Special Edition Halo

Yesterday college campuses and high school lunch tables across the country celebrated the holiday known as Halo 2 Day.

And the question is did the game live up to the ordinate amount of hype?

Well, at the risk of wussing out on this one, it really depends on who you ask.

The game certainly has superior graphics over the original Halo (though not that superior), superior sound (though, again, the difference is miniscule), and even though I haven't finished the single player campaign yet (yes yes, I know a true Halo player would have stayed up ten hours straight and risked sleep-deprivation and malnutrition to finish the game in one night) the story seems to be more epic than the original.

There are, however, a few minor changes to the multiplayer game play that have caused a stir amongst the most hardcore of Halo players (my friend Drew and I included).

I won't delve into the details, but a few minor changes here and there have shifted the game away from what made Halo great and transformed it into a more "conventional" shooter. To sum it up, there is a lot more ammunition flying around with less emphasis on skill and finesse--gone is the pistol with the scope and with it the art of mid-range combat.

And I've probably bored all you non-Halo players enough already.

So to put it in broader terms, Halo 2 is to Halo what the Special Edition Star Wars were to the original trilogy. It's brighter and it may sound better, but the minor changes have had drastic consequences.

But, it has only been one day. And what separates Halo 2 from Special Edition Star Wars is that Halo 2 will have the chance to grow on me.

And I promise this will be the last post about video games for a while. I feel like the guy who won't shut up about his golf game.

Don't be that guy.