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november 9th is going to be the day we never forget | | desmond from Lancaster, CA says (10/Jun/2004): | man if y'all haven't heard this is going to be the day we never forget because halo 2has a lot of new features such as hijacking vehicles from other players, wielding a plasma sword, dual wielding , 4 warthogs , pilot a pelican that carrys eight guys maximum, pilot a phantom jet that carrys 6 guys, destuctible vehicles, new weapons such as the covenant carbine(a covenant battle rifle) go look at the pic which has two elites guarding a door and there holding purple guns well some of it is gray but those are covenant carbines, and turbo ghost and banshees. people get rid of those ps2 and beg your mom and dad for the ultimate gaming system. halo 2 is going live.
so what r u going to do when you get halo 2
single player campaign
cooperative campain
halo 2 live
system link 1-16 players
split screen
your choice
if you tell me
email me at desmond072003< remove me > at msn.com
| It dosn't get any better!! | | Sporadicous from Exeter, UK says (18/Nov/2004): | I've read a few of the minority negative reviews and can say only one thing... you guys are MAD, MAD as Mr mad driving his madcacycle through the valley of mad on a trip to madgaria.
This game is clearly one of the best concived and almost perfectly implemented games ever made!!
The story line is as near perfect as it gets - those people who don't like it, probably just don't get the concept - this is a new way of looking at gaming, it's not just your standard fodder, it's not some production line games company pumping out a quick buck clone - this game is designed to last - it's a community and an evolution.
Bungie have already hidden a great deal of secrets in this game, that once discovered add whole new angles to the enjoyment factor.
Online multiplayer is just remarkable, this isn't a game, it's a way of life!
Bungie are very licky with Halo/Halo 2
What they have is the X factor - this isn't something you can design (just look at Kill Zone, desperatly trying to have the X factor so much that it missed it by a mile)
Halo 2 is already a classic - if not THE classic game.
As with Halo 1, Halo 2 has become the new yardstick with which other games will be judged.
| The Master Chief is back!!! | | Master Chief Mark from Kelso WA USA says (31/May/2003): | Now,I have heard a lot about this X-Box game,and I think that this sequel to one of the greatest first-person shooters ever created will kick some serious butt when it is released in late 2003 or early 2004.There will be over twice as many vehicles including four new Warthogs,an ATV,and a combination of a Ghost and a Warthog,a Shadow.There will be a new type of grenade that detonates remotely.You can peek around corners and holster your weapon and sprint across the battle field.There are also two new assault rifles.One has a scope but it doesn't fire very fast and the other fires extremly fast but isn't very accurate.This game will be so realistic that you can even blow up vehicles.It even is on X-Box Live.All in all,this will be the best shooter ever!
| Watch out for the upcomming and best game in the world!!!! | | Deity Maroli- Game Pro from Bowie, Maryland, U.S.A says (4/Jul/2004): | I've heard a lot about this game. I read the other reviews, but guys listen to me, they know nothing, this game is gonna be so much better than nayone can imagine, the graphics wepaons and vehicles are out of this world... How do I know, I tested the game in Microsoft warehouse in California! I tell ya, when I swa the opening to the game, I was hooked. All the levels were beaten for me so I chose the coolest looking one and kicked butt. THe weapons were incredible! I got to use the laser sword and slashed the stupid ass grunts into pieces. THe assault rifle is a mix between a sniper and machine gun, the pistol, unfortunately, is gone. I suggest higly to any game cube owners or PS2 losers to get Xbox. Good idea, yes? The settings are off da hook, moon, earth, undergorund, sky fights, riding in covenant tanks and cars with pelicans flying by your side. Snapping necks of Burbles and jumping to the side while firing wildly at elites. climbing walls and picking off grunts with the machine gun/ sniper rifle. Using swords to run hunters thourgh, kicking grunts out of their seats and jumping on while pulling marines to the gunner seats, blowing up buildings while elites pour out of drop ships... man I could go on and on. You know what, the date for the release is questionable, but a sign said for march or april. YOu know I have one reserved. Get one your self! You know this helped well!
| The Best Game In The World | | Master Chief from australia queensland says (14/May/2003): | Halo 2, just the mention of this game will drive many people into insanity(not really)considering how totally awesome halo 1 was. in the new game there will be many new things i.e new weapons, new veichles and a whole bunch of other stuff like the abilty to sprint shoot out lights and peek around corners(seems like bungie have decided to mix some of the winner elements from splinter cell) halo 2 this time part on earth should be able to kick any other game of the pendulim in greatness the tiny details are dripping through ever so slowly which makes waiting for its return ever more exciting.
you could imagine fighting your way through angry little grunts and menacing elites through a completely and utterly realistic enviroment.
halo 2 in anyones eyes should break through the barrier of any game on the market and in creation with the elements that only the awesome bungie can create.
but $#< remove me > at ! your rifles and clean your scopes and get ready for the most oustanding first person shooter...ever.
| Halo 2...and maybe a movie??? | | Jake from Va,USA says (8/Jul/2004): | We all know that Halo 2 is going to be the best game ever.i've read the book twice. New weapons including the light swords that yellow elites have, and many new vehicles.Although the pistol is gone, a new double-fisted machine gun is here.For all hardcore Halo fans I have ultimate news.Many rumors are going around about a Halo movie trilogy!Play the game then live it without the need for controllers or an Xbox! i will have advance tickets if the rumors are true. November ninth will be a day that will make video game history
| awsome | | A gamer from Usa elpaso texas says (24/Nov/2004): | This could possibly be the best game xbox has and will forever been made. i mean the duel weapons the stealing cars the new weapons the awsome electric guitar in the songs and xbox live enabled. wow could it get any better oh ya and did i add multiplayer campaing wow. like its so great my brother got all of his churh and like bunches of xboxes to go to churh and all play this. im mean if a church does it shouldnt you.im mean its so awsome i literaly stayed up night and day playing this awsomely great games. and if you go on legendary difficulty you can find secret hidden sculls that give you speacial stuff. awsome.if you dont like this game like that stupid guy that gave it 1 star on the fist page you no the one that like. ohh its just like the first one. he probably doesnt no any better cause hes stupid.
| this game will own us all | | Peter from La Crosse, Wisconsin says (22/Apr/2004): | Halo 2 is gonna be sweet. the last halo had 10 levels, and what i have heard so far for levels on halo 2 will be 24 levels.this game is officially coming out later this year. so dont worry for any huge delays. there are going to be so many improvements from halo 1. ya know what will relly cool, is that there are 2 levels on the moon. i cant wait any longer. MUST PLAY HALO 2. Make sure to reserve your Halo 2 before it comes out because it will be gone right away. in the meantime beat halo on ledgendary again.
| viva la evolution Will Rock the world!!!!!! | | Daniel or D$ from Indiana usa says (9/Jul/2004): |
WEll I get the official xbox mag as the same as all of you die hard xbox fans. HAlo 2 is in about all the mags latey and it is alsome ervery time i read it. any thing about halo 2 in unbelivable awesome. Let me tell about ALL!! about it.
1.come out on November 9 2004 the greatest day that will ever come
2. It is halo 2
3.More weapons (covenant carbine- a zoom in battle rifle) and (the smg that u can dual wield)+ the convenant swords too. THe assault rifle is a mix between a sniper and machine gun, the pistol, unfortunately, is gone.
4.It is halo 2
5.Dual wielding-you will be able to use two guns at once but only the guns theat uses one hand only so no dual rocketlanchers sorry but i am hinted that when you beat the game on legendaery you will be able to
6.It is halo 2
7.vehcles- you will beable to get to drive any vehcle that u desier in the game, The settings are off da hook, moon, earth, undergorund, sky fights, riding in covenant tanks and cars with pelicans flying by your side and turbo boost ghost and banshees.
8. the enimies will fight more realistic and there r brutes and profants.
