Nothing beats visible damage to enemies. I don't like fighting robots generally but seeing them slowly fall apart makes it a bit more bearable. Resident Evil 2's remake is a great example for organic enemies too - the way zombies fall apart as you shoot them is tremendously well done.
NPC s need to show reduced abilities from damage instead of fighting at full power till the last Hitpoint. And their groups should do morale checks instead of fight till the last man.
@@lgjm5562 imagine trying to chain in dodonpachi or ikaruga and seeing an enemy vital to keeping the chain run off without any way to stop it that's just DMC's DMD DT
Not being able to fight marines is a real shame, it would have been the big differentiator for a level that otherwise doesn't have any proper stand out moments.
@@Paddy656sounds balanced. Would of also gave you first hand how strong marines actually are. Also not like they had to use it a lot. Bruh they gave flood everything under the earths sun. Maybe they didn’t want you directly fighting marines because it would mess with ratings and probably get banned some places.
The dislike is completely understandable, but honestly, this is one of my favorite halo missions of all time simply due to the atmosphere (I like quiet, slow levels like 343 Guilty spark). What would have made the mission better is if you had marine enemies on top of sentinels and flood, while also leading a covenant strike group. Great vid btw.
Nice one Alex! Marine enemies would have been the tits. Imagine coming across a group of them and The Flood battling it out and having the opportunity (for the first time ever) to fight both at the same time. I know Bungie said they weren't keen on the idea, but I think it's a big miss.
Bungie got it right. Thel may have killed over a billion humans but he's the protagonist here, even if he didn't know it yet, and this is about his journey of awakening and also, a story of humanity's survival. So it would not mesh well for humans to be enemies and they had a head start going into the Sentinel Wall so they were deeper in where they were overrun by Flood.
In response to your point about multi faction fighting, I think having human enemies in this mission would have been a bad move and bungie made the right call not doing it. The arbiter was already a bit controversial, but IMO it worked well in the story because it was A: Fun and different to play, B: Interesting to see the inner machinations and politics of your enemy to understand them with more complexity and maybe develop a little empathy with some factions because C: "Previously loyal and dedicated bad guy learns the truth and becomes good guy" is a time tested and satisfying character arc. Having you kill a bunch of humans in the process doesn't really add anything to that and runs the risk of alienating a lot of players who were already possible lukewarm on the character. A solid video and I agree that it's one of the weaker missions in the game. That said, I tried playing "Agony" a couple days ago (I wanted a spooky halloween game and it was on sale) and... let's just say it's given me a new appreciation for Sacred icon/the library/cortana etc. Halo at it's worst is better than some other games at their best by a fair margin.
i think the arbiter was only controversial as they only had a couple levels with him, instead of 2-3 more with chief and 5+more with arbiter that wouldve told a MUCH bigger story if they had time. The Arbiter story line is one of the best in the whole franchise, i dont see how it gets so much hate. Most of that story was literally moved directly over to Halo 3, so imagine how much more Halo 3 would have to have to be a full game. It wouldve been a lot better tbh
It's interesting to see how even in the duller levels of Bungie-era Halo, there's still some fun little details to be had. Being able to see other places you've been or will go to later on, the scattered marine squads, the buildup to the Library itself, and getting to see the destruction of the Sentinel manufacturer you later have to trek through are all great touches. They make Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone come across as a more complete journey.
I wonder if Bungie's intent was to invoke the same sense of dread and horror that Halo CE's 343 Guilty Spark did. It's definitely got some creepy atmosphere to it, but since the Flood had already been introduced, it's kind of hard to feel anything other than "ah shit, here we go again". The Enforcers were a cool addition though and it saddens me that they only appeared in two levels.
I feel like the gas mine is more like Guilty Spark, especially with the build up to the flood. Although you obviously have a bunch of allies right of the bat
My goal with every video is hit at least 1,000, which fortunately happens pretty much always nowadays. Managing 10,000 on every video, Halo related or not, is the big dream!
I played the level a couple weeks ago, and I despise it. In fact, my intense dislike for all of the Arbiter missions save the final one is enough to render Halo 2 my least favorite of the Bungie-era Halos. Fully half of the game has no real USP besides “play as an Elite,” nearly all the Arbiter missions play identically, and the whole game suffers from some profoundly awful difficulty scaling and an abiding sense of monotony in the latter half. The story is great, but the gameplay and level design were so obviously rushed that it’s a mystery how Bungie got to make Halo 3 (where they proceeded to knock it out of the park on gameplay).
@@PhoenixT70 interesting. I always loved playing as the arbiter, but I definitely understand the difficulty scaling, I never play this game on anything higher than normal because it becomes more frustrating than fun.
@@artheals8869 Don’t get me wrong, I love the _idea_ of playing as the Arbiter. It’s the execution I can’t stand. You either fight a reskin of the Covenant or you fight the Flood, which as we all know is not the most engaging enemy to fight. The Master Chief’s side of the campaign is varied, filled with outstanding setpieces and unique combat arenas (slow moving platforms notwithstanding), and truly bombastic in scale. We fight on Earth! We do an ODST hot drop! We assassinate a Prophet! As the Arbiter you infiltrate Forerunner facility #987 to kill a heretic, after which you have to destroy Forerunner facility #987 to drive him into the open and destroy the Flood on board. Then, you infiltrate Forerunner facility #1027 to retrieve the Sacred Icon. Then, you assault Forerunner facility #1300 because you haven’t gotten to the Sacred Icon yet. Everything looks the same, everything feels the same, and after awhile it’s always just you against what feels like every single enemy in the entire galaxy all coming after you at once. The environment is always the same sterile silver metal. The enemies are always the same bunch of Covenant races or Flood forms you fight as the Chief. There’s almost never any appreciable number of Covenant allies onscreen. It’s just… bland. If we fought humans I would be much happier because the Arbiter missions would have a truly unique aspect to them, but you don’t. Ever.
@@PhoenixT70 it would’ve been nice to fight humans and added a layer to the narrative and to gameplay that they didn’t dive into, but the missions where you dawn the spectre with Elite comrades are still some of my favorites.
The atmosphere on this level is what makes it incredible for me! But I can see how the gameplay falls short 👍🏻 always love watching your videos bro!!! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks woodsy, always appreciate the support my man! The atmosphere is decent enough to be fair, with the marine presence adding something interesting. Would have been nice for that part to be expanded a bit too.
@@BenPlaysGamesfor sure bro! Halo 2 is amazing in my eyes, but if Bungie had the time and ability to fit in what they originally intended, it would be something special
I’ve never understood the mass disagreement of the Arbiter fighting humans being a good idea. Most people I ask say it’s a bad idea. Some say it’s because playing as an alien fighting humans is a bad look. I agree with you, would’ve been a dream. A different challenge and something about this level that’s actually worth remembering. Good vid my friend, love all your Halo review type videos, best on the site for this content
One thing I never understood at 3:05 you mention you can see the lakes where you play as the Chief during his first missions on the Ring, but during Chief's missions you never actually see this massive wall that the Arbiter appears to be on.
@@SotaMake Huh, I genuinely never noticed it. I guess I didn't spend enough time looking at the skybox, my mental image of it has always been a few mountains but never anything as imposing as the Sentinel Wall seemed to be from this angle.
Ben: "Examing halo 2s worst mission- Sacred icon" Me: yeah but the arbiter and oracle exist and oracle has that boss fight thats unwinable on legendary
Thankfully the level with a stupidly arbitrary boss fight also has a laughably easy invincibility glitch to cheese the whole thing. Halo 2 is always fun for being able to bypass most of its bad design with equally broken glitches. A testament to a messy dev cycle and trying to do way way too much with the original Xbox, but Halo 2 Legendary needs all the help it can to be fun.
