[dan da man]

STATUS:
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Bungie
Release: Winter 2003
Players: 1-16 with 4 Xboxes linked together, online however we could only imagine.



Storyline
In Master Chief’s last outing, he managed to survive covenant attack, destroy the ring world Halo, and repel the Flood. But, while he was tied up preventing Halo’s activation, the Covenant was busy attacking other human worlds.

Now, the only human world left is Earth. Master Chief, along with his AI partner Cortana must hurry back to Earth to support its defenders against an alien invasion. However, Master Chief won’t be stranded on Earth. He will also travel to a moon, a mining station, and bring the war deep within covenant territory…even traveling to the covenant home world.

Bungie’s main goal is to bring life to the Covenant. Halo 2 will reveal who they really are, what their society is like, and why the have mounted this massive assault against mankind.

Gameplay
Halo 2 will remain very much the same game in terms of gameplay mechanics; Bungie is simply building off of what made Halo such a success. Along with destructible environments, this rendition will place more emphasis on working with your marines to defeat the Covenant. This won’t require you to take command of a squad, but you will have the option to assist them in attack maneuvers. Of course, this is all made possible with revamped AI.

Your fellow marines will now act more like living beings. They will communicate with each other to coordinate attacks, such as having a couple marines charge towards Covenant forces while the others cover them with sniper rifles. Marines will make requests and show their intentions to you and their companions. One might point out a sniper for you to kill, or another might point out a pocket of Covenant hiding among trees. Another feature being built into the marines is their ability to identify when they need to take cover, and then they will flip tables or use other elements in levels (yes, levels will actually be populated with objects) to hide behind. None of these elements will be scripted either. Bungie is giving the marines the ability to recognize situations and act on them, making more realistic battles, and increasing your available options.

Of course, with these revamped allies mean that you’ll be facing smarter enemies. Instead of just avoiding being shot, the Covenant will be able to duck behind or under objects, climbing up buildings, and leaping over obstacles. Enemies will realize to activate flashlights in the dark and work together to coordinate attacks.

While both his allies and enemies are seeing major behavioral overhauls, Chief is only getting a minor tune-up. He will now be able to peer around corners and look over ledges before jumping into the fray (although he won’t be able to snipe from this position). Chief is also receiving an upgrade to his melee attack. Now you will be able to perform combos with timed button presses. Chief will also be able to break into sprints which will practically double his speed, but firing his weapon or jumping side to side will bring him back to his normal speed. There is also talk of implementing the use of light and shadow. This may mean there will be some Splinter Cell style sneaking around to dispatch those Covenant scum.

Enemies
So far, two new enemy types have been revealed:
Brute: These have been tagged as a cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros. They lack energy shields, but are still more resilient than the Elite while remaining quite agile.

Prophet: The prophets are the political leaders of the Covenant. You will encounter them floating around in anti-gravity chairs (think Professor X), and they will be decked out in robes and headdresses. It is uncertain whether or not they will actually be involved in combat.

Weapons:
Halo 2 is introducing new weapons to Chief’s arsenal:
Battle Rifle: The battle rifle is sort of a cross between a sniper rifle and the standard assault rifle. It is based off the assault rifle, but it fires more slowly and includes a scope.

SMG: The SMG is a submachine gun that has a high rate of fire but is fairly inaccurate. Bungie may be including a silencer on this weapon.

Vehicles:
New Vehicles will include:
ATV: These quick little buggies are currently unarmed and are primarily to be used for speeding off to tactical positions.
Troop Transport: This is another unarmed vehicle, but it can carry about eight marines in its rear compartment.
Shadow: This is a Covenant craft that can seat only one driver, but has a rear mounted gun, and two others can dangle off its sides. Warthog: Although not a new vehicle, the Warthog has been modified for different environments. Now Chief will be able to choose between normal, jungle, and artic models. The jungle Warthog will has camouflage colorings and deeper treads, and the artic Warthog is white with tank-like treads.

Graphics:
Halo 2 is obviously, especially to anyone who has seen the trailer, going to be graphically improved over the original. However, this is not being accomplished by an increase in polygons, in fact there are fewer polygons used in Master Chief’s model. Instead, Bungie is bump mapping everything in the game. This means there will be top notch visuals without worrying about a decrease in framerate. Bungie is also incorporating a new real-time light and shadow engine. Again, this will resemble what Ubi Soft has done with Splinter Cell.

Multiplayer: Multiplayer will include all of the features from Halo with the addition of flying vehicles and more weaponry. Cooperative campaign will also make a comeback. Online: Bungie plans to have Halo 2 running on Xbox Live. Online play will consist of a battle between Master Chief characters and Covenant forces. They plan to have online support of 12-16 players. Online play will also incorporate the standard multiplayer options.

yes guys its coming, u probally knew that but here is all th info about halo 2 i just cant w8, halo combat evolved was a master peice now this!!!!