I went to a halo 2 tournament on november 8th at bestbuy(an electronics store).. I came in 6th place out of 120 people, so not bad.. i got ripped off and should've won 2nd or 3rd place but on my last game, i got called last and got stuck with the only old xbox controller... the Shaq controller. In any case i think i did pretty well.
The tournament started at 7pm and ended at 11:45, 15 minutes before i could go and get my own copy of halo 2 across the street. So after the tournament that's where i went, only to find that i was last in a 500 person lineup waiting for the game. It seems none of those people cared much for the tournament and decided to get in line before everyone else..
From the tournament me and my friend came to the line carrying a halo 2 tshirt, button, 4 of those very nice looking metallic shining halo 2 posters, 6 lanyards(mesh necklaces that hold your keys and such) and 2 halo 2 demo boxes. Everyone was staring at us watching in a very jealous way, they also noticed that my friend was walking down the line struggling to hold everything together.
My friend had a couple people come up to him asking to purchase the posters, or the demo box and he declined their generous offers.
After a 4 hour wait, and getting home in the morning i took out and unwrapped my halo 2 limited editon wrapping, and took out the instruction manual aswell as the letter booklet(letters from some characters within the game and pre-event stories) and skimmed them.
I was too tired to start playing so i left it for the day after(the 9th). I woke up early in the morning, obviously unable to sleep as i wanted to play this game very badly. I took out the cd and placed it in my xbox drive. Created my profile and my characters looks and jumped into the game immediately.
Safe to say that halo 2 single player is extremly impressive, and nothing like the first game. There is no point in the game that feels similar or like you've been there before, no repetiveness. The dual weapons and sword add a lot to the fun factor.
I didnt have much time to play it because a couple of friends came over and wanted to play multiplayer, so i let it rest for one more day.
On november 10th i went all out on the game, many little surprises and amazing cinematic cut scenes were included. The new enemy characters were very fun, and in one case(facing the prophet) took me forever to figure out how to beat him.. I wont say so i dont ruin the gameplay.
On november 11th(today) in the morning i finished the game. I must say i wasnt SUPER impressed with the ending as much as i was some of the other cinematics, however i was very pleased to know that...
*spoiler alert*... Do not look down if you dont want a small part ruinned(though it's not too big, so you probably wouldnt mind me telling you)..
That halo 2 left it open for a sequel. I imagine halo 3 will come out for xbox 2 in a couple or a few years.
Cheers to the game and the excellent worksmanship displayed by Bungie Studios.
If anyone feels like it, i have xbox live and they're welcome to add me to their friends list. My gamer tag is Master Merix.
WindowsXP Home(Service pack 2), Athlon XP 2400+(2.1Ghz), 1GIG Ram, Ati Radeon 9800Pro 128MB.