While the combat forms you see here are predominantly human in nature, I always remind myself that 1-the humans have been scoping this place out the entire time Chief was going after Regret (Keyes even says so at the beginning of “Regret”), so they probably sent in some strike teams before the Arbiter lowered the shield (which was a good few hours later, considering “Sacred Icon” happens after the Chief is MIA), and 2-the Flood were released by Meddlers (or that’s the accepted head canon) on Installation 05 a long af time ago, and have had time to build up biomass; they just couldn’t have any combat forms until Delta Halo was set upon by all these factions, so now they can capitalize.
I remember playing this back on the original Xbox. My biggest disappoint for this mission was you weren't able to fight any humans. I was excited for the moment where you would finally fight humans as the Covenant. To this day, we never fight humans despite having ample opportunity to do so. Such as in Halo Infinite where the Banish not only contains members of the Covenant but also exiled and mercenary humans. Not sure why it's such a problem to have human enemies.
The phantom flied backwards in the OG cutscene as well, so it's an oddly zealous remake of the mistake. Especially as H2A's cutscenes are now pre-rendered
Sacred Icon is one of my favorite missions in the game. Playing it back to back with Quarantine Zone is incredibly great pacing and going from a full foot mission to a more vehicle based mission. Yes you have to play both the missions back to back. But it seems like Bungie intended that as many mission in the game are in pairs; Outskirts and Metropolis, The Arbiter and The Oracle, Delta Halo and Regret, Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone. At least story wise they are directly connected or leave off where the last mission ended. I really love the story telling in Sacred Icon all through out the mission. Yes the halls are grey, and that is all you'll be seeing for a while, but, Bungie I think did a fantastic job of creating atmosphere and eventually the environmental changes as the level progressed. Unlike something like Library which is the same all the way through with no changes at all. Crossing the gap and watching the shield go down while Orbit of Glass plays is one of my peak memories in Halo 2. Then feeling a sense of dread as I have to fight a huge a mount of flood and sentinels. Watching the battle rage in the distance. Feeling sad as the phantom flies off. This level being played the first time through always made me shiver as a kid and I use to always skip this level due to the amount of tension the Flood creates in Halo 2. They were a step up in difficulty from Halo CE. I always, when I did play this mission, played it like a stealth game, trying to use my stealth to avoid combat at all cost. As the flood run past you and dart into the shadows always created a sense of unease. Then they howl as they see something they can kill, while you wait for your stealth to recharge hoping they don't see you. Now I play the mission without stealth just to see what I missed. Honestly I found my self with out ammo a lot of times and checking my back to make sure I wasn't getting flanked. (Note I usually play on Heroic or Legendary. As a kid I always played on normal though) This mission is peaked for me with Ruby's rebalance Halo 2. He adds Marine enemies and the Marines are incredibly fun to fight. Fighting the flood and marines, or just letting them kill each other adds a lot of depth to the level. The other things he does is rebalance all the weapons in the game. The shotgun acts more like the CE shotgun and the game is all better for it. This is what the mission was missing! I would say the worst level for me is The Oracle. Just because of the Elevator! Wow what a terrible autoscroller. "I don't wanna ride the elevator." is exactly how I feel there. Then chasing down the Heretic Leader was always a bit of a drag. The final boss is lame at best and incredibly frustrating at worst. The Heretic leader only becomes interesting once you learn his backstory through expanded universe. Which made me feel very sympathetic towards him. Seeing how close he was to almost letting Arbiter listen to the 343 GS has me wondering what could have been if he didn't shoot. Completely understand your dislikes of this level and you still get a like from me! Keep up the content!
I loved the 2 mission pairs. The storytelling flow felt perfected then switching up for the last 4 missions because technically what's going on each mission with Arbiter and Chief is simultaneously happening at the same time I believe. At least that's what I gathered from the dev commentary. Also yeah screw that elevator in the Oracle
I love Sacred Icon, I love the scenery of the Library. One part I like is after fighting the flood and go through final vents, you hear that horror music then you hear a soothing music as you break free of the nightmare of those corridors as you progress towards the Sacred Icon.
I will @ you, but only in defense of the original Xbox version where stealth actually worked. It was actually pretty fun trying to pull off a 100% stealth kill (which is almost possible in the early areas and hallways, if not for the sentinels). MCC has all the enemies wake up as soon as you backsmack someone though, so that aspect was thrown out the airlock.
Quick side note, you can fight the marines if you nade jump across the opening where theyr'e getting overrun. They'll appear red and will actually engage you when they see you.
I remember being in a Scorpion tank and a Sentinel Enforcer flew over picked up my tank and killed me. I kinda wish more was done with different types of Sentinels.
I wish the level gave the player some elites or brutes allies to fight the flood, overrall i think if you had more allies and some open spaces to fight the flood and the sentinels this level would have been really good Btw i remember this level terrified me when I was 6 😅, it’s very creepy
the silly pistons and vent amusement park rides are enough to keep me replaying this mission often. It really stuck out to me as a kid for no particular reason
I have to think that the primary reason we never fight humans whilst playing as the arbiter is because we're supposed to both relate to and sympathize with him. If we were to go on a marine slaughter spree it would likely have quite the opposite effect. Especially considering how loveable, and well loved, the marines are. Allowing us to kill them (intentionally) would make sense canonically and from a gameplay perspective, but strongly diminish the likeability of the arbiter.
I had never noticed that grunt line, mostly just running through this level without thinking about anything around me, but it is just a great little feature which adds to the world building Bungie were so good at. In the lore the Elites and Grunts have a good relationship, it was the Elites who first trusted them enough to let them have weapons, so it makes sense the Grunt would be more appreciative bc of their shared histories, while the Jackals have a less than friendly reputation among the other groups so makes sense that they're... less grateful
I played this one coop recently. It’s too samey throughout the level, the respawning sentinels and their vents are annoying, there’s no notable story moments until reaching the Elites at the end. The Library at least has Spark and less claustrophobic environs. I also hate the vents you drop down into to progress.
I've always hated this level the most. The camo is barely even helpful when you bump into flood in the dark, it's pretty annoying how they seem to stick him in the darkest corners of the game, almost enough to make you wish you had a flashlight instead of camo. I'd take ten libraries over another Sacred Icon. At least the Library didn't have gondolas or sentinel tunnels.
I was obsessed with the sentinel wall & the library(the structure not the mission) & what they represented when I was a kid, they were so interesting to me so this is actually one of my favorite missions.
Everything people say about Cortana of Halo 3 I wholeheartedly believe applies to Halo 2's Sacred Icon. That being said, I do think there's fun to be had in this level. Great analysis as always!
An important note is that this is the first time we get to fight human combat forms in 2. They are incredibly fast compared to any other flood form in any of the Halo games, jumping and moving, making them a difficult enemy in the Halos to headshot. They retreat far more than other forms, giving them a stalker vibe and making them more distinct from the basic elite combat forms (sometimes shielded, other times not) Probably the most fun flood enemy to fight.
While I agree this is the weakest of Halo 2 levels, I won't deny that I would always try to make the jackals and grunts survive as long as possible (just like I would do with the ODSTs in Delta Halo). It was cool to finally fight side by side with them, I would always make sure to give them carbines (tho they would drop them as soon as they got scared which sucked). Fighting the UNSC was also a missed opportunity, you could say you could fight them if you rushed tho it was still very hard to arrive and keep them alive as the flood would wipe them out quickly. To be honest after losing the jackals and grunts when meeting the first enforcer (because if they survived they would definitely be wiped with the second one and the flood) I would just rush the level using the camo ability. As usual spot on analysis Ben, cheers!
