[RobM]

You are aware that Halo 2 is actually Halo 1b.

Ah, this is a rant you've not heard before - pay attention, there may be a test later.

Slight screw up by Bungie. They decided that Halo 3 was too good for the Xbox, so they just... you know, made another one as a filler. Seriously, check out the Old Halo 2 trailers and you'll see it was 80% set on earth with the all-out massed invasion of Earth, huge armies fighting across a dozen continents, artillery duels being held over whole cities, dogfights in the air.

Instead, we got a pile of tosh. I'm sure there will be people who feel Halo2 (As it is) was a better game than 1, I think thats very, very wrong. It was an awsome game, the new shield/armour system worked great and the introduction of the Brutes came off well - but that was where it ended. Everything that was NEW in Halo2 was unfinished, the new human guns were lame and unbalenced compared to the masterpiece of Halo1 where the pistol was equal to the shotgun and the missile launcher, alien weapons less so, but still awsome.

Halo2 is nothing short of a cop-out, cash-in they REALLY made hastily to make money while waiting for the Xbox 360. Orders probably from their bosses at Microsoft that they needed a good game for the 360 and Halo2 (As it was) went too far in terms of plot and game development for them to make a Halo3 (Halo4 as it will be known) in the two years left.
So, they made a cash in game at the last minute.

For example: Remember the Old Halo2 trailers, set on Earth during the planetary fighting, alien artillery being wiped out by human bombers, you running through this medic-camp with medics and surgeons doing CPR to wounded soldiers before the MasterChief jumps onto a passing 'Ghost Mk2' and goes off on this long chase sequence down a raised highway before being surrounded by Brutors and armed with nothing but a sticky-grenade? It's probably on YouTube if you havn't.
That WAS Halo2, all of that is now in Halo3 - coincidence?

Halo2's plot had several huge holes in it because it was really hasty (IE: They couldn't let it undermine the invasion of Earth they'd already programmed several levels for in the game they'd postponed) so they rushed off to a new Halo. Playing as the Arbiter, do you remember a bit after you've gone through 'The Wall' level and started walking towards the Library there's a large, human troopship (Exactly like the Pillar of Autumn) getting shot down by ground fire - then suddenly there's hundreds of human-flood armed with tanks and jeeps? That was part of the hastily written plot they'd come up with, but changed at the last minute without actually being arsed to remove this unknown troopship, not to mention it'd be hard to remove all the human-flood and human vehicles - so they left it in despite the fact it no longer made any sense. And no, the ship wasn't the Amberclad, thats a different vessel class and you see it crashing into the Covenant city later on whereas this Piller of Autumn ship is something you have to drive through later in the level, it's burning and gutten as you pass(Right through the engineering deck, identical to the one from Halo1 because it IS the same level, just on fire).
They were that desperate to get the tanks back into the game.
Covenant vehicles were only partially programmed. Yup, they were bugged, there were two covenant vehicles that they weren't able to finish, so they left them - didn't rewrite the instruction manuel, look them up, they're the covenant troop ground-carrier. The only level they're in is the second level, the human city. Driving through the underground highway you meet a column of three of them - they can't be interacted with, the turrents don't fire and there's no-one riding them, just one unarmed elite driver. You can't destroy them by shooting (because that wasn't programmed) but if you shoot the driver they instantly self-destruct. I repeat, the programmers couldn't get them to work it was so rushed to make this cash-in sequel >.<
The Pelican/Orca transports. Did you notice the dropships no-longer gave you a lift? They weren't finished, Bungie tried encoding a new armed variant with missiles on the wings and a gun turret at the back - they didn't work. The Sarge gets a free lift around in them, because they didn't want him walking around too much. That why you crashed the first time landing, they could do a cut-scene but not a proper working dropship to fly you around. Foehammer must be crying in her sleep.

Halo2, great game but GIMICKY. Thats my word on it, the game had one purpose - let you do cool things like use a laser-sword, drive a Covenant Mortar-Tank, test the new characters and weapons (Ie: Brutors and new human guns), play an Elite... It's all good fun and I loved Halo2 - but I feel cheated.

Halo3 is probably going to be the best 360 game and despite some fierce PC competition from STALKER: Shadows of Cherynobryl, Bioshock/Rapture, RISE (I think thats what it's called) and Quake Wars... It's probably STILL going to be the best FPS this year.
So yeah, I AM looking forward to Halo3 a lot, I just wish rather than a cheap-ass rip-off I'd have played it two years ago because... It WAS almost 1/3rd finished by then, if they hadn't had to spend most of the time re-coding it for the much more complex 360 we'd have had it already!