. +++
The game is much more fun to play on the more challenging skill levels.
The characters have more to say and the enemies quick to gloat. This makes killing them alotta fun. +
General Differences
There seem to be fewer scripted events in the levels. —
The areas sometimes lack an obvious direction. It’s hard to determine where to move next after furious firefights. –
The Master Chief has a new suit that can zoom 2x, has a faster shield recharge rate, and can jump much higher. ++
When you reach Earth the textures seem muddy - I can understand how they’re trying to set the tone and make the area feel less like Halo and more like Earth, but
the bright green landscapes of Halo did well to offset the enemy soldiers. This time around it all seems muddled together and in all not as much fun to look at. —
The engine’s dynamic lighting ability has increased, but at the same time the overall game is darker. Thankfully it sill looks great when I set my TV to “vivid”. +++
Models are more detailed. Marines lost the cartoony look - something that I liked about the first, but overall the body armor and alien textures
are much better. ++
Particle effects abound! Plasma bursts and grenade explosions are kicked up a notch. +++
Containers can be blown around. Some explode if shot enough hurting those hiding behind them. ++
Death animations are better. Shooting critters on ledges produce much more dramatic falls. ++
Weapons
Most weapons sport new, superior sounds. ++
No more assault rifle! Instead the AR uses are polarized and broken into two weapons: the Battle Rifle and the SMG. +
Battle Rifle - Holds fewer bullets than the AR, shoots slower but in bursts of three, and is more powerful. A sight has been added making long range fighting easier. +++
SMG - The Rifle’s slow rate of fire is offset by this pray and spray gun. +++
Rocket Launcher - Rockets seek which makeany marine who carries one much more effective. +
Pistol - Site removed but rate of fire increased. The hand-to-hand strike speed has been increased. -
Sniper Rifle - Shoots faster (?) but it’s lost the night vision mode.
Plasma Pistol - the powered-up ball moves slower. -
Vehicles
The vehicle damage animations and models are fantastic. ++
Goliath Tank - Slower moving, main gun shoots faster but the shell travels at a much slower velocity (this used to be instantaneous) The tank can be damaged and destroyed this time around! Yeah, found that out the hard way. ++
Warthog - AI Soldiers can drive the Warthog but they don’t seem all that adept at it. I manned the turret once and let the AI drive, but he hit a box and wasn’t smart enough to back up to clear the obstacle. 
Despite their stupidity - you can take a ghost and let the marines drive a Warthog alongside which makes a very deadly combo. The Warthog can also be damaged and destroyed! +++
Ghost - Slower but has a speed boost option. You can’t fire when boosting. The rate of fire is much increased but the projectiles have a smaller radius and less splash damage. There’s a secondary explosion after you kill one, which means more damage if you stick around close. +
Banshee - Shoots faster. Has a speed boost. You can also perform barrel rolls and loops at a button press. -
Enemies
They look a helluva lot better ++
They speak in English and have a lot of new things to say. –/++
Still gloat when they kill you. Sometimes they run up to your corpse and rapidly shoot you in the head. I guess I pissed a few off. + 
The new creatures types ROCK. +++
New enemy weapons are very very cool. No story spoilers! +
The Elite shakes more when shooting rapidly.. it’s a great effect. ++
Mulitiplayer
Voice chat rocks. Anyone and everyone can hear you if your close to them and say something, as if they can hear you talk into your communicator. The sound, in this case, comes through your televisionVery very cool.
Weapons seem balanced.
The levels are very diverse. Lots of modes.
There is a mode set up specifically for clan battles, though my clan hasn’t used it yet.
Voice chat throughout all parts of the staging UI and while the game is loading. Very nice execution on this.
The UI tells you who’s speaking at all times so its easy to keep track of who’s who.
The UI also shows you where team mates recently not nailed, so you know enough not to blunder into a massacre.
So far, I heart Halo 2.
EB Games has a deal right now - if you buy Halo 2 you get 10% any Xbox Live accessory. How could you pass up that deal?
Halo 2 Differences and First Impressions