Dont forget...this whole game(including the entire game engine itself) took less than 18 months to create and the basic stuff was created by 2 different teams, multiple features and levels were cut, lots of things had to be scrapped, and they were barely able to even play test a single asset on the hardware AT ALL till the last 3 months, where 80% of the final polishing and implementing the assets of the game was done. Then they had 2-3 weeks to playtest the full game, Then they had to stop as it was sent to printers and 4 weeks later was in stores Id say they did pretty damn good, if only they had just 1 more year. Halo CE was a crunch to ship, but all the assets, levels, enemies, whole story, and sounds were there already, and was done by 1 team, plus it didnt even have online play or NEAR as much content or graphical quality
As a kid, this and uprising were my favorite levels. The goal of sacred icon is a gamble on the part of the developers. They lure you into a false sense of security with the monotony, pushing you into a comfortable situation, then throwing in sentinels, giving you a little backup, and even a miniboss to fight. After the ride forward, you're supposed to be wondering what's next, when all that comfort is thrown out the window as the flood are revealed full force. The level ramps up from there, throwing humans and their weapons in, Tartarus and his obvious disdain, and the goal changes to utter tension as halo 2 flood are much more intense than the first games, especially with human weapons. You're supposed to feel relief when the elites show up and the end of the level is supposed to give you that sense of security back. It's Definitely a gamble, especially if you don't find it interesting it can be boring, but if you're suckered in like I was, it's one of the best experiences in terms of architecture and suspense. Oracle had a better buildup but throwing you immediately into an elevator section ruined the suspense, whereas here they make you anticipate it first. You're supposed to feel dread when you realize "Oh hell it's a flood level." But I don't blame people who find it boring, it does have its flaws.
I might be wrong on this one, but I believe at certain points, or a point, during Regret and/or Delta Halo, you're able to see the sentinel wall from Sacred Icon as well. Really well done bits of environmental consistency.
9:20 Halo 2 came out during the Middle East Wars, only a few years after 9/11. Playing a Space Muslim shooting Space Americans would be 'No Russian.' Same reason Bungie renamed the Dervish to the Arbiter.
Long, full of corridors, boring. But it's still fun, atmospheric, and full of great moments like fighting the Enforcers, seeing the Library in the background, the earie ambience, and more. So it's not really a bad level, just that Halo 2 has many better levels in it. Fighting alongside Jackels, even for about 20 seconds was still really nice.
Sacred Icon never felt like a standard Halo level to me. Mainly just because, even on Legendary, I spent most encounters just rushing past enemies while cloaked.
I’d say the worst level easily is The Oracle. The level starts with a VERY slow elevator ride and then right after your stuck in a arena room until the door opens. The elevator ride alone was the worst part of the whole game for me personally.
Halo 2 is, in my opinion, a game that has great highs and great lows. Some of the levels are great, and some just aren't much like most of them feel like a part 1 part 2 concept because some of the levels you have your main objective but you don't end up completing that objective until the following level the level outskirts your mission is to kill the scarab which is not done until the next level the arbiter your objective is to kill the heretic leader which you can't do until the next level the level delta halo your objective is to kill the prophet of regret with another mission that can not be completed until the following level and then you have the sacred icon which is another level that includes the same method of progression where you need to secure the sacred icon which is not done until the next but anyway with the level the sacred icon it's a level that i feel is a level that has bits and pieces from the past you start the level with basically no one around with your first objective is basically succeed where others have failed once you get to the other side of the building that's where the real work begins younare fighting waves of sentinels and flood and basically that's how it is for the rest of the level once you finish the level and start the level quarantine zone and what your objectives you have on quarantine zone I think would've made a lot more sense if it was included in the sacred icon because basically on the sacred icon you have one objective and that's take down the barrier and the rest of the level is bassically just roaming and shooting if they made the sacred icon and quarantine zone one level instead of two seperate levels it would've been better and probably made more sense
Much has been said about the atmosphere already, but I really like sense of increasing dread that hangs over Sacred Icon and the way it progresses. I'm always downright relieved to make it to the elite drop pod setpiece.
Sacred Icon is my favourite mission! The "vents" that are "fun" are more than that for me. They're like plunging further down into the hellscape of Flood Infestation, and the further down you go, the more alone you get. The eerier it gets. This level also showcased the Forerunners actual purpose to me for the first time, as someone who never played CE until Anniversary, it shows those who started with H2 or H2:A the Forerunners' Sentinels fighting the Flood, moreso than they did on the Gas Giant levels "The Arbiter" and "The Oracle," where they were aligned with the Heretic above all, given 343's and Sesa 'Refumee's alliance of convenience and realisation. Here, the Forerunners are running on their own programming, killing all biomass in the hopes of preventing infestation, something that is explained later in Gravemind with "And you know nothing about containment and demonstrate a complete disregard for even the most basic protocols."
sacred icon was always dope to me, being just outside the library , having to lower its shield (which you can see retracting back if you look in the sky just after deactivating it).There's also the fact that as the shield is deactivated, the flood infestation caused by "the meddlers" 90,000 years prior was being released.
✅ Subscribe: th-cam.com/users/BenPlaysGames 🖱 Support the channel: www.patreon.com/ben_plays_games Apologies if the voiceover quality is a little worse than usual - I tried to tidy it up and it sounds okay on my end, but I think my microphone might be on its last legs! Edit: I've also just realised it's a lot quieter than my others despite the sound profile and volume being the same was always when editing. Will look into this before publishing anything else.
This is one of my favorite missions, I definitely got lost as kid tho with how rarely the waypoint icons shows up in halo 2, itrlly is just the library of halo 2 or the 343 guilty spark in tone 5:57 i have wanted those enemies ti return for a loooong time wouldve been a fun boss to come back in later games, them picking up vehicles and crushing em was very panick inducing as a kid xD
The opening cutscene my favourite thing about this mission, playing through it is a chore it’s really uneventful, also I noticed the video is much more in depth and detailed in comparison to the original one about this mission, which I really enjoyed. The video is really professionally made and I appreciate the work and effort you put into your videos.
Agreed, the opening cutscene is by far its best part, which is pretty damning! Cheers for the kind feedback too, Jacob - the original's writing was a little too flowery and needed pruning. I'm much happier with this version, even though I did manage to muck up the sound haha. Will fix it for the 'ultimate critique' compilation.
If you have some spare time, I recommend you try Ruby of Blue's Halo Rebalanced mods. He fixed most of the problems I had with HCE and he's working on H2 now.
I'm sorry. You're saying that the sacred icon is the worst mission? Sacred Icon is 100x better than The Oracle. The Oracle starts off with a long elevator, then goes into a wave defense room, then backtrack through the Arbiter mission
Bungie game design in the early 2000s lol. There was a lot of commentary in that time from fans and the gaming press on how much backtracking levels there were during Halo 1 and in some levels in Halo 2
Am I the only one who enjoys flood levels? I've willingly played the library on legendary just because I LOVE killing them. I will say I don't go higher then heroic for Cortana because it can be annoying.
One of the few videos that I disagree on. This level was always one of my favorites and the repetitive nature of the flood makes it feel real. Like how the flood should feel. And it also makes sense from a realistic view that not every mission someone goes on will be full of diverse action and amazing experiences
Yeh I had some issues with audio quality to begin with then also mucked up the render and didn't notice till after release! I know what went wrong with both things now, though, so this is a one off wobble hopefully.
I'm a bit mixed on this level, it's not the best but it has a bit variety despite looking repetitive at times. For me it's one of the weaker ones but not the worst. Lower floors having thick fog did make for a good atmosphere and the early outdoor section wasn't that bad. The first part of this level and the wave section at the end were my least favourite parts. Overall i dare say i liked it slightly more than the first Arbiter level. The heretics had a good design although a bit repetitive. It is however the level design that i don't like. The hangar was the only memorable section for me. The first half of the oracle is the worst in my opinion, the second half saves it.