9.It is halo two
I dont really know anything eles because the game has not came out yet but you could find mor info at bungie.com and read the other reviews two becasue i might of miss something
| wow!!!!!!!! | | Master Cheif from Earth says (26/Aug/2004): | The defeat of the Covenant in the first Halo game was only a temporary victory, as the alien attackers have renewed their mission to wipe out all of humanity. Despite the human military force's and Master Chief's efforts, the Covenant have breeched the Earth's defenses and have left its inhabitants in a dismal situation. In the midst of desperation, players assume the role of Master Chief and lead the resistance against the Covenant to save the people of Earth from a gruesome demise. Halo 2 will feature an immense and epic single player mode, as the story picks up where it ended in the first game. In addition to the single player mode, Halo 2 will also feature a redesigned multiplayer mode. While the first game limited players to LAN connectivity, Halo 2 takes multiplayer missions online by way of Xbox Live.
The defeat of the Covenant in the first Halo game was only a temporary victory, as the alien attackers have renewed their mission to wipe out all of humanity. Despite the human military force's and Master Chief's efforts, the Covenant have breeched the Earth's defenses and have left its inhabitants in a dismal situation. In the midst of desperation, players assume the role of Master Chief and lead the resistance against the Covenant to save the people of Earth from a gruesome demise. Halo 2 will feature an immense and epic single player mode, as the story picks up where it ended in the first game. In addition to the single player mode, Halo 2 will also feature a redesigned multiplayer mode. While the first game limited players to LAN connectivity, Halo 2 takes multiplayer missions online by way of Xbox Live.
It is great. That's right. It is great, it is awesome, it is a whole lot better than the already stellar original Halo multiplayer. I played for an hour recently -- one map, one mode, a whole lot of Bungie employees. It is great. Before getting into the meat of this meat-a-licious hands-on, I figured the record should be set straight: Halo 2 multiplayer is gonna own you all on November 9. If you want to judge for yourself, Check out our direct-feed movies and read our interview with Pete Parsons.
Last year at its pre-E3 press conference, microsoft unveiled an eight-minute demo of halo 2 single-player. We didn't play it, but boy did we want to. This year, Microsoft changed things up, showing off multiplayer for the most anticipated game of the year. While everyone else in the theatre -- we're talking hundreds of people -- sat in awe, hoping desperately for a chance to play, I was sitting comfortably, my only desire to play it again. That's because earlier myself, Fran Mirabella III (a noted nintendo whore), and two GameSpy editors spent an hour playing the game with the folks from Bungie. There was a good five minutes where I was staring at the menu screen, waiting to go in. It was like sitting in a roller coaster waiting for it to start moving -- you know what's coming is gonna rock, you just want it to get started already. Then we played for an hour. That hour was a reminder of why I love my job, why I love games, and why I'm so happy that what my mother told me about my youthful "activities" and blindness weren't true at all.
For halo 2 multiplayer, Bungie wanted to focus on the social aspects of gaming. That means you can expect full use of Xbox Live 3.0, but in ways no one else has yet conceived. While those details have not yet been revealed, most of our questions about standard Live 3.0 fare was met with "Oh, we're doing something infinitely cooler." For those who truly want to sit on a couch with a buddy, split-screen and System Link will still be there. The new addition, of course, is Live play. Though no number has been finalized, a recent internal Alpha test had 16 players going at it online. So that would likely be a base, with possibly an increase in the limit to boot.
Capture the Flag
The four of us (whom I will nickname KillHil, FrancisCube, Sluggo, and "That Other Guy"), played a single map called Zanzibar, located in Africa in the year 2552. The outer human colonies have fallen and the Covenant are making their move to conquer Earth. Though Zanzibar is not a part of the single-player game, it is connected somehow through the story (Bungie's pretty secretive, so the how's of it are unknown). Zanabar's edges are well-defined. There's a beach on one end and a crumbling, decommissioned reactor station at the other. It's a medium-sized map, but the perfect size for four-on-four Capture the Flag.
This time out, Capture the Flag is a bit different. There's one flag, located in the heart of the facility. One team protects the flag, the other spawns on the beach, with a Warthog and two Ghosts at their disposal, and tries to break in, snatch the flag, and return it to their spawn point. Each round lasts three minutes and if time runs out before the offense can retrieve and return the flag, the round ends with no points given. Sides switch, so that those trying to get the flag last time are now trying to defend it. Play goes until one team earns three points. Sounds simple and it is, but the level design is so good on Zanzibar that there are tons of strategic elements that surface after just a few rounds of play.
Tricks of the Trade
Before getting into the subtleties of the map, let's talk about control. Anyone who's played Halo will have no troubles with picking the sequel up and owning right off the bat. The game feels like a natural extension of the original, with exactly the right tweaks and improvements. I wasn't certain of how much better Halo 2 multiplayer was compared to the first, so afterwards a few IGN editors got together to play the original and man, it's hard to believe how much tighter, smarter, and more impressive the new map is compared to some of the classics.
There are some new tricks to learn, however. Remember the single-player demo from last year? Everything cool in that is in the multiplayer. Dual-wielding is easy. With one single-handed gun in tow (an SMG, for example), stand over another single-handed weapon (like the Needler). You can hold X to switch weapons, as usual, but you can do dual-wielding by holding Y. It's that simple. With two guns in hand, you can't throw grenades or perform melee attacks (both a vital part of my game), but you can shoot two friggin' guns at once, so it balances out. The Left Trigger fires the gun in your left hand and the Right Trigger does the same for the one in your right hand. Squeeze both and you'll get dual fire. The trick is, your aim becomes total crap when firing two guns and the recoil will force your aim upwards until you stop shooting. Sucks, sure, but start at the feet of a fleeing foe and they'll be dead before you ever get up to their noggin.
Yeah, I should get on to some of the other aspects of multiplayer, but you know what, how often do I get to be the first person to devote a lot of words to dual-wielding. This is gonna be the cool thing to do. Fran's take is to use all his grenades, then go for a second weapon, but I found that when you have the chance, take a second weapon. You can reload them as if you were using a single gun and you can put one away by pressing Y. Dual-wielding will be a favorite of meatheads who love to run in and shoot everything in sight without any hope of using skill, but it's also a choice for skilled players. After all, you don't have to fire them both at the same time and there are advantages to firing an energy weapon instead of an SMG, so with one in each hand, you have the choice of which to shoot.
Die Shooting
Speaking of Covenant weapons, there were only two for this demo. The Needler, which was a cool-looking but suck-ass weapon in the first halo has been tweaked. It now actually has some muscle behind it and is as effective as an SMG. The other weapon is one that will make melee combat much more effective than ever before. The Elite's Plasma Sword can be used by Master Chief and his cloned crew or by the Elite's themselves. Oh yeah, you can play as Elite's in multiplayer, but don't worry, I will get to that soon enough. There's so much to get to, so lets stay focused on the weapons.
The Plasma Sword is not easy to get to. See, the maps in halo 2 feature interactive elements. There are two interactive pieces in Zanzibar. The first is a gate, which opens into the compound to allow vehicles direct access to the flag. Problem is, the switch to lift the gate is on the second floor inside the complex, where all of the opposition spawns. The enemy will almost always send someone to guard the switch, if not, they are stupid, as getting the gate up is quite important. If you have the flag, you can't use a weapon, but you can hop into the passenger seat of a Warthog. And once you have the hog, you can be gone.
The other point, perhaps the more important one from a "holy sh*$ I want to play with that!" standpoint, is the maneuvering it takes to get the Plasma Sword. The Sword can be clearly seen after passing under the massive sea wall and into the courtyard of the facility. Perched inside a console in the center of a massive rotating wheel, many people will never even realize how to get to this gem. Describing it is a bit tough, but essentially, you need to find a small opening, drop down, move through, wait for the lift to appear, go up, shoot a lynchpin that drops a bridge, cross the bridge and grab the Sword. It's easy once you know how, but it's not easy to learn how.
With the Plasma Sword in hand, you have a normal attack with the Right Trigger and one of the new lock-on attacks. A few of the weapons, including the Plasma Sword and the Rocket Launcher have a new lock-on feature. Keep an enemy in your reticule for a few seconds and the reticule turns a more solid red. Fire the Rocket Launcher at this point and it will track the enemy, making it a lot easier to nail fleeing enemies from a high spot (and the fortress you defend has several sniper points). Lock-on with the Plasma Sword and you'll do very cool lunging attack that covers a decent amount of ground and is a surefire instant kill. Plus, it's fun.
