The Master Chief and Cortana is back to kick some Covenant ass! For those of you who haven’t played the original Halo (I’m sorry you missed such a great master piece), Master Chief is a genetically enhances super-soldier who is the only human ever to successfully defy the Covenant—a coalition of alien races on a murderous march toward Earth. In Halo 2, the Covenant has landed on Earth, and Earth’s destruction is inevitable...or is it?

Halo 2 surpasses its predecessor in graphical beauty and combat intensity, as everyone would hope. The head of Bungie Studios’ Jason Jones was quoted on saying, “Halo 2 is a lot like Halo, only it’s Halo on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas, and the ninjas are all on fire, too.” If that’s any indication on what Halo 2 will be like, then it will be a game that cannot be missed!

Tired of the previous Covenant forces that you fought in Halo? Or do you enjoy beating them? Well, either way, they’ll be back in Halo 2, along with their buddies, including Prophets and Brutes!

The Master Chief’s arsenal has been expanded as well with new powerful weapons, many pried from the twitching claws of the enemies he has defeated. Not only have the weapons been increased, but the number of drivable vehicles has also been increased giving players many more ways to get into battle or to explore the vast landscapes in the game.

The graphics in Halo 2 is pretty much guaranteed to be better, as the game is powered by a completely new graphics engine designed specifically for the Xbox hardware. Chris Butch, one of Halo 2’s engineering leads says “Our code squeezes every drop of power out of the Xbox. We’re doing dynamic lighting and shadows, per-pixel everything, rendering gigantic, lush environments. The graphical features we’re using are so advanced we don’t even have buzzwords for them yet.”

Bungie was disappointed with no online features in Halo, as was every other Xbox gamer who enjoyed Halo. But don’t worry any longer! Bungie will be including online features in Halo 2, which can be played on Microsoft’s online service Xbox Live. Not only that, but Halo 2 include an epic single-player campaign, splinter screen multiplayer action, and system-link abilities!

Enjoy the multiplayer game-types that were included in Halo? Good, Jaime Griesemer, Halo 2’s lead designer, confirmed that they will include those multiplayer game-types in Halo 2, but also hinted that they have something special for multiplayer in Halo 2. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but imagine the essential ‘Halo’ singe-player experience: pitched battles between the humans and the Covenant, massive vehicle and infantry engagements. Now imagine that every combatant is an actual person playing over Xbox Live!” Said Griesemer.
Halo 2’s online multiplayer will feature squad-oriented team-play, real-time voice chat and extensive community support. Halo 2 is currently scheduled for a Q1 2004 release date.