Stand out games of the generation

[Charlie]

GameCube: Super Smash Bros: Melee

My most played game on the GameCube by a long shot, even now, 4 years after I first got it I can still have great fun on it and learn about new things that I never knew you could do.

 

Xbox: Halo 2

Halo 2 + Xbox Live = Best game ever

 

PS2: GTA 3

[That Guy]

I've got Halo and Halo 2 and I really don't know why people like it so much. It is good, and I suppose it's just me not getting as much out of it as others, because there can't be that many people like it if it didn't have something special about it.

 

What's that Oddworld game? Is that worth getting and playing on 360?

[Dilli Gee]

I agree with Moria, Halo 2 is imo the best game ever, especially thanks to Live and the expansions.

 

I personally think it's better than Zelda: OOT, because you get a fairly deep storyline (though not as detailed) and characters, but also multiplayer-extreme.

[c0Zm1c]

After Combat Evolved, it's a shame Halo 2's single-player campaign was so damn weak!

 

Bungie should have ripped the single-player out and made the game multiplayer-only, code some decent multiplayer bots for single-players instead, changed it's name - I don't know, Halo: something-or-other to indicate the emphasis on multiplayer? Basically, the Halo equivalent of Unreal Tournament. Then come back to Halo 2 later when they could be bothered making a decent single-player element.

 

As it stands, I'd say Halo 2 is closer to to being the most over-hyped game ever than being the best.

[Dilli Gee]

I thought the storyline could have been a bit better. It was over-stretched a fair bit I think, and I felt it breezed over the alien-human aliance part quite quickly. And it was weird with half the game being from the alien perspective. But a lot of shit happened, remember:

 

- Africa is under attack, and Master Chief joins the fight

- Civil War in the Convenant

- Delta Halo's destruction

- The Arbiter joins the Elites (a major change to the dynamics of Halo)

- Standby mode for all the other Halos

- Gravemind conspires with Cortana

 

It sets up the next game, and is the type of storyline that promises action, adventure and mystery in Halo 3. Everything will come full circle. And Halo 2 is still the biggest selling entertainment product of all time.

[McMad]

Halo 2's plot sucked, and I never really got much out of the game because I don't have Xbox Live.

 

But I doubt the online play could be better than Counter Strike.

[Aimless]

After Combat Evolved, it's a shame Halo 2's single-player campaign was so damn weak!

Halo 2 is the third-best first-person shooter¹ of the last generation. It certainly wasn't 'weak', and definately more than the 'decent' game you wanted.

 

Don't believe me? Play Halo 2 on Legendary, the way the game is meant to be played in my opinion, and you'll be hard pushed to find a more solid, refined, engaging first-person shooter that wasn't also made by Bungie. Combat Evolved is the better game, but that doesn't make the sequel any worse.

 

¹Half-Life 2 being the other game in the 'best' tripartite.

[c0Zm1c]

If Halo 2 was more than the decent game I wanted, would I be slating it? Of course not, LOL!

 

Playing the game on Legendary is not going to make it a good game for me. That's just elitist's drivel, dragged up at every opportunity to justify the games worth and mask its shortcomings. Whatever the setting, it's still Halo 2, and it's still boring.

 

For an entertaining and highly challenging first-person shooter experience, I'd rather play Far Cry (PC) instead thanks.

[Aimless]

If Halo 2 was more than the decent game I wanted, would I be slating it? Of course not, LOL!

 

Playing the game on Legendary is not going to make it a good game for me. That's just elitist's drivel, dragged up at every opportunity to justify the games worth and mask its shortcomings. Whatever the setting, it's still Halo 2, and it's still boring.

 

For an entertaining and highly challenging first-person shooter experience, I'd rather play Far Cry (PC) instead thanks.

I don't think it's elitist at all, you're just trying to invalidate my opinion by chucking me into a box.

 

Anyway, a mark of a well designed game is one where the higher difficulties actually improve the experience, not hamper or frustrate enjoyment — just look at Doom or Resident Evil 4. I'm not saying it's the -only- way to play Halo or its sequel, merely that Legendary is where the design pays off the most, thus it is the easiest way to appreciate the game.

 

I'm not trying to "mask its shortcomings", as I've played through the game numerous times and I'm quite aware of them. However, I don't think that the game's missteps drag it down from being a fantastic game that's leagues ahead of every FPS on Xbox bar the previously mentioned exceptions. It could have been a lot better, yes, but that doesn't make it terrible.

[Nintendork]

Vice City, Black, Metroid, Shadow of the Collosus, Katamari, Electroplankton, Brain Training, Loco Roco, Guitar Hero, meh i'm bored.

[Drunken_Squirrel]

I enjoyed Halo 2's single palyer more than combat evolved. I think this is down to the fact that H:CE was hyped too much that it fell short of what i was expecting, yet i went into H2 with less expectations. Maybe.

[Librarian]

standout games.. hmm for me RE4, ICO, REZ, Shadow of the C, katamari damacy.. and to add to the fire, Combat evolved was great fun for me.. i spend hours (and bottles of red vine) gunning my way through that one.. Halo 2 just didnt do anything for me..you could actually run through several levels without firing one round if you knew how.. the live thing was fun for a while for me, but not more.. the singleplayer was simply hype