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Halo 2

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Halo 2
Halo 2 box art
Developer(s)Bungie Studios
Publisher(s)Microsoft
EngineProprietary (incorporates Havok physics)
Platform(s)Xbox, PC (Windows Vista only),Xbox 360 (backwards compatible (With HDD unit)
ReleaseMicrosoft Xbox:
North America November 9 2004
PAL November 11 2004
Japan November 11 2004
PC: Microsoft Windows Vista exclusive, 2007/2008
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer, Xbox Live, Co-Op, System-link

Halo 2 is a 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. Halo and Halo 2 are some of the most played games for the Xbox console.[1] On June 20, 2006, Xbox.com reported that more than a half-billion games of Halo 2 have been played on Xbox Live since its debut. The same article also reported that 7.4 million units of Halo 2 have been sold worldwide.

The game will also be available for the Windows Vista operating system sometime in the near future.

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 web pages and other media devices. Players are invited into a part of the story they might not otherwise see.

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.[2] The leak failed to have a significant effect on Halo 2 sales.

The first official release of Halo 2 was in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States on November 9, 2004. Anticipation for the game was high; three weeks before this release, a record 1.5 million copies had already been pre-ordered.[3] 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 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest as highest grossing release in entertainment history.[4] As of November 9 2005, exactly a year after its release, Halo 2 had sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.[5] 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.


Plot

Template:Spoilers

Halo 2 chapter sequence

  • Chapter 1: The Heretic
  • Chapter 2: The Armory
  • Chapter 3: Cairo Station
  • Chapter 4: Outskirts
  • Chapter 5: Metropolis
  • Chapter 6: The Arbiter
  • Chapter 7: Oracle
  • Chapter 8: Delta Halo
  • Chapter 9: Regret
  • Chapter 10: Sacred Icon
  • Chapter 11: Quarantine Zone
  • Chapter 12: Gravemind
  • Chapter 13: Uprising
  • Chapter 14: High Charity
  • Chapter 15: The Great Journey

Halo 2 opens with Master Chief receiving an award aboard Cairo Station, a MAC gun platform orbiting Earth, alongside Miranda Keyes. Miranda is the daughter of Captain Keyes, who died during the course of Halo: Combat Evolved, and Miranda is accepting a posthumous award for her father's bravery. This ceremony is juxtaposed with the judgment and torture of the former Elite admiral of the Covenant fleet Particular Justice, who is being punished for his incompetence. Both events are in response to the destruction of Halo during the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Master Chief is awarded for his bravery and sacrifice, and the unnamed Covenant admiral is being tortured for his inability to prevent the destruction of Halo. It is also revealed that the Covenant's interest in Halo lies in the belief that the activation of Halo would bring about the "Great Journey", which would cleanse the universe of lesser lifeforms (including the Flood) while providing salvation for the Covenant.

The action begins during the Master Chief's ceremony. A Covenant fleet jumps out of slipspace near Earth and sends boarding parties towards a battlecluster of stations. These boarding parties are secretly carrying explosives designed to take out the MAC (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) guns. Master Chief finds and disarms a bomb located on Cairo Station with the help of Cortana, while the flagship of the Covenant fleet speeds past Earth's defenses and heads toward Earth itself. Master Chief and Cortana join the UNSC ship In Amber Clad, which is en route to New Mombasa to deal with the Covenant flagship. In Amber Clad is carrying Sergeant Major Johnson, and is piloted by Miranda Keyes.

Before reaching New Mombasa, Cortana decodes transmissions revealing that the flagship carries the High Prophet of Regret. The UNSC successfully repels the Covenant invasion force with the help of Master Chief, and the Covenant ship begins preparations for a slipspace jump to an unknown destination. In Amber Clad follows, and discovers a second Halo installation dubbed "Delta Halo". The crew of In Amber Clad learn more about the Covenant's belief regarding the Halos, and Master Chief ultimately slays the High Prophet of Regret while attempting to prevent the activation of Delta Halo.

The action switches to the condemned Covenant fleet commander assuming the role of the Arbiter. His first mission is to silence a heretic who doubts the Prophets' teachings, in turn starting the Arbiter along a path which ultimately results in Arbiter doubting his own beliefs. Seeds of discord are further sown within the Covenant when the Prophets decide to grant the Brutes control of the military instead of the traditionally favored Elites. During his missions, The Arbiter realizes the danger that the rings represent: they are weapons designed to destroy most of the life in the galaxy, not the religious artifacts the Covenant believes them to be.

