Halo 2

Halo 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Bungie Studios for the Xbox video game console and is backwards-campatible with Xbox 360. It is the sequel to the game Halo: Combat Evolved, and features a newly built graphics engine and the addition of new elements to the game. Like the Marathon series, the game will further develop the struggle between the human race and a religiously zealous and technologically superior foe (The Covenant from the first Halo).

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. Regardless, Microsoft later touted that there have been 1.5 million preorders for Halo 2 in the United States alone and that this guarantees it to have the largest first-day revenue of any game or movie ever. The game sold 2.4 million copies and earned up to $125 million US in its first 24 hours on store shelves. 

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 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 is taken. There is, however, no difference in weapon use. Both characters still cannot reload the power cores of Covenant plasma weaponry or use the twin plasma cannons on Wraiths that NPCs can use.

There are four levels of competition: Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary.

Multiplayer
There are a wide variety of multiplayer game types, several of which have returned from the original Halo game. A typical deathmatch 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 "it" called Juggernaut, as well as others and the ability to create one's own variants. Of the preset variations present in the original game, only Race is missing, replaced by a similar but different game.Plus you have an option of becoming an Elite in multiplayer.

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 there of; "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 versus 8 players. Other playlists allow various things such as 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. They can also play custom gametypes like regular multiplayer. Unranked gametypes allow people on the same xbox console without an xbox live account to play with them as "guests". 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. Note: It appears that the host has some advantages over other players during the game due to lag, although (giving him the ability to move/react faster than the other players, and for certain glitches to work), resulting in a form of cheating called bridging in which somebody uses their pc to get host

Since launching in November 2004, the service has been very popular with 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.

Halo 2 players with Microsoft Passport accounts can log on to bungie.net and obtain extremely detailed statistics on their performance, including level maps for several hundred of the player's most recent games that indicate graphically where and when the player scored a kill or was killed him- or herself.

In April 2005, Bungie released the first of nine new multiplayer maps Containment and Warlock for free over Xbox Live. At the same time two more multiplayer maps: Turf and Sanctuary became premium content. By July 2005, the final five maps: Gemini, Relic, Elongation, Terminal, and Backwash, were released again, as premium content. By August 2005, all nine maps became free to all Xbox Live subscribers.

On November 15, 2006, Bungie announced new multiplayer maps being made for a Spring 2007 release. These maps will only be exclusive to Xbox 360 users. It is to be seen if Bungie will eventually make these maps avalible for original Xbox users.

Damage system
The damage system in Halo 2 is much different from what it was in Halo: Combat Evolved. The player has a regenerating shield and regenerating health.


 * Shields: The Shield in Halo 2 is much stronger than it was in Halo: Combat Evolved, and recharges at a higher rate. It 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.

Note: the amount of protection/recharge time it provides varies with difficulty, decreasing as the difficulty is raised


 * 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. Bungie's word on this new system is the addition of a Biofoam dispenser in the armor ( so health regenerates after time).

Powerups
There are two types of normal 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. However, the overshield will gradually reduce in power until it is gone, at which point the player's normal shields will be vulnerable to damage. Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, the overshield powerup is not available in the single player campaign.


 * Active Camouflage: Drastically reduces the player's visibility for a period of time, making all but a faint outline of him transparent. This effect 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. In campaign mode, active camoflauge is only available in levels in which you play as the Arbiter. (note. if the Overshield technology and the Active Camouflage are used in conjunction the Active Camouflage is not sophisticated enough to hide the enhanced over shields)

More unique powerups known as skulls exist in campaign mode, as hidden items for the player to find.

Easter Eggs
Like most games Bungie has "hidden" a number of Easter eggs in their games. Some as big as the Scarab gun that can be found on Metropolis to some as small as a "No Swimming" sign on Zanzibar. One of the most famous set of Easter eggs in Halo 2 are the skulls. The Halo 2 Skulls are a set of item that are hidden in the campaign mostly under the "legendary" setting, but some skulls can be found even on the "easy" setting. When picked up (usually by pressing "X") these skulls activate effects like headshots making enemies explode like plasma grenades and intensifying explosions. A listing of Easter Eggs in the Halo series can be found here.

