Halo 2
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Halo 2: Multiplayer Map Pack
(2005)
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Halo 2: Anniversary
(2020)
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Halo Triple Pack
(2005)
Description official descriptions
In the sequel to Halo, Spartan-117, better known as the Master Chief, has returned to Earth, where he is promptly needed: despite all precautions taken, the Covenant have discovered the location of humanity's homeworld and are launching their attack. For some reason, however, their fleet is much smaller than expected. To solve this mystery, the Chief must return to the stars, learning more about the mysterious Halo rings and their constructors.
Meanwhile, the Covenant Elite who commanded the fleet at the Halo construct is blamed for the destruction of the ring and branded a heretic. The High Prophets grant him another chance, however: he is made the Arbiter, a special operative for the Prophets, ordered to carry out impossible missions. He will be dealing with dissent and rebellion among the Covenant - a conflict where he might find himself to be on the wrong side.
The player controls both the Chief and the Arbiter in Halo 2, a first-person shooter in the same style as the first game. Its main gameplay characteristics are the same: only two weapons can be carried at a time (leading to a tactical choice as to which are to be taken), instead of a standard health points system there is the recharging energy shield (leading to an emphasis on finding cover during firefights), AI-controlled teammates will fight along with the protagonist, and there are lots of sections involving vehicles.
New features include the ability to double-wield certain weapons, doubling the firing rate at the expense of accuracy, and the ability to execute melee attacks or throw grenades. Part of the weapon arsenal is unchanged from the first game, but there are also some additions. The human projectile weapons are mostly new and include a pistol, shotgun, SMG, and battle rifle. Returning are the sniper rifle and the rocket launcher. The Covenant energy-based weapons (still prone to overheating) from Halo all return, and new additions include several heavy hitters like the Brute Shot and Fuel Rod Gun along with the projectile-based Carbine and the Beam Rifle, both useful for sniping. The Energy Sword is a powerful melee weapon, able to kill most enemies with a single strike.
All vehicles from the original game also return: Warthog jeeps and Scorpion tanks for the Humans, Banshee fliers, Ghost gliders, and Wraith tanks for the Covenant. A new addition is the Covenant Spectre, which with its rear-mounted cannon wielded by a dedicated gunner is comparable to the Warthog. A new player ability concerning vehicles is to board them while in use and either kick off the driver and take over or in the case of heavy tanks, throw in a grenade.
The multiplayer component of the game has been greatly expanded. On the Xbox, Xbox Live is now supported in addition to split-screen and system link. The campaign can be played by two players on split-screen. Competitive game types include Slayer and Team Slayer (standard free-for-all deathmatch), Capture the Flag, Assault (planting a bomb in the enemy base), Territories (controlling sections of a map for a certain amount of time), Oddball (finding a skull on the map and then holding on to it as long as possible) and more. All types have several built-in variants and can also be customized further. Players can choose from Spartan and Covenant Elite skins. The PC version comes with a map editor.
Spellings
- 光晕2 - Simplified Chinese spelling
- 最後一戰 2 - Traditional Chinese spelling
Groups +
- 3D Engine: Halo 2
- Console Generation Exclusives: Xbox
- Games for Windows Live releases
- Games made into books
- Games made into comics
- Games pulled from digital storefronts
- Halo series
- Middleware: Bink Video
- Middleware: FaceFX
- Physics Engine: Havok
- Setting: Space station / Spaceship
- Technology: amBX
- Xbox Best of Classics releases
- Xbox Platinum Hits releases
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Credits (Xbox version)
182 People (172 developers, 10 thanks) · View all
| Project Lead | |
| Executive Producer | |
| Engineering Leads | |
| Design Leads | |
| Art Director | |
| Writer, Director of Cinematics | |
| Composer, Audio Director | |
| Multiplayer & User-Interface Lead | |
| Producers | |
| Test Manager, Producer Bungie.net | |
| Engineering | |
| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 89% (based on 129 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 174 ratings with 7 reviews)
The Good
Many of the things that were great about Halo are featured here again and some welcome new additions: Dual wielding is cool with lots of new strategic options, lots of new Covenent weapons, new vehicles, new baddies, some great set pieces (like the scarab assault) - and of course the amazing Xbox live multiplayer option
The Bad
I'm a big, big fan of the original and along with many was eagerly anticipating this release and I must overall I found it a disappointing experience. Many of the levels are too long and repetitive , and just don't have the replay factor and the weapons have been unnecessarily tinkered with. But really for me the games main problem is the single player story which was so great in the original has become an overblown and confusing "epic" that for me just ends up cliched and boring. For me this has kind of ruined the mystique the original game built up and dare I say it... it's become a bit nerdy!
