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The Gravemind speaks satisfactorily of being free of his "empty grave," and suddenly Cortana appears as a hologram on a pedestal in his room. The Gravemind tells her that there are questions that linger in his mind which Cortana must answer.

Cortana replies, "Alright The campaign consists of 15 levels, of which 14 are playable. Halo 2 features a modified version of the engine from Halo: Combat Evolved. This new engine featured support for online play via Xbox Live, improved visuals, and the implementation of the Havok physics engine that would replace Bungie's in house physics engine used in Combat Evolved. Halo 2 was initially meant to implement a new graphics engine called Pstencil that would allow for objects to cast real-time shadows.

This lighting technique proved too expensive for the Xbox's hardware to handle, and was only ever seen in the E3 demo of Halo 2. In order to make the demo playable on stage, massive optimization had to be done across the demo map, such as the deletion of objects that were no longer in frame. In the aftermath of the success of Combat Evolved in the multiplayer and LAN scene, there was a desire to double down on multiplayer development.

The team was also involved in the development of Xbox Live at this point. One of the biggest alterations to gameplay in Halo 2 is perhaps the ability to dual wield weapons; this tactic allows for twice the firepower at the expense of being unable to throw grenades or melee without dropping the left weapon.

Also, a few new vehicles are introduced. In Halo 2 , however, the previously indestructible vehicles can now be destroyed and the player is able to " board " an enemy vehicle by climbing on and knocking the driver out, as well as planting grenades to further damage the vehicle.

The same can be done by an enemy to the player when driving. When playing as the Arbiter, the player's flashlight is replaced with a rechargeable active camouflage that lasts for ten seconds, giving the player a preemptive advantage on unsuspecting enemies. However, the Arbiter is joined by Grunts , Jackals , Hunters , and other Elites , allowing for deeper insight into Covenant culture. On the damage mechanics, fall damage now has been reduced considerably.

The threshold minimum damage has been increased, such as from 3 stories building height will not cause player any damage while on the previous game , it gives the player some damage. The most benefits come from splatter damage as a slight touch from the object now is no longer kill anyone instantly including player Except some who are designed to be invulnerable.

The player now needs more effort to score a splatter kill. Halo 2 has been the only game in the series to have the most content either cut from the game entirely or redesigned completely as evidenced in many forms of media. In the Halo 3 Essentials disc featuring the "Director's Commentary" of the cutscenes, three separate levels were discussed as having been proposed but ultimately scrapped due to time constraints: Covenant Ship , Forerunner Tank , and Forerunner Ship.

In the "Making of Halo 2 " documentary there was concept art seen regarding a level location The Ark , although the design was later placed into Halo 3 's The Storm as the Portal. The former could have been a part of pre-production for Halo 3.

Marty O'Donnell was also quoted in a Bungie Podcast Episode 13, at saying that all the actors had recorded the lines to the original Halo 2 ending and that it still exists today, but he will never show it. The Flood Juggernaut was a character that was modeled and placed in the coding of the game but never had AI programmed or had been placed on any level, similar to the Engineer in Halo: Combat Evolved. The head writer for Halo 2 was Joseph Staten.

With the Halo 2 campaign, Staten was interested in expanding the game's scope from solely the Master Chief and humanity, [4] fleshing out the Covenant antagonists through the perspective of the Arbiter. The core idea behind the Arbiter was to create a character who suffered the consequences of the Master Chief's victory in the first game.

In one of these, the Master Chief would be standing on an orbital above Earth and look down on the carnage inflicted by the Covenant, saying "Only blood will pay for this.

Jones also wanted to have Miranda Keyes play the role of an antagonist and have her betray the Master Chief, strapping and bomb to his back and throwing him down a hole. Staten was not fond of the idea and, though great effort, convinced Jones it would not work in the context of the story. A key theme in the story's development was bringing the war to Earth.

According to Microsoft Halo Franchise Development Group employee Eric Trautmann , who liaised with Bungie on the development of the Halo story, Bungie was initially skeptical that fans would recognize the ODSTs during the Delta Halo level, and questioned the in-universe purpose they served.