The map had a variety of weapons (SMG, Sniper Rifle, Assault Gun, Mounted Machinegun, Rocket Launcher, Needler, Shotgun, Frag Grenade, Sticky Grenade). Notable omissions were a flamethrower (sorry!) and the single-shot pistol, which was easily the deadliest weapon in multiplayer from the original game. That's not to say those won't be included, in fact, there are numerous other weapons yet to be unveiled, but those remain to be seen. Each has some visual and slight game tweaks and all of them felt better, especially the Needler. The shotgun is only effective up close, but at close range it's pretty deadly.
Beware Walls, Your Days Are Numbered
My favorite weapon quickly became the mounted machinegun, which is positioned on one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard. What's cool is that you can go onto one balcony and grab the Rocket Launcher, then jump to the other balcony (just barely) and hop onto the Mounted Machinegun. It's just like in last year's single-player demo. An easy to use mounted gun that is just an absolutely blast to rip people with. But it's not often you can use it for long, because the offense knows that that's a trouble spot and will often blow up the balcony before it can be used (or, worse for a defender, when it's being used).
The balconies can be destroyed, the walls can be shot away, everything is destructible. You mock the images released by Bungie? You're a sucker. I've seen it with my own eyes, the walls degrade in different ways almost every battle. Sometimes the support columns inside the facility are untouched and other times you'll see them whittled down to a sliver. If there's any doubt they are being shot at, you can hear bullets whiz past your ear and yes, you can hear the ricochet off the wall. If you destroy the support walls it does not bring down the building, I'm sorry to say, but then that would also pretty much end the game since you wouldn't be able to get the flag. Bungie wants to make it cool, but wants every game to still be functional.
Rush Hour Traffic
More impressive than the environmental damage is the fact that the vehicles are now fully modeled in every possible area. You can shoot the hubcaps off of the Warthog or destroy the bumper -- even the engine in modeled. At one point, one of the Bungie gang was fleeing on a Warthog with the flag. I lit him up with the Rocket Launcher and blew him sky high. Parts went everywhere. I switch to my SMG and shoot at the tire, rolling it down a hill. Bad ass? What do you think?
Vehicles also feature slightly tighter control. I'm sorry, but as cool as the Warthog might have been in the first halo the first few hours driving it seemed worthy of a CHP "Red Asphalt" video. It was fun, but it was not as functional as it could have been. It is now. And the Warthog also has a rocket launcher, making it much more effective in Zanzibar.
Fran and I eventually locked onto a strategy (originally suggested by Bungie's own Pete Parsons). When starting on the beach (and therefore needing to bust into the facility and steal the flag) I hopped in the gunner seat and Fran went about driving. Okay, so maybe having a woman drive was a bad idea, but eventually we got it down pat. Once we hit the entrance through the stone seawall, I had to aim to the right and try and take out anyone who might be manning the Rocket Launcher on the balcony. Then we go left and as we do so, I destroy the Mounted Machinegun, just in case. Meanwhile our other two buddies are inside trying to get the gate open. Once they do, we let them come out and we stand our ground and waste any enemies that come outside. It's quite effective so long as none of them get hold of a Ghost.
The Ghost, like the Warthog, has a brand new feature. By holding down the Left Trigger you get an infinite speed boost. This is good in that you can travel very fast, but control is for crap going at such speeds and you can't attack. Using the speed burst intelligently is the way to go, so when Fran and I hit the courtyard in the Warthog, he punches it if we start taking fire from the mounted machinegun. The control is better now and it seems a lot more logical when vehicles run you over. I was smacked many times and crushed against walls, but never was there a moment when it felt unfair. All of my smackdowns were justified. Why? Because I was doing my damndest to try out the new boarding feature.
Prepare to Board
I told you that everything in the single-player demo that was cool was, in fact, in the multiplayer demo. Boarding is a bit more simplistic for multiplayer. In the single-player, you press X to hop on, then you can do different attacks to take out your enemy, but in multiplayer it's just a one-button action, which serves for the faster pace. It is not easy to do, because you really need to be near a vehicle without getting rammed or without having it zip by before you can hit X. A good strategy is to have one person distract the driver with frontal fire, while you sneak up behind and do your bid'ness. There are two animations, one for a frontal board and one for a rear board and every single time I did one (err, once) or had it done to me (err, a lot), it was one of the cooler things I experienced on any xbox game. I can't wait to do that to some sucker on xbox Live
I should mention, before hopping off of the topic of vehicles, that they have two levels of destruction. The first basically toasts the vehicle, making it basically worthless. It smokes and electricity sparks. If you're driving and this happens while you have your energy shield up, you'll be temporarily KO'd and will slump against the dash. If your shield is down, you die and respawn a few seconds later. The second level forces the vehicle to vibrate violently before exploding in mini-nuke fashion, killing everyone within about a ten foot radius. KaBOOM.
Be Elite
As I said a bit ago, we played the entire game as Elite. From what I could tell, there wasn't anything but a cosmetic difference between playing as an Elite or as Master Chief. No special vision, no secret attack, just the cool look of it. Though we were red team, the other blue, there are plenty of other colors. In fact, there will be fully customizable colors, though it's unclear if that means you can create war paint or anything like that or if you can simply choose from a hundred different shades of pink. One thing you can definitely create on your own are the symbols that appear above your head during play. Yes, you will have your clan colors, but individuals can create their own symbols, sort of like flags, that appear above a player's head above their name in multiplayer. Now people can know you not only in name, but in symbol. Should be cool and may have some extra functionality yet to be revealed.
Because the Elites and Master Chief have no real differences, the game is pretty balanced. And, oddly enough, there are no power-ups in Zanzibar. That doesn't mean they don't exist, but to be honest, I really hope they are gone. Yeah, it was very fun to go camo in Halo, but the experience of Zanzibar was truly about as good as I could possibly have expected and part of that is because those power-ups sort of cheapen the tactics in some ways. Okay, yes, it can be strategic to know where an overshield power-up is and find a shortcut to it, but the hour we played getting our nuts handed to us by Bungie was made all the better because it was based on pure skill. And that meant that when I smoked one of them, it was me and him, even grounds and no-holds-barred with nothing but our skill determining who won out. That's how it should be.
I have to say that if there was one thing I could complain about -- other than the fact that most of our questions were met with cryptic answers -- is that the Elite really has nothing to separate it from Master Chief. Why not some sort of different visual mode or something, to have nothing, well, I had to look at my teammates to make certain we were still Elites when we started a new match.
Pretty Pictures and Loud Bangs
Visuals are a big part of halo. The original set the standard with some outstanding textures and a lot of cinematic flare. Most Xbox Live games suffer a little bit graphically and Halo 2 is no different. While the multiplayer looks great, it's a step below what was shown of the single-player at last E3. The textures don't seem quite as robust, the bump-mapping also seems a little toned down, and the lighting isn't particularly spectacular compared to the single-player. Still, there was only one spot with any slowdown (the same spot too, so that's likely something that will be fixed), very minimal aliasing, and a ton of carnage. The graphics are striking, but I honestly forgot all about them five minutes into the game. This thing could look like ass and play great and I wouldn't care. The beauty is just a bonus.
Compared to the original, Zanzibar is worlds ahead in terms of level design and the textures. Seeing walls chunk, being able to have an instant sense of placement on the maps, and having a furious gunbattle without framerate hitches -- oh the joys. Truly, after playing halo 2 multiplayer, I'm gonna have trouble playing Halo again.
Another boost is the upgrade to sound, which is clear the moment the game starts. While the music and sound from the first was great, everything has been taken up a notch this time out. Like I said, you really can hear bullets ricochet and when a rocket zips overhead you can hear it whoosh past with full Doppler effect. The one thing I wish we could have tried was some voice chat, but since the four of use were only separated by a glass wall from the four rotating Bungie and microsoft employees, it seemed kind of silly to suggest. Instead, I decided to make the mistake of antagonizing everyone when anything went our way. "I thought you guys had played this game before!" I might have shouted at one point -- I won't confirm this, as it would sully my reputation -- but if I did, I promise I paid for it dearly.