Weapons

 * BR55 Battle Rifle (Standard UNSC)
 * Brute Plasma Rifle
 * Brute Shot
 * Carbine
 * M9 HE-DP Grenade (frag)
 * Fuel Rod Gun
 * Magnum M6C pistol sidearm
 * Needler
 * Particle Beam Rifle
 * Plasma Grenade
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Energy Sword
 * Sentinel Beam
 * M90 Shotgun
 * SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
 * SMG M7/caseless Sub-machine Gun
 * Scarab Gun
 * M19 SSM (SPNKr) Rocket Launcher

Campaign

 * The Heretic
 * The Armory
 * Cairo Station
 * Outskirts
 * Metropolis
 * The Arbiter
 * The Oracle
 * Delta Halo
 * Regret
 * Sacred Icon
 * Quarantine Zone
 * Gravemind
 * Uprising
 * High Charity
 * The Great Journey

Multiplayer

 * Lockout
 * Ascension
 * Colossus
 * Beaver Creek
 * Ivory Tower
 * Midship
 * Waterworks
 * Burial Mounds
 * Foundation
 * Headlong
 * Coagulation
 * Zanzibar
 * Containment
 * Warlock
 * Turf
 * Sanctuary
 * Backwash
 * Terminal
 * Relic
 * Gemini
 * Elongation

Storyline
The game starts with a Covenant attack on Earth. Master Chief begins on one of the three hundred space defense platforms which orbit the planet. After repelling the Covenant boarding parties, the battle shifts to Earth's surface.

The player engages in urban combat in the city of New Mombasa. After which a Covenant ship makes a slipspace jump which destroys the city, the UNSC ship the In Amber Clad, with the Master Chief aboard gets swept up in the warp field in a desperate effort to follow it.

The player is transported to the vicinity of another Halo ring - the Delta Halo - perhaps many tens of thousands of light years from Earth, on which they land. Also, a power struggle within the Covenant is revealed, with Brutes usurping the role of the Elites. Furthermore, there is a movement, regarded by the Covenant leadership as heretical, which argues that Covenant teachings aren't true. Lastly, we are introduced to an (apparently massive) creature called the Gravemind, which appears to be the controlling mind of the Flood. The creature is obviously highly intelligent and gives the impression of knowing a great deal. It appears to live deep within Delta Halo, out of sight and yet its actual size, although not revealed, may occupy many of the entire hidden underground caverns that encircle the ring.

At some point, when she does not want a remote detonation of In Amber Clad, Cortana becomes separated from the Master Chief and is left within a computer on High Charity.

The Halos, we learn from 343 Guilty Spark, were built to prevent the Flood from spreading throughout the Galaxy, and that 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 leader Tartarus activates the ring in preparation to fire, to bring about - in his eyes - the Great Journey. The player must fight to retrieve the Index and deactivate the ring before it fires and destroys all sentient life in the Galaxy.

The Index is retrieved and the Halo cannot fire. 343 Guilty Spark reveals that although the Index was removed before Delta Halo had time to complete it's firing sequence, it sent signals to other Halos in the Galaxy, putting them on standby mode. Now, they can be activated remotely from the Ark (assumed to be either on Earth or the Forerunner Ship itself). The game ends here and the credits roll.

There is no novelization of this game yet. It is possible that a novelisation that follows the canon laid down by the previous three novels might differ somewhat plotwise from the game, due to various differences between the game and the other novels.

Characters

 * Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN John-117
 * Cortana
 * Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson
 * Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes
 * Arbiter
 * SpecOps Commander Rtas' Vadumee
 * High Prophet of Truth
 * High Prophet of Mercy
 * High Prophet of Regret
 * Brute Chieftain Tartarus
 * 343 Guilty Spark
 * 2401 Penitent Tangent
 * Gravemind
 * Heretic Leader
 * Lord Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood
 * Staff Sergeant Banks
 * Corporal Perez

Limited Collector's Edition
The LCE came with a "Behind the Scenes" DVD, a Halo 2 manual from the Covenant's perspective (written as a report from the Arbiter to the Prophet of Truth), a booklet called Conversations from the Universe, as well as a 7-Eleven Slurpee coupon and an Xbox Live coupon. Both coupons were decorated with Halo imagery.

Trivia
Due to the limited time before release, the original last three levels were cut.

Bungie has refered to Halo 2 as "...a lot like Halo 1. Only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 120 miles per hour in a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas. And the ninjas are all on fire too." This phrase inspired various references, in the game and throughout the community, to burning ninjas.

Halo 2: Original Soundtrack
Halo 2: Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Halo 2. There are 2 volumes, which were released almost two years apart. Volume 1 was released on November 9th, 2004 and Volume 2 was released on April 25th, 2006. All music was created by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori except where noted.

Related Links
Internal
 * Halo 2 Credits
 * Action Figures
 * List of Halo 2 changes
 * I Love Bees
 * List of "Seven" references in Halo
 * Early Halo 2 Script
 * Halo 2 PC

External
 * Bungie's Official Halo 2 Site
 * Halo Easter Eggs- Best Halo Easter Eggs
 * Xbox.com's Official Halo 2 Site
 * Halo.Bungie.Org
 * IGN E3 2004 Preview
 * "Frankie's Bungie Updates"
 * Howstuffworks article on the game AI of Halo 2.
 * HaloWiki.net Another halo wiki, focusing mainly on multiplayer. Extremely in-depth.
 * Halo Planet