Right, a game that a lot of people are highly anticipating, and some.. not so much. I'll post a few review scores, and some very nice impressions by someone who I post with on another board who got the game a week early.

Gamespot - 9.4

IGN - 9.8

Team Xbox - 9.9

Famitsu Xbox - 37/40

Famitsu - 34/40

OXM US - 9.7/10

OXM UK - 9.9

EGM - 10, 10, 10

XBGamers - 9.8

Game Informer - 10

GameRankings

Quote:On the Covenant side, I haven't noticed any drastic differences.
Elites really take advantage of cover this time around, and seem to be a bit more careful when their shields are down. They press their backs to the wall when their shields are down sometimes, with their weapon facing the corner.

Elites and Grunts(I think) can scale small objects like crates or fallen vehicles in order to get higher ground on you or surprise attack you if you're taking cover near them.

Jackals dart out of the way if you're very close to them and pressuring them. You'll have to make sure you don't give them too much time to recover if you're close, or else they'll dash behind you and light you up with their Plasma Pistols.

Grunts, unfortunately, are still stupid cannon fodder. No real change, except they seem to take more damage than before... But then again, all the Covenant enemies do. So nevermind.

And your helpful NPCs, Marines, they're actually worth keeping alive this time around. In all honesty, sometimes you won't have to work to keep them alive because they work much better with you in HALO 2.
Marines also take cover much more often, pressing their backs to wall and dipping in and out very quickly to take quick shots at the enemy.

They now have the ability to drive. Honestly, they aren't the smartest bunch when driving, the 'hog usually ends up smoking by the time we're done with a quick skirmish. They aren't really conscious of how much damage your vehicle has taken. But still, sometimes they can get the job done just fine.

You can switch any weapon with your Marines. This proves very helpful in a mission involving the Prophet of Regret, you'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. I described this scenario at GAF, but I'll run it down again: I had these two Marines following me throughout this entire level. They can die, but because of the weapons I gave them, and the way we looked out for eachother(instead of me just protecting them and fighting the Covenant at the same time). The male Marine was given a Covenant Carbine, while the female Marine was given a Covenant Particle Beam Rifle. Male Marine went head-on with me to take on Elites, while the female Marine took out Jackal Snipers and sometimes wore down the shields of the Elites ahead. They were great support, and no matter what weapon I gave them in this scenario, they used them properly... Well, I haven't tried giving them the Energy Sword or Rocket Launcher yet, but I'm working on it.

The AI on both sides of the spectrum work together much better than before too. Running in when others take cover, and they communicate with eachother as well.


quote:
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How many levels are there in single player campaign?
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I'm not certain, but I think there are around 6 or 7 entire "levels", but these levels are broken up into campaign levels... Get me? No? Well... For example, the "Earth City" level is broken up into two seperate campaign levels. And the transition between levels isn't exactly made clear sometimes, you won't even know you've gotten to a new one. Heh.


quote:
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How are the new vehicles?
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Not many new ones...
Warthog - There are two Warthog variants present in the final game; the LRV "Chaingun" Warthog, and the LAAV "Guass" Warthog. The former is the 'hog we all know and love, and the latter is the new powerful variant we saw in the E32k3 Demo. I haven't had much time with the LAAV, but it seems to work best against vehicles. It's hard to hit opponents on foot because the shot isn't entirely accurate, and there's no splash damage unless you nail a vehicle... Concerning the Warthog in general: The thing feels very different. It just doesn't seem to have as much weight as the original Warthog. At first I didn't like it, but I've gotten used to it. I don't know how the rest of you will feel about it

Ghost - Not too much of a difference here. Unlike the 'hog, the new Ghost feels heavier. It rides lower, moves slower when not boosting, and when it does boost, you can't really adjust your path all that much. As you might have noticed in the videos from E32k3 and E32k4, the Ghost's weapons fire at a much faster rate than before. It can wear down people on foot quite easily, but the shots don't seem to freeze, and I think this goes for all plasma weapons, unfortunately...

Spectre - The only real new vehicle in HALO 2. Think of it as the Covenant's answer to the Warthog. It moves a bit slower than the Warthog at first, but when it boosts it moves at just about the same speed or a bit faster. It seats 4: Driver, 2 Passengers, and a Gunner. The Spectre's weapon is a very accurate rapid-fire plasma weapon that does pretty decent damage.