This as a level, would've been far better by removing some segments, and editing down Quarantine Zone to make one super level (feel like I said the same thing on your last Sacred Icon review.) Fighting Marines for the first time would've been a lot of fun, and a bit of a missed opportunity. Great video as always man. Would love for you to review some levels/chapters from MachineGames' Wolfenstein series. A very underrated first person shooter campaign (who doesn't love fighting nazis?)
Once I've completed a video for every level, I'll compile them into the full game critique. You can watch the parts completed so far here: th-cam.com/play/PLZ0a88md6HYR3CugXuoukGEknxwEOWEbL.html I'll also do a more general retrospective on the game as well, but that will take a lot longer and probably won't be out until early next year.
I played this on X360, so the emulation wasn't 100% accurate, with glitches abound, especially every cutscene lagging and cutting out some dialogue. About halfway through you get 5 seconds of marine radio chatter, which I wasn't sure was a glitch or not. Plus, while I'm not a fan of hand-holding throughout games, but there was no reasoning as to having to shoot the pistons to progress, or why sentinels only came out of certain vents. And when you go down one of those long chutes and suddenly appear out in the open snowy field, with your elite buddies waiting. I sense that's where Bungie got hit by their crunch and crazy Microsoft deadline, that just speaks of a rushed job and cuts to gameplay.
Personally, temporarily fighting marines would have added to the Arbiter’s guilt and disappointment when he learns the truth of the rings. You would have tangible proof that he wrongly killed many humans, and the blood would be on your hands. And his unity with the UNSC would be so much more impactful, especially Lord Hood’s dialogue at the end of Halo 3 “I’ll never forgive you” etc. I would’ve loved it!
I suspect they did not want you to fight the UNSC because they were afraid that if you were killing humans as the Arbiter that it would make you hate the Arbiter. That's my guess, anyway. Whether that's actually true... idk. But it might've made me feel a bit conflicted about what I was doing. Though I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. Overall I have to say... there just isn't a "Halo 2" mission that I didn't enjoy. And that includes "Sacred Icon." I think the "Halo 2" level that I like the least is "High Charity" but "Sacred Icon" is probably the second or third in that regard. It does get a bit repetitive and there probably aren't that many situations where I would start up "Halo 2" specifically to play this level like I do with a level like "Metropolis" or "Gravemind" but, idk, every time I play through it I do still have a good time. Even if I do tend to rush through some sections.
I recently played a mod called Halo 2 With Sprinkles on the mcc steam workshop and on this level it added the enemy marine encounters you mentioned wanting throughout parts of this mission as well as quarantine zone - it definitely helped the levels stand out and reminded me I'm doing work for the bad guys. The mod also let me strap my grunt friends with shotguns which was hilarious.
Again, I don't understand your dislike for certain levels I genuinely enjoy, and now, with the modding community, make these levels even better. I particularly disagree with your focus on flood levels (save for the library because it really is copy and paste) being monotonous or tedious. They showcase just how hard and chaotic it is to deal with the flood; really, in this level in particular, you can skip most encounters with either active camo or, if you're brave enough, just sprinting past them. I have no idea what your expectations are for FPS levels, and you should really make them clear in these videos.
There are some levels in Halo 2 that I tend to avoid going back to, but "Sacred Icon" is not one of them. I do understand your gameplay frustrations with this level, but for me it's the eerie atmosphere and music that keeps me coming back to it. As for the part about fighting humans, it is technically possible to do so in this level, but it's more of an Easter egg than anything. The Arbiter would have still been hostile towards the UNSC at this point, so it would have made sense to have enemy humans in this level. I get why Bungie chose not to do that, but it would have been really cool if they gave players the option to engage UNSC forces at their own discretion. For me, "Quarantine Zone" is my least favorite mission, but even the missions lacking in enjoyable gameplay still gave you reasons to go back and play them. "Gravemind", for instance, is a very long mission and an absolute slog on Legendary, but one of the most visually stunning missions of the game, with an amazing soundtrack that changes as you move across High Charity.
Modern games need to take note how the Enforcers showed the damage they were taking without using stupid health bars.
Nothing beats visible damage to enemies. I don't like fighting robots generally but seeing them slowly fall apart makes it a bit more bearable. Resident Evil 2's remake is a great example for organic enemies too - the way zombies fall apart as you shoot them is tremendously well done.
Huh? Modern games do this way more than old games ever did, wtf are you talking about?
doom eternal and splatoon 3 have some of the best visual damage I've seen?
NPC s need to show reduced abilities from damage instead of fighting at full power till the last Hitpoint.
And their groups should do morale checks instead of fight till the last man.
@@lgjm5562 imagine trying to chain in dodonpachi or ikaruga and seeing an enemy vital to keeping the chain run off without any way to stop it
that's just DMC's DMD DT
The level is held back by the fact they didn't give you enough Covenant allies and Bungie refusing to let you fight the UNSC without glitches or mods.
Not being able to fight marines is a real shame, it would have been the big differentiator for a level that otherwise doesn't have any proper stand out moments.
and the few allies you do get tend to fritter around behind you and not follow you down the piston shafts
Fighting humans would absolutely suck. Imagine a bunch of grunts with hitscan weapons.
@@Paddy656it’d be slightly less annoying sniper jackals lol
@@Paddy656sounds balanced. Would of also gave you first hand how strong marines actually are. Also not like they had to use it a lot. Bruh they gave flood everything under the earths sun.
Maybe they didn’t want you directly fighting marines because it would mess with ratings and probably get banned some places.
The dislike is completely understandable, but honestly, this is one of my favorite halo missions of all time simply due to the atmosphere (I like quiet, slow levels like 343 Guilty spark).
What would have made the mission better is if you had marine enemies on top of sentinels and flood, while also leading a covenant strike group.
Great vid btw.
Nice one Alex!
Marine enemies would have been the tits. Imagine coming across a group of them and The Flood battling it out and having the opportunity (for the first time ever) to fight both at the same time. I know Bungie said they weren't keen on the idea, but I think it's a big miss.
I am so glad we didn’t kill any humans
Yeah the atmosphere in this mission makes it an absolute treat to play through for me
Bungie got it right. Thel may have killed over a billion humans but he's the protagonist here, even if he didn't know it yet, and this is about his journey of awakening and also, a story of humanity's survival. So it would not mesh well for humans to be enemies and they had a head start going into the Sentinel Wall so they were deeper in where they were overrun by Flood.
their is a mod when u face humans
I personally adore this level from an atmosphere perspective. it really allowed me to get immersed in the universe while playing it.
Yeah just commented the same thing. I'm beyond shocked most people don't like it
In response to your point about multi faction fighting, I think having human enemies in this mission would have been a bad move and bungie made the right call not doing it.
The arbiter was already a bit controversial, but IMO it worked well in the story because it was A: Fun and different to play, B: Interesting to see the inner machinations and politics of your enemy to understand them with more complexity and maybe develop a little empathy with some factions because C: "Previously loyal and dedicated bad guy learns the truth and becomes good guy" is a time tested and satisfying character arc. Having you kill a bunch of humans in the process doesn't really add anything to that and runs the risk of alienating a lot of players who were already possible lukewarm on the character.
A solid video and I agree that it's one of the weaker missions in the game. That said, I tried playing "Agony" a couple days ago (I wanted a spooky halloween game and it was on sale) and... let's just say it's given me a new appreciation for Sacred icon/the library/cortana etc. Halo at it's worst is better than some other games at their best by a fair margin.
