There's little in the eight-minute demo that isn't worthy of awe. Though there are a couple spots with some minute slowdown, almost all of the game runs smoothly from start to finish. Bookended by cut-scenes using the in-game graphics engine, just as with the original Halo, everything from visuals to audio to new gameplay additions had the crowd of jaded media hooting with glee.
Visually, there's nothing on Xbox that even compares. The textures are detailed, the weapons reflective with self-lighting, self-shadowing abounds, the design is gritty and eerily realistic, and the action just keeps coming. Bungie could not have picked a better example of gameplay than this. The pacing is perfect, and it seems hard to believe that the pace could be this hectic through 20 or so hours of gameplay. And just think -- there's an online component as well.
The war-ravaged earth is much like we expected it after the teaser trailer last fall. Master Chief is the only one who can save mankind. Dropping in to a hot zone to lay down some support for overwhelmed marines, Chief takes matters into his own hands quickly. The first improvement, an assault rifle with sniper scope. No more slow reloads, this baby can zoom in and release powerful blasts a breath apart.
From there it becomes a succession of "look what we added to the game" moments. First Master Chief hops behind a turret and rains down some pain on the Covenent, then he is handed two submachineguns by a soldier who knows Chief needs them more, then he hops into the back of a Warthog and plays gunner, then we get the GTA: Halo, when a Covenant leaps onto the Warthog. And it just keeps going and going. The further into the demo, the more impressive the lighting, pace, visuals, and gameplay additions become.
Whether it's Chief jacking a Ghost or the final cut-scene where a dzoen Elite's drop down to deliver some pain -- Halo 2 did what it needed to do.
That is the demo in its essence. It rocked. Even if you've only seen the short clips we've posted for free, you undoubtedly have come to the same conclusion. Now that we know Halo 2 isn't going to suck, it's time to breathe a sigh of relief and examine some aspects of the demo.
It's fair to say that the Halo 2 demo ranks among the most impressive console gameplay demos of all time. Over the next few weeks and months, this trailer will be analyzed, broken down, even criticized.
There are things that perhaps weren't as impressive as we all made them out to be at first sight. After all, it's not revolutionary to go two-fisted with a submachinegun -- but it is damn cool. Certainly there are a lot of impressive things Halo 2 pulls off. Heck, if Microsoft packaged that eight-minute playable level as a full game it would rank higher than just about any other Xbox game since the original Halo. But with so little info out there, those eight minutes are going to have to sustain us for several months. Sooner or later, people will start pecking away at it.
That will happen, so for now try and enjoy the bliss of the Halo 2 demo. It is, after all, what we've all been waiting for. There's no point, at this time in analyzing the demo, because right now the euphoria of seeing so much of a game so heavily guarded would be pointless.
While you can expect a deeper analysis, just know that the demo is great and you must watch it. Oh, and Halo 2 may have just stolen the show for Microsoft. Man, was that cool.