This was the last work Trautmann worked on before leaving development on the Halo franchise in November 9, Halo 2 's audio and soundtrack were directed by Bungie 's composer, Martin O'Donnell. Jay Weinland and C. Paul Johnson served as the team's audio lead and sound designer, respectively.

Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 allowed players to compete with each other over the Xbox Live online service, in addition to the originals support for split-screen and System Link multiplayer. Halo 2's Xbox Live mode offered 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 their computer or console up as a game server or host , specifying the game type and map and configuring other settings.

The game software then used 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 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. Since launching in November , 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. However, some of Halo 2' s fans left their Xbox's running after April These players continued playing online amongst one another but no new players could sign on.

Nicknamed the "Noble 12", they continued to play games among themselves. In response, Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, tweeted "To those noble folk keeping halo2 alive: we see you, and we salute you,". These hardcore fans were awarded Halo: Reach Beta keys because of their attempts to keep Halo 2 alive. Over the next 9 days, 10 of the 12 gamers would experience either Xbox malfunctions or Internet malfunctions. Some were reported as logging off voluntarily to play the Halo: Reach Beta they received.

Only two people remained online in Halo 2. On May 10, , "Agent Windex" was quoted as saying "I just got kicked off guys. Good Job Apache, you're the last one". In , Bungie released the first glimpse of Halo 2 in a pre-rendered CG trailer. Cortana is also heard and has dialogue with the Chief.

The UNSC seem to be losing in the battle. The events of this trailer were featured in the final version of Halo 2. Some of the events and dialogue of this trailer was changed to fit the finished storyline of the game. Most of this now appears in the Halo 2 level Cairo Station. E3 featured the release by Bungie of footage of a playable in-game demo of the Halo 2 campaign.

The demo featured the battle on Earth in the city of New Mombasa. The demo showed off new features like Dual-Wielding the Master Chief could actually keep both his dual-wielded weapons when he switched to his secondary sidearm; this was changed for the final product , Vehicle Damage, and Boarding.

Three new vehicles shown were the Gauss Warthog , Type Shadow , and the Covenant Phantom , which at the time had only one plasma turret on its underside instead of three. New enemies such as the Brutes were shown in this demo, but as a secondary warrior race by the side of the Elites. The events of this demo were featured in the final version of Halo 2. Some of the events and dialog of this demo was changed to fit the finished storyline of the game, such as the AA Gun becoming a Scarab.

Play as both Spartan, the Master Chief, and for the first time, the Covenant Elite, known as the Arbiter, and experience the Human-Covenant Conflict in a whole new way. For ages 17 and up, Blood and Gore, Violence, Language.

In this bundle. Published by Xbox Game Studios. Developed by Industries, Bungie, Saber Interactive. Playable on PC. Capabilities Online co-op At the time of its launch, Halo 2 was considered the highest-grossing release in the history of entertainment. While much has been said on Halo 2's cinematic story, top-notch characters, perfect controls, and its famous cliffhanger ending, it was the multiplayer component that ultimately stole the spotlight and fundamentally changed the gaming landscape, forever.

Halo 2's multiplayer took the incredible options Combat Evolved released with and expanded on them. Brand new, iconic maps like Zanzibar and Lockout and a huge assortment of weapons such as the Covenant sniper rifle and energy sword were added to the game. There is also the addition of dual-wielding select weapons, which became a mainstay of the series.

Brand new vehicles were added while returning vehicles like Banshees and Ghosts gained speed boost effects, and all vehicles now displayed physical damage when attacked and could even be hijacked. There was also a character editor where you could choose to be either an Elite or a Spartan, change your armor color and even pick custom emblems. Of course, once people grouped up, there was an incredibly diverse array of preset and custom game modes to choose from.

Players could decide what map to go to, what weapons and vehicles were available and what the win conditions were among many other options. Nobody knew it at the time, but Halo 2 was revolutionizing multiplayer gaming.