Banshee - It has received the most drastic change. The thing is just an aerial target now, IMO. It's so delicate, and the barrel rolls 'n' flips don't really serve much of a purpose besides avoiding the Rocket Launcher's Target Tracking feature. It's very fast when it boosts though... But that's it. You can no longer fly backwards up into the air, if you try to, the 'shee's engines will kind of turn off and you'll plummet to the ground. That causes damage too, by the way.

Scorpion - Better. Moves slower than before, like less than half it's original speed, but you can take more punishment in it than before, and it's weapons have been improved-- it's main and secondary weapons both fire much faster and accurately than in the first game. Even with these improvements, because of it's slow speed, it can be easily boarded if somebody gets close enough.

Wraith - The Covenant Mortar Tank that was unplayable in the first game. It fires it's mortar shots very fast, and the splash damage of these shots are incredible. While it moves about just the same speed as the Scorpion normally, it can boost for like 1-2 seconds. IMO, the superior of the two Heavy Vehicles.

There are also turrets that are considered vehicles in Multiplayer. There is a Human and Covenant variant. The Human one, most of you have already seen, but the Covenant basically fires projectiles just like the Ghost in an extremely fast constant stream. They both do the job just fine.

Quote:Gamespot's review is pretty much on target, I think they gave it the most reasonable score(though it is a lil' high by their standards). And it's good to see that they point out the lil' flaws in the story; everybody else sang praises of it without saying why.

Only thing I disagree about their review is the repetitious levels. While repetition does rear it's ugly head in bits and parts of later levels, it isn't nearly as bad as it was in the first game.

Quote:Thanks to vireland(confirmed by ferricide(EGM staff)) and skip(EGM staff)

MGS 3 9, 9.5, 10
NFSU 2 8, 9, 8
GTA:SA 10,10,10 (GOTM)
Halo 2 10,10,10 (GOTM)
MP:2 9, 9, 10
Killzone 7, 7.5, 8
Mario tennis 9, 7.5, 8
Outrun 2 6, 6.5, 8
Baten Kaitos 6.5, 8, 7.5
GODZILLA SAVE THE EARTH 6.0, 4.5, 5.5
FIGHT CLUB 2.5, 3.0, 2.0
Growlanser Generations 7,7,8

And yes, these are confirmed by EGM staffers themeseleves so don't ask for scans or stuff.

He's from GAF(gaming age)
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread....2743#post582743
you can look at page 6 on that thread if have to see for yourself.

Plus there is thread where I collected all the info and put it out, and then EGM staffers put out some other
scores from the month.

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=22063

You know how Word points out spelling and grammatical errors, and offers suggestions for correction?

This shit is WACK.

http://www.scrotalsafetycommission.com/

(Psst read the small grey text at the very bottom of the page)

http://www.lucasarts.com/ep3/

It actually looks pretty cool, I'm surprised! I guess Nick Gillard's help really... helped. Now we just have to cross our fingers that it'll control as well as it looks! This could be cool.

Oh and beware of beginning-of-movie spoilers in the trailer. They give away the first 15 minutes of the flick.

And here are some screens:

http://www.emarketresearchgroup.com/xg_r...alog_id=64

Okay then... According to this, I won a DS, if I only submit myself to whatever weird whims this company wants.

There are two options. One, this is some time share thing I have to sit through for like 12 hours to get it. Then, I take the MYSTERY BOX instead because I am dazed and constupified. Second, this is just a total scam and somewhere along the lines if I actually sign up they are going to ask for credit card info or money in some other form. I'm leaning towards the second, but I'll go ahead and go through this sign up process UNTIL the money is asked for (at which point I will proceed to virus bomb these people). But, if it's the former, well, I think I can actually stand to sit through some boring arse presentation for a free DS.

Anyway, back on topic, have each and every one of you also recieved this thing? Considering their PROMISE they have some place in my zip code, I'm still certain it's a scam, but hey, anyone else got this thing?

<img src="http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~djc46/oblongs.jpg">

"I didn't get any shut-eye... except for this one, but it doesn't count because there's something wrong with me."

Discuss.

The DS is two weeks away and Rayman is launching with it, yet we still haven't been told what it's going to be like. All we got was a doctored screenshot (that used an n64 screenshot). I don't get it.

The Shrinking Relevance of the Democratic Party:


(County-by-County Map)

And the New American Landscape:



Both taken from: Free Republic