Halo 2
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Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios for the Xbox video game console and is backwards-compatible with the Xbox 360. It is the sequel to the game Halo: Combat Evolved and features a newly built graphics engine with the addition of new elements to the game.
Halo 2 develops the struggle between the United Nations Space Command, Covenant, and the Flood during the Human-Covenant War in the autumn of 2552.
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[edit] Storyline
[edit] Synopsis
Halo 2 continues and develops the story of the Master Chief. It begins with the future Arbiter on trial (formerly the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice). He is branded the Mark of Shame by Tartarus.
The action returns to the Cairo Station, where you can find the Master Chief receiving the new MJOLNIR Mark VI, after that, they would meet Terrance Hood, who will award Sergeant Johnson and Miranda Keyes with the Colonial Cross and Silver Star, respectively. Soon enough, Cortana reports that "15 Covenant Capital Ships holding position just outside the kill zone", and this is where the game-play begins. While the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) marine forces protecting the Orbital Defense Platform ODA-142 Cairo from the invading Covenant Naval infantry., and then returning to the surface of Earth to face the Covenant Army. This is the first time that a player will have come into contact with Earth in the Series.
When the Invasion force led by the Prophet of Regret, is eliminated by the UNSC defenses, he flees from Earth through a Slip-space portal, which destroys the whole city. The human forces pursue Regret, and discover another Halo: Installation 05.
A second story is also present, following the tasks of a disgraced Sangheili Commander known as the Arbiter as he attempts to redeem himself from his failure to protect Installation 04 from the humans.
After the Elites fail to protect the Prophet of Regret, they are removed as the protectors of the Covenant Hierarchs by the two remaining Prophets of Truth and Mercy, who give the role to the Jiralhanae (Brutes). This leads to the Great Schism in November 2552, splitting the Covenant into two factions, the Loyalists and the Separatists.
[edit] Main Characters
[edit] UNSC
- Master Chief Petty Officer John-117
- Cortana A.I.
- Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson
- Miranda Keyes
- Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood
[edit] Covenant
- The Arbiter
- Commander Rtas 'Vadumee
- Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus
- High Prophet of Truth
- High Prophet of Mercy
- High Prophet of Regret
[edit] Heretics
[edit] Forerunner Constructs
[edit] Flood
[edit] Minor Characters
[edit] UNSC
- Fleet Admiral Harper
- Major Easley
- Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker
- Staff Sergeant Marcus Banks
- Corporal Perez
- Lance Corporal Jones
- Private Butkis
- Private O'Brian
- Private Parsons
- Private Walpole
- Unnamed Lieutenant
- Unnamed Master Gunnery Sergeant
[edit] Covenant
[edit] First Battle of Earth
The game begins shortly after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. As it begins, we catch a small glimpse of the Covenant via a cut scene, for the first time learning a bit about their society, leadership and community. A Sangheili holding the rank of Supreme Commander is brought before the High Council, to be evaluated for his "colossal failure" in being unable to prevent the destruction of Installation 04 by Master Chief. He is wrongfully accused of heresy, and sentenced to death.
Master Chief is on Cairo Station, one of the three hundred Orbital Defense Platforms on station at Earth. There, his armor is upgraded to Mark VI, and he is taken to a ceremony, celebrating the 'victory' at Alpha Halo, or Installation 04, alongside Sergeant Major Avery Johnson and Commander Miranda Keyes. The player will go through some "diagnostics" such as if their aiming is correct, shields work, etc. As the ceremony takes place, the disgraced Sangheili Commander is tortured and branded by Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, Tarturus, with the Mark of Shame. At the Orbital Defense Platform, the ceremony is interrupted when the High Prophet of Regret arrives in-system with a small Covenant fleet, attempting to destroy the station's Magnetic Accelerator Cannon.
Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood orders John-117 to lead the Marines in defending the station, as the Covenant send out waves of boarding parties to destroy the extremely powerful Orbital Defense Platforms with bombs. The boarders succeed on two stations, the Malta and the Athens, but John, with the help of his AI companion Cortana, disables the bomb on the Cairo; following this, as Regret's forces are attempting to land on Earth, the Chief takes the bomb, and, using an airlock, free falls through space, passing through a hole punched in the side of a Covenant Carrier, where he reactivates the bomb and destroys the ship, before being picked up by the.
