Well, I'm officially addicted to Halo 2 and XBox Live now. I just finished playing a bunch of games online with Scott Hanselman and some others. What a blast. The last game was particularly fun.
We were playing “1 Flag CTF” where there is one flag and each team takes turns as defenders and attackers. The map was Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an incredible map. Very fun and very fast passed. It particularly takes pretty good team work if you want to pull of a smooth win. The game was four-on-four and we finally came together and played like a team. My job was to open the gate in the energy plant. Scott and the other guys hopped in the vehicles and got ready to fly into the plant when the gate was open. All times we were on offense, I found it particularly easy to open the gate (although I expect that it wouldn't be so easy against other people with higher experience than me). The last flag capture of the match was particularly beautiful. I opened the gates and dropped down and cleared out some of the enemy. As soon as the gates were open, Scott and the warthog came flying into the base. A teammate grabbed the flag and jumped up in to the warthog and it took off back to the beach for an easy victory. What a thing of beauty.
If I wasn't totally addicted before that game, I'm entirely hooked on it now. When a game goes that well, it's eerily like a potent line of crack cocaine (not that I would actually know if this is a valid comparison mind you).
So far, all the game types I've played have been very enjoyable. Slayer is actually my least favorite because I prefer the team-based game types. I didn't think I would like 1 Flag CTF when I first heard about it because I was so used to normal CTF, but I have to say that after playing a few rounds, I think I like 1 Flag CTF better than the old-fashioned CTF. Territories was a great game type, very strategic. And also Team Oddball is pretty fun. All in all, I have to say Bungie nailed the multiplayer experience down very well. It's really cool to get some good multiplayer action in without having to leave the house or try to get everyone together. Just find a couple friends online and you're set. I give you two thumbs up, Bungie :D.