Halo 2: The Trailer First Impressions
Not having a Halo sequel would be a lot like George Lucas deciding he was going to call it quits after The Empire Strikes Back. The game practically sold one copy per Xbox, and even nine months later it's still one of the best Xbox games, if not the best. So it surprised no-one but excited everyone when recently Microsoft announced that Bungie would indeed make Halo 2.
Yesterday in Toronto, Microsoft held an event where Microsoft Game Studios Director of Marketing Pete Parsons showed the trailer for Halo 2 in Canada for the first time (according to Bungie.Net, the trailer will be posted to the net "soon.") Unfortunately he didn't have anything playable, but he did say the trailer used the actual game engine, so what we saw in the cinematics won't be any different from what we see in the gameplay.
Before he rolled the trailer, Parsons pointed out that Bungie started the original Halo while the Xbox was still being developed, so it wasn't at full capability, and of course the developers weren't used to this new platform yet. Now that they have a full Xbox and experience developing for it, Bungie is developing a new graphics engine designed specifically for the full Xbox hardware. But more than this, Parsons indicated that Bungie's Jason Jones, Bungie co-founder and Project Lead on the original, said that he now "gets to do everything he wanted to do." That's a promising sign, to make the understatement of the year.
I won't give you a full description of the trailer, since it really has to be seen to be fully appreciated anyway. But here's the general rundown. The trailer shows our pal the Master Chief, marching confidently down the halls of a UNSC ship. He grabs a MA5B Assault Rifle from a cool automated rack, marches through the ship and into an airlock, and then opens it to the void of space. Through the windows of this ship, you can see the ship is orbiting a planet, where large mushroom clouds dot the surface--nuclear explosions, perhaps? As the atmosphere is blown out of the airlock, the Master Chief does a kamikaze leap into space, plummeting towards the planet--which we can now clearly see is Earth.
It's hard to imagine Halo with better graphics, but here it is. Textures are more detailed and intricate. And the lighting is astonishingly good looking. Much of the trailer shows the Master Chief passing through doors, with light streaming behind him. Pure white light actually, like he's exiting a near death experience (probably not far from the truth, given the nature of the game). The way he is silhouetted in it, the way it streams and plays off his armor and weapons...[drools]. Unless my imagination is deceiving me, the models look like they have more points of animation too.
When the trailer was done, I asked Parsons every single last question I could think of. Unfortunately, Parsons answered most of the questions with a smile and a "Can't say yet." However, he did lay down some tantalizing hints. Keep in mind that some of this was Parsons simply not denying a question that was put to him, which doesn't necessarily make it fact. With this in mind:
When asked how long the game had been in development, Parsons said that when Bungie finished the first game, "they shipped it, went on vacation, came back, and started Halo 2."
The trailer seems to indicate that they are moving on from the giant angel-hat artifact in space, which was the setting of the last game. In fact, Parsons did describe the game as "same gameplay, different story." The trailer made a point of reviewing the goals you completed in the first game, destroying the alien species, and preventing Halo from destroying all life in the Universe. Your last goal, save humanity from extinction, is still "In progress" according to trailer.
You're still fighting The Covenant, and Parsons said that they've reached Earth. As with everything, he withheld further details about the plot, but did say that it would tie-in with Halo: The Fall of Reach, a novel by Eric S. Nylund based on what we can now call the "Halo series." Reach is a massive military outpost.
What is known for sure about Halo 2 is that it will have "more of everything," as Parsons put it. That includes more vehicles to drive, more weapons (including new alien weapons), and new enemies.
For certain Halo 2 will have a single player campaign, split screen and system link features for multiplayer, and an online component through Xbox Live, the details of which will be released later. Bungie's Jaime Griesemer, Lead Designer of Halo 2, is on record saying this about the multiplayer: "I don't want to ruin the surprise, but imagine the essential Halo single-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!" Halo 2 online multiplayer will have squad-oriented team-play, real-time voice chat, and "extensive community support."
One of the few things I thought Halo was missing was bots. I asked Parsons if they'd be included this time around. He wouldn't say either way. He would only smile and repeat Jason Jones' statement, that this time he "gets to do everything he wanted to do."
Halo 2 has a release date of "When it's done," the traditional high-profile shooter release date. However, Parsons did estimate that this would be around holiday 2003.
Hopes
My God, the graphics are better
More weapons, vehicles and enemies
Uses Xbox Live
Fears
Pete Parsons sure was tight-lipped about game features
Het is al een best oud stukje maar denk dat velen er informatie in kunnen vinden die ze nog niet wisten...
En op het forum van Bungie stond óók iets over bots, tenminste dit meldde een zoekmachine, maar kan de thread (nog) niet vinden...
Laatst bewerkt: 2 okt 2002