Halo 2
 

I just hit the jackpot. I have a buddy that works at MS, and am flying out to see him in August. He just happens to have access to Halo 2. So, rest assured I will more than willing to share my experiences with the TFP forum. (Maybe even some Digisnaps if he has the copy at home!)

My buddy was playing it while I was on the phone with him the other day, and there are SOME SWEET ass taunts. Can't remember the exact wording, but something like

"You shoot like a girl"
"Is your barrel bent, you can't shoot straight"

I am SOOO excited for this release.. I promise to share more as I get it.

Please just don't repost any information I provide on another website. I don't want my buddy to get fired. :)

Burner....I've been wondering when we would hear from you.
It seems like ages since you dropped some of those tasty tidbits!

If you could, try to find out as much as you can get away with, such as...

How many multiplayer maps are there?

Are any other Covenents playable?

And being a pistol fan in multiplayer, is the increased firepower in dual wielding offset by lack of accuracy?

You may not be able to glean these specifics, but ANY info will be mucho appreciated!

I've got a question I hope you can find out...how many single-player levels will there be?

One of the answers I do know.
Yes, you can play as the covanent. Let me check into the rest and find out. :)

Another thing I do know, the Physics people went out to the gun range with some military people (ex or current I am fuzzy on) to get the hang of shooting real guns. I am told that the physics are being REALISTICALLY portrayed (as realistically as they can for some of the weapons!) in the game. ie: Pistol allows faster and better accuracy on quick shots, while sniper requires a longer aiming period to get back to top accuracy.
My buddy also told me they are staying true to the aspects of Halo, at least as far as player movements go. He said it isn't Unreal tournament, but it isn't Ghost recon either. Basically putting it right where halo fell.

Look, Halo was a cool game and all, but it had one GIGANTIC flaw that Halo 2 needs to address: the boring-ass, repetitive level design. It seemed like you go through the exact same room multiple times, before you get to the next set of identical rooms, followed by bridge that looks exactly like one you crossed ealier, then eight more identical rooms. BLEAGH!

Any idea if they are going to put some work into this?

The level design towards the middle and end of Halo were the same because Bungie ran out of time. Microsoft had them under contract to release Halo on the XBox launch, so Bungie had to struggle to get it finished, resulting in the repetitive level designs (especially after the Flood begins).

I'm guessing Halo 2 will have better level design because they're not under stress to get it finished on a launch date.

-Lasereth

Yeah, most of the reports I've heard have the consensus of Bungie being pretty much done with the game, and that they have the next 5 months to do nothing but tweak the system.

Despite the extra wait, this makes me extremely giddy.


EDIT: I got another question to ask...in multi-player, will there be any bots? That very well could make my day.

Nice.
I pre-ordered Halo2 about 3 months ago, and a couple weeks ago I got a call from Gamestop. They got a deal with Microsoft for whoever is already pre-ordered, gets a 'special addition' whenever it's released! Hell yes!

Yeah, I've seen the Elite's in multiplayer...I was wondering about Jackals, Brutes and/or Hunters.

Hunters and Brutes yes, but why jackals? Well I guess having a shield would be pretty cool, but then, the Elites are the "iron heart of the Covenant" and the Spartans fall under that category as well, so why would you want to play as a lower class, regular marine.

I can't wait for this game, gonna be so dope.

I'm probably the only XBer on the planet that is actually interested in this game for it's Single Player campaign!

Nope, im right there with ya

I liked the first Halo for its single-player experience moreso than the multiplayer experience. The only way the multiplayer was fun is if you had four people, two TVs, and two XBox's (preferably more, like 8 people, 4 TV's, etc.). I really hope Bungie puts as much effort into the single player campaign in Halo 2 as they did the first one. That's really what made the game for me.

-Lasereth

I really had a lot of fun with the co-op campaign. I wish someone would make a 4 player co-op campaign fps.

I'm not really into Halo but my roomies are, I'd love to get some info to impress them with :)

Your wish has been granted =)

Whoa! That game looks like a mixed bag!

