Halo 3 comes out in less than two weeks…Halo freaking 3! 12 days, 9 hours and 50 minutes to be exact, but who’s counting? Well, aside from myself, I can think of at least one million others who are counting. I’m beginning to regret my decision of reserving my copy at EB Games. Evidently I didn’t learn anything from my previous Halo-related EB Games fiasco, but the gaming bliss that followed was well worth the frustration.
Flashback with me, won’t you?
November 8th, 2004
I arrive at the mall at about 11:30 pm for a quick in and out with my brand new copy of Halo 2 only to be brought back to reality by the site of a line that was nice enough to meet me at my car in the parking lot. The mall being two miles from a major college campus probably played a factor in the ginormous line that I encountered (I hate the word ginormous, but since it became a real word I have always wanted to see what it looked like in text. I’m unimpressed.)
So I finally got my own copy of Halo 2 (collector’s addition, of course) after about three hours of listening to nerds talk about…well, whatever it is that nerds talk about.
I spent the next couple of weeks simply playing the campaign mode, oblivious to the multiplayer revolution that was taking place at that very moment. Not that the campaign wasn’t worth the price of admission, it was a dazzling experience in every category imaginable. It was worth the price of admission, but it was not the main attraction.
Flash forward to Christmas break:
I bring my collector’s edition back home and verbally berate my brother for not getting the same. I expected to spend the entire break playing cooperatively through the campaign mode a few times, but my big bro had something else in mind.
He hadn’t even played the campaign yet; he was obsessed with the online multiplayer. He was getting worked by 13-year-olds on a daily basis, but was also loving every second of it. Halo 2 was rare in that way. All you needed was one kill and you were hooked. And good god I was hooked.
Prior to Halo 2, I had played other games for hours and hours but never had the feeling of satisfaction that I was having at that time. Halo 2 junkies were passionate about their trade like no one else. I played this game for more hours a week than most people spent at their jobs. I’m still not sure how I graduated from college, because all I remember from that last year and a half was playing Halo 2.
And back to the present…
Now that I’m out of college I’ll have more time than ever to devote to my passion and you’ll all be in on my experience with the 2007 version. I’ll reflect on my day’s work with the game, both multiplayer and campaign.
I’ll write about what I like and dislike about the game, my experiences with other players (so watch what you say because you may get trashed within the confines of this blog…and I will not protect your anonymity), and my experiences with clans and the Halo community as a whole.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be working on my Team Slayer skills for the next 12 days. And as for Halo 3, look me up when you get there. Just ask for RefriedTestes…and yeah, that is my actual gamertag.
~Joey~
