Spoiler
I believe video games are a budding art form, but they have sadly been held back by their makers viewing them as a mere commercial enterprise as opposed to what they are, a new form of interactive storytelling.
When I played the first Halo, I had one major issue with it. The action was tight and effective, the atmosphere was both foreboding yet wondrous, the locations were beautiful and new, and the universe it created was a fascinating place of new and exciting possibilities. However, its protagonist, Master Chief, John 117, was a blank slate. I understand what the creators were trying to do. They were attempting to create a character who was a blank and thus you could project yourself onto them. My problem with such a character is they are not an interesting character to follow in a narrative. Thus, while playing the original game, there was a certain disconnection from the otherwise brilliant and thought provoking story. I expected the same from 2, but it had surprises. Halo 2 remains my undisputed favorite in the series for a great many reasons, and I will name the main points.
Halo did not have that many notable actors, if any at all. The only actor I can think of is David Scully, who I remembered as Jones from AvP 2.
Halo 2 on the other had had the brilliant idea to nab some talents. The most notable is Keith David who portrayed Thel, better known as the Arbiter. David starred in such classic films as The Thing, Platoon and Bird, as well as appearing in nostalgic treasures such as Gargoyles. His distinctive and intimidating voice was a welcome addition to the Halo universe. There is little doubt in my mind that his role as The Arbiter in the Halo series was responsible for his recent resurfacing back into mainstream media, such as The Princess and the Frog and the Mass Effect series. It is not difficult to see why either. David's voice gives the character a real sense of life. David knows how to use his voice effectively, portraying a wide range of emotions with the slightest change of pitch and tone. He can convey sorrow, confusion, anger, shock, pride, determination and so much more. It is clear that David really was trying to make something of this role, and he succeeds. His contribution to the Halo universe is one of the high points of his already impressive career.
The next actor is the slightly less well known but no less talented Robert Davi, who portrayed Rtas, better known as SpecOps Leader in this game, and Shipmaster in the follow-up. Davi has appeared in many noteworthy films in prominent supporting roles such as Die Hard, The Goonies and Predator 2, and the lead role in the TV series, Profiler. Davi is an underappreciated talent who deserved more exposure than he got in spite of appearing in such noteworthy projects. In Halo 2, Davi uses his voice in a way I have never seen him use it before. Dispelling the usual roles of belligerent screaming loudmouths and gruff bosses, Davi instead takes on a very different, somewhat gentle tone of voice that ultimately makes him more intimidating than the above mentioned roles. Other than his roles in Die Hard and The Goonies, this role is one of Davi's finest, and all three parts show a great range to his talents that have yet to receive proper wide exposure.
But that is to name but a few. There is also Ron Perlman, Julia Benz, Miguel Ferrer and countless others. The creators of this game used the resources that the first game granted them well in nabbing such a lineup of some notable but all talented actors. Funny how it seems the Sangheili got the best deal out of all of them, though I am not complaining.
The personalization of the Covenant was one of the great strokes of genius in Halo 2. In the first Halo, the Covenant was an un-personified force that was only given the slightest characterizations. The occasional cry of terror from a grunt and the alien language of the elites as well as conversations with other soldiers were all the exposure we had. This actually worked rather well as one type of villain I enjoy is the force without reason. This has proven effective in many great films and games.
Halo 2 had a jarring beginning where you were immediately introduced to the Covenant's leaders and the scapegoat for your actions in the previous game. This opening expanded the universe a great deal in mere seconds, making your antics carry a cost, and giving the enemy you were once separate from faces, names, stories, personalities. This carried a far greater emotional depth than the first game. Despite their goals, one grew to like certain characters in the Covenant side of the narrative, and experienced legitimate interest in the outcome.
Another, deeply personal reason that I enjoy this addition is due to the common human habit of de-personifying one's enemy during war time. It is a luxury. Halo 2 denied me that luxury and I am forever grateful, because this is the way real war is. No side is a nameless force of evil, but is made up of individuals. Halo 2, while probably not intending to be this deep with their expansion, certainly struck this player as such.
You cannot have a good story without good characters, and Halo 2 beat the original in this department. Those who know me are aware that Thel is my favorite character in the series, so it is natural that this game will be a favorite. I already explained my issues with Master Chief, but my liking of Thel is far more interesting than him being not human. Rather, it is due to his ark. Through the entire series, let alone in the first game, Master Chief doesn't make any major discoveries of self, the challenges he faces are strictly related to combat, and he doesn't come away from the story any wiser than he was when the whole thing started. If they left him a total blank, that would have been more acceptable as it would have strengthened the idea of projection. They keep trying to give him an identity and yet by story's end, he still has none.
