May 11th, 2011
By TheFlood

November 9th, 2011. It will be one of the largest launches in history as one of the most anticipated games of all time is released. If you haven't figured out what it is yet, I will tell you. It just so happens to be a quaint little game called Halo 2, and we have reports on the multiplayer part of the game.
Microsoft has allowed certain people to play the game, and they have reported wonderful news.

First, the game is now Xbox Live enabled, and Bungie has promised to do things no one has seen before and they will be "infinitely cooler." System Link and split screen will be there, but we all know most of the time will be spent online. How many people can play at once? Bungie has been tight lipped and won't confirm any numbers, although the alpha version had 16 people, so most likely there will be at least 16 player capabilities.

The already tight control has been upgraded for even tighter control, and it works very well with the new additions, such as dual weapons. The control scheme for dual weapon wielding is not very complicated. If you move over a weapon and press X, it still replaces the gun, but if you press Y, and it is a single handed weapon, get ready to bust out the duals, 'cause it is going to get messy. The drawback? You can't throw grenades or perform melee attacks while you got the hands full of gun.

And if you hold down on the trigger, your accuracy will suffer severely, rising up faster than a rocket towards the moon. On the other hand, you can be holding a covenant style gun, and a human gun, which will greatly improve your odds at spewing death unto unsuspecting people. And firing them is easy too. Right trigger fires the right gun; left trigger fires the left gun. Very easy for people whose strategy consists of "run and shoot until I die or run out of ammo."

The weapons have also received some attention. Although only two covenant weapons were available in the demo and one was quite new. One was the Needler, which we all remember, and the new toy was the Covenant Sword. Yes, that deadly little toy is now available for human consumption. It isn't easy to get, since the maps are all interactive, but when you do find it, you'll be teaching people how to use a knife like Lorena Bobbit. And to help you aim the sword is the new lock-on function. The lock-on function is on certain weapons such as the sword and rocket launcher, and turns the tracking mode on if you can keep someone in the sights for a few seconds. It should definitely make "precision sniping" (a.k.a. sniping with a rocket launcher) more fun than ever. Other weapons mentioned were the: SMG, Sniper Rifle, Assault Gun, Mounted Machinegun, Rocket Launcher, Needler, Shotgun, Frag Grenade, and Sticky Grenade. Missing were the flamethrower and the pistol from the first Halo. This definitely isn't a complete list so there is hope that flamethrower will make it after all.

To complement the weaponry, the vehicles are now destructible. If you hit a vehicle with a rocket, prepare to see it tumble through the air shedding parts everywhere. Or maybe, you would like to snipe a tire to disable it? How about a wing? The decisions just keep coming. Also new to the Ghost is the capability for a speed burst for unlimited amounts of time. While you are going that fast you can't shoot or control it very well. So like dual wielding there is tradeoff. You can also board in Halo 2. What is boarding? I'll tell ya, it's hi-jacking. You can hi-jack a vehicle and turn it around on them. Just make sure they don't run you over.

Lastly, the sound is dead on, with the pings and whistles and buzzes to compliment the new destructible environments. The walls can be completely blown apart, almost never crumbling the same way. The supports for a roof can be blown apart, bringing the roof down, which can give a new strategy to capture the flag. The environments promise to be ready for destruction.

Keep checking for more updates as they come-in as we will post them as soon as they are available. And don't worry, we are counting down the days left too. Just hope you reserved it, because you won't find it anywhere, and you will get a bonus limited edition case to boot. So if you don't have it reserved, go do it. Now.

February 4th, 2011
By TheFlood

This game has everyone talking, and most of them hardly know a thing about it. The game of course, is Halo 2.

What we actually know and can confirm about Halo 2 is very little. We do know for sure that the fight Master Chief won against the Covenant was a short victory. Apparently, the Covenant have found the Earth, and invaded. This, of course, is the cue for our favorite cyborg to step in and make sure humanity is saved once again. Trailers have been going around and around, and what we have is what we have been able to observe through them.

There seem to be several new additions to the game. First, is the ability to trade weapons with other soldiers. This may not seem like much, but think of how much fun it will be to trade a pistol or submachine gun for a rocket launcher. The soldiers also look like they have gotten all new uniforms. Instead of the infantryman’s uniform, they are now wearing modified black versions of the ODST that Master Chief wears.

The vehicles seem to be getting upgraded and changed. They are all the same from Halo, but now we have the ability to car-jack and disable them. The ability to take-over the vehicle will depend on its speed and your shot. The slow ones can be jumped onto and commandeered, but the faster ones will be harder, so why not shoot out the driver then steal it? There hasn’t been much said on how you will be able to car-jack the new 4 wheeled ATV. You can also disable and damage vehicles in Halo 2. A well placed shot can knock out an engine block or tire on the Warthog, another on the hover unit or wing of a Ghost. The ideas are endless.

Much has been speculated about the guns and other weaponry in Halo 2. For sure, MC will now be able to carry a gun in each hand. Nothing outrageous like dual AK-47’s in Goldeneye, but single handed weapons, like the Needler and Pistol. Most likely, you would not be able to throw grenades while carrying two guns. The Warthog is getting a Gauss rifle, and there is also a rumor going about that MC can now use the double edged sword that only Covenant could carry in the first one. And about the flamethrower that is supposedly supposed to be in Halo 2, Bungie said they would only put in the flamethrower if they could burn, “everything and anything…to a charred crisp.”

More information on Halo 2 will be available soon, most likely at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). For now, check out all the official screenshots released from Bungie.