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Halo 2 is a first-person shooter developed
by Bungie Studios for the Xbox
video game console. It is the sequel to the game Halo: Combat Evolved, was released for the Xbox game console on November 9, 2004.
Introduction
Halo 2 is the sequel to the game Halo: Combat Evolved, and features a newly built graphics engine, physics engine, new weapons and vehicles, new multiplayer maps, and a storyline that continues the story
begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. While the Halo universe shares characteristics with the Marathon series, the two storylines are
distinct.
The release date of Halo 2 was November 9, 2004. This is one of the most highly anticipated games on the Xbox. On the morning of October 14, a leak of the French version of the game was posted on the Internet, and circulated widely. Microsoft, the parent company of
Bungie, tried to contain the spread, and pledged to bring legal action
against anyone who spread the leaked version. [1] (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/19/news_6110893.html) The game sold 2.4 million copies
and earned up to $125 million US in its first 24 hours on store shelves. [2] (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/10/news_6112915.html) As of 1 January 2005, the game had
sold 6.3 million copies.
Gameplay
Campaign
The game is playable in campaign mode either single-player or cooperative. When playing in this mode the player(s) must
complete a series of episodes. Some of these episodes require the player to compete as a Covenant hero called The Arbiter, while
the majority are still played as the Master Chief. Aside from variations caused simply by switching sides in the conflict, most
notably The Arbiter is different from Master Chief in that his armor lacks a flashlight and is equipped with a short duration
rechargeable form of Active Camouflage that will drop if an
action other than movement (i.e. using a weapon) is performed.
There are four levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Heroic and
Legendary, the latter of which has been described as "suicide" by the game's developers.
Multiplayer
There are varying modes, several of which have returned from the original Halo game. A typical melee game called
Slayer, a team based Capture The Flag game, an offense/defense version of capture the flag called Assault, a more esoteric
free-for-all form of capture the flag called Oddball, and a game extrapolated from a child's game of "tag" called Juggernaut, as
well as others and the ability to create one's own variations. Of the preset variations present in the original game, only Race
is missing, replaced by a similar but different game.
Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 allows players to compete with each other over the Xbox Live online service, in addition to the original's support for split-screen and System Link multiplayer.
Halo 2's Xbox Live mode offers a unique and, some would say, innovative approach to online gaming that is intended to
alleviate some of the problems that have plagued online first-person shooters in the past. Traditionally, one player sets his or
her computer or console up as a game server (or host), specifying the game type and map and configuring other settings. The game software then uses a service like Xbox Live
or GameSpy to advertise the game to the world at large; other players choose which
game to join based upon criteria such as the map and game options each host is offering as well as the ping times they are able to receive.
In Halo 2, Xbox Live players do not choose to host games, and they do not get to specify individual maps and options to
search for. Instead, players sign up for "playlists" that are geared to different styles of play. For example, the "Rumble
Pit" playlist offers a variety of "every man for himself" game types, primarily Slayer or variations thereof; "Team Skirmish"
offers a number of 4-on-4 team games, which are primarily objective-based games like Capture the Flag; "Big Team Battle" is similar to Team Skirmish but allows teams of up to 8 players. Other
playlists allow head-to-head play and matches between different clans. The Xbox Live servers create games automatically from the pool of players that have signed up
for each playlist, choosing a game type and map automatically and selecting one player to serve as the game's host. Players can
create small "parties" with their friends and enter games together as teammates or, in Rumble Pit, adversaries. If the Xbox
console hosting the game drops out, the Xbox Live service automatically selects a new host from among the remaining players so
the game can continue.
Since launching in November 2004, the service has been very popular
with video gamers. While some players resent the loss of individual control inherent in Halo 2's approach to online
gaming, others feel it provides a significantly improved gaming experience compared to more traditional online first-person
shooters. Bungie's servers match players up by skill level, which tends to eliminate the kind of severely imbalanced games that
less-skilled players often consider unfair and unenjoyable. The automatic host selection process also eliminates the ability of
the host to exert outsized control over the parameters of the game.
Bungie.net records every single statistic that is displayed on-screen as the "Post Carnage Statistics." Anyone can log on to
Bungie.net and look at any Xbox Live player's stats. If you have a Microsoft Passport, you can log-in and access the "Gameviewer"
option. This allows you, in addition to seeing all the data statistics, view a map of each level that was played and see where
and with what weapon the player scored or was killed. Bungie keeps these stats for several hundred games per player at a time,
then games begin to be purged to save space.
Multiplayer Tactics
The variety of Halo 2 games within the actual disk creates a playground for all. You can modify all or most any single player
option that do not deal with the gameplay overall. Examples include: You can change how long it takes you to respawn, but you
cannot change Assault into a football game where you can throw the bomb to others. The biggest area you can control is the
Weapons category; you can specify what weapons you spawn with, what weapons are on the map and even which turrets and vehicles
are present. This allows some of the more strategy based game.
