Let me start this off by saying that the original Halo (multiplayer) was the single most fun game I have ever played in my entire life. The balance between the weapons, the slick handling, the way you could chain attacks into pseudo-combos if you were good enough, the physics, it was all perfect. Perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing about the original Halo. I've played Halo multiplayer on system link for more hours in the last three years than I've worked at a full-time job. I played at work every day on my lunchbreak and I can beat everyone at my job that I just quit man to man in Slayer. I simply love Halo and most people would say that I'm obsessed with it.

That said, I think Bungie took a perfect (I seriously believe that anyone who thinks otherwise needs to play it more first) game, totally redesigned it (I seriously believe that anyone who says it's simply the same game over again needs to play both of them more first) and... ruined it. I won't say that Halo 2 is bad, it's just not anywhere near as good as the original Halo. Not even in the same neighborhood. I went to the midnight madness at EB to get Halo 2 as the very moment that it was available there and as soon as I got home I hooked it up on Live at my friend's house and we played all night. It was breakfast time when I went to sleep, and when I woke up I immediately began playing through that day as well until it was night time. Altogether I'd say I put it about fifteen hours in the multiplayer mode, thoroughly enjoying myself, but the point is that it is nowhere even close to being as good or as fun as the original Halo was.

The balance of the weapons is off, the physics have become less enjoyable, Master Chief's movements seem almost stiff when you try to move too quickly in any pattern other than running straight without swapping any items, and the game almost seems to cater to running and shooting in a straight line rather than pulling acrobatic moves and shooting/clunking in one motion. The amount of time it takes to drop a grenade has grown so the awesome, awesome grenade that you can drop in your last second of life in order to kill your killer is impossible to drop now. Grenades altogether are dumbed down, so remember the chaos it caused when you threw one into a crowd of people in the original? Don't count on it being half as cool, or even killing anyone unless they intentionally stand on it. It's also impossible to run full force at someone, shoot them in the face with the shotgun dropping their shields and then slam them in the face with the butt of the gun instantly afterwards, killing them before they can retaliate. The zooming, long-range pistol of the original is nowhere to be found, so the endless hours I spent in the original to make it so I can spot someone and pick them off with three sweet headshots in a row were wasted. I can't help but think that Bungie took out all the polished skills you need to develop through hours of multiplayer in order to make it more appealing to the average joe.

I think that Halo 2 has two advantages to the original: the energy sword and Xbox Live compatibility. Then I could rattle off a list of fifty reasons why the original was better. The bottom line is that Halo 2 is just a pretty good game, making it a tremendous disappointment for me.