Halo 2

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, 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. 

Spoiler warning: Plot and ending details follow.

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
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6495/halo2multiplayer1sh.jpg There are a variety of multiplayer competition 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 "it" 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 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.

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 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.

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. In the single player game, the overshield is reduced only when the player is hit, while in the multiplayer game, it also weakens gradually with time.


 * 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.

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

Weapons

 * Battle Rifle
 * Brute Plasma Rifle
 * Brute Shot
 * Carbine
 * Frag Grenade
 * Fuel Rod Cannon
 * Magnum
 * Needler
 * Plasma Grenade
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Plasma Sword
 * Sentinel Beam
 * Shotgun
 * Sniper Rifle
 * Sub-Machine Gun

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 probing Covenant attack on Earth. Master Chief begins on one of the many space defense platforms which orbit the planet. After repulsing the Covenant boarding parties, the battle shifts to Africa.

The player engages in urban combat in the city of New Mombasa. Meanwhile a Covenant ship makes a slipspace jump which destroys the city, and a UNSC ship with Master Chief aboard gets swept up in the warp field in an 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 into standby mode. Now, they can be activated remotely from the Ark (assumed to be on Earth). The game ends here and the credits roll.

There is no novelisation 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 plotholes in the game.

Main characters

 * Master Chief
 * Cortana
 * Sergeant Johnson
 * Miranda Keyes
 * Arbiter
 * High Prophet of Truth
 * High Prophet of Mercy
 * High Prophet of Regret
 * Tartarus
 * 343 Guilty Spark
 * 2401 Penitent Tangent
 * Gravemind
 * Heretic Leader
 * Major Easley (E3 demo)
 * Lord Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood
 * 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, a booklet called Conversations from the Universe, as well as a 7-Eleven Slurpee coupon, and an Xbox Live coupon. Conversations contains:


 * A log from 343 Guilty Spark.
 * A letter from an archaeologist on Coral.
 * A transcript of the last moments aboard the Sacred Promise.
 * A conversation between Cortana and an ONI AI, Solipsil.
 * A conversation between two Elites.
 * An encrypted letter from the Prophet of Truth, and the unencrypted responce from the Prophet of Supposition.
 * A conversation between two Grunts.
 * A letter from Cassandra to the Master Chief.

Related Links

 * List of Halo 2 changes
 * I Love Bees