Slayer: The main object of this match is to kill your enemy to gain "frags" (a score based on many factors such as
penalties from suicides and bonus awards, but largely determined by how many times you killed someone). Here, every weapon (on
the map) can be found. The settings include (from the Optimatch Menu): Rumble, Rumble Training, Team Training (Some Games), Major
Team Battle (Some Games), and Team Slayer.
Capture the Flag: Flag Taken! Flag Captured! Round over. A very powerful phrase if 2-3 minutes
earlier you just heard the word "Defense". There are two basic variants of Capture the Flag: 1-flag and 2-flag. 1-flag: You're
either on offense or defense. The offensive team tries to capture the defending team's flag and place it at their flag place
before the time limit expires. The defensive team's objective is simple: Stop the other team from getting your flag, and if they
do, recover it. 1-flag CTF is very popular on the map "Zanzibar". 2-flag: You attempt to capture the opposing team's flag while
they attempt to capture your's. You must play both offense and defense. Teamwork is essential in Capture the Flag. Many teams are
doomed from the beginning by their failure to communicate. The principle presented in The Core of "Many small ripples have
a larger effect than one large one" does not apply to Capture the Flag. Capture the Flag is 50% Teamwork (Offense: Attacking the
Flag in groups, carrying it out in groups, and making sure the Flag Carrier is safe; Defense: Making sure the flag is always
guarded, if the flag is taken and you don't know where it is, you're guarding the opposing team's score point), 25% Solo play
(Offense: Killing those who are guarding the opposing flag or attacking your Flag Carrier; Defense: Think "If I do this, will it
help my team guard the flag?". If it doesn't, don't.), 25% of this Game is Knowledge. If you do not know the map inside and out,
you have failed this part. You need to know the quickest routes to the flag pedestal (Offense) or the quickest routes out, and to
the pedestal (Defense). If the opposing Flag Carrier is escaping on foot and no one's around him, you should know where the
Sniper Rifle is. All in all, killing the opposing team can make or break the game.
Assault: Think of Capture the Flag backwards. Instead of trying to get their flag and return it to your base, you are
trying to enter the enemy base and plant a bomb. When the bomb is armed, you gain a point. It usually takes 5-6 seconds of
eternity when trying to arm the bomb. Be sure not to leave the area, but to keep moving around a lot. This can save points and
lives. Usually many people will be camping the spot (2-3), while one person scouts for people entering. You will move slower
while handling the bomb. Also note: The melee attack is very dangerous for a bomb. It is your only attack.
A common variant of this is Neutral Bomb. This means that in the center of the map, there is a bomb which anyone can pick up;
And it easily can change from offense to defense.
Damage system
The damage system in Halo 2 is slightly different than it was in Halo: Combat Evolved. The player has a regenerating shield, but now has regenerating health as
well.
- Shields: The shield in Halo 2 is much stronger
than it was in Halo: Combat Evolved, and recharges
at a higher rate. It covers the player's entire body, and slowly decreases in power as it sustains damage. After it takes damage,
it starts to recharge 2 seconds after the last time damage was sustained. The power is displayed above the motion tracker in the
bottom-left of the screen.
- Health: In Halo 2, once the shields run out, the player also has a buffer of health. Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, the health in Halo 2 regenerates
after the shield. The amount of health left is not visible to the player, and is also much smaller than in the original
game.
Powerups
There are two types of powerups available in Halo 2.
- Overshield: An enhanced, non-regenerating shield which is three times the strength of the normal one. The overshield
functions on top of the regular shield - when it is active, the normal shield does not take damage. In multiplayer Halo 2, the
overshield gradually depletes over time. The overshield is no longer present in the campaign mode of Halo 2. However, the Black
Eye Skull will enable the player to charge his/her shield into the overshield range. In certain Multiplayer gametypes, one or
more players start with a regenerating overshield.
- Active Camoflauge: Drastically reduces the player's visibility for a period of time, making all but a faint outline of
him transparent. This effect (which is almost identical to that of the alien armor in the Predator movies) is reduced if the
player is hit by weapons fire, if he or she fires a weapon or throws a grenade, or in some cases if he or she switches weapons.
For example, the Energy Sword remains clearly visible even if the player is using camouflage. This feature is included in the
Arbiter's armor, though its effect only lasts a few seconds. The powerup is not available in Campaign (the Arbiter can activate
it for a short time), and the built-in generator is not available in Multiplayer.
Weapons
See List of weapons in Halo 2
Secrets
The existence of many hidden skulls has been discovered. They are strewn in hard to find areas of (presumably) each level.
Skulls which help the player can only be found on legendary diffuculty, while skull's that make the game harder are on any skill
level. many of these skulls ,when found under legendary skill,have enemies dancing around them. These enemy's do not notice you
but when killed can give you ammo and guns. Each of the skulls seems to activate something, such as making enemies explode from
headshots or camoflage for the Master Chief.
