Things are not as they seem, and the battle for control of Halo is getting messy.
Halo 2 is pretty obviously the sequel to the breakout hit Halo: Combat Evolved. Developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, Halo 2 was released on November 9, 2004. The sequel seeks to continue the story of the Master Chief and humanity at war with the alien Covenant, as well as the new complications from the existence of a nearly unstoppable parasitic plague, The Flood, and ancient doomsday ringworlds, the Halos.
Halo 2 is an excellent sequel in a lot of ways. Bungie managed to improve the graphics and mechanics of the original Halo, and added new characters and game elements while keeping the general formula and feel that made the first game great. With the addition of online multiplayer, Halo’s popularity further exploded and it was the most played game on Xbox Live for a full two years, and remains the best-selling game released on the first generation Xbox. However in other ways it’s a little bit of a sophmore slump, what in hockey would be called a Stanley Cup hangover. Brimming with confidence from the success of Halo 1, Bungie was maybe not as focused or disciplined as they should have been. During development a lot of work had to be scrapped and restarted from scratch, sometimes even after having been shown to the public. Several levels and the original planned ending to the game were cut in order to save time. Deadlines and release dates had to be repeatedly pushed back, to the point that eventually a Microsoft executive, Peter Moore, had “November 9” tattooed on his arm to prove that was the real release date. Still, what we ended up getting was a great game that slots very fittingly as the middle entry in a trilogy.
00 - Sgt. Johnson and the Journey Home
01 - Cairo Station
02 - Outskirts
03 - Metropolis
04 - The Arbiter
05 - Oracle
XX - Screwing Around on Earth
06 - Delta Halo
07 - Regret
XX - Humanity, the UNSC, and Spartans
08 - Sacred Icon
09 - Quarantine Zone
XX - The Covenant and Arbiters
10 - Gravemind
11 - Uprising
12 - High Charity
13 - The Great Journey
XX - Bonus Content
Announce Trailer
Theatrical Trailer
TV Commercial
E3 2003 In-Game Demonstration
00 - Sgt. Johnson and the Journey Home
Ok, let’s get Halo 2 kicked off here, although there’s no actual gameplay yet. This video is an explainer to fill in the gap story-wise between the end of Halo 1 and the start of Halo 2. We’ll be back at it with the first actual level next week.
In the aftermath of Halo, the Chief is honored at an awards ceremony, but the Covenant show up to crash the party.
Time to head to the surface, repel the Covenant invaders, and figure out what it is they want on Earth.
With the help of some heavy armor and heavy weapons, the Chief continues to push through obstacles on his way to the Prophet of Regret.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t like Halo when it came out. I didn’t have an Xbox, but my friends down the street did, and that was basically the only thing we played when I visited. I can appreciate its influence today, though.
I’m only about halfway through Halo 1 right now, both playing the levels myself then watching the videos, but I’m really enjoying the LP so far.
Hey, glad you’re enjoying the videos. I mention it in one of the early videos but it took me a while to get won over to Halo too. Although a lot of it has less to do with the game and more to do with having fun with my friends and getting comfortable with the controller.
I guess I should post that E3 Demo Video like I said I would. I still think this would have been such a cool level.
We get a new perspective, as the Covenant try and deal with some troublemaking heretics.
The situation with the heretics gets messy, and the Arbiter takes drastic steps to clean it up.
We’re getting into the second act of the game and that’s prime time for bonus videos. For this one I’m showing off some of the cool secrets and tricks that can be done on the Earth levels of Halo 2.
The Master Chief continues his hunt for the Prophet of Regret in new, but familiar, territory.
XX - Humanity, the UNSC, and Spartans
Before you can know your enemy, you must know yourself. Let’s take a look at humanity in the Halo universe and the origins of the Master Chief.
Halo 2 is very much about expanding our understanding of the Covenant and the nature of humanity’s war against them, but we haven’t really been given that much information about humanity’s side of things. They’re humans and they wear green, so they’re the good guys, but surely there must be more to it than that…
With the Covenant leadership now at Delta Halo, the Arbiter is sent to retrieve a very important artifact: the Sacred Icon.