Halo 2 Analysis The only game I have truly played in the last five years is Halo 2. I was introduced to it last year in the dorm. I have experienced Halo 2 as a networked gamer and as an online gamer. For several years now console games have had the ability to link up through the internet and connect players to one another. This changed console game play forever. Never again were people bored playing the computer on the hardest setting because now there was finally someone on the other end of the remote control that was able to compete with them. The only game I have been able to experience this with is Halo 2. As a network gamer I have thoroughly enjoyed this game. The only network I have played on simply consists of the dorms LAN line. Halo 2 is a very dynamic game in that it can be a single player game played in a campaign mode, and also the more popular multiplayer mode can be played for a more interactive experience. This multiplayer mode consists of separate team games such as capture the flag, rocket ball, and king of hill. Within these multiplayer games lies the Halo appeal. The fact that you get to play each of these games head to head with another person a with remote control in their hand as apposed to a computer generated character makes it more fun. It allows for a more competitive experience. This is the single most networked game played today. It has people from everywhere playing one another in head to head matches. The only way to communicate with the other person your playing against is through a headset. This headset would be a great way to communicate but all it turns out to be is a great way to make fun of the other person. This game has a potential to be a very social game but due to the immaturity of the people who play on the network it is virtually impossible to have a decent conversation with anyone. A suggestion to be made to the creators of Halo 2 is that there be a certain amount of deaths that a player is allowed. A player can die as many times as necessary in order to beat the game without actually having to start the game over. According to Rehak the Halo character is a perfect example of an avatar in that it regenerates every time it is defeated and the player is completely in control of its destiny. (Wolf, 107) Death is not that big of an issue. The game program simply regenerates your avatar in order to reenact the same situation that led to your demise. The avatar is different in that at some points throughout the game you are a human and at other parts you are an alien fighting for the human race. There is only one way to get through each level and if you stray from the suggested path you will surely be defeated. Once defeated you regenerate at your last checkpoint, which was typically within five minutes of your death, only to attempt to power through the same situation you were previously faced with. These characteristics make Halo 2 a prime example of a Ludus game. Also, every level is exactly the same with the exception of the environment. Truly the only objective is to defeat all of the alien creatures in order to save mankind. This causes the game to have a tremendous amount of repetition whether you are being regenerated or if you are simply going from level to level killing the same villains in the same fashion. The only appeal about this game to me was last year as a freshman in the dorm when everyone on our floor would get together and we would play the game on multiple televisions and put on the headsets and talk to one another. I feel as if the only thing that truly made it worth while was the social aspect of the whole situation. Without this interaction with my cluster I doubt that there would have been much enjoyment on my part.







Ty Gibson
New Media
3/6/07