Halo 2
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| Halo 2 {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Bungie Studios {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | Xbox: Image:Flag of the United States.svg November 9 2004 Image:European flag.svg November 11 2004 Image:Flag of Japan.svg November 11 2004 PC: Possibly 2007/2008 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, Xbox Live {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | Xbox, PC (Windows Vista only) {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Halo 2 is a popular first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. The sequel to the blockbuster and critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 features a newly built game engine and the Havok physics engine, new weapons and vehicles, new multiplayer maps, and a storyline that continues the story begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. Released for the Xbox game console on November 9, 2004, Halo 2 and its predecessor are both compatible with the Xbox 360, including its Xbox Live functionality. From the day of its initial release, Halo 2 has been the most popular video game on Xbox Live, even after the release of the Xbox 360.Template:Citeneeded
It will be also available for the Windows Vista operating system sometime in the future.
Contents |
History
One note regarding the release of Halo 2 was an estimated one million dollar Alternate Reality Game project titled I Love Bees. For those who are not familiar with the "ARG" premise: a story is put forth on webpages and other media devices. Players are invited into a part of the story they might not otherwise see. ARGS have become increasingly popular in the early 21st century, and this popularity is owed in large part to "I Love Bees".
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 Studios, tried to contain the spread, and pledged to bring legal action against anyone who spread the leaked version <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> . The leak failed to have a significant effect on Halo 2 sales, due in part to a supportive Halo community which was determined to honor the original release date and which was instrumental in curbing the spread of the leaked version.
The first official release of Halo 2 was in Australia, New Zealand and the United States on November 9, 2004. Anticipation for game was high; three weeks before this release, a record 1.5 million copies had already been pre-ordered <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> . This was followed by releases on November 10 in France and other European countries, and November 11 in the UK. The game sold 2.4 million copies and earned up to $125 million US in its first 24 hours on store shelves, thus out-grossing the film Spider-Man 2 as highest grossing release in entertainment history. <ref> Template:Cite web</ref> As of November 9 2005, exactly a year after its release, Halo 2 had sold more than 7 million copies worldwide <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>. Some observers saw this as another milestone in the emerging dominance of the video game industry. Halo 2 won "Game of the Year 2004" at GPhoria, among other awards (Best Boss Battle, etc.), including different award shows.
Since Halo 2 was a successful killer app for the Xbox and its Live online service, Microsoft took advantage of Halo 2 to ban modded Xboxes from the network when they tried to log on for online gaming.
On February 9, 2006, Bungie Studios announced that Halo 2 would be released exclusively for the Windows Vista operating system. The game is to be ported by a small team at Microsoft Game Studios who will work closely with Bungie Studios.
Versions
1.0 - Shipping version
1.1 - Map Download/Cheat Fix
Halo 2 is currently on version 1.1. There have been multiple updates, and downloadable content via Xbox Live but the main screen still states 1.1 in the lower right hand corner.
Plot
Halo 2 opens following two juxtaposed ceremonies. The Master Chief is being awarded at the Cairo station orbiting Earth while the former leader of the Covenant fleet is being judged and tortured for his crimes. Both for the same event: the destruction of the Halo in the original Halo: Combat Evolved game. These rings are sacrosanct to the Covenant, but presented a great galactic threat, notably The Flood and the rings' ability to destroy all sentient life in the Galaxy. Their prophesied discovery signals the beginning of what they call the "Great Journey". Upon activation of the rings, the Covenant believe their Journey will begin.
The action begins following the Master Chief's ceremony. A Covenant fleet jumps out of slipspace and sends boarding parties towards a battlecluster of stations. These boarding parties carry plasma explosives designed to take out the MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) guns which threaten the Covenant flagships. The Master Chief finds and disarms the bomb located on the Cairo with the help of Cortana. The pair joins In Amber Clad and heads to earth where the Covenant are attacking the city of New Mombasa. The UNSC Marines successfully repel the invaders with the help of Master Chief. Upon fleeing, the remaining Covenant carrier jumps to a new ring world (in the process, destroying New Mombasa), Installation-05, dubbed "Delta Halo", with In Amber Clad and the Chief in pursuit. The crew of the vessel land on Delta Halo in an attempt to discover the reason for the Covenant's incursion. In Amber Clad's crew learn more of the Halo's significance to The Covenant in the process. Finally, in order to disrupt the Covenant leadership, the Master Chief kills the leader of the Covenant fleet, the High Prophet of Regret.
The action switches to the condemned Covenant fleet commander assuming the role of the Arbiter. His first mission, to silence a heretic who doubts the Prophets' teachings, starts him on a path which ultimately has him doubting his beliefs. Seeds are further sown for discord within the Covenant when the Prophet Heirarchs decide to grant the Brutes control of the military instead of the traditionally favored Elites after the loss of the original Halo ring. During his missions, The Arbiter realizes the danger that the rings represent: their activation is intended to destroy all sentient life in the Galaxy, in order to cleanse the Galaxy of Flood and their potential hosts.
