So who's getting it? The game review are all over the net.

Biggest thing I've heard is that Legendary is a lot tougher. Some are saying that it's going to take the cake for the hardest game to beat ever after the Ninja Gaiden chronicles.

On Legendary, CO-OP if either player dies, then both are sent to the last check point. So no one can beat it by leap frogging through the levels. No deaths, very hard. I've heard that extremely few of the game testers can even come close to beating it alone.

Manuals online for those who care:

http://bungie.net/images/games/halo2/su ... ual_EN.pdf

mine should be here within a few days, i hope that i can get it to work ove rnetwork more successfully then i could Halo

Who needs manuals, it's much more fun to figure out problems in games then to have them written out for you.

The Story between the two games.

I don't know how some people think that the Ninja Gaiden titles are the hardest games ever. If people actually sat down and played them for ~3 hours, they can beat them. Unless you're talking about the Xbox game. Its obiously a bigger game, so it takes longer, but its not that difficult. The hardest by far is the third one on NES, since they added the 5 continue system. But still beat it after putting maybe 5 hours into it.

However, I would say I probably spent 50 hours in Battletoads before I beat it. Even still, Pulstar on the AES is probably the hardest game of all time. Unless you're playing the MVS version, in which you can put quarters in all day and try to beat it. I'm almost positive that they made the home-cart version harder as well.

battletoads is fucking hard. and there ain't no legendary skill level on that. it's balls out or nothing! SOO MANY LEVELS!!! i beat it using save/load state on an emulator, but back when i owned it on NES i think i only got as far as 1 level past those damn snakes.

what's with the fucking unicycle level? IMPOSSIBLE. it took me forever using savestate after EVERY TURN to make sure i hit each one dead on. and then i almost gave up when you get to the part when you have to race the rat to the bomb!!!!!!

toughest game ever!!!

but yeah back to halo2 i guess.... if i were all hyped up about the game waiting for it to be delivered i'd look at the manual and drool all over it. i'm not even really fired up for it but i'm going to check it out

Don't cheat yourself with the save states, its not nearly as rewarding. After I beat the game, I was talking to a friend and said "I feel like I could punch God right in the face", to which he responded "I think you already did."

Seriously, I played that game to no end. It got to the point where I had alot of the earlier levels memorized. I remember the game messed up and the screen was unreadable, and I just kept playing. I ended up beating levels 3 (jet bikes) and 4 (ice world) that way and on the fifth level, it fixed itself. Yeah, I'm a loser.

As far as Halo, I'm sure I'll play it, but I probably won't buy it. Half-life 2 has me far more excited.

Just got back from playing Halo 2, and a big thanks to the guys over at the Triangle for letting myself and Phil the Tame Goat do so.

And guess what?
I have nothing bad to say about it... yet. I need more play time before I can form a solid opinion.

If I could describe it in relation to other games, it felt somewhere between perfect dark and red faction portrayed through some pretty stunning graphics (for a console).

I was only there for about 2 hours, played a few 12 person multiplayer matches and had some great fun. The dual wield is excellent and throws in some much needed variety into the series. As for weapon balance, it seems a little more balanced in relation to health IMO.

The new maps displayed a new degree of complexity and were dotted with plenty of places to hide. I'm sure it'd be cooler if I would have known the layouts a little better.

As for the new game types, I didn't quite catch how to play the bomb one (stolen from UT's assault gametype perhaps?), but doing stuff like single flag CTF and elimination (think multiple rounds in which you have a limited amt of lives) was a nice change.

Vehicles no longer are one hit kills with a single tap, there's also some damage modeling and hijacking is allowed (though I'm not entirely sure how the process works). All of this is a nice change.

That's all the relevant stuff I can think of for now... but it's got a lot going for it as is. Like I said, I need to sit down and play some more before I figure out what I think about it.

I liked it on a whole, I just need to play a lot more.
They only thing that disappoints is the failure of the rumor of a rocket launcher on the Warthog.

I miss the tank too, i'm pretty sure its there, I just didnt get into it. The ghost is just as cool, but the fact that it comes to a complete stop when you jump out stinks. I liked the strategy of Invisibilty, Rocket launcher, Jump out of a moving ghost, and blow the mother fuckers away. HAHA i like it. The Left trigger boost on covenant vehicles is cool.

The weapons are nice, although I didnt understand the Carbine. The rest of the game looks cool.

Biggest improvements; hijacking, and the press X to pick up the flag. So you dont automatically pick it up when youre trying to shoot.

"""Blood Gultch""" or whatever, seemed a lot smaller. But the Fort more confusing. Battle Creek is back and awesome. All in all, I like it. Need to go through the campaign to get everyting down pat, then play on LIVE to get the best experience. ohh, poo on the armor. hard to tell teams apart. At least at first.

There is a rocket/grenade launcher on the warthog...it just depends on a few things...I'm not sure possibly level, or gametype. Anywho....about Blood Gultch it probably seems smaller because you 'run' faster now.

Anywho....pretty sweet game...it's great for Live, and like I heard someone say "Halo 1 was used to promote and sell the xbox, and Halo 2 will be used to promote and sell Xbox Live." Halo 2 on Xbox Live is great.

Might get my copy tomorow, but I'm curious about the recording gameplay feature I heard about (at least rumored in magazines). Is there a "demo" gameplay recording feature like you can use in many PC FPS games? How well do the replays work if there is? Can you watch from anyone's perspective.. first person, third, what? Gimme the details if you've tested it.

ive never been more disappointed with a game in my life

they copied their leveling system directly from warcraft, their maps are UT style, as well as a few gametypes. it may be fun to play every once in a while, but it for sure isn't a competitive game much like halo 1 was. the visuals are good, the gameplay is good, but i guess i just can't take halo seriously anymore

any random noob can go around spraying an AR wielded with something else and get a kill....bye bye skill in video games