4/5 ★ – Pixelguy9's review of Halo 2.

[Campaign Review] Halo 2 is a game I love as much as any Bungie Halo title, but don't quite consider it to be the unrivaled masterpiece that so many lord it as. Halo 2 builds off Halo: Combat Evolved in all the right ways, with new enemies, weapons, mechanics, levels, and what I consider to be one of the best stories told in the series' history. Halo 2's dual protagonist structure and the respective sides of the narrative really help the game leap from the simple action of it's predecessor into a space-opera to stand toe to toe with the best. Halo 2 excels in it's characters, introducing fan favourites like the Arbiter, Lord Hood, Miranda Keyes, the Prophets and the Gravemind, while simultaneously expanding on characters from Combat Evolved. Master Chief has fully come into his own as a rule-of-cool super soldier, evident through his now plentiful one-liners and acts of badassery, and Sergeant Johnson is now truly his own character, distinguished from the generic marines on the battlefield by his charisma. Halo 2's soundtrack is also one of the series' best, containing tracks like Ghosts of Reach, In Amber Clad, Heavy Price Paid, the High Charity and Delta Halo Suites and Unforgotten that perfectly encapsulate Halo's ancient and mysterious vibe, in addition to the epic tracks that are always saved for the best of occasions such as the Mjolnir Mix, Blow Me Away, The Last Spartan, Earth City, Mombasa Suite and Unyielding. Halo 2 is a fantastic game, but one in my opinion is not without some flaws. While the story of the Arbiter is incredible, I have personally never had much fun playing through his missions. Many of the game's excruciatingly long elevator or gondola rides are featured in his missions, and the enemies you fight as the Arbiter are never as satisfying as fighting the Covenant as the Master Chief. Out of all the games in which they make an appearance, the Flood are the weakest in Halo 2, never swarming the player in the numbers of Halo: Combat Evolved, and never as satisfying to kill as in Halo 3. The Brutes, an enemy type introduced late into the campaign are by far the worst addition to Halo 2's roster, acting as bullet-sponges that can take you out before you even have time to react to their melee swings. With all that said and done, Halo 2 is truly one of Bungie's best games, and considering the game's development, I cannot believe that the game turned out as good as it did.