Outlook
Hear me now or hear me later, Halo 2 is looking damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn fine. It would take monumental effort for this game to suck, unless, somehow, this is the only map and only game mode that's good. That doesn't seem likely, so if I were you, I'd expect this to be a serious competitor for Game of the Year. The first Halo was woefully low on IGN's list of the Top 100 Games of All Time (somewhere in the low 30s, I believe), but I do have that feeling that Halo 2 would not be so misrepresented on that list. Only time will tell. Until then, I'll be spending my nights dreaming of my one hour with Halo 2, basking in the envy of millions of gamers, and looking forward to the day when I can play the single-player campaign -- I only hope it's online with a buddy.
Expect an interview with Pete Parson on Tuesday and more hands-on impressions from Fran, Doug Perry, and perhaps even Mister Aaron Boulding.
Remember, no matter what else you see or hear or think: It is awesome and it is coming this year.
May 12, 2004 - Rather than rehash everything that Hilary Goldstein had to say about the magnificent multiplayer mode of Halo 2 we decided to take the approach of listing the Top Five Little Things About Halo 2 that Made it Worth the Wait. That's a hell of a lot of words for just one category, but this ain't the Grammys and Halo 2 does so many things well. Yet, the multiplayer game is still greater than the sum of its parts.
Dual-Wielding: Sure John Woo movies and Keanu Reeves made it fashionable to double up on the punishment you can hand out at one time in a videogame, but halo2 adds another twist when you wield dual weapons. It's most useful when you're talking about the Needler in one hand and the SMG in the other, but the glowing pinkish purple needle rounds end up serving as tracers so you can see just how far you're missing the target as you track them across the horizon. The smart player will alternate between needle rounds and SMG rounds so you can use the visual indication of the Needler rounds to help guide your death dealing bullets from your submachine gun. It's a subtle thing, but we're giving Bungie the benefit of the doubt here when we assume it's intentional. The Needler isn't the wimpy weapon it was in the original halo, and for some old habits of aversion will be hard to break, but the using it as a tracer gun is a marvelous touch.
Straight Jackin': Forcibly dismounting enemies from Warthogs and Ghosts is going to be one of everybody's favorites once they get their hands on the multiplayer component of Halo 2. What impressed us the most, was how well this move has been developed. Only vehicles moving slowly enough for the "jack" icon to pop up can be stolen, but approaching the driver/vehicle from most angles works, including descending on them from above. The Ghost and 'hog are both roofless so timing your leaps so that you slowly descend (the jump button gets airborne quickly but you float down) on the unsuspecting pilot will be a handy new skill to have. But it gets better. You can have repeated jackings one after the other if you have two players of similar skills. A typical sequence will work where the warthog driver will be trying to run over an enemy and that enemy will be playing matador to the drivers bull. The guy on foot will be leaping and dodging while also trying to get close enough and hoping the Warthog or Ghost is going slow enough to make jack move. Should you pull off the jack move, the former driver can quickly initiate a jack move of his own to get the vehicle back because you will be going slow enough for him to do so. Of course once the vehicle has been taken back you'll be in position to pull of another move. This repetitive sequence can easily look like a cartoon or something with players pulling each other out of the driver's seat repeatedly. This usually won't last long since the players and the vehicle in question are more or less stationary this whole time, which means somebody somewhere is going to be sending a rocket or grenade their way soon
Re-balanced Weapons: We were pleasantly surprised to see that either the Elites had been weakened or the human conventional assault weapons had been boosted for the mutiplayer game compared to what we'd all known from Halo. You can chop through the energy shields of an Elite with the SMG or Battle Rifle far more quickly than you could during Master Chief's first adventure. When we first fired up the multiplayer game, we were lucky enough to find a rocket launcher to take care of business, so it took us awhile before we had to go up against an Elite with a conventional assault rifle. When we did our fear quickly gave way to relief as a steady flow of accurate bullets disposed of that snarling purple bastard with ease. The shotgun in multiplayer is essentially a one-shot, one-kill weapon as well in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.
Covenant Energy Blade: Sure it's the most powerful melee weapon in the Covenant arsenal, as we were told repeatedly, but it is pretty doggone fun to use as well. There are two ways to attack using the blade. Using B to throw a conventional slashing melee attack is quite deadly and can dispose of Elites if you attack them from behind. The right trigger attack with the energy blade is a devastating uppercut move that makes that stuff Ryu and Ken have been doing look silly. By using the targeting reticule and "locking" on to an enemy you can pull the right trigger to execute a dashing uppercut move. This is more or less a sniper-type melee attack since the dashing part of the equation is instant and covers a lot of ground; roughly 10-15 feet. The side effect of the energy blade is that once you pick it up, every enemy in the game will be on your ass, since you're now a lethal weapon once in range. The glowing effect on the blade is so brilliant and sparkly that you'll be an easy target to find on the battlefield, which gets surprisingly hectic. Plus if you have it, you'll likely be surrounded by dead bodies; an easy ways to get enemies upset with you.
Battle Scars: The damage you can inflict on vehicles is definitely a fun cosmetic effect with tattered Ghost hulls and chopped up Warthogs coming into play. But there's a functional element to this as well. You can blast a vehicle until it explodes into a smaller secondary, charred chassis that looks even more tattered. This piece is then a ticking timebomb that will produce an even bigger explosion. What's cool is when you're shooting a vehicle you'll have to learn to recognize when it's about to blow. You can see the bullet holes building up and the hull starting to break apart. A skilled player will be able to turn a disabled vehicle into a remote mine with a well-placed shot.
Those are just a few of our favorite things so far in Halo2's multiplayer game. We're sure there will be more and we can't wait for November 9, because we've never fell head over heels for a game like this before.
May 12, 2004 - I confess -- I didn't play all that much of Halo. I did play it, but not much. So, in preparation for this year's E3, I took up the s-controller and started a new campaign. I happily trudged through what is without a doubt the world's greatest console first-person shooter, slaughtering Covenant baddies and getting a good handle on the Warthog. I was continually surprised at how smooth and seamless everything was, and how fantastically alive the world looked and felt.
I'm not sure how I missed it so thoroughly, but I suppose running the PlayStation 2 site and playing loads of gta III, Devil May Cry, ICO and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had something to do with it. It could be that, or it could be the same thing that happens to so many gamers. Hype. I was told how great, impressive and fantastic Error! halo. was that it had the reverse effect on me.
But there was nothing holding me back from wanting to play Halo 2, and knowing how badly our own readers want to play it, I felt compelled to represent. At the first meeting on the first day of E3 (10:30 am), I met with the Bungie representatives, Frank O'Conner and Pete Parsons, who gave us the exact same demo we witnessed at the microsoft pre-E3 event, showing off the high level of destruction; how to wield the Covenant Elite's Plasma Sword; how you can car-jack anyone out of a vehicle; how vehicles exhibit secondary explosions, and how well crafted this Zanzibar level actually is. Oh yeah, and the Needler? They made a big point out of saying that this time it's a genuinely good weapon to pick up. Phew.
I sat and watched it happily. Giddily. Like I had just been let into the Playboy mansion (which, I admit, I had done the previous night, so I can say with authority, it was indeed like, eh-hem, waiting to play halo 2). As if I knew the game like the back of my hand. The crazy thing is that with Halo 2, if you've played the first, you will instantly get to grips with the second one. The first was admirably easy to pick up and get used to, and the second one provides that same smooth, easy feel instantly. Man, I was sitting there in these white, leaning seats, and watching Frank take a beating as an Elite, and I felt like there was no better place to be.
With Halo so recently familiar, watching the demo and then playing Halo 2 was so instantly easy it was like breathing. After the demo ended, we swiveled our chairs around to the eight Xbox Test units behind us, and split up into two teams, the blue Spartans, and the red defenders in a series of three-minute Capture the Flag multiplayer games. The best thing about the game is that there was no, and I mean, no, sense of ever feeling like I was in playing over any kind of wires at all. The LAN connection was seamless, smooth and pretty, i.e. without flaws. Hopefully, the Xbox Live experience is as distinctly good.