Good points
i think the arbiter was only controversial as they only had a couple levels with him, instead of 2-3 more with chief and 5+more with arbiter that wouldve told a MUCH bigger story if they had time. The Arbiter story line is one of the best in the whole franchise, i dont see how it gets so much hate. Most of that story was literally moved directly over to Halo 3, so imagine how much more Halo 3 would have to have to be a full game. It wouldve been a lot better tbh
I agree. I’m so glad we didn’t fight humans
It's interesting to see how even in the duller levels of Bungie-era Halo, there's still some fun little details to be had. Being able to see other places you've been or will go to later on, the scattered marine squads, the buildup to the Library itself, and getting to see the destruction of the Sentinel manufacturer you later have to trek through are all great touches. They make Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone come across as a more complete journey.
Bungie has a bad habit of making Flood-heavy levels incredibly tedious.
Definitely, Flood levels that are entertaining from beginning to end are an exceptionally rare breed.
@@BenPlaysGames that's kinda the point of the flood though is it not?
@@lostnumbr They should be scary, not annoying.
had
I love fighting flood.
I wonder if Bungie's intent was to invoke the same sense of dread and horror that Halo CE's 343 Guilty Spark did. It's definitely got some creepy atmosphere to it, but since the Flood had already been introduced, it's kind of hard to feel anything other than "ah shit, here we go again". The Enforcers were a cool addition though and it saddens me that they only appeared in two levels.
I feel like the gas mine is more like Guilty Spark, especially with the build up to the flood. Although you obviously have a bunch of allies right of the bat
Clearly the Enforcers were machines of human origin. They use explosive mortars.
Exactly my thoughts my first few playthroughs. It's atmosphere kinda gives a similar sense
Seeing A Ben Plays Games video having 16 views 2 comments and 10 likes feels weird
Video's out for an hour, chill. You expecting 500k views after 10 seconds?
@@dropzxfuzzion2430 Nah but it looks funny
My goal with every video is hit at least 1,000, which fortunately happens pretty much always nowadays. Managing 10,000 on every video, Halo related or not, is the big dream!
A million after five.
@@efrain2232 fair enough
I think sacred icon and quarantine zone have the coolest vibe/atmosphere and scenery of any halo game
It's really telling if this is H2's worst level. Always Loved and hated this level. I'm a huge fan of environmental storytelling. This makes me happy.
Hardly. New Mombasa was the level that needed more improvement.
There is no level called new Mombasa...
@@Blanktester685outskirts
@@theia1653Sure it wasn't just the notorious alley corner lmao I kid
I miss my enforcers. I think that's why I enjoyed the monitor boss fights in infinite so much bc they reminded me of these in Halo 2.
I really liked the battles against Adjutant Resolution, especially the first one with its excellent backing track.
I love this level, but I may be operating off nostalgia because I haven’t played the game in some years
I've played this level four or five time in the last few months alone, which is waaaaaay too much haha.
I played the level a couple weeks ago, and I despise it. In fact, my intense dislike for all of the Arbiter missions save the final one is enough to render Halo 2 my least favorite of the Bungie-era Halos. Fully half of the game has no real USP besides “play as an Elite,” nearly all the Arbiter missions play identically, and the whole game suffers from some profoundly awful difficulty scaling and an abiding sense of monotony in the latter half. The story is great, but the gameplay and level design were so obviously rushed that it’s a mystery how Bungie got to make Halo 3 (where they proceeded to knock it out of the park on gameplay).
@@PhoenixT70 interesting. I always loved playing as the arbiter, but I definitely understand the difficulty scaling, I never play this game on anything higher than normal because it becomes more frustrating than fun.
@@artheals8869 Don’t get me wrong, I love the _idea_ of playing as the Arbiter. It’s the execution I can’t stand. You either fight a reskin of the Covenant or you fight the Flood, which as we all know is not the most engaging enemy to fight.
The Master Chief’s side of the campaign is varied, filled with outstanding setpieces and unique combat arenas (slow moving platforms notwithstanding), and truly bombastic in scale. We fight on Earth! We do an ODST hot drop! We assassinate a Prophet!
As the Arbiter you infiltrate Forerunner facility #987 to kill a heretic, after which you have to destroy Forerunner facility #987 to drive him into the open and destroy the Flood on board. Then, you infiltrate Forerunner facility #1027 to retrieve the Sacred Icon. Then, you assault Forerunner facility #1300 because you haven’t gotten to the Sacred Icon yet. Everything looks the same, everything feels the same, and after awhile it’s always just you against what feels like every single enemy in the entire galaxy all coming after you at once. The environment is always the same sterile silver metal. The enemies are always the same bunch of Covenant races or Flood forms you fight as the Chief. There’s almost never any appreciable number of Covenant allies onscreen. It’s just… bland. If we fought humans I would be much happier because the Arbiter missions would have a truly unique aspect to them, but you don’t. Ever.
@@PhoenixT70 it would’ve been nice to fight humans and added a layer to the narrative and to gameplay that they didn’t dive into, but the missions where you dawn the spectre with Elite comrades are still some of my favorites.
The atmosphere on this level is what makes it incredible for me! But I can see how the gameplay falls short 👍🏻 always love watching your videos bro!!! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks woodsy, always appreciate the support my man! The atmosphere is decent enough to be fair, with the marine presence adding something interesting. Would have been nice for that part to be expanded a bit too.
@@BenPlaysGamesfor sure bro! Halo 2 is amazing in my eyes, but if Bungie had the time and ability to fit in what they originally intended, it would be something special
I’ve never understood the mass disagreement of the Arbiter fighting humans being a good idea. Most people I ask say it’s a bad idea. Some say it’s because playing as an alien fighting humans is a bad look. I agree with you, would’ve been a dream. A different challenge and something about this level that’s actually worth remembering. Good vid my friend, love all your Halo review type videos, best on the site for this content
One thing I never understood at 3:05 you mention you can see the lakes where you play as the Chief during his first missions on the Ring, but during Chief's missions you never actually see this massive wall that the Arbiter appears to be on.
Yes you can. Past the temple and its there. Even on old graphics
@@SotaMake Huh, I genuinely never noticed it. I guess I didn't spend enough time looking at the skybox, my mental image of it has always been a few mountains but never anything as imposing as the Sentinel Wall seemed to be from this angle.
@@cyqry i remember always watching that and thinking "there goes arbiter"
I love Arbiters damnation and perilous yet tedious missions. I prefer the Arbiter story over the John's any day
No
Ben: "Examing halo 2s worst mission- Sacred icon"
Me: yeah but the arbiter and oracle exist and oracle has that boss fight thats unwinable on legendary
Thankfully the level with a stupidly arbitrary boss fight also has a laughably easy invincibility glitch to cheese the whole thing. Halo 2 is always fun for being able to bypass most of its bad design with equally broken glitches. A testament to a messy dev cycle and trying to do way way too much with the original Xbox, but Halo 2 Legendary needs all the help it can to be fun.
who even plays halo 2 on legendary or heroic
That title is well deserved by the sacred icon, the cutscenes are good but the level itself... its just not it
It's just sort of... there. I had a lot to talk about but nothing to write home about, which says it all!
Kinda like the first mission.
While the combat forms you see here are predominantly human in nature, I always remind myself that 1-the humans have been scoping this place out the entire time Chief was going after Regret (Keyes even says so at the beginning of “Regret”), so they probably sent in some strike teams before the Arbiter lowered the shield (which was a good few hours later, considering “Sacred Icon” happens after the Chief is MIA), and 2-the Flood were released by Meddlers (or that’s the accepted head canon) on Installation 05 a long af time ago, and have had time to build up biomass; they just couldn’t have any combat forms until Delta Halo was set upon by all these factions, so now they can capitalize.
I remember playing this back on the original Xbox. My biggest disappoint for this mission was you weren't able to fight any humans. I was excited for the moment where you would finally fight humans as the Covenant. To this day, we never fight humans despite having ample opportunity to do so. Such as in Halo Infinite where the Banish not only contains members of the Covenant but also exiled and mercenary humans. Not sure why it's such a problem to have human enemies.