The Master Chief and the Arbiter meet upon the release of the Flood from Delta Halo. A mysterious Flood creature called the Gravemind sends the Arbiter and Master Chief in separate directions to prevent The High Prophets from activating Delta Halo.
The Master Chief finds himself upon the nearby Covenant Holy City, High Charity, a gargantuan space station, and pursues the remaining Prophets. During his mission, The Chief must battle his way through an erupting Covenant civil war between Brutes and Elites. After capturing the In Amber Clad, the Flood, led by the Gravemind, arrive on the city and begin to consume and infect the populace. The only remaining High Prophet, Truth, escapes on a Forerunner vessel hidden in the core of High Charity. The Master Chief manages to stow away on board while Cortana stays behind in order to detonate the In Amber Clad's engine reactors to destroy Delta Halo and High Charity, stopping Tartarus from activating Halo.
The Game comes to a close as The Arbiter and a force of Elites aided by surviving members of In Amber Clad's crew pursue and kill Tartarus and his Brutes on Delta Halo as he is attempts to activate the Halo System.
After the game credits finish rolling, a scene appears in which Cortana and Gravemind are conversing. This appears to be a teaser for Halo 3.
Gameplay
Campaign
The game's "Campaign" mode offers options for both single-player and cooperative multiplayer participation. When playing in this mode the player must complete a series of levels that encompass Halo 2's storyline. These levels require the player to alternate between the roles of Master Chief and a Covenant Elite called the Arbiter, who occupy identical but diametrically opposed roles in the story's conflict. Aside from variations in storyline the Arbiter differs from Master Chief in that his armor lacks a flashlight, instead it is equipped with a short duration rechargeable form of active camouflage that disappears when the player attacks or gets shot.
In Campaign mode there are five levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic. Legendary has been described as "suicide" by the game developers, and Mythic is only available by activating the "Mythic" Skull. An increase in difficulty will result in an increase in the health of opponents, an increase in their accuracy, a reduction of duration and an increase in recharge time for the Arbiter's active camouflage, and a reduction of health in the player. Playing under Legendary difficulty causes the appearance of hidden skulls, collection of which enacts special game conditions.
Multiplayer
Template:See also Image:Halo2 multi 4 1094806526.jpg Image:Halo2 multi 2 1094806396.jpg Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 allows players to compete with each other via 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 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 public games, and they do not get to specify individual maps and options to search for. Instead, players select "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. Bungie updates these playlists every once in a while, deleting the unpopular gametypes and adding new ones. The Xbox Live servers create games automatically from the pool of players that have chosen each playlist, choosing a game type and map automatically and selecting one player to serve as the game's host (it is a common belief that this person has a bit of an advantage over the other players, which can be true in some gametypes, leading to a method people use to get host called bridging).
Players can create small "parties" with their friends and enter games together as teammates in Team based games. 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. Players may still choose to set up games for their own party to their own specification, and invite others into that game from their Friends and Clan lists, however these games are not made publicly available.
Bungie.net records every single statistic that is displayed on-screen in the end-of-game "Postgame Carnage Report."(if mods were used in that game and were reported the game will not file correctly) Anyone can visit Bungie.net and look at any Xbox Live player's stats. If a player logs in with a Microsoft Passport, they can also access the "Gameviewer". This presents an image of the level that was played from the player's choice various angles, superimposed with a summary of the crucial game events. For example: for each kill, the attacker and target's locations and the attacker's weapon are displayed, and the paths taken by flags in Capture the Flag games are shown. Bungie keeps these stats for several hundred games per player at a time, then games begin to be purged to save space, and they are used as evidence when banning suspected cheating players (see "Xbox Live Updates", below).
Regular players have expressed concerns regarding the game balance of Halo 2. Many players feel that game strategies are too dependent upon controlling the "power weapons" in each map such as the Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, or Energy Sword, which leads to the overshadowing of the other weapons in the game. They feel that, should a team acquire these weapons, it will become more difficult for their opponents to score kills or attain objectives. This is debatable, and in fairness the maps are balanced for each team to have similar access to these weapons. The objective skill is in making sure that you have an effective strategy to retain your weapons while relinquishing the opposing team of theirs. Much game time may be consumed attempting to seize the weapons in question from the opposition to shift the balance of power. This primarily affects team games and one-on-one games; in free for alls, a player with a "power weapon" will become a priority target for the other players, meaning that the weapon will change hands frequently. Another common criticism is the dominance of dual-wielding weapons over single-wielding combined with grenades, although attempts have been made to address these issues with the April 18th automatic update. Some people feel that the updates were not sufficient for balancing issues. (see "Xbox Live updates").
