Halo 2 singleplayer mode wasn't good and a massive set backwards from the 1st game and BUNGiE had themselves came out and said so and how huge parts of the game world that was developed, had to be scrapped and started again and the ending of the game, was the worst this side of Shenmue. It was saved by hype (some times a delay can build up ever more hype) looking really good and also its utterly amazing and awesome multiplayer mode, a little like Perfect Dark 64 IMO
Halo 2 singleplayer mode was like Halo 5 for me, I didn't like the focus on the story or switching characters and the gameplay felt like a step backwards from what happened before, but both had awesome multiplayer modes
That's just your opinion of Halo 2's single player, though. If you go to one of the "rank the Halo campaigns" thread you will find posts where it is on the top and posts where it is on the bottom. For example:
Plenty of people in those threads rank it as number 1. And for the game as a whole we have this poll where it is in 3rd place, with 56 votes, compared to 6 (!) votes for Halo 5.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/poll-best-halo-game.1558909/
Reviews at the time also praised the campaign. For example, IGN said:
"The end-result is that it's not only addicting, it's not only
the most fun you'll have in single-player or multiplayer game on Xbox, the story is deep and smart, and it keeps you interested."
www.ign.com
Eurogamer said:
"thank goodness Bungie hasn't really sacrificed the single player mode to make it into some sort of side show to the main event. It's very clear, having played through all 15 chapters (12 hours on Normal is probably a fair guess) that
it's a much more consistent, more exciting game than the original with far less of the moody tedium that blighted the middle section of the original."
Order yours now from Simply Games.Expectation is such a double edged sword. The cultural obsession with building things…
www.eurogamer.net
Gamespot were the most critical amongst the major news sites, due to the length of the campaign and the new story, but still their verdict is:
"To say that there's a lot to like about Halo 2 would be an understatement. Despite a rather short campaign and a disappointing storyline, Halo 2 is an
exceptional shooter that frequently delivers thrilling, memorable, and unique moments in its online, co-op, and
single-player modes."
Despite a rather short campaign and a disappointing storyline, Halo 2 is an exceptional shooter that frequently delivers thrilling, memorable, and unique moments in its online, co-op, and single-player modes.
www.gamespot.com
Clearly Halo 2 didn't live up the the expectations set by Bungie, and was the product of a horrendous development crunch in which half the levels and the ending had to be chopped off. But that doesn't in itself make the campaign bad, and I don't see any evidence that it was received that way by the fan base. I mean according to Schreier, 2/3 of Infinite's campaign was cut, and you can really feel the lack of variety that comes with only having a single biome. Arguably Halo 5 has both a more comprehensive story and a greater variety of environments, and overall it feels far more like a finished product than Infinite. Yet Infinite is being better received. I think that shows it is the "soul" of a game that counts. Halo 2's soul lived on through Halo 3. Halo 5's soul got thrown in a dumpster and then was shot from orbit with a MAC gun.