They aren't as rushed to put the game out this time as they were for Halo. I do know they are working 6 days a week right now.. It may be just getting to the crunch, or it may be because it isn't where they want it to be. Not sure there, but they are in 6 days a week.
I have been told that if the character is in the game you can play as it. Not 100% sure if that includes EVERYONE/THING or not, but that is what I was told. I will for sure have more info in August though.. Stay tuned.

BTW, by rushed I mean they have had longer to develop H2 than they did for Halo. However, they are still churning and burning late hours right now. I can't even catch my buddy with time to play Live. :)

Heh, that's what it's like at every decent game studio pre-release =)

halo 2 means to me just one thing

buy the game, get some friend ... get some pizza and some sixpack , take one day off and play it coperative through

Yeah baby

Yeah, I will be off of work November 9th.. Funny thing is, so will my buddies that work at MS. You will be hard pressed to find an Xbox gamer at work on the 9th.

Hmmm, maybe they will get the port over to the PC by 2007 or so. Yay.

I seriously thinking about taking November off from work... Halo 2, Metroid 2, Metal Gear 3, possibly Splinter Cell 3... Jesus, life is good.

It'll be better on xbox..

Yeah, I was talking about that in the MGS3 thread, that each company is bringing out it's respective big guns to compete with each other. No doubt that each company will enjoy extremely high Christmas sales due to these big releases, and none of these game possibilities will be mutually exclusive for me. I will play and own all of these games. Oh yeah, a little rumor goodness to start the work week off with, apparently, KOTOR 2 might be dropping this holiday 2004, instead of early 2005. Life is super good! :)

They could just make the Master Chief talk like the guys from Red VS Blue when taunting,I'd be set.

THAT would be a fitting tweak/mod for both Xbox and PC versions. I would go apeshit if they did that.

Update:
The taunt thing was bogus. My Xbox buddy told me about it, so I asked my Bungie buddy.. He said nope, it wasn't Halo2 with the taunts..

But he did say this (bungie guy): There is a code written into halo 2 that makes hosting migrate to the person with the best connection. Seamlessly. So, you and your buddies are playing on DSL, and another guy joins the game. He happens to have a T1. The hosting will start a seamless gradual movement to the T1 player (won't notice at all) so that you can all gain the benefits of his better connection. I guess Bungie listened to all the Ghost Recon players!

Ah well, too bad on the taunting thing. But at least there's the connection upgrade. No more shit connections, and we can rely on super-fast stuff!

My buddy said he thought the taunts were from the next UnReal? I don't play that series so have no clue if one is due out or not..

The next Unreal is a good ways a way, they just showed off the engine at e3 this year, so don't count on it anytime soon. But then, what do I know?

I got the Official Xbox Magazine the other day and it had a Making od Halo 2 video on there, look around on the net for it guys, it's fucking awesome! Master Chief jumps out of an airlock head first into a planet willingly! Now that's some bad ass shit right there.

wasn't that on the very first trailer they released like a year and a half ago? when he jumps out of the ship and goes head first towards the planet? (later lands on a covenant ship or something)

This game looks fantastic, but something tells me not to even attempt to use Xbox-live with dial-up. Right?

:(

Never saw that one :( But the 'Behind the Scenes' look is awesome, I'm so totally pumped up for this game.

once this game comes out, ps2 people will, hopefully, come out of their funk.

i have been going back and playing halo with my kids just to get ready.

I'm getting an XBox just for this game....and doom3, fable and splinter cell 3.
but it got me going when I saw a video of Master Chief with 2 guns.

Seeing as its an impossibility since live doesn't support dial-up, then yes, you'd be right. :)

There are plenty of other reasons to get an Xbox. Here's every good game (according to IGN (scores higher than 8.5)) for Xbox.

