A really great sequel to a promising first entry!
Most of my problems with Halo 1 were ironed out such as the repetitive level design and lack of variety. Halo 2 introduces so much more enemy types, weapons, level set pieces and so on. In addition to new mechanics such as weapon duel wielding, each level feels fresh and interesting, especially thanks due to a new character introduced in this game.
The shooting feels much more refined, the presentation has a much higher production value and overall everything feels greater in scope. Getting rid of health entirely and replacing it with the regenerating shield mechanic was a great change and causes the player to rethink most combat encounters. The graphics look wonderful for an original Xbox game, almost looking like an early 360 title at points and the Anniversary graphics and cutscenes are breathtaking.
The game isn't perfect however, as the difficulty balancing can be very frustrating at points, with checkpoints being given to the player very inconsistently, sometimes not being given for huge chunks of the level. Even on Normal, some enemies are ridiculously strong and tanky and while I wouldn't say Halo 2 is a particularly hard game, playing on Heroic or god-forbid Legendary will be an endurance test to say the least.
Overall, Halo 2 is a wonderful sequel and I can't wait to see how Bungie wrapped up the original trilogy in Halo 3!

Felt like going back to this game as I just yesterday came out as a trans woman and am now going by the name Emily!
This is a really interesting experience of a game, telling a very sad but real story of two people drifting apart overtime which it does a wonderful job portraying through a recreation of AOL Instant Messenger.
While the sequels are more fleshed out and layered experiences, this original game tells such a compelling and memorable little story that it always sticks out in my mind many years later.

You are Dead, Dead Dead
You are Dead, Dead Dead
Thought you were hot, guess what you're not
You are Dead, Dead Dead
Brought your whole adventure to a screeching hault
You are Dead, Dead Dead
Your heart has stopped and your brain is cold, you are so so dead
And now your body is starting to mold, you are so so dead
This Dimension, cuts like a knife
You are Dead, Dead Dead
What a pitiful waste of a human life
You are Dead, Dead Dead
Your heart has stopped and your brain is cold, you are so so dead
And now your body is starting to mold, you are so so dead
Aww, such a sad sad story
You're gone empty head in the red, Game Over
You're Through, Gone
How does it feel to be dead? (You are dead~)
Bye Bye, You're history, You're Through! You're Dust
I hope you improve your lousy score
Adios, See you later, Bye Bye
Try Again!
You are Dead, Dead Dead.

Yeah, it's Sonic 06.
I feel like Sonic's story can be fun if played in an emulator which drastically fixes the load times and slow down, but on actual hardware? Good lord.
Silver's story isn't awful, just really boring and dull overall, why they thought to make him so slow I have no idea. He was so close to being an incredibly interesting and likable character but sadly got done very dirty. Blaze is really fun to play as, though.
And then there's Shadow's story; it's awful. There's no way around it, the gameplay in his levels just is not fun, having to use clunky vehicles and search for keys as Rouge with no radar, it's the franchise at its absolute lowest.

Sonic 06 isn't an abysmal game despite this, it has a lot of redeeming qualities I feel and the story is genuinely interesting despite its major problems. This game is an intriguing case study of how a franchise can fall and become a disjointed shell of its former self, yet despite that have so much strange charm to it all.