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. Master Chief finds himself aboard the Covenant Holy City High Charity, a gargantuan space station, and pursues the remaining Prophets. During Chief's mission, he finds himself in the middle of an erupting Covenant civil war between Brutes and Elites. After capturing the In Amber Clad, the Flood, led by the Gravemind, arrive at 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 with The Arbiter's missions as he is aided by a group of Elites as well as surviving members of In Amber Clad's crew. Together, they pursue and kill Tartarus and his Brutes on Delta Halo. Tartarus, however, has already succeeded in inserting the Index, making Delta Halo fully operational. Miranda Keyes manages to snatch the Index out of Delta Halo's control panel, thus halting the firing sequence. Despite this success, Delta Halo's deactivation sends a signal out to the other Halos, sending them all into a "standby" mode so they can be remotely detonated from the Ark. Meanwhile, the Forerunner ship that Master Chief has stowed away on approaches Earth. One of Earth's remaining orbital forces contacts him and asks what he is doing aboard the Forerunner ship. He replies, "Sir, finishing this fight," ending the game on an abrupt cliffhanger, and setting the tone for Halo 3.

After the game credits finish rolling, a scene appears in which Cortana and Gravemind are conversing. This is meant as a further teaser for Halo 3.

Template:Endspoiler

Gameplay

Campaign

In-game screenshot of Halo 2

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 alternate between Master Chief and a Covenant Elite called the Arbiter as the player, who occupy identical but diametrically opposed roles in the story's conflict. Aside from variations in storyline, the Arbiter differs from Master Chief only 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 four levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary. An increase in difficulty will result in:

  • An increase in the amount, rank, health, damage, and accuracy of enemies
  • A reduction of duration and an increase in recharge time for the Arbiter's active camouflage
  • A decrease in the player's damage and shields

Legendary has been described as "suicide" by Bungie Studios. However, the game can be made harder by use of various skulls. Once the Mythic Skull is picked up, for example, enemy shields, damage, accuracy, and health all rise dramatically. Other skulls modify certain features, such as the "blind skull" removing the HUD (and thus removing the targeting reticule).

Multiplayer

Halo 2 multiplayer maps

File:Halo2 multi 4 1094806526.jpg
Xbox Live automatically matches players based on criteria such as skill and ping. The screenshot is from a Beta version of the game.

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, map, and configuring other settings. The game software then uses a service such as 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.

Halo 2 is often played in as tournaments, hosted by companies such as the World Cyber Games Tournament. The most recent introduction is of international competitions, such as the 2004 international Halo-fest. Players took part in heats, which progressed to the finals between American's Dwight Sayer and Leo Terask, and Australians Michael Collins and Shawn Wong.

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 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 (being the host is generally a desirable position to be in, as the host experiences no latency. 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 can create small parties with their friends and enter games together as teammates in Team based games. 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". 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 the stats for each game for 7 days before purging them to save space. The stats are also used as evidence when banning suspected cheating players (see "Xbox Live updates").

File:Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack.jpg
The Multiplayer Map Pack cover art.

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", amongst other features. 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.

Information on the new maps can be found Template:Halo2map.

The new multiplayer content can be used on Xbox Live, System Link and Split-Screen modes.

Five of the new maps (Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map) were released online through Xbox Live's downloadable content service on July 5, the same day as the map pack. The other four maps (Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map) were released earlier that year. All of the multiplayer maps are now available as free & mandatory downloads on Xbox Live. This also upgrades Halo's multiplayer to be 1.1. Upgrades in 1.1 include shorter fragmentation grenade fuses and more powerful grenades in general. The magnum has become less powerful, and when dual-wielded, it has a decrease in its auto-accuracy ability. The SMG and Plasma Rifle dual-wield combo has been toned down. Melee damage has been doubled. If, while jumping, the player melees an opponent, his shields will be knocked down instantly. If the mid-air melee is executed with the Brute Shot it will be a one hit kill, as the Brute Shot itself was made more powerful because of the increase in grenade damage.

The disc also includes a documentary about the making of the new maps and a short bonus movie.

Vehicles

Halo 2 offers a larger array of vehicles to choose from, such as the Ghost, Spectre, Banshee, Wraith, Scorpion Tank, Warthog, and advanced maneuvering abilities, such as boarding (hijacking) any vehicle and boosting (for Covenant Vehicles only), features that were not offered in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Such as: Warthog : A primary human vehicle with good maneuverability. The Warthog can slide or drift with the Left Trigger button, and its horn can be used with the Right Trigger button. It is very useful to transport a teammate carrying the opponent’s flag or one team's bomb while assaulting an enemy base. Like other vehicles, the Warthog may be hijacked by getting close enough and pressing X to get in. Trying to board a vehicle while boosting is not a good idea, however, as the boost often runs over the player attempting to board. Boarding a Scorpion or Wraith requires repetitive pressing of the B Button in order to smash open the cockpit door. The Warthog carries the driver, a passenger, and a turret gunman. There are two types of turrets Warthogs are fitted with: Gauss and Machine Gun.