Zanzibar turns out to be one well-crafted multiplayer level. The base stands behind broken walls on a beach front, with two to three stories and multiple staircases, walls, paths and manners of getting from one story to another. On offense, players have the Warthog, which controls just like in the first game, and one particularly good strategy is to blast in, close in to a fixed turret and use the fixed rocket launcher attached to the car to permanently blast the metal of that turret across the beach. I experienced the pleasure and pain of it from the attackers and the defenders position. If you're in a defending position, the turrets are an excellent place to toast a warthog. They're powerful, almost too powerful, and against enemies without a vehicle, they're deadly, killing them in two or three shots.
Weapons were strategically placed in prominent positions, so that from a high staircase sections, you might find a sniper weapon or behind a giant circular generator-type wheel, you will find the game's most powerful melee weapon, the Plasma Sword. Along with the Warthog, players can get to grips with several kinds of weapons, one of which was available to play, the Ghost, a small, single-person hovercraft that issues a hefty load of laser shot from its front section. As Bungie pointed out, you could technically just fight over a vehicle over and over again, hurling your opponent out from his seat just to see how he will land -- and if you can get away far enough to shoot him.
Strangely, though I was able to wield dual weapons, I rarely used it. I guess I was just caught up in the moment, but it could be because the opposition just wasn't that good. We lost the first or second flag to the opposition, but we took the match 3-1. We played one last game, and we took that one too. It felt good to beat the competition yet again. Another feature I didn't use was the target tracking system, useable via the rocket launcher. By citing an enemy in your reticule, the cross hairs change to red, indicating the rockets will track. By shooting a tracked enemy, the rocket literally curves around for a long while, tracking the enemy until it's blasted its target. If it's you blasting a warthog with a rocket launcher, the feeling of the direct target is stellar. It rocks the Warthog, knocking it end over end and spinning and crashing into the nearby environment.
In the end, halo 2 is what you think it is, more great halo with enhanced everything -- graphics, weapons, vehicles, and most notably, online multiplayer gaming. It feels good to cover some serious first-person shooters for a change, and Halo, well, on the console, Halo hasn't been beaten. And based on this E3, nothing even comes close to its sequel. If there is one xbox game you're going to buy this fall, you've to be pretty crazy -- or the editor-in-chief of IGN's PS2 site -- not to put Halo 2 at the top of your list.
May 24, 2004 - It's Saturday, May 8, 2004, the weekend before E3 2004. Hilary Goldstein of IGN Xbox and myself (Fran, the ex-IGNcube guy, the guy who must maintain the Nintendo fanboy quotient here at IGN) are racing down to Beverly Hills, trying to beat the clock and traffic. The destination: a secret rendezvous at a hilltop mansion, where Pete Parsons and some of the key Bungie team members from Halo 2 plan on squaring off with Hil and I, along with two GameSpy guys in LAN-enabled multiplayer. This is a big deal, because it's the first time almost any journalists have touched Halo 2 multiplayer, but more than that because Parsons himself and the Bungie members are bloodthirsty. They're not just planning on showing us the ropes, they're intent on schooling us; pain will be our teacher, and we know it.
As if that wasn't enough, I had just spent the weeks prior to this meeting ranting and raving about how there were no halo 2 first-person perspective screenshots, from moving gameplay. If you peruse the screenshot section of halo 2, there had only been third-person screenshots (until E3). Bungie, being the all-knowing developer that they are, had gotten wind of my back-sassing on screenshot methodology. I was sure I wouldn't be making it out of their sights alive.
We arrived at the beautiful mansion (apparently borrowed for the event), which microsoft and Bungie had infiltrated already and since set up eight plasma televisions, along with eight xbox systems wired for LAN. After Parsons razzed me for my screenshot perspective fixation, he sat Hilary and me down in front of one of the televisions. He basically gave us the eight-minute multiplayer walkthroughhttp://insider.ign.com/videos/articles/513/513272p1.htmlthat would soon be shown to the world at Microsoft's press conference. After seeing Zanzibar, the new vehicular destruction (plus jacking opponents out of the driver seats), and the new dual-weapon wielding, Hilary and myself were literally twitching with excitement. Thankfully, Parsons got things going pretty quickly, handing over the controllers and setting up the eight-player LAN mode so we could experience it all for ourselves.
I know you've already read the many volumes of hands-on from some of the other guys. You know how dual-wielding works, you know how to jack drivers from their seats, and you've probably memorized what weapons we were allowed to use during our multiplayer session.
In Hilary's hands-on, he gave you a briefing more detailed than Cortana herself could have given you. So, I'm going to tell you the only story I know you haven't heard: my story. Particularly, how this Halo 2 multiplayer session has changed my outlook for the game, my love of Xbox Live, and my greed to want to destroy Bungie (in multiplayer, I mean).
I've been around the block with multiplayer first-person shooters. Especially those on home consoles. I'm sure it would come as no shock to you to hear that when GoldenEye 007 came out for the N64, six of my close friends and I spent upwards of 10 hours straight, locked in front of the TV, playing the game over and over. We invented new ways to play it. This became a frequent obsession. We soon took our lunch breaks from high school to go back to my house (only blocks away), and swallow our sandwiches nearly whole in order to get in as many games as possible. Why do I bring this up in a Halo 2 multiplayer hands-on? Because I'm already addicted to Bungie's new efforts in this much-anticipated sequel. I can already see myself staying up way too late on Xbox Live, munching on Ruffles and avoiding the reality that I've got to work in the morning.
Halo 2 multiplayer is good -- really good. I've learned over the years that there's a lot of subtlety that backs the greatest games out there. It's all the little things that count, and now that I've played Halo 2 it's apparent to me how much Halo was missing. To tell the truth, I never much got into Halo multiplayer. I enjoyed it, sort of on a "hey, there aren't enough cool multiplayer console FPS games out there" level, but not like I had hoped. I scrounged up money to buy my Xbox when it first launched, because I, Matt Casamassina and Jason Bates (who worked at IGN a few years ago) -- my roommates -- wanted to play Halo LAN. But, it just didn't last that long and, tellingly, we all ended up playing through the single-player at the same time. No joke. I could hear them down the hall, realizing the same thing I was: Halo was so much better as a single-player experience.
Well, with Halo 2 the story is much different because the whole package appears to be complete. Unless Zanzibar is some anomaly, multiplayer is now really balanced and refined -- and that's not even based on Xbox Live support, more than two-team Capture the Flag mode, and we only had access to a minor amount of weapons and vehicles. Like I said, it's the subtleties that are paying off. In Zanzibar, the level was cleverly designed to keep battles focused in the center, where there was plenty of room for both battling hand-to-hand and driving the Warthogs. I was especially impressed by the hidden Elite Plasma Sword, tucked away in the center of the huge generator fan that split the level in two. I wanted that little treasure a number of times, and hiking my way up the difficult path to it paid off a few times. At one point, we were on the defense (guarding the flag in the base), so at the beginning of the match I bolted out into the middle where the giant fan spun, and snuck across the upper platforms. I managed to get the Plasma Sword unbeknownst to Team Bungie, who was just trying to sneak across the middleground. Suddenly I was playing Halo like never before; I was sneaking around the corners, following the trail of a few guys, and when the time was right I buried the blade in one of the guys' backs...then another.
The point is that Halo 2's multiplayer -- at least with Zanzibar -- demonstrates deep thought and balance. I can play the game in any number of ways, I can do so many things but inevitably it's all kept within this neat little space. The action is always constant, my adrenaline is always pumping, and I've always got more options to explore. That's a sign of a fantastic multiplayer experience.
I could go on and on about all the little details that pleased me -- jacking vehicles and using actual team strategies -- but the message here, the story I wanted to tell, is that Halo 2's multiplayer has already proven to me to be the next big thing. We're not talking Pandora Tomorrow, Crimson Skies, or Rallisport here -- all of those online experiences are fantastic. But, man, Halo 2 has got it. That special something. That same kind of something that had me coming back, addicted to GoldenEye. The promised features of Xbox Live 3.0, Bungie's word that it will use clans and such in a way that "makes it feel like you're a part of something big and a part of something interesting," combined with what I've played already has me sold on it.