You can find one of the skulls—dubbed the Blind skull—on the level "Outskirts" on any difficulty by entering the
first door, then jumping onto one of the two lamps attached to the ceiling in the hallway with the grunt. Then crouch-jump onto
the roof, make a left and go into the dark space between walls. The skull is at the end of this little tunnel. Pick it up by
holding 'X' and it will activate blind mode, which will turn off your HUD and your gun. Any skulls you get during a game apply to
all saved files but can be switched off by simply saving and quitting, then restarting the console (off and on). Many other
skulls have been found, and you can read more about them at GameFAQs [3] (http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/game/562116.html).
Storyline
The Game starts with Master Chief on board the Cairo, an Earth Defense
Stationary Platform in orbit with the Athens and Malta around Earth. After the Covenant fleet arrives just
outside the killzone of the battle cluster, they launch boarding craft to take out the cannons. The Chief engages the boarders
and then leaves the station via airlock with a Covenant bomb and plants it on one of the carriers heading to Earth. He then lands
on the UNSC ship In Amber Clad, which heads towards the other Covenant carrier, the High Prophet of Regret's flagship on
Earth's surface.
The player engages in urban combat in the city of New Mombasa, East African Protectorate. Shortly afterwards, a Covenant ship makes a
Slipspace jump which causes an explosion on par with a weapon of mass destruction. In Amber Clad, carrying the Master Chief, follows into the ship's slipspace rupture in a
desperate effort to follow it.
The player is transported to the vicinity of another Halo ringworld—christened Delta Halo—perhaps many tens of thousands of light years from Earth. At the same time, a power struggle
within the Covenant is revealed. The Brutes, a large and furred Covenant race who roughly resemble eight-foot-tall gorillas, are
attempting to usurp the role of the prophets' guardians, traditionally carried about by the Elites. This movement was aided by
the decision of the High Council, following the murder of the Prophet of Regret (the Covenant invasion force commander), that the
Elites could no longer fulfill their duties as guardians. Eventually this sparks a civil war within the Covenant, wherein the
Elites, Grunts, and Hunters join forces against the Brutes, Drones, and Jackals. At the same time, a movement within the
Covenant, regarded by their leaders as heretical, argues that Covenant teachings aren't true.
A little over halfway into the story, the player is introduced to an apparently massive creature called the Gravemind, which
appears to be the controlling mind of the Flood. The creature is highly intelligent and appears to have a vast knowledge of the
universe (we eventually find out the true intention of the gravemind is to take control of the In Amber Clad in order to spread
the flood.) The Gravemind lives deep within Halo, out of sight. Its actual size, although not revealed, may occupy many of the
hidden underground caverns that encircle the ring.
At some point, because she wants to ensure that In Amber Clad's reactors can be detonated in a worst-case scenario,
Cortana becomes separated from the Master Chief and is left within
a computer on the Covenant Holy City of High Charity, in orbit near Halo.
She had made attempts to forestall the launch sequence of a docked ancient Forerunner ship in order to destroy the City and the
Ring, but was thwarted by a mysterious Covenant AI construct of Forerunner origin. Cortana was later captured by Gravemind after the Flood conquered High Charity.
Halo, according to 343 Guilty Spark, was built to prevent the
Flood from spreading throughout the Galaxy. The Forerunners who built it were wiped out when they fired it as a "weapon of last
resort" at some point in the remote past. In spite of this, the Brute Chieftain, Tartarus activates the ring to bring about -
according to the teachings of the Prophets - the Great Journey. As the Halo prepares to fire whatever energies it contains, the
player must fight to retrieve the Index and deactivate the ring.
The Index is retrieved and the Delta Halo cannot fire. 343 Guilty Spark reveals that although the Index was removed before
Delta Halo had time to complete its firing sequence, it fired a beacon recognized by all other Halos in the Galaxy and causing
them to go into standby. In standby, a failsafe method of ensuring that the rings could not be stopped by the Flood, they can be
activated remotely from the Ark, the location of which is assumed to be on Earth. The Master Chief heads back to Earth to end the
war.
Main characters
The "Haunted Apiary" Alternate Reality Game (ARG)
Main article: Haunted Apiary
The website ilovebees.com (http://www.ilovebees.com) (interestingly, the domain ihatebees.com (http://www.ihatebees.com) also points to this website) is currently being used as a publicity
site for Halo 2, with the site being pointed to by adverts for the game during movie trailers. Ostensibly a site about
bees, the server appears to have been taken over by some mysterious force, which is "counting down to something".
The frontpage had a counter counting down to July 27, 2004 (when it says "network
throttling will erode"), August 10, 2004 (when "this medium will metastasize"),
and August 24, 2004 (at 8:06 am, when it will be "wide awake and physical") -
many thought something big would happen related to Halo 2 on these dates. Instead, it became the kickoff for a "War of the
Worlds"-esque online radio show. Other messages relating to the Halo story are hidden throughout the site.
This style of publicity is similar to that which surrounded the movie A.I. which featured a grand Alternate Reality Game. The Halo ARG has been dubbed The Haunted Apiary.
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