The particulars of the PC multiplayer aspect have yet to be disclosed. Indications are Bungie plans on keeping the multiplayer modes similar. The status of cooperative play for the PC is completely unknown.
Damage system
Image:Shieldhalo2.JPG The damage system in Halo 2 is slightly different from that in Halo: Combat Evolved. The player has a regenerating shield, but now cannot see the health bar included in the original game.
- Shields: The shield in Halo 2 is much stronger, and recharges at a higher rate than the ones in the original Halo. It covers the player's entire body, and slowly decreases in power as it sustains damage. After it takes damage, it starts to recharge 4 seconds after the last time damage was sustained. The power is displayed above the motion tracker in the bottom-left of the screen. Like in the original Halo, once the shields become low an alarm informs the player that they are out.
- Health: In Halo 2, once the shields run out, the player also has a buffer of health. Unlike the first Halo, the amount of health left is not visible to the player, but is marginally larger than in the original game. If a player is wounded, his health will start being restored the instant the shields began to recharge. However, a wounded player will remain wounded until he either dies or his shields begin to recharge, stressing the need to use cover to remain alive even more than the original game.
Powerups
There are two types of powerups available in Halo 2 Multiplayer.
- Overshield: An enhanced, non-regenerating shield which is twice the strength of the normal one (Not including normal shield that is 'underneath' it). The overshield functions on top of the regular shield – when it is active, the normal shield does not take damage. In addition, when an overshield is picked up, the player is invulnerable until it finishes charging, which takes a second or two. In multiplayer Halo 2, the overshield gradually depletes over time, can be used as a default shield that recharges and can be completely taken out with a charged up plasma pistol shot. 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 Camouflage: Essentially a device used for stealth by The Covenant, active camouflage drastically reduces the player's visibility for a period of time, making all but a faint outline of him invisible, and producing a lensing effect as they walk. This effect (which is almost identical to that of the alien armor in the Predator movies) is reduced if the player is hit by weapon fire, or if he fires a weapon. This effect also reduces the effectiveness of enemy weapons. In addition to this, plasma weapons and some other weapons will be easily visible even if not fired, with or without active camouflage. The ability to use active camouflage is included in the Arbiter's part of the campaign, although its effect only lasts a few seconds and suffers from the same problems as noted above. The power-up is not available in the Halo 2 campaign as it was in the first (as a ball of energy kept inside a small transparent pyramid), it is only given to the Arbiter to use as the Master Chief uses his flashlight. The Envy skull (which is only accessible on the Legendary difficulty) gives Master Chief access to the built-in generator, and with a glitch can be made permanent until you turn the Xbox off. During multiplayer, you cannot use active camouflage as the Arbiter does during the campaign, but instead must find it placed on the map.
Gametype Settings: In some gametypes, the overshield and/or active camo are always active on one or all of the players, and if disabled, will recharge over time. One common mistake for new players is to mix the overshield and the active camo; the overshield creates a faint halo around the player, rendering the active camouflage useless.
Main characters
- Master Chief SPARTAN-117 John
- Cortana
- Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson
- Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes
- Arbiter, former Commander of the Fleet of Paticular Justice
- High Prophets of Truth, Mercy and Regret
- Brute Chieftain Tartarus
- 2401 Penitent Tangent
- 343 Guilty Spark
- Spec-Ops Commander "Half-Jaw"
- Gravemind
- Heretic Leader
Music
The Halo 2 soundtrack was mostly composed by Martin O'Donnell, who had also composed the music of Halo. Steve Vai provided guitar backing for many tracks, including the album's signature piece Halo Theme- MJOLNIR Mix, which also serves as the theme song for Halo 2. Additional tracks included various outside musicians, including Joe Satriani, Incubus, Breaking Benjamin, and Hoobastank, who are all featured on the official soundtrack and to a certain extent, in the game.
The Halo 2 Original Soundtrack: Volume Two will be available April 25, 2006 featuring Incubus with a special guest appearance by Kirk Johnson.
Additional content
Xbox Live updates
A common complaint regarding Halo 2's online play has been the widespread cheating which occurred almost immediately upon the game's release. Users exploited bugs in the game and vulnerabilities of the network to win ranked games and thus increase their matchmaking rank. In response to these complaints, Bungie released an automatic update for Halo 2 (a mandatory patch) on Monday, April 18th, 2005, which fixed many of the various bugs and cheats in the game (though some inevitably persist, most of the time among the MM levels i.e. 30-50, reducing the number of players who play matchmaking at that level), slimmed down split-screen HUD information, and rebalanced various weapons to promote use of single-wield weapons, grenades, and melee attacks. For example, the melee attacks and grenades are now far more powerful. The battle rifle is now more accurate. A full list of changes can be seen here. This brings Halo 2 up to Version 1.1.
