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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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
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’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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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 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.
Of the best moments in the opening cutscene is the acknowledgment from Rtas when he’s walking away from the prophets. It shows the bond they formed during previous encounters.
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
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."
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.
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.
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
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
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.
I got halo 2 bundled with the xbox my mum got me when I was like 9/10, played halo 2 campaign on repeat and this mission felt so strange to me the atmosphere was so oppressive and claustrophobic. Truly felt like massive things were happening
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
This level would have been better if this was the first flood reveal, because it had great build up. The reveal on the Oracle was underwhelming and had little build up- and imagine you drop down a piston (in sacred icon) and "devils, monsters" starts playing and you hear a marine/elite on the comms yell "its the flood!"
✅ 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.
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 think this was one of the missions that highlighted how little time Bungie had to iron out level design due to the chaotic crunch happening behind the scenes. That Sentinel factory segment of the level still confuses me to this day lol
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.
What makes this Level worse is it's an almost entirely indoor area, meaning if you have the Acrophobia skull on in the MCC version of Halo 2, than you can't even fly around it, or fly to an area where enemies can't get you, or even fly near the end of the level as there's two huge f**king walls that prevent you from even flying on top of one and walking to the other side as there's also an invisible barrier there to keep you from going to the other side.
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?)
This is a weird level. I think as a kid I wasn’t into it, but as an adult it has some of the highest nostalgia factor for me. It’s ambient, I love the sentinels and the falling through the levels, as well as the scattered covenant allies in the level. I can’t place it but this may be one of my favourite levels in the franchise. Certainly worse levels exist imo too like high charity and the oracle. Weird how we tend to dislike flood levels but at the same time we yearn for their return.
yo what, this was an awesome mission, damn, better than the entirety of halo 4. It was genuinely one of my absolute favorite missions, the entire sky was busy, there was atmosphere everywhere and three way conflict between ai allies, sentinals, and flood. I always kept my team alive as long as possible and the cutscenes were cool. It was lore, delving into how covenant missions operate which to me was always awesome.
I don't know how you can call this the worst level when the one following it is not only the worst level of Halo 2, but the worst level in the entire Halo series. Quarantine Zone is a special kind of hell, particularly the never ending gondola ride where the game's physics just take the day off for some reason.
In retrospect I view levels like Outskirts-Metropolis, The Arbiter-Oracle etc. as long levels like The Ark or The Covenant were in Halo 3. But because it was before they introduced Rally Points in H3, they were split into two. Which works rather well since OG Halo 2 had no loading screens between levels, so going between these "split" levels was seamless. So Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone are essentially two halves of one level, with SI serving as the buildup to QZ. At least to me, thinking of it like that makes Sacred Icon feel a bit less out of place.
whenever i play h2 co-op with my cousin, Sacred Icon kills all our momentum and leaves us bored out of our minds fighting the UNSC in this level would have been frustrating, but i'll take frustrating over boring any day
Great video as always! Any plans to cover Arbiter’s later games levels in depth Uprising and The Great Journey? I’d love to get your take and analysis. Keep up the great work! Your work is greatly appreciated man
Sacred Icon showed me that if there’s one thing worse than a Flood focused level, it’s a Sentinel focused level. That first third until Buyers’ Remorse is among some of Halo 2’s worst. The middle part has a bit more to it, though the linear level design and Arbiter’s cloak make it little more than a pedestrian retread of CE’s Flood corridors with a get out of jail free button on a quick recharge. The last part with the Elites isn’t awful, though goes on far too long on Legendary (though not even close to how overlong the Gondola in Quarantine Zone). For as fun as Firefight can be, I always find that Halo’s gameplay is at its worst when it locks you into a set arena and throws multiple waves of enemies your way. It can be done well if it’s well paced and varied (first tower in Halo in CE or the end of NMPDHQ in ODST), but so many times it wears out its welcome and still goes on for 5 minutes after that (Pretty much any time Halo 2 or Halo 5 does it)
This is a mission that I like but I understand why others may loathe it. It is a bit like the Library in the original Halo: its atmosphere is quite good, but it lacks something to make it 'spark'. In this case, as others pointed out, the issue is twofold: not enough allies and no fight against the Marines.
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.
![[4K] Halo 2 Anniversary All Arbiter's Missions with Cutscenes.](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/F9-jdwR6AKU/mqdefault.jpg)
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
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 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
I think sacred icon and quarantine zone have the coolest vibe/atmosphere and scenery of any halo game
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
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.
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’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
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.
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.
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.
@@efrain223 fair enough
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.
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 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.
Fun fact: Sometimes if you play that level the grunt (in the beginning of the level) becomes unable to be killed.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Don't forget, Halo Wars 2 also had flood controlling vehicles.
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.
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
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’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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
The Arbiter in his plate armor is gorgeous at every angle
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Today I learned about the respawning sentinels. I usually just ran past and never knew about them.
12:50 WHAT i never picked that up...
That and the energy shield retracting overhead earlier are both super easy to miss if you're not paying attention.
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'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
I love Arbiters damnation and perilous yet tedious missions. I prefer the Arbiter story over John's any day
No
@@asm7406 You're a chief dick rider
I never knew about the Sentinel factories. That will make my inevitable legendary run mote bearable
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 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.