The Bottom Line
If we think of Halo as "The Matrix" then Halo 2 is "Matrix Reloaded"....... technically better yes - but it ain't half as cool ;-)
Xbox · by kieran kelly (2) · 2005
The most anticipated game of all time!
The Good
Since this is Halo 2 the game is very, very, well made, such as the graphics engine and will get you well immersed. I like how the soundtrack is done, a very, symphonic music, mostly in a rock kind of way. also the design and game plot is well planned out, their are many features in the game like hijacking vehicles or duel-wielding making you addict on the game for hours. But their is to much stuff in the game for me to explain, overall you NEED TO BUY THIS GAME!!! IT IS THE BEST!!! Oh, and character design can't be ignored, the Master Chief talks more, and even Elites talk! which puts you more in depth, I am finished with the positive side of the game because I don't want to spoil anything for the newbies.
The Bad
The End. End of the Halo story, which is kinda disappointing because their will be no other halo games going to be made! Sorry if I broke your heart. Sorry peeps.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line is the game going to be a big-time award winner, the game is good for new players too because if you play it on easy, it's easy, Overall the best game, graphics, sound, design, the works, this is a must for everyone, especially for the ones who have Xbox Live because Live support is awesome, now this is a mighty game so buy it, gear up Master Chief!
Xbox · by Chase Bowen (35) · 2004
And this is supposed to convince us to buy Vista?
The Good
Okay so Microsoft decides to release a game which was outdated since its release. Yes, outdated on release!
Halo 2 was released in 2004 for Xbox and that year the PC had titles like Half Life 2, Doom 3 and the outstanding debut of FarCry.
There are few good things about this game. It's A.I is pretty impressive even with current standards. Some of the weapons are fun like the battle sword. Not to forget the dual wield feature was integrated with the mouse controls perfectly(carry two different one handed weapons). The overall production quality is good & multiplayer is promising.
The Bad
The single player campaign could have been more interesting if it had more depth. The gameplay is equivalent to an old arcade game. Its basically run and gun everything, occasionally drive vehicles. Think Painkiller with vehicles but not as enjoyable, insane or good looking.
The movement and control is a disaster. Still the same slow paced gameplay. Not to mention the zoomed in field of view(FOV) is back, what i mean is you keep getting the feeling that your weapon is zoomed in a bit. This was just making my head pain.
The graphics are okay for 2004 standards, but for 2007 its horrible. Not to mention the bad porting which was done. While games like Half-life 2 and Bioshock run fine on my PC with everything turned up Halo 2 tends to stutter or even lag at times.
Last but not least this game is a Vista exclusive, that means it doesn't work on Windows XP. I find this decision pointless as the game doesn't even use DirectX 10 nor does it do anything to at least enhance the graphics a bit. It does utilize "Tray And Play" which is a new Vista feature where you can play the game as it installs and Windows Live.
The Bottom Line
Over hyped and Overrated is the only way to address the newer Halo games. The only reason Magazines and sites give this game a high rating is to avoid conflicts with the "fanboys". While this game is below average overall, i would still recommend it to a person who is new to gaming or First Person Shooters as its very basic, bland, easy to understand and got pretty good production.
And should you upgrade to Vista for this? I wouldn't recommend it if you're solely doing it for this game but hey its your choice.
Windows · by dreamstealer (126) · 2007
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Halo 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cheats
Since its release in November 2004, Halo 2 has been plagued with many forms of cheating. It started with gamers discovering that if they pushed the "standby" button on their modem it would allow them to move about the game doing anything while everything else was frozen. Later on the "Dummy Glitch" was discovered where players could turn invisible and capture a flag without the opposing team even knowing. In April 2005 Bungie released a patch that completely got rid of the Dummy Glitch and made it so that using standby was much harder and only a small percentage of modems can still use it to manipulate the game. All seemed well but unfortunately in June 2005 people with Mod Chips in their Xbox found out that because the downloaded content maps were stored on the Xbox hard drive rather than the disc that it was possible to hack them and use special cheats in the game. Examples of these cheats are the "Super bounce", Super speed, Rapid fire, Needlers that act as rockets, auto aim snipers, and many others. Most of these issues were eventually dealt with through patches.
