'HALO 2' LIVES UP TO OTHERWORLDLY EXPECTATIONS.

Byline: Redmond Carolipio Staff Writer

'HALO 2'' is the greatest game ever. It has changed my life. My kids will swear by it. I think it's even given me the ability to walk on water.

Hype is fun, isn't it?

If you've been paying any attention this week, you'd think that Bungie's ``Halo 2'' was one of the greatest things made since the light bulb.

This is what ``Halo 2'' really means to the world: It is one of the best pieces of work ever made on a video game system. That's it. Let's not put it next to the Declaration of Independence any time soon. We can, however, start by recognizing ``Halo 2'' as the new standard for first-person shooters.

The old standard, of course, was ``Halo'' three years ago. Bungie's Xbox launch title laid down the groundwork for next-generation shooters, and ``Halo 2'' reminds us of that point in every aspect of its being. From visual presentation to game play, everything is simply better than it was three years ago. It's the perfect approach to take when you're trying to improve a game that didn't have much wrong with it in the first place.

The first ``Halo'' featured some of the best visuals available on the Xbox, so fans won't notice a huge difference in ``Halo 2.'' The hero, the Master Chief, looks a little sharper overall. The same can be said for the array of finely detailed worlds. Most of the eye candy can be seen in the exquisite (and longer) cinema scenes that give the graphic mojo of the Xbox a hefty workout.

The scenes are also memorable for the direction they take the game's action-hungry audience: ``Halo 2'' shows players the inner societal workings of the Covenant, the alien collective from the first ``Halo.'' There's more insight into its faith-based culture and hierarchy. The enemies are called ``heretics,'' authority figures are called ``prophets'' and the Master Chief is constantly called ``the demon.'' Even the first cinema sequence deals with the trials of a disgraced Covenant commander, who is later picked to become the lead soldier of the Prophets called the Arbiter. And in a dramatic game-play twist, you actually have to control him for several missions.

This is something of a gamble. The Master Chief is incredibly popular, and pulling fans out of his boots and putting them into the armor of someone else might not be received as well. The Arbiter character, however, is compelling in his own right.

Story concept isn't the only thing that's changed. In terms of control, the biggest change is the ability to use two weapons at the same time. You can mix weapons together; so you can conceivably fire off an assault rifle in one hand with the alien ``needler'' gun in the other. Very cool, if you like firepower.

You also have a few new weapons. The two that stick out are the Covenant plasma sword, which is unusually powerful, and the particle beam rifle that has a double-zoom scope, 99-shot capacity and no recoil. Happy hunting.

Then, we have the vehicles. The Hummer-esque Warthog returns, and this time you can allow a computer-controlled soldier to drive while you man the cannon. It's fun most of the time, until your driver rolls you over or gets stuck.

The Scorpion tank is a beast. Its turret reload time feels like it's been cut in half from the first game. You now have a basically semi-automatic tank cannon at your disposal. Also, you can have up to four soldiers ride outside of the tank for extra help - which you'll need on the higher difficulty levels.

``Halo 2's'' last major feature is that it is Xbox Live ready, which means the kind of online activity usually enjoyed by the PC community can now be shared among console gamers. If anything has a chance to turn ``Halo 2'' into a mainstream, pop-culture phenom like ``The Da Vinci Code,'' this is it. But until that happens, ``Halo 2's'' place in history will simply have to be as the game that's better than the first ``Halo.'' And since ``Halo'' defined a game genre, that's not a bad thing.

Redmond Carolipio, [phone]

redmond.carolipio(at)sbsun.com

HALO 2 - Four stars

Platform: Xbox.

Price: $49.99 ($54.99 for collector's edition)

Developer: Bungie.

Publisher: Microsoft.

Rated: M for Mature.

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no caption (``Halo 2'')