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Halo 2 Mapped and Patched
By The
Jackal
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Fighting online in the future
streets of
Earth is pretty cool, it has to be said
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Hey, it's The Jackal here,
and I haven't 'formally' introduced myself yet, because I'm a little
shy, but here goes the report:
When I first got this game, I thought 'wow cool!' this is gonna
be so awesome! And to tell you the truth there are some very decent
maps to be seen on this 'Xbox only' DVD, but I was a little bit
disappointed with what's on offer overall, none of which includes
any single-player bonuses. But for $30, it's good value.
This 'package' contains 9 new maps, which include places like
an island, the slums, a hallway, a swamp and bingo hall. Oh wait,
that last one is from another didactic memory.
The DVD includes two movies involving a bunch of geeks talking
about Halo and Halo 2, and how they made these 'awesome' maps. They
may sound pretty boring to some, but for fans of the game they supply
a unique insight into the world of game creation, and also the Halo
saga.
One of the movies, called 'Another day at the beach' features
a ship crashing and some aliens talking and some cool scripted sequences.
I can imagine why people would buy such a DVD. It's cost effective,
thickens that Xbox gaming shelf and is awesome for online and/or
LAN Halo 2 gaming. But on the the other hand, there are still many
gamers who don't have Xbox Live and a broadband connection, and
so can only play with 4 friends on the one system.
If you play a lot of Halo 2 online and have an Xbox live subscription,
and your looking for some new enjoyment, come buy these maps, they're
really well designed and a lot fun to play. But for you guys at
home who can only get the single player experience because you only
have one controller, it'd be an unfulfilling purchasing prophecy.
The maps have had a lot of work put into them (one took 3 months),
and it's safe to say they're not cruddy maps. Some of them are designed
for different reasons, team play, death match etc. If you're on
a certain team playing on some maps, you may be forced to attack
from a certain area, because one area is too hilly, or you can be
seen really easily from another position making you sniper fodder.
Or on some maps you're not allowed to have the rocket launcher
(unfortunately) and the list of game variable goes on, making each
map a very different proposition to the last. Here are a all the
maps in a bit more detail:
 Relic
(an island)
Gemini
(Covenant ship)
Turf (slums)
Containment
(snowy base) - the one took 3 moths to make
Sanctuary
(arena) - my favourite
Warlock
(another version of wizard, for all you Halo fanatics)
Elongation
(Ancient ruin)
Terminal
(Train station)
Backwash
(Swamp)
You can hunt this pack down for just $29.99 which is pretty good,
or download the maps from Xbox Live for around the same price -
but then you miss out on the cool box. It's an essential addon for
the Halo 2 multiplayer experience, but if you're more in co-op and
single player you're better off without it.
Game: Halo 2 Map Pack
System: Xbox
Players: 1-16
Online: Yes
Developer: Bungie
Distributor: Microsoft
Rating: 65%
(Ratings
Key/Explanation)
Halo 2 Map Pack is on the shelves now.
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