Aggressive Inline
All-Star Baseball 2003
Amped 2
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Beyond Good & Evil
Blinx
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO
Colin McRae Rally 04
Colin McRae Rally 3
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix
Dead or Alive 3
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Dead to Rights
Deathrow
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Dr. Muto
Dynasty Warriors 4
ESPN College Hoops
ESPN NBA Basketball
ESPN NFL Football
ESPN NHL Hockey
F1 2001
Full Spectrum Warrior
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Grand Theft Auto Double Pack
GUNVALKYRIE
Halo: Combat Evolved
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hunter: The Reckoning
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
Jet Set Radio Future
Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
Knockout Kings 2002
Madden NFL 2002
Madden NFL 2003
Madden NFL 2004
Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
MechAssault
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Midnight Club II
Midtown Madness 3
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Moto GP 2
Moto GP: Ultimate Racing
MTX: Mototrax
MVP Baseball 2003
MVP Baseball 2004
MX Unleashed
NASCAR Thunder 2002
NASCAR Thunder 2003
NASCAR Thunder 2004
NBA 2K2
NBA 2K3
NBA Ballers
NBA Inside Drive 2002
NBA Live 2003
NBA Live 2004
NBA Street Vol. 2
NCAA College Basketball 2K3
NCAA Football 2003
NCAA Football 2004
Need for Speed Underground
NFL 2K3
NFL Street
NHL 2002
NHL 2003
NHL 2004
NHL 2K3
NHL Hitz: Pro
Ninja Gaiden
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Pro Race Driver
Project Gotham Racing
Project Gotham Racing 2
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
RalliSport Challenge
RalliSport Challenge 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War
Rocky
Sega GT 2002
Soulcalibur II
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
SSX 3
SSX Tricky
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Sims
The Suffering
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
TimeSplitters 2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Tony Hawk's Underground
Top Spin
TransWorld Surf
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
Unreal Championship
World Series Baseball
World Series Baseball 2K3
Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
WWE Raw 2
WWF Raw

See? Lots of damn good games out for Xbox. Don't get a console just for 1 or 2 games, it's a waste of money.

And you can't spell ignorant without IGN ;)

Most of those are right, but True Crime? Wrekless? Godzilla: DAMM? Those aren't too hot =P

Excuse my nitpicking though =)

Yeah, Wreckless...bah. Silly IGN.

Hey, if you can only find 3 titles in that list that aren't as good as they say they are, then they must have at least *some* credibility. I mean, damn. How many movies have you been to where a critic gave it a high rating, and you thought it blew ass. Yet you still respect a critic's opinion of movies in general.

Does bltzkriegmcanon know that Lasereth is using his account? ;)

pwned. No, Las isn't using my account. :) It just happens that he and I are pretty much of the same mind on this issue.

Yeah, I know, 3 off the list isn't too bad. But they were pretty damn far off good.

Love your sig ;)

Hehe, yeah, it pretty much sums up what I think of IGN =D

Time for an update. And it's from everyone's favorite web resource, IGN! Reportedly there's been a date slip. Read up.
Phew, things are still ok here in the states.

Blitz: My buddy has been told that they are not to miss this date for fear of losing their jobs.

They are in full stream Beta testing now. My buddy's were playing last night, and are supposed to put in mega time testing. So far he says it is slicker than pigshit.

BTW, 7 weeks and you guys will get a full rundown. If I can take some snaps with my Digi I will too. Do not want to post the pics, but could potentially email them to people. My buddy has already warned me that I can only play LAN at his house. Says if I get onto the Beta and someone finds out I don't work at MS, he will get fired. :(

So, August 28th, we find out some serious shit, eh theburner? Well I don't know what else we could find out, but what do I know? In any case, I'm super pumped to have someone at least within spitting distance of somebody involved with Halo 2. It's good stuff.

Ahh, update time! This is sweet! Excellent trailer!

Beautiful! Wish they showed off more new footage but it was nicely done, apparently by a big Hollywood name.

Same trailer, higher quality (lovely Quicktime:))...
http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault...heatrical.html

I'M READY!

Yep, Ant Farm was the party that did it. From IGN:
That's some good shit. Glad to see that MS and Bungie are throwing out all the stops on the marketing campaign.

Hey dudes, this comes from the New Zealand Gaming Forum I frequent, word from Frank and Bungie re Halo 2. I'd also like to point out that due to timezone differences I'll be playing Halo 2 officially before all you motherfuckers. Thanks.