The battle is then taken to the surface of Earth, in Mombasa and Kenya, where UNSC forces attempt to push back the invading forces. Originally, John's mission was to attempt to board Regret's Carrier and capture him, but once the Type-47 "Scarab" UHAP leading the Covenant attack is destroyed by Master Chief, Regret's ship attempts to escape. This led to the In Amber Clad following the ship, as it made a Slipspace jump inside the city. The Elite branded in the opening cut-scene was sentenced to be executed; however, rather than have him slain outright, the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy make the decision to give him a chance to regain his lost honor and serve the Covenant again. The Prophet's offer him the chance to serve as the Arbiter, the highest honor for an Elite during a time of instability. As the Arbiter, he must conduct missions for the Prophets that are almost certainly suicidal, in which the current Arbiter will die as a martyr for his race. This is part of the Great Journey, which is a religious series of events that the Covenant heavily believes in. In order to complete their "Great Journey", the Covenant believe they must activate the Halo installations, which they consider to be sacred artifacts. It is assumed that the "Great Journey" is referring to a space age rapture that will kill all life in the galaxy, and there will be a "Judgment Day" where all will be judged and the ones without sin will join the gods of the Covenant. As his first mission, the Arbiter must eradicate a group of Heretics who have separated themselves from Covenant society. They reside in a gas facility near the destroyed Alpha Halo. The Arbiter was supposed to die during this mission, but he escaped death and succeeded in killing the Heretic leader and his followers. This is the first time we witness conflict within the Covenant society as the Heretic leader tries to convince the Arbiter he is a fool for believing in the "Great Journey" and the lie of the Prophets. The Arbiter also learns that the Heretic leader had been in communication with the AI construct 343 Guilty Spark, monitor of Installation 04, who is known as the "Holy Oracle" by the Covenant. Apparently, the heretic had learned about the true nature of Halo from the monitor himself.
[edit] Discovery of Installation 05
During this time, the Master Chief and company, aboard the UNSC ship In Amber Clad, are transported through the slipspace portal to the vicinity of another Halo ring which is dubbed Delta Halo, this is to their surprise but they land and attempt to track down Regret. This time, the humans are very well aware of the dangers Halo presents. While tracking Regret, Cortana and the Chief learn that he is planning to activate the ring. As Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson begin to search for a way to disable the installation before the Covenant are able activate it, Master Chief discovers Regret's location, infiltrates his temple, and takes him down. Rather than aiding his fellow hierarch, the Prophet of Truth calls back the Phantoms that would have provided Regret with help and instead destroys the temple with an Energy Projector. Narrowly escaping the destroyed building, Master Chief is then captured by Gravemind who turns out to be this huge entity that is the coordinating force behind the Flood.
[edit] The Index and Gravemind
On High Charity, the Prophets have stripped the Elites of their role as the Prophets' protectors in the wake of Regret's death and give the honor to the Brutes, causing more discord inside the Covenant. The Arbiter has returned and is sent by the Prophets to Delta Halo with a new mission - to lower the contamination shields surrounding the ring's Library and retrieve the "Sacred Icon" located within. The icon is actually an object called The Index, which is needed in order to activate the ring. Once the shields are lowered, it is revealed to the Covenant forces that the Flood have been released. However, the Arbiter continues to press forward, aided by Tartarus. To further complicate things, the humans are also heading for the Library to retrieve the Index before the Covenant do so they will be unable to use it. Amidst the chaos of the fighting Covenant, Humans, and Flood, the Arbiter eventually reaches the Library. Johnson and Keyes have got there first and seize the Index, forcing the Arbiter to combat them, knocking them both unconscious. After retrieving the Index, Tartarus takes it from The Arbiter and has his Brutes surround him. The Arbiter objects, saying the Prophets will not stand for his actions, to which Tartarus laughs, informing him that the Prophets sent him to kill the Arbiter. Tartarus then blasts the Arbiter into the seemingly bottomless core of the Library and takes Keyes and Johnson captive.
