Review of Halo 2 Anniversary (PC)

Hey, everyone! This week I review one of the most influential, revolutionary first  person shooter games of the Xbox Generation. Does this game stand the test of time over a decade from its initial release?


Let's find out!

(best enjoyed with headphones on!)

After the initial success of Halo: Combat Evolved, the team at Bungie immediately scrambled to create a sequel. After a 3 year long development cycle, Bungie created the sequel to one of the biggest games of the Xbox's lunch

 catalogue

Originally released to the public in 2004, this game took the world completely by storm. Microsoft's subscription-based, online service, Xbox live was released two years before this game.  All that the service needed to attract an active, large user base was a "Killer App".  A game that aggressively pushes the hardware or service to the consumers. In VR's case, (regrettably) Half-Life Alyx. 

This game was the "Killer App" of Xbox live. As millions of users sign up to the service just to play Halo two over an online connection, rather than relying on networked consoles. At the time, online play over a console was not necessarily a new thing. That accolade belonged to the Sega dream cast and  Sega.net

which allowed online shooters , for example unreal tournament, and quake 3: Arena which was playable  via a dial-up connection (and still is!). *insert ear rape noise here*Anyway, let's get on with this!

The game is set in 2552, an alliance of alien races, hellbent on the extinction of humanity, The Covenant has suffered a major setback. A massive super weapon, capable of destruction on a galactic scale originally built by the forerunners, known as "Halo" got destroyed by humanities equal opportunity @$$ kicker, John 117, commonly known as Master Chief. And one of the Covenant's commanders, known as the arbiter was blamed for it!So the covenant decided to take up a new tactic – a mass invasion of Earth! You play as Master Chief, it was up to you to repel the covenant invasion of Earth, find out what the covenant is really up to, and stop yet another strategy of the genocide of all sentient lifeforms in the Galaxy.

The accessibility  scores are as follows:

Visibility 7

First off there is no colourblind modes in this game.  The campaign, is very accessible. The blips on the motion tracker are colourblind friendly. Friendlies are shown as yellow blips on the motion tracker, enemies are shown as red blips on the motion tracker. Multiplayer, on the other hand has an very serious issue. The team colours are red and blue, as part of a course for  a Halo game  but, like combat evolved your teammate's icon is shown above his or her head. So, if you see a player  without an icon above his or her head, smoke em!As I've said time and time again, red and blue are not hardest hit when it comes to colourblind players. It still needs addressing nonetheless! 

Audibility  6

there are subtitles during the cut scenes. But, on the actual emissions themselves,Mission-critical dialogue is not subtitled. I understand that subtitles are present in all other games in the collection, why not Halo 2!

However, in multiplayer if you can enabled text-to-speech mode. When a fellow player messages you during a multiplayer match, the message is then read out  to you. That way, you can hear the you can hear the person in last place complain about you using the energy sword, and telling you on how much of a noob  you are!

Mobility 11

for the ultimate nostalgia for the Xbox days. You can attach an Xbox One  controller and play the game like  it's console counterpart. Also, this game has mouse and keyboard support. However, controller players has aim assist to even out the accuracy advantage when you're using a keyboard and mouse. The controller customisation options is the exact same for any other game in the series. Including  a legacy stick layout.

Gameplay 11

1st off, Halo 2 is a legendary game. It's an impact in the industry, as a whole cannot be understated. This game put online multiplayer on a console to the masses. Before Halo 2 came out, the stereotype was that online place should be exclusive to PC. All thanks to the highly successful counterstrike 1.6. Like other games in the Halo series, Halo Wars. This game took that stereotype, put it in a paper shredder, and shown the world otherwise! When developing a remaster, the developers must treat the original game with respect. And that's exactly what 343 did. 

This is the pinnacle of the 3 games that has already  been released in this collection. An anniversary mode, the graphics looked absolutely stunning! But, if you're running over a decade old GPU and a CPU that would be able to run a  Windows Vista game at 720p, you can switch to classic mode. However, similar to combat evolved the remastered graphics has serious optimisation issues. This is due to the games utilisation of Unreal Engine 4. Also, when  you are in  campaign you are basically, running two versions of the game on top of one another.

In summary, Halo 2 Anniversary is probably one of the best remasters on PC I have played this year. This game is available on Xbox game pass for  PC, if you're a subscriber there is no excuse to at least get this game a try!

OVERALL SCORE- 87.5%

See you guys in the next review

SpartanCommander1990 out!

Remember to  stay safe,  stay inside, stay alive!

Roll out Spartan Company!