Yeah it bugs the hell out of me. My main issue for Halo 2 for sure.
I think if you kill humans the game has to have a higher age rating in some countries.
The phantom flied backwards in the OG cutscene as well, so it's an oddly zealous remake of the mistake. Especially as H2A's cutscenes are now pre-rendered
It was always the pilot going for style points
Man's just showing off
I went an checked. The phantom didn't fly backwards originally.
Worst mission in 2❌
Worst mission in the trilogy✅
It's up there with Cortana and The Library for sure.
assault on the control room is worse
Sacred Icon is one of my favorite missions in the game. Playing it back to back with Quarantine Zone is incredibly great pacing and going from a full foot mission to a more vehicle based mission. Yes you have to play both the missions back to back. But it seems like Bungie intended that as many mission in the game are in pairs; Outskirts and Metropolis, The Arbiter and The Oracle, Delta Halo and Regret, Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone. At least story wise they are directly connected or leave off where the last mission ended.
I really love the story telling in Sacred Icon all through out the mission. Yes the halls are grey, and that is all you'll be seeing for a while, but, Bungie I think did a fantastic job of creating atmosphere and eventually the environmental changes as the level progressed. Unlike something like Library which is the same all the way through with no changes at all. Crossing the gap and watching the shield go down while Orbit of Glass plays is one of my peak memories in Halo 2. Then feeling a sense of dread as I have to fight a huge a mount of flood and sentinels. Watching the battle rage in the distance. Feeling sad as the phantom flies off.
This level being played the first time through always made me shiver as a kid and I use to always skip this level due to the amount of tension the Flood creates in Halo 2. They were a step up in difficulty from Halo CE. I always, when I did play this mission, played it like a stealth game, trying to use my stealth to avoid combat at all cost. As the flood run past you and dart into the shadows always created a sense of unease. Then they howl as they see something they can kill, while you wait for your stealth to recharge hoping they don't see you. Now I play the mission without stealth just to see what I missed. Honestly I found my self with out ammo a lot of times and checking my back to make sure I wasn't getting flanked.
(Note I usually play on Heroic or Legendary. As a kid I always played on normal though)
This mission is peaked for me with Ruby's rebalance Halo 2. He adds Marine enemies and the Marines are incredibly fun to fight. Fighting the flood and marines, or just letting them kill each other adds a lot of depth to the level. The other things he does is rebalance all the weapons in the game. The shotgun acts more like the CE shotgun and the game is all better for it. This is what the mission was missing!
I would say the worst level for me is The Oracle. Just because of the Elevator! Wow what a terrible autoscroller. "I don't wanna ride the elevator." is exactly how I feel there. Then chasing down the Heretic Leader was always a bit of a drag. The final boss is lame at best and incredibly frustrating at worst. The Heretic leader only becomes interesting once you learn his backstory through expanded universe. Which made me feel very sympathetic towards him. Seeing how close he was to almost letting Arbiter listen to the 343 GS has me wondering what could have been if he didn't shoot.
Completely understand your dislikes of this level and you still get a like from me! Keep up the content!
I loved the 2 mission pairs. The storytelling flow felt perfected then switching up for the last 4 missions because technically what's going on each mission with Arbiter and Chief is simultaneously happening at the same time I believe. At least that's what I gathered from the dev commentary. Also yeah screw that elevator in the Oracle
I love Sacred Icon, I love the scenery of the Library. One part I like is after fighting the flood and go through final vents, you hear that horror music then you hear a soothing music as you break free of the nightmare of those corridors as you progress towards the Sacred Icon.
Nope, first arbiter mission is the worst dont @ me
I am going to @ you
@@efrain2232 agreed, wtf @!
Any of his first four missions could take the prize honestly, he gets a lot of the worst parts of the campaign.
I will @ you, but only in defense of the original Xbox version where stealth actually worked. It was actually pretty fun trying to pull off a 100% stealth kill (which is almost possible in the early areas and hallways, if not for the sentinels).
MCC has all the enemies wake up as soon as you backsmack someone though, so that aspect was thrown out the airlock.
@Gabriel13099 get @'d
Quick side note, you can fight the marines if you nade jump across the opening where theyr'e getting overrun.
They'll appear red and will actually engage you when they see you.
Sacred icon is mid, but Quarantine zone is my favorite Arbiter mission
Apologies in advance for my next Halo 2 video then mate!
Sacred Icon is the Library of Halo 2 and Quarantine Zone is the Two Betrayals of Halo 2.
@@eclipse_434 i like that analogy
I personally love QZ too. Delta Halo is probably my favourite H2 level...but I think QZ is great, only let down by no human enemies.
What's more annoying about the pistons is that on legendary, they can only be opened by taking damage, so you have to sacrifice some precious ammo.
Fun fact: Sometimes if you play that level the grunt (in the beginning of the level) becomes unable to be killed.
Who else saw that thumbnail and thought it was a giant vex head
It's me struggling to come up with one haha.
I remember being in a Scorpion tank and a Sentinel Enforcer flew over picked up my tank and killed me. I kinda wish more was done with different types of Sentinels.
I like the sacred icon but that’s because I like non stop action with the flood. I with there was a firefight with the flood.
I wish the level gave the player some elites or brutes allies to fight the flood, overrall i think if you had more allies and some open spaces to fight the flood and the sentinels this level would have been really good
Btw i remember this level terrified me when I was 6 😅, it’s very creepy
Elites would make sense, but the brutes had already revolted and betrayed the elites by then
The Arbiter in his plate armor is gorgeous at every angle
the silly pistons and vent amusement park rides are enough to keep me replaying this mission often. It really stuck out to me as a kid for no particular reason
Big ups to Ben
Cheers John!
I have to think that the primary reason we never fight humans whilst playing as the arbiter is because we're supposed to both relate to and sympathize with him. If we were to go on a marine slaughter spree it would likely have quite the opposite effect. Especially considering how loveable, and well loved, the marines are. Allowing us to kill them (intentionally) would make sense canonically and from a gameplay perspective, but strongly diminish the likeability of the arbiter.
Can I just say I love these. I have played it many times but never noticed all the story telling elements you have pointed out.
Cheers for the kind words Erik mate, glad you're enjoying them!
I had never noticed that grunt line, mostly just running through this level without thinking about anything around me, but it is just a great little feature which adds to the world building Bungie were so good at.
In the lore the Elites and Grunts have a good relationship, it was the Elites who first trusted them enough to let them have weapons, so it makes sense the Grunt would be more appreciative bc of their shared histories, while the Jackals have a less than friendly reputation among the other groups so makes sense that they're... less grateful
I played this one coop recently. It’s too samey throughout the level, the respawning sentinels and their vents are annoying, there’s no notable story moments until reaching the Elites at the end. The Library at least has Spark and less claustrophobic environs. I also hate the vents you drop down into to progress.
I've always hated this level the most. The camo is barely even helpful when you bump into flood in the dark, it's pretty annoying how they seem to stick him in the darkest corners of the game, almost enough to make you wish you had a flashlight instead of camo. I'd take ten libraries over another Sacred Icon. At least the Library didn't have gondolas or sentinel tunnels.
I was obsessed with the sentinel wall & the library(the structure not the mission) & what they represented when I was a kid, they were so interesting to me so this is actually one of my favorite missions.
Everything people say about Cortana of Halo 3 I wholeheartedly believe applies to Halo 2's Sacred Icon. That being said, I do think there's fun to be had in this level. Great analysis as always!
The hate The Library and Cortana got, I’ve always had for Sacred Icon.