In the next cut-scene, the Master Chief regains consciousness to find himself caught in green vine-looking tentacles. The Arbiter is also being held next to him, struggling to break free. A giant hideous being known as the Gravemind, a highly intelligent form of the Flood, holds the two captive. He comments on the differences between Humans and Elites and informs the Arbiter of the Prophets' treachery and Halo's true nature, to which the Arbiter still refuses to believe. The creature then reveals that he has reanimated the corpse of the Prophet of Regret as part of himself. He also has with him 2401 Penitent Tangent, the monitor of Delta Halo. 2401 and Regret argue about the truth behind the "Great Journey", Regret saying it will bring salvation while 2401 disagrees with the Covenant's responsibility in handling Halo and the Flood. Gravemind says that the Covenant will not find the salvation they are looking for. Master Chief backs this up, telling the Arbiter that Halo is a weapon. When the Arbiter still finds this hard to accept, Gravemind says he will show him the truth and transports both the Master Chief and the Arbiter to separate places where they will likely find the Prophet of Truth and the Index. It is now that the Arbiter truly realizes the Elites have been betrayed.
[edit] High Charity
Master Chief is transported to High Charity where he interrupts the Prophet of Truth's announcement to the Covenant that the "sacred icon" has been discovered. Truth flees and, after fighting off several Brutes, the Chief inputs Cortana into the Covenant network, separating himself from her. She discovers that the Covenant are in the middle of a civil war with the Prophets, who are executing a genocide against the rebelling Elites. Brutes are put in charge and sent to wipe out the remaining Elites. Knowing Truth has the Index, Master Chief chases after him. As the Chief travels through the ancient planetoid, he encounters much conflict between Covenant, allowing for less resistance against himself and making it easier for him and Cortana to infiltrate the area. The Flood suddenly arrive aboard the In Amber Clad and start infesting the city.
Guarded by Tartarus and his Brutes, Truth and Mercy prepare to board the Forerunner Dreadnought, a colossal Forerunner ship discovered by the Prophets located in the center of the city, with Johnson and Keyes brought along as captives. Truth gives Tartarus the order to activate Halo, and the Chieftain assures him he won't fail. Flood infection forms attack and one of them latches on to Mercy. When Tartarus attempts to help, Truth says to leave him, telling Mercy "...The Great Journey waits for no one, brother. Not even you." Master Chief arrives just as they depart for the ship. The dying Mercy tells him that Truth is heading for Earth, to finish what they started. Cortana tells the Chief he has to stop him. In the case that Tartarus activates Delta Halo, she will trigger In Amber Clad's reactors which would destroy High Charity and the ring. Not wanting to risk a remote detonation of the frigate, Cortana stays behind as Chief races after Truth.
[edit] The Great Journey
The Arbiter is transported to a jungle on Delta Halo, just outside the ring's control room. Here, he finds several Elites have been massacred by the Brutes and finally realizes the truth in Gravemind's words. The Arbiter rallies several Elites and leads an uprising against the Brutes and other Covenant Loyalists (Jackals, Drones) with the assistance of other Separatists (the Grunts and Hunters). Fighting his way to the control room, he reunites with Rtas 'Vadumee, an Elite Commander, who was in a wraith. Seeing Tartarus land and enter the control room with the Index, they fight their way towards the structure to stop him. The Arbiter then combines forces with Sergeant Johnson, who has escaped and commandeered a Scarab, and they break through the remaining defenses. The Arbiter makes his way into the structure and rushes to the control room to stop Tartarus from activating the ring.
The Arbiter and Johnson confront Tartarus and his Brutes in the control room as he is trying to get Keyes' to use the Index. The Halos, we learn from 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, Tartarus forces Miranda to activate the ring in preparation to fire, to bring about - in his eyes - the Great Journey. As the Arbiter, the player must then fight Tartarus (and on higher levels other Brutes) to retrieve the Index and stop the activation of Installation 05. An easy way to do this is to take Johnson's beam rifle and a brutes plasma rifle as a secondary weapon.
After the Arbiter kills Tartarus, Miranda retrieves the Index and the Installation cancels its firing sequence. Guilty Spark reveals that although the Index was removed before Delta Halo had time to complete its firing sequence, it sent signals to all other Installations in the Galaxy (a total of 7 rings), putting them on a dangerous standby mode. Now, they can only be activated remotely from a location called the Ark.
The scene then changes to Truth's Forerunner ship entering through slipspace near Earth, as the planet's defenses are in the midst of another battle. We see that Master Chief has stowed away on-board. When asked by Lord Hood what he is doing on the ship, the Chief replies, "Sir, finishing this fight", ending the game in an abrupt cliffhanger.
After the credits roll, a teaser for Halo 3 shows that the Flood has completely taken over High Charity. The Gravemind is saying "Silence fills the empty grave now that I am gone, but my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on." In the council chambers of the Hierarchs, Gravemind continues "Now I shall ask, and you shall answer." Cortana appears, and says "Alright, shoot".