Thel is an entirely different story. He is challenged in ways far beyond simple combat and pushed to his intellectual limits. He not only has goals, but has underlying needs that also need fulfillment, the mark of a truly multidimensional character. He finds that his greatest ally is his sworn enemy, and those he thought of as protectors and friends are the ones who seek the destruction of his entire people. He is eventually disillusioned with his leaders and the very beliefs that an entire history was built upon, and this is where his wants and needs separate. He WANTS to reclaim his lost dignity and do justice for the Covenant, but he NEEDS to do what is morally right, and this is what eventually compels him to reject these taboos and persuade his people to come to our aid. Now this is a character I can get invested in. Many will be saying "We have heard that one before." and you would be right. However, while this story may be none too new on its own, it is done in an interesting way. For example, the character with this ark is usually the protagonist of the story, not a former antagonistic figure, and the character is usually of a background that the viewership would be closest to. A common staple of revisionist science fiction is the victimization of an alien culture by humans and a human character eventually siding with the oppressed minority (Avatar, District 9), but here, this revisionist formula is reversed and thus is much more fresh. Now we are the oppressed minority and our invader has the revelation.
Many of the things that Thel experiences in Halo 2, religious disillusionment, political frustration, old friendships lost and new friendships formed are things that I myself have experienced over the last few years, thus making my enjoyment of this character much greater.
I could go on about the characters of Rtas and Johnson as great supporting characters, but the above description makes my point well enough.
Suffice to say, I still await the Thel and Rtas game.
Many games (and the Halo series is guilty of this) focus too much on display and not enough on story. Truly effective and thrilling games really try to put you into the action and allow you to experience a legitimate threat, whereas many action games come off as simple masculine fantasy. Where Halo's true strength lies is in the narrative. Halo 2, more so than the other games in the series, has several moments where story and not action is the primary focus. One such moment is the final level where Thel races to commandeer a Scarab. We are lead to believe this will open an action scene. However, the game has tricked us and we arrive too late to work the Scarab, which has been taken by Johnson instead. The journey we just went on was not for a weapon, but rather a build up to a character moment, which is why this level remains one of my favorites. Such a bait and switch asks a lot of the player, and I love to be challenged by my games in many more ways than just "Try not to die." Granted, there is still a great deal of repetitive action levels that really offer us no new gameplay, but when weaved into the narrative in proper fashion, they become something more. More games should focus on such immersive techniques as opposed to just trying to dazzle the player. As much as the story wows me, the gameplay certainly could be more immersive, not only in this game, but in every Halo game. That being said, Halo 2 really did try to weave its combat into the story more than the other games, and thus it is set apart from the rest.
The Halo series has recently lost much of its creativity in terms of level design. Halo 3 and Reach had very little variation in this department, appearing to be trying to emulate modern warfare games as opposed to trying to create its own universe. One of my primary issues with 3 and Reach is many of the levels seem to blend together. How many times did we battle in a small human facility in 3 or how many times did we do war in a large city in Reach? Too many times. Halo 1 and 2 on the other hand have a great deal of variety in their levels, and it feels like a whole other world. In Halo 2, we battle within an orbiting satellite, in the streets of a deserted city, in a mining facility atop a great storm, in the ruins of the next Halo ring, in the snowy flood infested terrain outside the library, in the advanced city of High Charity, and on a stormy beach near the activation center of the next Halo. No two designs are repeated. Each area is unique, stands alone, and wows the player in new ways. It creates a very episodic feel that adds to the scope of the universe we are in. Even in these chapters there is a great deal of creativity that adds to the tension. One such segment is in the mining facility when Thel has to cut the cable that keeps the mining facility from falling into the gaseous atmosphere of the planet below. When each attachment is cut, the station begins to list. In a first person game, this is an effective way to build suspense. When the cable is fully cut, the station goes into a free-fall, the orange clouds racing by. The very ground on which we stand is no longer safe, thus making the need to kill the level's final boss a much more immediate goal. A simple tweak in the level made what was once a stable and secure area become an apocalyptic frenzy.