And the truth is ... I don't think we've seen anything yet. Microsoft knows Halo 2 will sell millions, and it knows that a good multiplayer hook is just more Xbox Live supporters. Halo 2 multiplayer is going to rock our world on Nov. 9, 2004. Furthermore, this time I think I'm going to have a very hard time trying to share my time in both the single and multiplayer worlds.
This is going to be a true blockbuster, and deservedly so based on everything we've seen. I simply cannot wait.
Oh yea, and umm... Bungie really schooled us. However, Hilary and I were just getting our legs when Microsoft said our session was over. But, I can tell you, we're not done fighting.
We want a rematch. If Bungie isn't afraid of anymore competition, that is.
May 19, 2004 - It's still great. That had to be said. Now that E3 is over, I look back and realize that I am one lucky bastard. IGN has millions of readers, and a lot of them wish they could play Halo 2 just once before the November 9 release. Me, I got to play it more than once. First, I was able to finagle my way to play Halo 2 early for IGN's Exclusive First Online Hands-On. Then I still had my regularly scheduled meeting to play Halo 2 at E3. I could have given that one up and spent a half hour with another game, but screw that, this is Halo 2 we're talking about. I actually did consider giving up my spot, but several smart folks (not just those working at IGN) said I'd be crazy not to play again. I'm so glad I listened to those folks, because the second time through confirmed what I already felt after the first play through, Halo 2 owns my soul.
There's some debate in the IGN offices about whether the E3 halo 2 multiplayer experience is nearly as big a deal as myself and others have made it out to be. Yes, halo 2 does not stray far from the original in terms of gameplay, but anyone who's played a significant amount of the original's multiplayer will easily notice a variety of small improvements, most noticeably the far superior map design. It's not just about Dual Wielding and Boarding, everything feels a lot tighter. The first Halo wasn't broke, so Bungie didn't need to fix it. Instead, microsoft most important developer just needed to make it even better. They did just that.
The first time I played Halo 2, I got a good solid hour of playtime in and I was playing against (and at times with) the guys from Bungie, who are fierce competitors who really know the maps and clearly enjoy playing games. The second time offered a completely different experience, as it took place in a secluded room in the back alley of Microsoft's booth, with myself and nine other yokels, some of whom weren't journalists and probably didn't play too many games. Such is the nature of E3.
Where the first time through -- in four-on-four Capture the Flag -- there was lots of yelling, joking, and some self-effacing comments (on my end), the second time out was so quiet you could hear a ghost fart. I tried to break the silence, but man, these folks were kind of square. The thing is, while it did hurt the experience a little, it gave me a chance to focus on more specific elements of the game as opposed to enjoying the community aspect.
Adjustments Made
I don't know if Bungie made any adjustments to the demo between the time I played it on the weekend and when I played it at E3, but that framerate hiccup that was happening whenever the Warthog turned the corner to face the sea wall was gone come E3. This baby is smooth, smooth, smooth. The other thing I noticed -- and perhaps I'm crazy, it's been rumored that I am -- is that there's one gameplay difference between the Elite and Master Chief. Originally I played only as Elite and the second time out I was happy to play as Chief. I swear Chief could jump a lot higher than the Elites. I may be wrong, but it seemed like Jordan against Woody Harrelson out there.
It's So Much Better Than Halo!
Having played some of the original Halo multiplayer sometime between my two Halo 2 gameplay dates, it's a pretty stark contrast from what once was to what now is. Nothing against the original, I love that game, but damn those maps are pretty boring visually compared to the war-torn Zanzibar. Sure, there are some cool maps like Blood Gulch, but Zanzibar has some real personality, in the same way that rainbow 6 III maps have personality. A lot of the maps in the first Halo are sterile "sci-fi" maps with minimal texture work. If Zanzibar is any indication, multiplayer is getting some serious loving this time out.
Zanzy comes complete with strategic points for attack and defense and fully destructible environments. The shotgun, which I originally dismissed, is an absolute killer up close and I fully apologize for any disparaging thoughts I once had about the titanic weapon. Far away, well, it's as effective as throwing a piece of hay against a hurricane, but up close it not only tears through folks, it absolutely devours the environment. In the flag room, there's a pair of parallel walls on either side of the flag. One blast from the shotgun shatters the wall, sending dozens of concrete chunks flying. Now imaging hitting an Elite in the gut with some buckshot.
Listen to That
One nice thing about the E3 room is that it was set up for great sound. Marty O'Donnel, thank you. Halo 2 has some phenomenal sound, as would be expected, and that was showcased in the special E3 demo room. The guns were rocking, the Warthog snorted as it accelerated, and bullets truly whistled as they buzzed past my ear. Kudos, Bungie.
Missing Ingredients
My brief return to halo between play sessions with the sequel also reminded me of a few fundamentals missing from Zanzibar. There are no warp gates and no power-ups. I'm glad they're both gone. As one IGNer pondered, "How can you suck at Halo and do so well at halo2?" I like to say, "Because Halo 2 is better." But the truth is, the power-ups and warp gates sometimes give an extra advantage to players, especially those who know the maps and power-up locations by heart. Without them, Halo 2 is fair shooting ground.
That's not to say that they won't still show up in the final build. My guess is that the power-up special effects haven't gotten to a point that Bungie wants to show off or that there are new power-ups not ready to be revealed to the public. I imagine they will be there, though hopefully they can be toggled off. The warp gates, well, I don't think they will be back. Part of that comes down to level design and, frankly, better level design won't require the gates. Plus, since you can now double your speed in any vehicle by holding down the Left Trigger, the gates are much less necessary. Perhaps in some of the Halo-themed map levels (assuming there are some), the gates will appear, but I'm gonna take a guess that on Earth, those gates won't exist. Good.
People are Jerks
My only problem playing Halo 2 a second time may end up being the biggest problem with a million or more people playing this fantastic game online this winter -- The majority of xbox Live gamers suck. And not in terms of game skill. If you've played some games of MechAssault or Rainbow Six 3 against a bunch of strangers, you've probably noticed that people tend to be selfish, obnoxious, and often don't use teamwork online. That's not to say everyone is like this (hey, I think you are great), but there was no communication whatsoever on my team. The very first round, I tried to get someone to hop in the Warthog with me so we could storm the fortress, but instead of following my lead, my teammate threw a grenade at my back. I love xbox live.
That's why I'm so happy that Halo 2 will go above and beyond with its use of Xbox Live 3.0. Having worked hand-in-hand with the Live development team, many of the Live 3.0 features were made with Bungie's input and the Northwest developer plans to do some very cool things with Live 3.0, things well beyond the norm. Clans are a for sure thing, and that will help me avoid playing against a throng of strangers. I know there are lots of very cool Live players out there, some of you I've been fragged by, others I've fragged, but there's a high-quotient of jackasses out there and the massive appeal of Halo 2 will truly bring them out of the woodwork. Clans should offer an interesting twist to all this as it will be possible to find groups of players who are cool, all of them in one Clan. Once found, the IGN Clan can focus on playing with these select few dope groups of folks. That's much easier than having to find individual "friends" to play with. Searching for the cool Clans may not be that much fun, but finding them and competing against them on a regular basis. That will be very nice indeed.
New Strategies
Okay, so the people I played with were, well, a bit stiff, but I did come up with some new Zanzibar strategies. As already discussed in my first hands-on, one of the best attack strategies seemed to be hopping in a Warthog and taking out the rocket launcher area and the two mounted guns and then tearing apart anyone in the courtyard. With another few games under my belt, I've managed a few more viable strategies, all of which hopefully prove just how versatile a single map of Halo 2 can be.