Dont forget the part where u INSTANTLY DIE because one shotgun flood ran at u and shot u once
Just makes the level even more frustrating
An important note is that this is the first time we get to fight human combat forms in 2. They are incredibly fast compared to any other flood form in any of the Halo games, jumping and moving, making them a difficult enemy in the Halos to headshot. They retreat far more than other forms, giving them a stalker vibe and making them more distinct from the basic elite combat forms (sometimes shielded, other times not) Probably the most fun flood enemy to fight.
While I agree this is the weakest of Halo 2 levels, I won't deny that I would always try to make the jackals and grunts survive as long as possible (just like I would do with the ODSTs in Delta Halo). It was cool to finally fight side by side with them, I would always make sure to give them carbines (tho they would drop them as soon as they got scared which sucked). Fighting the UNSC was also a missed opportunity, you could say you could fight them if you rushed tho it was still very hard to arrive and keep them alive as the flood would wipe them out quickly. To be honest after losing the jackals and grunts when meeting the first enforcer (because if they survived they would definitely be wiped with the second one and the flood) I would just rush the level using the camo ability. As usual spot on analysis Ben, cheers!
Dont forget...this whole game(including the entire game engine itself) took less than 18 months to create and the basic stuff was created by 2 different teams, multiple features and levels were cut, lots of things had to be scrapped, and they were barely able to even play test a single asset on the hardware AT ALL till the last 3 months, where 80% of the final polishing and implementing the assets of the game was done. Then they had 2-3 weeks to playtest the full game, Then they had to stop as it was sent to printers and 4 weeks later was in stores
Id say they did pretty damn good, if only they had just 1 more year. Halo CE was a crunch to ship, but all the assets, levels, enemies, whole story, and sounds were there already, and was done by 1 team, plus it didnt even have online play or NEAR as much content or graphical quality
As a kid, this and uprising were my favorite levels. The goal of sacred icon is a gamble on the part of the developers. They lure you into a false sense of security with the monotony, pushing you into a comfortable situation, then throwing in sentinels, giving you a little backup, and even a miniboss to fight. After the ride forward, you're supposed to be wondering what's next, when all that comfort is thrown out the window as the flood are revealed full force. The level ramps up from there, throwing humans and their weapons in, Tartarus and his obvious disdain, and the goal changes to utter tension as halo 2 flood are much more intense than the first games, especially with human weapons. You're supposed to feel relief when the elites show up and the end of the level is supposed to give you that sense of security back.
It's Definitely a gamble, especially if you don't find it interesting it can be boring, but if you're suckered in like I was, it's one of the best experiences in terms of architecture and suspense. Oracle had a better buildup but throwing you immediately into an elevator section ruined the suspense, whereas here they make you anticipate it first. You're supposed to feel dread when you realize "Oh hell it's a flood level."
But I don't blame people who find it boring, it does have its flaws.
I had no idea the facility you start in overlooks the lakes from the previous missions!
I might be wrong on this one, but I believe at certain points, or a point, during Regret and/or Delta Halo, you're able to see the sentinel wall from Sacred Icon as well. Really well done bits of environmental consistency.
I never knew about the Sentinel factories. That will make my inevitable legendary run mote bearable
9:20 Halo 2 came out during the Middle East Wars, only a few years after 9/11.
Playing a Space Muslim shooting Space Americans would be 'No Russian.' Same reason Bungie renamed the Dervish to the Arbiter.
Long, full of corridors, boring. But it's still fun, atmospheric, and full of great moments like fighting the Enforcers, seeing the Library in the background, the earie ambience, and more.
So it's not really a bad level, just that Halo 2 has many better levels in it. Fighting alongside Jackels, even for about 20 seconds was still really nice.
Sacred Icon never felt like a standard Halo level to me. Mainly just because, even on Legendary, I spent most encounters just rushing past enemies while cloaked.
I’d say the worst level easily is The Oracle. The level starts with a VERY slow elevator ride and then right after your stuck in a arena room until the door opens. The elevator ride alone was the worst part of the whole game for me personally.
Halo 2 is, in my opinion, a game that has great highs and great lows. Some of the levels are great, and some just aren't much like most of them feel like a part 1 part 2 concept because some of the levels you have your main objective but you don't end up completing that objective until the following level the level outskirts your mission is to kill the scarab which is not done until the next level the arbiter your objective is to kill the heretic leader which you can't do until the next level the level delta halo your objective is to kill the prophet of regret with another mission that can not be completed until the following level and then you have the sacred icon which is another level that includes the same method of progression where you need to secure the sacred icon which is not done until the next but anyway with the level the sacred icon it's a level that i feel is a level that has bits and pieces from the past you start the level with basically no one around with your first objective is basically succeed where others have failed once you get to the other side of the building that's where the real work begins younare fighting waves of sentinels and flood and basically that's how it is for the rest of the level once you finish the level and start the level quarantine zone and what your objectives you have on quarantine zone I think would've made a lot more sense if it was included in the sacred icon because basically on the sacred icon you have one objective and that's take down the barrier and the rest of the level is bassically just roaming and shooting if they made the sacred icon and quarantine zone one level instead of two seperate levels it would've been better and probably made more sense
Do you see 343 industries? The enforcers slowly falling apart as the player damages it is how you show progress in combat. Not stupid health bars.
The level should have been a raging war zone you have to cut through with cloak and sword. Killing humans, burning flood and crashing sentinels.
I always thought I was crazy when I pointed out the backwards phantom to my friends 😂 I can sleep well tonight
Much has been said about the atmosphere already, but I really like sense of increasing dread that hangs over Sacred Icon and the way it progresses. I'm always downright relieved to make it to the elite drop pod setpiece.
Sacred Icon is my favourite mission!
The "vents" that are "fun" are more than that for me. They're like plunging further down into the hellscape of Flood Infestation, and the further down you go, the more alone you get. The eerier it gets.
This level also showcased the Forerunners actual purpose to me for the first time, as someone who never played CE until Anniversary, it shows those who started with H2 or H2:A the Forerunners' Sentinels fighting the Flood, moreso than they did on the Gas Giant levels "The Arbiter" and "The Oracle," where they were aligned with the Heretic above all, given 343's and Sesa 'Refumee's alliance of convenience and realisation.
Here, the Forerunners are running on their own programming, killing all biomass in the hopes of preventing infestation, something that is explained later in Gravemind with
"And you know nothing about containment and demonstrate a complete disregard for even the most basic protocols."
Really enjoyed the resident evil episode that was cool....would you consider other titles like MGS series or Splinter Cell?
Why didn't youtube notify me? Everyone make sure TH-cam didnt randomly remove the bell from BPG
I swear it's completely random, sometimes it notifies everyone and sometimes it doesn't bother at all.
It didn't notify me either 😮
Is Sarced Icon really Halo Two’s worst level? Falling through the gaps seemed fun.
Ironically, the level after this (quarantine zone) is badass
for the first part after that its tedious
sacred icon was always dope to me, being just outside the library , having to lower its shield (which you can see retracting back if you look in the sky just after deactivating it).There's also the fact that as the shield is deactivated, the flood infestation caused by "the meddlers" 90,000 years prior was being released.
this dude really just took one of halo 2 best mission and said "halo 2 worst level"
very brave
I always liked this level just because of the tunnels lol
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Apologies if the voiceover quality is a little worse than usual - I tried to tidy it up and it sounds okay on my end, but I think my microphone might be on its last legs!
Edit: I've also just realised it's a lot quieter than my others despite the sound profile and volume being the same was always when editing. Will look into this before publishing anything else.
Whenever I replay this level I tend to abuse my camo and skip most fights
This is one of my favorite missions, I definitely got lost as kid tho with how rarely the waypoint icons shows up in halo 2, itrlly is just the library of halo 2 or the 343 guilty spark in tone
5:57 i have wanted those enemies ti return for a loooong time wouldve been a fun boss to come back in later games, them picking up vehicles and crushing em was very panick inducing as a kid xD
The opening cutscene my favourite thing about this mission, playing through it is a chore it’s really uneventful, also I noticed the video is much more in depth and detailed in comparison to the original one about this mission, which I really enjoyed. The video is really professionally made and I appreciate the work and effort you put into your videos.