Powerups

There are two types of powerups available in Halo 2 Multiplayer.

  • Overshield: An enhanced, non-regenerating shield which gives the user three times the strength of a normal shield. The overshield adds a strong glowing effect to the user, which can give his or her position away more clearly. 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, and can be used as a default shield that recharges and can be completely taken out along with the normal shield 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. The stealth camouflage also removes the auto aim players usually receive when targeting an enemy because the reticule will not turn red if held over someone with the camouflage active. Weapons such as the Sword, Plasma Rifle, and Plasma Pistol can give someone with cloak away because of the glow each produces. Curiously, the glow from the Needler and Beam Rifle do not shine through the cloak. 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 the user can be given away if he fires, but not if he performs a melee attack (unless he hits an enemy). Since the AI technically does not rely on sight to locate targets (because they are bots and don't technically see at all) the glow from the plasma rifle, plasma pistol, or even the sword will not give the player away. The power-up is not available in the Halo 2 campaign as it was in the first; it is only given to the Arbiter to use as the Master Chief uses his flashlight. The Envy skull, only accessible on the Legendary difficulty, gives Master Chief access to the built-in generator, and has the same duration as arbiter's would on legendary difficulty. During multiplayer, active camouflage is acquired as it is in the first game, and is located often at a relatively hidden or remote location on the map. Anything that requires a red reticle to function properly, such as the tracking ability of the needler and plasma pistol, and the lunge ability of the energy sword will not function against an invisible target.

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.

Skulls

As easter eggs in Halo 2 skulls can be found in almost every level of the Campaign mode. The skulls, when picked up, all have a different effect in the game. All but the blind skull are only found in the Legendary difficulty setting.

Single Player

  • Blind: This skull removes the Hud from the game
  • I Would Have Been Your Daddy: Spawns extra phrases from characters.
  • Thunderstorm: All Covenant enemies become special ops.
  • Un-named skull (possibly 'Cowbell'): Makes enemies more aware of the player's location.
  • Catch: Enemies always drop 2 plasma grenades, and it appears that all enemies will toss more grenades in general.
  • Grunt Birthday Party: Headshots makes enemies explode
  • Famine: All found weapons have less ammo.
  • Envy: Active Camo takes the place of the flashlight. The camo acts just like the Arbiter's Active Camo.
  • Assassins: All enemies in game are permanently cloaked.
  • Mythic: Unknown. Some reports say that it makes enemies have more health and thus making them harder to kill, supposedly creating a "mythic" difficulty level, even harder than Legendary, but this has not been proven.
  • Sputnik: The force of certain attacks and explosions is increased dramatically. The most obvious changes are to fragmentation grenade explosions, rocket explosions, vehicle explosions, melee attacks, and plasma attacks from turrets and vehicles. The increase in force causes objects affected to fly farther and take more damage.
  • Angry: Grunts shoot much faster. The Angry skull is the only known skull that can be cycled through, allowing the player to use the skull as a third weapon.
  • Ghost: Some reports say enemies take longer to notice the player or react to his/her presence. Others say enemies do not flinch when shot or melee'd.
  • Iron: When playing in co-op mode, if either player dies, the game restarts at the last checkpoint tagged. This affects all difficulties; normally this only happens on Legendary. It also makes allies immune to melee attacks.
  • Black Eye: The shield does not charge normally. Meleeing enemies causes the shield to charge; this may be used to overcharge the shield into Overshield mode.

Multiplayer

Extensive Research shows that the Skulls do have certain aspects of "effects" in Multiplayer Games. These effects are only limited to Split-Screen Games, and do not work on Xbox Live.

  • Black Eye Once activated, the snow on the Map Lockout disappears.

Main characters

Main article: Halo characters

Music

Main article: Halo 2 Original Soundtrack

The Halo 2 soundtrack was mostly composed by Martin O'Donnell and his partner Michael Salvatori, the team that 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 was released on April 25, 2006 and features Incubus with special guest appearances by Kirk Johnson and Steve Vai.

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, 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 and the battle rifle is now more accurate. Bungie keeps a full list of changes. [1]. 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. They are now all completely free. On the 5th, 5 new maps were made available for free on Xbox live. 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, Template:Halo2map. The players who use 'modded' content to have an unfair advantage over other players now resort to using 2-month free trial accounts to cheat on Xbox Live. Many players hold their rank (or level) in high regard, and these people will give 'modders' 2-month free trial cards so their rank can be 'boosted' up from winning unfairly. Anyone who knowingly and willingly plays with 'modders' will be banned from Matchmaking.

