Evil Avatar writes that Killzone for the PlayStation 2, widely billed as a Halo-killer but launched to scathing reviews, isn't as bad as it's hype, but that Halo 2 lives up to its:
I played Halo 2 for several hours straight. The game is just awesome, it will be hard for anything to beat it as Game of the Year.
There are also some new Halo 2 reviews out there. GameRankings is a great place to find links all in one place, but here are a few more:
A version of the Zanzibar multiplayer level from Halo 2 has been released for Halo Custom Edition by the H2 Modding Team; Verdafolio has reviewed it.
With Halo 2 hitting shelves on Tuesday, the magazines and websites are free to post their reviews, and they are doing so:
We've all heard that the Halo 2 levels are much bigger than those in Halo 1, and that all of Halo 1's levels could, in fact, fit inside a large part of a single Halo 2 level. And yet rumors that the game ends too quickly have persisted.
Rapture at cooked gamers tries to dispel the rumor but ends up perpetuating it; he says that he feels the game ended rather quickly, but attributes this to his skill...
Check out cooked gamers' spoiler-free campaign preview.
IGN's latest Countdown To Halo 2 feature is actually a preview not of Halo 2 itself, but a preview of their review of the game. There's a special kind of insanity inherent to the buzz, however justifiable, behind this title. One can only wonder what it would be like if, say, the installed base numbers of the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 were reversed.
IGN's Gear site has reviewed Lik-Sang's SmartJoy Frag, an adapter that lets you use standard PS/2 mice and keyboards with Xbox games. Here's what they had to say about using it to play Halo:
On the heels of the announcement that Halo 2 has received a 9.7 from the Official Xbox Magazine, their highest ranking ever, comes word that PC Gamer ha
Count Zero at HBO writes that OXM's newest edition has a review of Halo 2, and it's received a 9.7, the highest ranking ever awarded by that publication.
Ryan_OXM (from the Official Xbox Magazine, it seems) has put up a thread in the TeamXbox forums detailing the contents of the December issue, including a 14-page Halo 2 review. He and their editor in chief, Rob Smith, have apparently already finished the game. Thanks Wiggum who posted in the HBO forum.
OpeningAct had a better experience playing Halo 2 at Game Stars Live in London than other community members, having gotten to the front of the line in reasonable time and having a rampantly rampaging good time beging first to fifteen in a round of Slayer on Zanzibar, and posting about it in the HBO forum.
And yes, in case you're wondering, this item got mentioned because of its use of the word rampant.
Matt Brett from MuchMusic got to play Zanzibar in the E3 build of Halo 2 at this year's X04 event in Toronto, and wrote up his impressions into a little Zanzibar mini-review, as many have done as well. (Question: if they install this in hotel rooms, will they call it a Zanziminibar?) Thanks for the heads-up to Louis Wu at HBO.
Ryan "synide" Thompson is the latest profile subject at The Junkyard; he's also got a review of Halo 2 up, based on his impressions playing at the MLG Downpour event. Thanks for the heads-up to Louis Wu at HBO.
Rams, formerly of Battleground: Halo fame but now in retirement, has moved his blog over to Blogger.com, and one of his early entries is a review of Halo TV. The summary is that he applauds the sentiment, but the small size leads to some headache-inducing viewing.