Agreed, the opening cutscene is by far its best part, which is pretty damning! Cheers for the kind feedback too, Jacob - the original's writing was a little too flowery and needed pruning. I'm much happier with this version, even though I did manage to muck up the sound haha. Will fix it for the 'ultimate critique' compilation.
If you have some spare time, I recommend you try Ruby of Blue's Halo Rebalanced mods. He fixed most of the problems I had with HCE and he's working on H2 now.
Don't forget, Halo Wars 2 also had flood controlling vehicles.
Today I learned about the respawning sentinels. I usually just ran past and never knew about them.
The audio is bad in this video Ben🤷🏻♂️
Yeh sorry about that, I tried to fix it as best I could and it sounded pretty fine on my end, but think my microphone might be on the fritz.
I'm sorry. You're saying that the sacred icon is the worst mission? Sacred Icon is 100x better than The Oracle. The Oracle starts off with a long elevator, then goes into a wave defense room, then backtrack through the Arbiter mission
Bungie game design in the early 2000s lol. There was a lot of commentary in that time from fans and the gaming press on how much backtracking levels there were during Halo 1 and in some levels in Halo 2
Am I the only one who enjoys flood levels? I've willingly played the library on legendary just because I LOVE killing them. I will say I don't go higher then heroic for Cortana because it can be annoying.
I enjoy Flood levels...except The Library, Sacred Icon and Cortana 😂
Every other level is great ❤
One of the few videos that I disagree on. This level was always one of my favorites and the repetitive nature of the flood makes it feel real. Like how the flood should feel. And it also makes sense from a realistic view that not every mission someone goes on will be full of diverse action and amazing experiences
Its Halo 2s worst level but its strangely my favorite
the backwards phantom happens in the original game too
Great level, somehow this feels like firefight mode.
You have the right to your incorrect opinion.
Halo 2 had one of the best campaigns
30 comments and posted one hour ago? This is going to be insane to see this video grow
Got my fingers crossed for 10,000, anything over that and I'm happy as a clam!
audio levels are kinda low on the video. otherwise always enjoy your observations
Yeh I had some issues with audio quality to begin with then also mucked up the render and didn't notice till after release! I know what went wrong with both things now, though, so this is a one off wobble hopefully.
The library is one of my favorite levels...sacred icon is one of my least favorite
The hate people have for The Library and Cortana, I have for Sacred Icon.
I'm a bit mixed on this level, it's not the best but it has a bit variety despite looking repetitive at times. For me it's one of the weaker ones but not the worst. Lower floors having thick fog did make for a good atmosphere and the early outdoor section wasn't that bad. The first part of this level and the wave section at the end were my least favourite parts. Overall i dare say i liked it slightly more than the first Arbiter level. The heretics had a good design although a bit repetitive. It is however the level design that i don't like. The hangar was the only memorable section for me. The first half of the oracle is the worst in my opinion, the second half saves it.
Interesting, sacred Icon was and still is my favorite level lol.
This as a level, would've been far better by removing some segments, and editing down Quarantine Zone to make one super level (feel like I said the same thing on your last Sacred Icon review.) Fighting Marines for the first time would've been a lot of fun, and a bit of a missed opportunity.
Great video as always man. Would love for you to review some levels/chapters from MachineGames' Wolfenstein series. A very underrated first person shooter campaign (who doesn't love fighting nazis?)
Agreed, this could have played out like The Covenant from Halo 3. A slow moving, cramped first act followed a wide open, vehicle based second act.
I actually hate Quarantine Zone more than Sacred Icon.
Updated video covering that level coming very soon too.
When is the Halo 2 full game critique coming?
Once I've completed a video for every level, I'll compile them into the full game critique. You can watch the parts completed so far here: th-cam.com/play/PLZ0a88md6HYR3CugXuoukGEknxwEOWEbL.html
I'll also do a more general retrospective on the game as well, but that will take a lot longer and probably won't be out until early next year.
WTF I thought this was one of the better levels!
There are no wrong answers to be fair, plenty of people seem to disagree!
The one time you play with Jackal allies, and you didn’t give them carbines… 😕
Its considered the worst? I always liked it a lot, in fact it was one of my favorites from halo 2, my top 3
I played this on X360, so the emulation wasn't 100% accurate, with glitches abound, especially every cutscene lagging and cutting out some dialogue. About halfway through you get 5 seconds of marine radio chatter, which I wasn't sure was a glitch or not. Plus, while I'm not a fan of hand-holding throughout games, but there was no reasoning as to having to shoot the pistons to progress, or why sentinels only came out of certain vents. And when you go down one of those long chutes and suddenly appear out in the open snowy field, with your elite buddies waiting. I sense that's where Bungie got hit by their crunch and crazy Microsoft deadline, that just speaks of a rushed job and cuts to gameplay.
Personally, temporarily fighting marines would have added to the Arbiter’s guilt and disappointment when he learns the truth of the rings. You would have tangible proof that he wrongly killed many humans, and the blood would be on your hands. And his unity with the UNSC would be so much more impactful, especially Lord Hood’s dialogue at the end of Halo 3 “I’ll never forgive you” etc. I would’ve loved it!
I suspect they did not want you to fight the UNSC because they were afraid that if you were killing humans as the Arbiter that it would make you hate the Arbiter. That's my guess, anyway. Whether that's actually true... idk. But it might've made me feel a bit conflicted about what I was doing. Though I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall I have to say... there just isn't a "Halo 2" mission that I didn't enjoy. And that includes "Sacred Icon." I think the "Halo 2" level that I like the least is "High Charity" but "Sacred Icon" is probably the second or third in that regard. It does get a bit repetitive and there probably aren't that many situations where I would start up "Halo 2" specifically to play this level like I do with a level like "Metropolis" or "Gravemind" but, idk, every time I play through it I do still have a good time. Even if I do tend to rush through some sections.
I recently played a mod called Halo 2 With Sprinkles on the mcc steam workshop and on this level it added the enemy marine encounters you mentioned wanting throughout parts of this mission as well as quarantine zone - it definitely helped the levels stand out and reminded me I'm doing work for the bad guys.
The mod also let me strap my grunt friends with shotguns which was hilarious.
Again, I don't understand your dislike for certain levels I genuinely enjoy, and now, with the modding community, make these levels even better. I particularly disagree with your focus on flood levels (save for the library because it really is copy and paste) being monotonous or tedious. They showcase just how hard and chaotic it is to deal with the flood; really, in this level in particular, you can skip most encounters with either active camo or, if you're brave enough, just sprinting past them. I have no idea what your expectations are for FPS levels, and you should really make them clear in these videos.
There are some levels in Halo 2 that I tend to avoid going back to, but "Sacred Icon" is not one of them. I do understand your gameplay frustrations with this level, but for me it's the eerie atmosphere and music that keeps me coming back to it.
As for the part about fighting humans, it is technically possible to do so in this level, but it's more of an Easter egg than anything. The Arbiter would have still been hostile towards the UNSC at this point, so it would have made sense to have enemy humans in this level. I get why Bungie chose not to do that, but it would have been really cool if they gave players the option to engage UNSC forces at their own discretion.
For me, "Quarantine Zone" is my least favorite mission, but even the missions lacking in enjoyable gameplay still gave you reasons to go back and play them. "Gravemind", for instance, is a very long mission and an absolute slog on Legendary, but one of the most visually stunning missions of the game, with an amazing soundtrack that changes as you move across High Charity.