Switching from one perspective to another. The only time in the series this has been done thus far, and why they stopped doing it is beyond me. Perhaps players wanted to stick to one story. Perhaps they preferred the more familiar territory. Perhaps they see something in Master Chief's story that I still cannot. Whatever the case, I am in the minority in my vocal support of the perspective switching between levels. Why do I enjoy this? Because is destroys the repetitive feel of the game and mixes things up. In switching between the Chief and the Arbiter, I grew to understand the motivations of both sides, to know all their companions as characters, and the transitions back and forth between the two were smooth and not disorienting. Also, this served to make the Covenant a more relatable foe, which I already explained why I like. Like the levels, this made the areas unique. Surely Chief's and Arbiter's goals in the same area would be drastically different, and one gets that feeling. I really wish they continued this in 3 as I feel it would have added a whole other dimension to it. To top it off, I am playing a character I actually enjoy. It was a stroke of inspired genius to have the final level and boss take place from the supporting character's perspective as opposed to the protagonist's. It was original, unexpected, and didn't feel like a cheat. It appears that this inventive strategy will not be seen in the Halo series again, and that is a shame.
Halo 2 was what first introduced one of my favorite features of the series, and that is armor customization and playing the Sangheili in Multi Player. The latter is a feature I hope the series continues to use. This added a great deal more variety while battling among friends. In addition, the inclusion of an emblem feature makes the armor much more customizable as opposed to the one solid color system from the previous game. While this feature was not perfected until Halo 3, one of the features about that game that I feel is superior to this one, these new features signaled a big step in the right direction.
Another now mandatory feature, the skull hunt feature, was started here. I have yet to find any of the Halo 2 skulls due to never having beaten a Halo game on Legendary.
Yes. I know. Shut up.
Their inclusion adds greatly to replay value not only in the hunt for them, but adding variety to the game with extra challenges, nice little treats, and an embrace of comedic value (I would have been your daddy.)
Also, the variety in dialogue due to difficulty setting offers a subtle reward for going the distance in the game. Favorite example of this is the change in Johnson's lines when the Scorpion tank is introduced. My personal favorite is the Heroic setting. "And we had to share the rock."
The fact that these changes and features are unlocked depending on what difficulty you chose encourages a less hardcore player like me to take the road less traveled. All one got in the original game was a brief though memorable snippet in the cut scenes. Here, and in subsequent Halo installments, you unlock a whole other side of the game, this making it a more interactive and challenging experience.
Halo 2, more than any other game in the series, established a universe. In Halo, we got a bare minimum. There is a war with aliens, we escaped from a destroyed planet, there is a ring and if it goes off bad things will happen, and a parasitic alien life form is out to get you too. A basic four points that are not really expanded upon in the game. In 2, a vast array of new dimensions, texts and subtexts, character goals and needs, worlds, technology and so much more are piled in and yet its introduction is handled so well that it is not confusing or overwhelming. In a short, few minute segment, we learn more about Covenant culture, about their history, and about their characteristics that the whole of the first game, and being able to do so much with so little time is the mark of great skill. The original Halo was much like Die Hard in that it took place on a single world and its surrounding areas. Halo 2 is far different in that the characters practically travel from one end of the universe to another, arriving in many exotic locales and given license to explore each one. The first game introduced the world of a Halo. Halo 2 introduced one to the world of the Covenant, the world of a futuristic Earth, the world of another Halo and more.
This game's focus on story was greatly appreciated. Such touches as expanding on the musical score from the first game as well as an increase of quality and quantity of the cut scenes create a greater sense of involvement with the plot. Like I said, interactive storytelling is what truly makes a video game shine, and that is what Halo 2 is primarily trying to do. It isn't trying to run you through an endless wave of machine gun fodder, throwing faceless grunt after faceless grunt your way. It is trying to tell a story and the amount of time and effort put into the cinematic sequences shows that, as well as how they are woven into the gameplay. The cut-scenes play much more theatrically than in the previous game, much better usage of the scenery, much better dialogue and character growth, and advance the plot itself more. One such segment is the scene where Master Chief's hero's welcome is intercut with Thel's condemnation by the entire Covenant, Chief's medal and Thel's Mark of Shame occurring in near unison. This sequence offers a fine glimpse into the tools of visual literature, and it was very welcome to see classic montage employed in a game. The cut-scenes give you the feeling that you are actually part of the epic that is unfolding. They are beautiful.
To me, the first Halo, while a classic game was still just that, a game. Halo 2 was something more. It went past a thrilling tale of shooty shooty and became an odyssey of self-discovery with thought provoking twists and turns. It offered a much more complete view of its universe and had stakes much higher than its predecessor. The once faceless foe became something more, and even offered up a fascinating character I would love (and prefer) to follow in the future, as well as a host of other faces I have grown to love. The story took the controls and guided you through a far more fleshed out and fascinating reality. The others were good games, yes, but Halo 2 was more than a game. It truly was an interactive story.