In June 2006, an additional online matchmaking update was released. This update removed the Clan Match, 6v6, and Big Team Battle playlists, as well as made other changes within existing playlists. New additions to the matchmaking playlist included Big Team Skirmish and Big Team Slayer, which are objective only and slayer only playlists, respectively, and Team SWAT (Unranked matches in which shields are disabled, and non-default starting weapons are used.)

On August 22nd, 2006, Bungie also added a new playlist called Team Carnage, that was devoloped by players at Halo.Bungie.Org.[2]

Inevitably some cheats and exploits remain. As users typically aim to increase their matchmaking rank by using these, some users avoid these by not entering games with particularly high-level players.

Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack

Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack maps

File:Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack.jpg
The Multiplayer Map Pack cover art.

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", amongst other features. 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.

Information on the new maps can be found Template:Halo2map.

The new multiplayer content can be used on Xbox Live, System Link and Split-Screen modes.

Five of the new maps (Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map) were released online through Xbox Live's downloadable content service on July 5, the same day as the map pack. The other four maps (Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map, Template:Halo2map) were released earlier that year. All of the multiplayer maps are now available as free & mandatory downloads on Xbox Live. This also upgrades Halo's multiplayer to be 1.1. This makes the fuses on the grenades have a shorter timer until they detonate, and additionally both grenades are more powerful, and as of now one plasma grenade can kill an opponent. The magnum has become less powerful, and when dual-wielded, it has a decrease in it's auto-accuracy ability. The SMG and Plasma Rifle dual-wield combo has been toned down. Melee damage has been doubled, so now instead of 6 hits it only takes three to take down an opponent with any gun. If the player jumps and hit an opponent his shields will be knocked down instantly. If done in midair as a mid-air melee with the Brute Shot it will be a one hit kill, as the Brute Shot takes 2 regular beatdowns to now kill someone, and the weapon itself is more powerful because of the increase in grenade damage.

The disc also includes a documentary about the making of the new maps and a short bonus movie.

Halo 2 Limited Collector's Edition

The Limited Collector's Edition cover art.
The Limited Collector's Edition cover art.

The Limited Collector's Edition features the regular edition, but some extras include an aluminum case, many promotional offers, an in-depth game manual with a special cover and a special DVD of the making of Halo 2. One of the most notable bonuses of the limited edition is the Conversations from the Universe booklet that contains information from both the human side and the Covenant side of the story.

See also the contents of Halo 2 Limited Collector's Edition.

Criticism

The game's Campaign mode has received some criticism, from the lack of Earth-based missions, to dissatisfaction with the abrupt, cliffhanger ending that sets gamers up for Halo 3.[6]

There is also some criticism of the game's on-the-fly rendering technique, which can sometimes result in textures or models being loaded into a cutscene in full sight of the player (or less frequently, during gameplay, though these incidents tend to be less obvious).[citation needed] Bungie has stated that this issue has been fixed for Halo 3 and the Windows Vista port.[7]

A common point of contention between Bungie and tournament players, such as MLG is that Bungie uses SMG starts (meaning the player will spawn with an SMG if they are killed), while tournament players prefer the Battle Rifle.[3] Bungie has since adopted settings similar to the ones MLG used (battle-rifle starts) and dubbed the playlist "Team Hardcore" (for team games) on Xbox Live.[4]

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

E3 2003 Game Critics Awards

  • Best Console 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

G-Phoria 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)

X-Play

  • Best Xbox game ever released

Xbox Nation Magazine

  • Game of the Year
  • Best Xbox Live Play

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 Vista, as it is called by Bungie, would be in stores before the end of 2006,[8] 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. Also,Bungie has stated that it will include the Multiplayer Map Pack.

Halo 2 Vista will not link with the Xbox Live network, as stated in the new FAQ section of Halo 2 Vista on Bungie's official website. However, Bungie has stated that it will have networking features of its own, resembling Halo PC's inclusion of free Internet for mega capabilities. It should be noted however, that Xbox Halo 2 players will not be able to play with users of the Windows Vista version of Halo 2.

Halo 3 is also currently in development by Bungie Studios.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Halo 2 tops Live most-played list".
  2. ^ "Bungie Underground Army called into action". Retrieved 2006-03-18.
  3. ^ "Halo 2 hits 1.5 million preorders; mass midnight sales planned". Retrieved 2006-03-15.
  4. ^ "Microsoft raises estimated first-day Halo 2 sales to $125 million-plus". Retrieved 2006-03-15.
  5. ^ "Halo 2 Anniversary Special". Retrieved 2006-03-15.
  6. ^ Halo 2 Review on GameSpot.com
  7. ^ "Bungie's Weekly Update". Retrieved 2006-05-12.
  8. ^ "Halo What on the Whatnow?". Retrieved 2006-03-15.

Official Websites

Reviews

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