There is no novelization of the game yet. It is possible that a novelization that follows the canon laid down by the previous three novels might differ somewhat plot wise from the game, due to various differences between the game and the other novels.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Campaign
The campaign in Halo 2 does not pick up directly after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, but rather after the events depicted in the novel Halo: First Strike, with the events explaining the Master Chief's return to Earth not featured in any game so far. The story dives deeper into the society of the Covenant, their goals, beliefs, and alliances as well as continuing Master Chief's story to put an end to the Covenant threat on Earth as well as another Halo ring.
The player can play the campaign alone on a single-player mode or on a split-screen co-operative mode. The game follows a linear series of episodes that differ from Halo: CE because you will play as both the Master Chief and a new character, a troubled Covenant Elite known as The Arbiter. The player has an adjusted arsenal of weapons, some of which have been altered or removed from Halo: CE, and new weapons being introduced. The biggest alteration to game-play is perhaps the ability to dual wield small weapons; this allows for twice the firepower at the expense of being unable to throw grenades or melee. In terms of vehicles, all vehicles from the first game remain with a few new vehicles being introduced. In Halo 2, however, vehicles can be destroyed and the player is able to "board" an enemy vehicle by climbing on and knocking the driver out. The same can be done by an enemy to the player when driving. As the Arbiter, the player is not equipped with a flashlight and instead a rechargeable Active Camouflage that lasts for short bursts, giving the player a preemptive advantage on unsuspecting enemies.
There are four difficulty levels as in the previous Halo game: Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary.
You can have a variety of allies; if you are the Master Chief, you are accompanied by UNSC Marines and occasionally Marine ODSTs and you mainly battle all Covenant species and for one time, the Flood. But if you are the Arbiter you are joined by Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, and Elites but do not fight humans, instead you combat the Heretics, the Flood and occasionally Sentinels and Enforcers.
After a number of levels you will begin to fight the Covenant Loyalists which include the following: the Prophets as the leadership group, the Brutes as the commanding group, and the Jackals and Drones as the followers.
[edit] Multiplayer
There are a wide variety of multiplayer game types, several of which have returned from the original Halo game: a typical death match game called Slayer, two team based Capture the Flag, Team Slayer games, an offense/defense version of capture the flag called Assault, a more esoteric free-for-all form of capture the flag called Oddball, a game extrapolated from a child's game of "tag" called Juggernaut, and a game of capturing certain parts of the map called Territories, 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. You also have the option of choosing an Elite skin to play as and have the color changes just like the Spartan skin if you chose them in the edit menu. You may also create your own game variations.
[edit] Multiplayer (Online Play)
Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 allows players to compete with each other over the Xbox Live online service, in addition to the originals support for split-screen and System Link multi player. Halo 2's Xbox Live mode offers a unique 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 "free-for-all" 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 Skirmish" is similar to Team Skirmish but allows teams of up to 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 multi player. 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 (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 not enjoyable. The automatic host selection process also eliminates the ability of the host to exert outsize 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.
On April 25, 2005, Bungie released the first four of nine new multiplayer maps over Xbox Live. The first four were Containment and Warlock for free and Sanctuary and Turf for $4.99 until they were made free on June 28, 2005. On July 5, 2005, the final five of the nine new maps: Backwash, Elongation, Gemini, Relic, and Terminal, were released for $11.99 until they were made free on August 30, 2005.
On April 17, 2007, Desolation and Tombstone were released via Xbox Live, and again on May 7, 2007, after several glitches on the maps were found and fixed.[1] The maps initially had a fee of $4.00 until July 7, 2007 (a.k.a Bungie Day) when they were released for free.
[edit] Updates and Map Packs
Through Xbox Live, players receive mandatory updates for Halo 2 which fix bugs, glitches, exploits and tweak features to ensure fair game-play online and offline. The latest version of Halo 2 (on Xbox) is version 1.5. The Auto-Updates and map packs are as follows:
- Bonus Map Pack
- Killtacular Pack
- Maptacular Pack
- Blastacular Pack
- Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack (A collaboration of all map packs and Auto-Updates excluding the Blastacular Pack and Auto-Updates 4 and 5.)On Halo 2 Xbox Live you can not pay Microsoft points for any new map unlike Halo3 in the Xbox Live Marketplace.
At each map pack's debut, there was a fee to pay in order to download them. However, over time they became free.
[edit] Player 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.