On offense, were I to have a group of buddies who played halo 2 with each other regularly (oh, to dream!), I think my new strategy would work quite well. Two blokes go in with the Warthog, as per usual, taking out the balconies and then waiting by the gate. One person stays on the sea wall with the rifle, waiting for the flag to be snagged so he can snipe enemies giving chase. The remaining people storm the facility, with one of them heading for the gate button on the second floor. Once the gate is opened, the Warthog waits outside for someone to grab the flag and hop in the passenger seat, then it's a race back to the beach.
On defense, someone guards the gate button, another guards the flag down below, someone uses the mounted gun and rocket launcher to take out the vehicles that enter the courtyard, and one person sneaks past everyone and goes to the beach, where they can steal any remaining vehicle (or wait for a destroyed vehicle to respawn). They wait for the opposition to arrive on the beach with the flag so they can mow them down immediately.
Will both these strategies work? Yes. There are plenty more. For instance, I found a way to the top of the wheel in the courtyard and being the highest point in the map, had a view of everything, allowing for the absolute best sniping position possible. Another idea is to get the Plasma Sword and run around, drawing everyone's attention away from the flag. Yes, in CTF people totally ignore the flag for a chance to get the Plasma Sword. It's an amazing sight, but it's always happened when I've played so far and that trend will likely continue when the game is released.
So those are just a few strategies that I came upon after a total of an hour and a half of play time. That's pretty cool, especially considering that there are plenty of other ways to tackle things. And this is just the first map revealed. Damn, Bungie, you do your thing.
Could I Want This Game More?
The lack of communicative teammates aside, I want halo 2 even more than before. Look, I'm a huge Conker fan. In fact, Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of my top three favorite games of all time and I am just dying for the remake to be in the office. But after playing more Halo 2, nothing -- not half life 2, not DOOM 3, not Fable nor Jade Empire -- is higher on my list than Master Chief's second romp on the Covenant. Is this game gonna own? F' yeah.
Having seen the other games at E3 and having played Halo 2 multiple times, I have to say that the E3 demo alone is one of the best xbox experiences out there. Will this be "the best game evar?" I dunno. Maybe. The only way to know for sure is to play a lot more of it. You hear that Bungie? Hello? Anyone?
May 19, 2004 - After the spectacular debut of the single-player missions in Halo 2 at last year's E3, surrounded with screaming fanboys, regalia and an air of religious fervor, Bungie returned in 2004 to outdo itself. But how can Halo 2 outdo Halo 2, you might ask? With a closed-door appointment-only demonstration of its multiplayer aspects, the Seattle, Wa.-based developer gave us what we all wanted. This time, the quick five-minute demo was purposely short, allotting more time to the hands-on portion. It was replete with physics demos, dual weapon usage, vehicle abilities, and one of the tightest, most rock-solid multiplayer levels I've ever seen.
Hilary, Aaron, and myself all wrote hands-on article at E3, but with time to reflect and analyze, I admit, I'm not done writing about the sequel to the world's best-selling xbox game. The title in itself is still a first-person shooter with a single-player set of missions and now, online multiplayer missions, but as with the first game, halo 2 feels better than most games from the get-go. The basic things seem so easy, but if you've ever played a lousy FPS, you'll know that getting things right is harder than suspected. Bungie has done a subtle yet unquestionably superb job if it.
The game's aiming scheme, whether inverted or not, moves with smooth and unbroken motion, so that gamers instantly feel as if they are in control. The tight xbox analog controller isn't as responsive as a PC's mouse, true, but it's better than the analog on PS2, and that's a controller and system I adore. The instantaneously and responsiveness of any motion -- jumping and shooting while descending, reloading, aiming, zooming with a sniper scope, or attacking enemies with the butt of their gun -- all feels exceptionally good. In all honestly, halo 2 doesn't actually feel much different than Halo with regard to responsiveness, but the amount of stuff you can do now has seemingly tripled. Thus expanding that exquisite control into deeper more complex aspects of the game.
The Dual Wielding aspect instantly gives multiplayer games a whole new twist. Sure, other games offer similar options. But here, each weapon can be used independently, or simultaneously. If you want to bust out a rain of bullets and plasma simultaneously, press both triggers down and let them both rip. Just handling a Needler and a machine gun at once provides a new sense of power, but it's a huge advantage over a single-weapon-wielding opponent. Couple that with grenades and the strategies deepen yet again.
Halo 2's significance isn't in that it's re-writing the first-person shooter category. It's that all the little changes, which are subtle onto themselves, add up to a deeper, wider experience. A richer, more robust one. The Sniper Rifle, which handled so well in the first game, has returned with a subtle change. It's not a big thing, but because the graphics are more detailed and higher resolution, you can now see all of those details in the scope. And it's quite eye-opening.
The shotgun packs a huge punch in up-close combat, yet like most shotguns, it's pretty worthless in ranged combat. But if you want to experiment a little, walking up to any solid object and blasting it produces exhilarating results. Inside the fort in the Zanzibar level, blasting a wall with the shotgun results in noticeable chunks, dirt, dust and flying debris. It's also a whole lot of fun to blast an opponent up close just to see the physical power of the gun knock the opponent back across the environment with uncanny force.
Using the Plasma Sword is also a phenomenon onto itself. First, it's not easy to acquire, requiring some patience and skill. To put its placement in perspective, the sword is placed in a third-story hidden spot, strategically located midway through the map. The Beach at Zanzibar comprises, at one end, a broken down fortress surrounded by support walls, a courtyard of sorts in front, and a giant, slowly spinning spoked wheel in its front section. Outside is a broad beach filled with vehicles. Above the wheel in a small slot rests the Elite Plasma Sword. Once owned, its power must be understood. It's not a long-range delio, Congelio. It's an up-close melee weapon possessing surprising range for an up-close weapon, and it's essentially a single-hit weapon when used with skill. Players can swing horizontally, perform an uppercut, or by timing their swing with accuracy, they can deliver a single, deadly blow to an enemy to perform a one-hit kill. The real phenomenon isn't that it's a cool weapon, but your opponent's reaction to you once seen. I swear, when I had snagged it and entered into battle, the crowd changed its focus from protecting the damned flag and came rushing toward me. The sword's kind of like having the "One Ring," it possesses its own special attraction. It's surprisingly powerful just how drastically a CTF session can change once it enters the fray.
Halo 2's single multiplayer map and the online gameplay based on it are sure to stand on the shoulders of all competitors if this single level is any indication, or even some kind of median measurement. This level design is rock solid. There are multiple ways to enter into the fort if you're on the attack, and on defense, there are an equal quantity of ways to defend it. At the same time the level is huge, it's also tight. There aren't many seconds in a CTF session in which you're fiddling around wondering what to do. And the game feels like it's perfectly balanced to provide dozens of sniper points, while the courtyard and the interior (where the flag rests) are awesome close-encounter fragfest locations. Each is reachable with second-story sniper points, and each provides the possibility for vehicles to enter.
Want to know a swift way to success on offense? Bungie recommended this. Command two guys to mount the Warthog in the passenger seat and in the gunner position (it's got a missile launcher this time around). Take the driver seat and head toward the fort. At the spinning wheel, have the gunner take out the right-side mounted turret on the fortress (it's on the second story). Once hit, it's destroyed for good. Move out to the second turret and blast it to smithereens. If you're playing with five on a team, have the other two guys get up to the top of the wheel, so they can hit the gate switch. The gate is a part of the team's defense, preventing any one or any vehicle from entering the command center where the flag is located. Once they hit the switch, the gate is wide open for vehicles such as ghosts or perhaps, um, a Warthog to breach the fort's heart. Oh yea!
