The front-end is so slick and intuitive, yet so full of options and potential customisation, that the ease of setting-up and joining-in are seamlessly implemented. Such is the ingenuity of the Live integration, Halo 2 will let you join players of similar skill levels just after a few button presses, thanks to an online ranking system that records every game you play (viewable at www.bungie.net). Stability of the servers has also been dealt with: if a host leaves during a game, it is able to search for the next best connection without booting everyone off the server, or even ending the current game. There is a fifteen second or so delay while this is happening, but communication can continue during this time.

The number of game modes have been increased and, though the number of maps remains roughly the same, they are all of a very high standard. The player can now change control options during a match (a very welcome feature for LAN parties; “do I play it inverted?”), and the sensitivity can now be increased considerably, giving the option for turning at much greater speeds than were possible in Halo.

Indeed, initial game time feels curiously familiar, yet tweaked and refined in almost every area. The Chief can now move about the environment with more grace – falling from a height no longer stuns you on landing and jumping is significantly higher, giving the player greater scope for gaining the tactical advantage over an opponent. The health bar from the original has been completely removed, leaving just a shield, while the new Duel Wielding system gives you incredible power when in close-quarter combat. All of this combined with a greater balance of weapons creates a much faster and chaotic battlefield. Importantly, this chaos is organised and, vitally, is utterly incredible to play.

Multiplayer One-flag Zanzibar – already a favourite. Two teams, one attacks, the other defends. When defending there is always a mad dash for the rocket launcher on the top of the base. Whoever gets it then has the responsibility to take out the inevitable attacks from the Spartan-filled Warthog. From your vantage point, you must listen for the approach of the enemy, but also – careful – the snipers on the beach wall will be waiting for you to move into their sights. The Ghosts attempt to break the outer defences on the lower levels, but are being held back by team mates on the mounted gun-emplacements. The Warthog is approaching…one shot, one kill. Double Kill. Triple Kill. The Warthog flies across the map, spinning and flipping at an incredible rate, the wheels fly off while the broken chassis continues to violently skid along the ground. The infantry approach and attack with surprising co-ordination, forcing your team to retreat. Grenades, Rockets, Shotguns, Needlers, Plasma Rifles, Battle Rifles…the kaleidoscopic view is as deadly as it is beautiful. The action is as chaotic as it is manageable, and as enjoyable as any other game released in the past few years. The lag, surprisingly, is virtually non-existent and the framerate very rarely even stutters.

As a complete package, Halo 2 wipes the floor with the original – the game that sold the Xbox, pretty much defined the gaming year 2001 and redefined the FPS genre. As a multiplayer title, Halo 2 is untouchable on the Xbox and pretty much unmatched within the genre. Inevitably though, there is a problem. People didn’t buy Halo for its multiplayer – that was a pleasing extra – people bought (and loved) Halo for its astonishing (although slightly flawed) single player campaign.

Halo’s now infamous ’cut-and-paste’, mirrored level-design was a by-product of a development schedule cut short by the impending launch of the Xbox console. A classic it may have been, but it was a rushed classic all the same. Halo 2 has received a near-unprecedented level of hype because Bungie have been able to adopt a “You’ll get it when it’s done” development policy. They aimed to outdo Halo in every regard and create the greatest game ever. Expecting the greatest, Bungie have merely delivered a sequel. It plays much the same; in some regards it looks the same and it even suffers from the same problems. The level design still isn’t brilliant and frustratingly relies on cut-and-paste techniques. No mirrored levels this time though, thankfully.

Due to some key factors, it isn’t even as good as the original. No single level in Halo 2 is as good as The Silent Cartographer (though the second level does come close), and there are moments that are just as repetitive and lazy as The Library. The AI has been given an overhaul and has been generally improved in every area, but surprisingly it can get very confused when an object is moved between their view and your position. The sight of a Covenant Elite shooting repeatedly into a crate is strangely unsettling: they never did that in the original…

There is a feeling of a rushed product, and this is irritating. The ending, a topic that will dominate most Halo 2 discussion, is a borderline disgrace. It simply ends without answering any of the questions it just asked and, bizarrely, just before the climax of the story. This is frustrating, not just for the obvious reasons, but because it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth in retrospect – the original ended with the satisfaction of destroying Halo. The sequel ends not with confusion or even on a cliff-hanger, it just…ends. The story, though fragmented and overcomplicated, is actually very engaging and told with some frighteningly well directed cutscenes and very surprising twists, but what’s the point in playing fifteen chapters if the most important, the sixteenth, doesn’t exist to complete the tale?

The point is, of course, that this still plays like Halo. At its best, Halo 2’s campaign is as immersive, inspired and incredible as anything else on the market. Though entire levels may not be able to match The Silent Cartographer, specific portions of individual levels are by far and away better than anything in Halo. There is a large room in the middle section of the game that has virtually every vehicle and enemy in the game all battling it out, the action is so intense that it ranks as one of the most memorable gaming moments in recent times. The room itself is simply a large cube with a few pillars and ramps – testament to how enjoyable the basic combat mechanics in the game are, and why repetitive or lazy level design doesn’t destroy the title. Also impressive is the sheer scope of the game, with some of the most beautiful and menacing sights in gaming, made all the more impressive when you realise that that humungous structure that makes up the background is somewhere you’ll visit, in the same level, without any loading. The vastness of the game is bettered by Ubisoft’s Far Cry, but in terms of scale and use of 3D space, Halo 2 often raises the bar several notches over the competition. It’s a shame, then, that the levels are forced to be played in such small ‘bursts’; moments of genuine brilliance spaced between lazy (and lengthy) corridor design. Although the levels open-out as you progress, the feeling of hand-holding is much more apparent than in its forerunner.

As a single player or cooperative (not available on system link or Live, unfortunately) experience, Halo 2 is disappointing. Things have moved on in three years, and the series is not as far ahead of the competition as it once was. Halo 2 is not the significant improvement that could have been, yet it is still important to realise just what a wonderful experience it remains.