Halo 2 also supports downloadable content, with Bungie making various new multiplayer maps available. Four maps were made available to download on Monday, April 25th, 2005. Two of these were immediately free to download (the "Bonus Pack"), while the other two (the "Killtacular Pack") had a charge attached (US$5.99, £2.99) until July the 5th (in actuality, late June), when they too became free to download. On the 5th, 5 new maps were made available in a pack for $11.99, and were similarly made free to download on August 30th. The Map Pack disk (below) was also released on that date. For further information on the map packs and their contents, see the list of downloadable maps.
Another update was added in July, 2005 (a week or so after the release of the map pack). The update added a detection tool that would automatically detect and ban 'modders' using modified content on their Xboxes. Modified versions of the downloadable maps would allow people to use cheats such as 'autoaim' and 'automatic reload' during matches on Xbox Live. Any players who are detected using modified content would be automatically banned from Matchmaking on Xbox Live. The update also fixes a teleporter glitch on the map, Relic.
Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack
| Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Bungie Studios {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | July 5, 2005 (NA) |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | Xbox {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
The Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack is an expansion pack for the video game Halo 2, intended to make Xbox Live content and updates available to offline players. The disk contains the game's automatic update, all nine new multiplayer maps, a documentary about the making of the maps, and a cinematic called "Another Day on the Beach". It was released on July 5, 2005. At release, it cost £15 in the UK and $19.99 in the U.S., available at par in Canada. It contains 9 levels: Turf, Containment, Warlock, Sanctuary, Terminal, Relic, Backwash, Gemini, and Elongation.
Information on the new maps can be found here.
The new multiplayer content can be used on Xbox Live, System Link and Split-Screen modes.
Five of the new maps (Elongation, Terminal, Backwash, Gemini, Relic) were released online through Xbox Live's downloadable content service on July 5, the same day as the map pack. The other four maps (Turf, Sanctuary, Warlock, Containment) were released earlier in the summer.
Criticism
Template:Main While Halo 2 has won many awards and raked in colossal profits, debate has risen over the merits of such success, especially when faced with comparisons to the immense impact on the console market that the first Halo had..
Awards
- 2005 Spacey Awards
- Favourite Video Game
- 2005 GameFly Q Awards
- Favorite Game of the Year
- Favorite Xbox Game
- Favorite Shooter Game
- 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards
- Excellence in Audio
- Game Innovation Spotlights (I Love Bees)
- Game Revolution 2004
- Best Console Game of E3 2004
- E3 2004 Game Critics Awards
- Best Console Game
- Best Action Game
- Best Online Multiplayer Game
- 1UP, 2004
- Best Visuals of E3 2004
- Best Xbox Game of E3 2004
- Best Shooter of E3 2004
- Best Game of E3 2004 Nominee
- Best Multiplayer/Online Game of 2004
- Best Shooter of 2004
- Game of the Year 2004
- Gphoria, 2005
- Best Shooter
- Best Multiplayer Game
- Best Sound Design
- Best Original Soundtrack
- Best Male Performance (David Cross)
- Best Boss (Scarab Battle)
- Game of the Year
- Webby for best "Games Related Website" (I Love Bees)
Future developments
Halo 2 is being ported by Microsoft Game Studios, with the help of Bungie, to Windows Vista, on February 9, 2006, it was announced that Halo 2 PC would be in stores before the end of 2006 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> , but this now seems unlikely due to the push of the Windows Vista launch into 2007. There will be a map editor included that will be made by Microsoft (in cooperation with Bungie Studios). The extent of the map editor's capabilities have not yet been made available.
Halo 2 for Windows Vista will also not link with the Xbox Live™ network. It is totally incompatible; however Bungie has stated that it will have networking features of its own, resembling how Halo PC included free Internet multiplayer.
See also
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack
- Halo (video game series)
- I Love Bees
- List of Halo 2 changes
- List of multiplayer gametypes in Halo 2
- List of multiplayer maps in Halo 2
- List of vehicles in the Halo universe
- List of weapons in Halo 2
- Halo 2 OST Original Soundtrack
- Red vs Blue
References
<references/>
External links
- Bungie's Official Halo 2 site
- Xbox.com's Official Halo 2 site
- Halo.Bungie.org, Halo news and associated productions
- halowiki.net - A Halo 2 multiplayer knowledge repository.
- Bungie story
- Halo & Bungie News
- Official forum for Halo 2 PC
- Slayer Pro Productions HALO, HALO 2 videos
- Halo 2 Snipers Sniping guides and tips
- Red vs Blue The most popular machinima series for halo.
- Major League Gaming
- MLG Stats (unofficial)
- The Unofficial MLG PwnCast A fan-created podcast focusing primarily on the competitive aspects of Halo 2 and its primary competitive organization, Major League Gaming
- Podtacular The leading Halo 2 fan-created podcast.
- Template:Moby game - Game credits
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