Whenever I replay this level I tend to abuse my camo and skip most fights
Of the best moments in the opening cutscene is the acknowledgment from Rtas when he’s walking away from the prophets. It shows the bond they formed during previous encounters.
I always thought I was crazy when I pointed out the backwards phantom to my friends 😂 I can sleep well tonight
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
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."
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.
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.
Who else saw that thumbnail and thought it was a giant vex head
It's me struggling to come up with one haha.
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
Is Sarced Icon really Halo Two’s worst level? Falling through the gaps seemed fun.
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
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.
Ironically, the level after this (quarantine zone) is badass
for the first part after that its tedious
I got halo 2 bundled with the xbox my mum got me when I was like 9/10, played halo 2 campaign on repeat and this mission felt so strange to me the atmosphere was so oppressive and claustrophobic. Truly felt like massive things were happening
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
Man i played this mission so many times when i was younger never knew you could destroy the thing that spawns the sentinals
8:09 that's true. I like the detail too. The Flood is very unsettling.
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.
this dude really just took one of halo 2 best mission and said "halo 2 worst level"
very brave
This level would have been better if this was the first flood reveal, because it had great build up. The reveal on the Oracle was underwhelming and had little build up- and imagine you drop down a piston (in sacred icon) and "devils, monsters" starts playing and you hear a marine/elite on the comms yell "its the flood!"
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.
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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.
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!
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!
I think this was one of the missions that highlighted how little time Bungie had to iron out level design due to the chaotic crunch happening behind the scenes.
That Sentinel factory segment of the level still confuses me to this day lol
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 ❤
What makes this Level worse is it's an almost entirely indoor area, meaning if you have the Acrophobia skull on in the MCC version of Halo 2, than you can't even fly around it, or fly to an area where enemies can't get you, or even fly near the end of the level as there's two huge f**king walls that prevent you from even flying on top of one and walking to the other side as there's also an invisible barrier there to keep you from going to the other side.
I have played this game 6 times and I didn't know until now that you can destroy the vents
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.
This is a weird level. I think as a kid I wasn’t into it, but as an adult it has some of the highest nostalgia factor for me. It’s ambient, I love the sentinels and the falling through the levels, as well as the scattered covenant allies in the level. I can’t place it but this may be one of my favourite levels in the franchise. Certainly worse levels exist imo too like high charity and the oracle. Weird how we tend to dislike flood levels but at the same time we yearn for their return.
yo what, this was an awesome mission, damn, better than the entirety of halo 4. It was genuinely one of my absolute favorite missions, the entire sky was busy, there was atmosphere everywhere and three way conflict between ai allies, sentinals, and flood. I always kept my team alive as long as possible and the cutscenes were cool. It was lore, delving into how covenant missions operate which to me was always awesome.
the backwards phantom happens in the original game too
I never noticed that Sentinel facility being blasted out of the sky. I wonder what other details in Halo 2 I've missed?
At 5:32 when i first heard that when I was 9 years old and the grunt said arbiter our savour...stupid jackels say thank you im like 😂
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
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 don't know how you can call this the worst level when the one following it is not only the worst level of Halo 2, but the worst level in the entire Halo series. Quarantine Zone is a special kind of hell, particularly the never ending gondola ride where the game's physics just take the day off for some reason.
my last playthrough i 100% used active camouflage to skip half the level and get to the point
In retrospect I view levels like Outskirts-Metropolis, The Arbiter-Oracle etc. as long levels like The Ark or The Covenant were in Halo 3. But because it was before they introduced Rally Points in H3, they were split into two. Which works rather well since OG Halo 2 had no loading screens between levels, so going between these "split" levels was seamless.
So Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone are essentially two halves of one level, with SI serving as the buildup to QZ. At least to me, thinking of it like that makes Sacred Icon feel a bit less out of place.
Great level, somehow this feels like firefight mode.
whenever i play h2 co-op with my cousin, Sacred Icon kills all our momentum and leaves us bored out of our minds
fighting the UNSC in this level would have been frustrating, but i'll take frustrating over boring any day
Great video as always! Any plans to cover Arbiter’s later games levels in depth Uprising and The Great Journey? I’d love to get your take and analysis. Keep up the great work! Your work is greatly appreciated man
Sacred Icon showed me that if there’s one thing worse than a Flood focused level, it’s a Sentinel focused level. That first third until Buyers’ Remorse is among some of Halo 2’s worst. The middle part has a bit more to it, though the linear level design and Arbiter’s cloak make it little more than a pedestrian retread of CE’s Flood corridors with a get out of jail free button on a quick recharge. The last part with the Elites isn’t awful, though goes on far too long on Legendary (though not even close to how overlong the Gondola in Quarantine Zone).
For as fun as Firefight can be, I always find that Halo’s gameplay is at its worst when it locks you into a set arena and throws multiple waves of enemies your way. It can be done well if it’s well paced and varied (first tower in Halo in CE or the end of NMPDHQ in ODST), but so many times it wears out its welcome and still goes on for 5 minutes after that (Pretty much any time Halo 2 or Halo 5 does it)
Big ups to Ben
Cheers John!
This is my favorite mission… I love trying to keep the grunt & jackal survivors alive until the end.
This is a mission that I like but I understand why others may loathe it. It is a bit like the Library in the original Halo: its atmosphere is quite good, but it lacks something to make it 'spark'. In this case, as others pointed out, the issue is twofold: not enough allies and no fight against the Marines.
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.
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.