The two guys, after said switch is hit, should then make their way across the center spine across the courtyard and atop of the flag area. Back on the warthog, you should speed into the now-open flag area and blast the enemies to pieces using the missile launcher with the fourth and fifth guys up top sniping any leftovers. Grab the flag, get back in the Hog and make your way back to the beach. According to Bungie, if executed right, snagging a flag and winning the level could take as long as 30 seconds. It's not all that easy, especially if you don't know your teammates, but with a little coordination, it's doable.
| HALO FREAKIN 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKIN AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<(chi3f)> | | chi3f from NORTH CAROLIN U.S.A says (25/Sep/2004): | you cant imagine how many things ive been doing to keep me busy till halo 2 comes out. i tried playing halo 1 but i play it so many times and when i heard halo 2 is ssssssssoooooooooooooooooo much better i lost my interest in the first one. some times i would go only the computer and look at reviews even some ive already read twice!!! i even make my on little halo 2 board game lol it was made out of paper though :( lol weird huh? there is somthing that edges me though..........what the freak is sarge doing there in halo2?!?!?! when i beat legendary halo (a.k.a the "maw") if should him make out with an elite and die in the explosion!!! what did he like magically pop up in the sequel? owell maybe he escaped in some sorta ship lol like when he was huging he kicked the elite in the nuts and escaped in a pod or somthing. there is one LITTLE TINY thing that will SUCK about the up coming halo 2................................flood......i HATE the flood there freakin anoying!!!!!!! what im so excited about is the XbOx LiVe!! feature and for the fact that is has GRUNT VOICMASKING WOOOO HOOOOO!!!! when it comes out and you want a challenge on xbox live send me a friend request my name is "chi3f".........no its not chi 31 like everyone thinks its chief but with a 3 so add me to your friends list and we can have an all out battle with the new crap they added. see you then **chi3f**
| Halo 2 the Max | | Sean from Plaquemine, USA says (10/Nov/2004): | I loved Halo 2 I was going on the edge of craziness the day it came out. I love everything about the game. I really like the two story lines. I love how we see both sides of the war. Master Chief's armor is the coolest. I love the realism of it and it feels like I am The Chief. I love the dual weilding. I love when I dual weild two smgs. Sure it may not be the most accrurate weapon but it is fun running around and killing everything in the vicinity. I love how the vehicles look. I really enjoy the different sounds that the vehicles make. I do appreciate the help the marines/elites give me but they all drive like idiots. It kind of reminds me how I drive haha. I like Cortana's new look. She looks more human. I especially looooooooooove Master Chief's armor. It makes me wish I had my own suit like that. I love all the weapons theat they have in Halo 2. All in all I looooooooove Halo 2. And remember support our Spartans!!
| Halo 2 is nothing but a beta test for Halo 3 | | Jason from Gaithersburg,MD says (4/Dec/2004): | Halo 2 is an awesome game! Despite the fact that the storyline was almost exactly similar to Halo 1. They did upgrade a few items like dual-wield and the ability to jack peoples vehicles. But that is pretty much it. They spiced up the multiplayer gaming but they made it so big that you will only find someone like 2 minutes later.The only thing that why the storyline for Halo 2 didn`t stink is the kick-ass Arbiter you play as.As from the people who gave Halo 2 a horrible score is because you guys got PS2 first and already think that PS2 is the best system so you have no right to say that you only got xbox for that game only.So you can kiss my ass for all I care because I dont give a damn if PS2 is greater. Anyways I feel that Halo 2 was just a taste of what Halo 3 will be. I guarantee you that Halo 3 will have better and longer story line, more playable multiplayer maps. More vehicles and different versions of the same thing. And who knows maybe the graphics will be unreal engine powered like in splinter cell. But thats just my point of view. Xbox rules!
| sweet | | Kyle Clifton from Greenbrier Ar. USA says (9/Jul/2004): | Halo 2 is going to be so sweet. I saw the alien Brute he looks half Hunter half Elite. I also saw a new covenant gun. It looks like their version of a machine gun.?I also heard that their will be 24 levels instead of 10!!!! Which means it's going to take longer to beat!Halo 1 was defiantly a 10 out of 10. So if I could I would give Halo 2 a 20 out of 10 right of the back! Did you know that you can be hijacked or you can hijack the covenant in Halo 2? The Marines are going to be smarter and I saw picture of them having better armor! I also heard about the new vehicle called ATV! That will be cool riding a four-wheeler and shooting aliens heads off!!! The Ghost and Banshee will also have a freakier sound. There are also 4 kinds of Warthogs.Well you can tell Halo 2 is going to be sweet!
| warthog has NOS in it | | desmond from lancaster, california says (26/Jul/2004): | guess wat the warthog has nitrous oxide inside of it i have OXM magazine of august and your warthog can actually jump over buildings and its really good for capture the flag but dont worry its only 106 days til halo 2 comes and when you play race the on halo 2 you can smoke em so have fun in 106 days.
the nos in the warthog is also very good for slayer too because when you are about to get hit wit a rocket just bail out. just to tell you though the warthog's nos button is the L trigger.
| Halo 2 is gonna be da best game ever i dont care if its not out yet | | A gamer from Something in, Michigan, US says (16/May/2004): | I would of gave halo 1 a 10 out of 10 until i saw halo 2. Halo 2 is gonna have a huge arsenal of weapons including what seems to be a rifle with a scope. Ive heard theres gonna be 4 warthogs, snow, desert, jungle, and troop carrying, sorry if i got the names wrong. you can hijack vehicles and yours can be jacked too. I have also heard that you can flip tables, throw remote controlled plasma grenades, watch elites or brutes climb walls, destroy buildings (like the matrix), and trade guns with marines. It sounds like the graphics are jacked up and so are the effects. I have also heard theres gonna be more enemies besides covenant (mummies return) and a alien prophet.Believe me this game is gonna rock, you got to reserve it. Oh did i mention the alien hover cars??? Anyways this game is like a car- A pimped out hydrolics/spinners/surround sound car.
| Oh My Gosh | | NNS from Tampa, FL, USA says (29/Apr/2003): | Halo 2 is going to be THE BEST game ever made. Halo 2 is going to have a perfect story line, sharp graphics, and Kill-me-now godly weapons. With new vehicles, enemies, and enviroments Halo 2 will really push the button in terms of real-life simulation. It is hard to believe that there is a game better than Halo 1. But since Halo 2 is coming out, I can't wait. I am starving for another game like Halo 1. Halo 2 is just the thing. Unfortunately, we have to wait 'till 2004 for the release. I don't care, however. Remember, the longer it takes, the more Halo 2 is going to kick some--you know what...
| this game will make ps2 look bad | | Bryan Sobkowiak from La Crescent, USA says (22/May/2003): | I tink that Halo 2 will be 10 times better than the origional Halo.eerything is gonna be better.Me and all my friends are gonna have a hell of a time in multiplayer, 1 huge reason is because of having blood gulch in Halo 2, along with having Banshees and many other vehicles in multiplayer.I think Halo 2 wil make lots o'$$$. Ive already seen videos of Halo 2 and they are so awesome.This game is what xbox has been waiting for. Ps2 will have to suffer watching us play the best game ever made. The first level is going to be very interesting(it takes place on earth!!!) The graphics are gonna make me drool by how good it is. The funfactor will be off the charts. well all we need to d now is wait a while, and we will have the best game in the world. HA HA eat that PS2!!!!
| He he he... | | A gamer from NSW Australia says (31/Jul/2003): | Halo 2 is the best game! I have played a demo and the marines can drive! If this is just a demo i can't wait for the whole game. The Marines have improved A.I. and actually help each other when they need call for help. Also Master Cheif can use two weapons at once (at the expense of grenades). There's no better feeling then walking into a room with two SMGs and slaughtering the covenant. There is no sprint function however but you can use flying vechiles in multiplayer death-match now! Also this game will kick ass with x-box live. The new assault rifle looks awesome too but they should of kept the old one. I really can't wait for this game to be released because the demo is better than the full version of Halo.
| halo 2 is going to control the world | | desmond from lancaster, california says (22/May/2004): | from wat im seeing is that halo 2 will have destructible vehicles, turbo boost ghost and banshee, and u can have like 12 multiplayer people so game is going to be war in the multiplayer games and i also heard u can now pilot a pelican and a covenant tank and a covenant phantom jet it holds like 5 people in it to and u get like 5 warthogs one is a atv, jungle, moon , tank and other one is the one from halo and i heard that u can use an elite sword, and guess wat u can steal each others vehicles, and the capture flag u have like bases that r like building's. and about the pelican it can hold like 8 people so if u wanna get some where with a whole mess troops just pick em up. i heard the pistol not going to on there though. well have fun when it comes out in november. have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! peace out
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