Development
- The development team included 70 people.
- Microsoft lawyers forced Bungie Studio to change the name of the alien antagonist because it carried Muslim overtones.
- Contains 17,000 lines of combat dialog.
- Just like in the first Halo, Halo 2 also has a weird enemy that's been hidden in the game's code. It's called the Juggernaut and it can only be found using a modchip. It looks much like the Engineers from the first Halo, except it looks more like a flood. It just floats around.
Leaked copy
On Wednesday, 13 October 2004, a pirated copy of of the game leaked out to the public, and quickly spread on peer-to-peer networks and IRC.
Online services
The Windows version's online servers were shut down on 15 February 2015.
References
- The hippo heads that appeared on the shotgun shells in the first Halo are visible on the walls in the map "Headlong".
- The Halo maps "Blood Gulch" and "Battle Creek" return in this game under the new names "Coagulation" and "Beaver Creek".
Sales
- In the US and Canada alone, 2.4 million copies of the game were sold in the first 24 hours of its release. That averages out to roughly 27 copies a second.
- The game had 1.5 million preorders before its release, making it an Xbox "Platinum Hit" months before it was even released.
Soundtrack
- The game's soundtrack includes contributions from legendary guitar legend and G3 member Steve Vai, who performs most guitar riffs in the game and did the main theme. His work is found in the Halo 2, Vol. 1 Soundtrack CD, which includes all of the orchestral and incidental music in the game.
- Alternative band Breaking Benjamin wrote Blow Me Away specifically for the game's soundtrack. It was not released as a regular single until 23 February 2010. It received a RIAA Platinum certification (1 million sold units) on 14 January 2021. A 2011 remix featuring Valora was also released.
Secrets
Right at the end of the game, there is a grunt that says: "I wish that food nipple was waiting for me at the starship, cos man have I worked up a big grunty thirst".
Trailer
The largest trailer for this game was released in movie theaters. Near the end of this trailer, the usual www.xbox.com URL is replaced with "www.ilovebees.com" for a moment. If someone goes to the website, they encountered a website which seemed to be under the control of a Halo-type artificial intelligence. This website continues to be changed, telling a multifaceted story which many believe explain how the Covenant find Earth in Halo 2.
Windows port delay
The release of the Windows port was initially scheduled for 22 May 2007, but it was postponed to 31 May in the last minute. The reason for this was a requirement by the ESRB to add a Partial Nudity descriptor to the game's rating, which was done by adding stickers to already printed boxes. The cause is not in the main game itself, but the design of an error message window displayed during an ".ass error", which along the error message showed a picture of lead engineer Charlie Gough mooning, which was taken during a visit by an unsuspecting Steve Ballmer at Bungie. While nobody was fired at Bungie over the incident, a few Microsoft staff members were, and the cost of delaying the game was approximated at US$ 500,000.
Windows XP
While the game was advertised as running only on Windows Vista, to the point of putting the requirement on the front of the box, a small unofficial patch was created to run the game on Windows XP regardless. The game used basically no technology that XP was incompatible with (even using DirectX 9.0c instead of Vista's preferred 10).
Awards
- 4Players
- 2004 – Best Console Multiplayer Game of the Year
- 2007 – #3 Biggest Disappointment of the Year
- GameSpy
- 2004 – Game of the Year
- 2004 – Xbox Game of the Year
- 2004 – Xbox Shooter of the Year
- 2004 – Xbox Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
- 2004 - Best Use of Xbox Live of the Year
- 2004 - Best and Worst Ending of the Year (Xbox)
- Golden Joystick Awards
- 2004 - Runner up to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Most Wanted Game for Xmas
- 2004 - Runner up to Sonig the Hedgehog as Ultimate Gaming Hero (for Master Chief)
- 2005 - Xbox Game of the Year
Information also contributed by ~~, Tiago Jaques, MegaMegaMan, piltdown man and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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Bungie.net
Bungie website. Official home to Halo 2 -
Halo 2 Australia
The official Australian based website for Halo 2 -
Halo 2 Stats
Stats including how many games of Halo 2 have been played online and how many players. -
Halopedia
A wiki covering all Halo games
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Baza.
Windows added by Terok Nor.
Additional contributors: Kartanym, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Kabushi, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.
Game added November 11, 2004. Last modified November 7, 2024.