Overview

Hello Halo 2

Microsoft’s biggest Xbox game at E3 was without a doubt Halo 2. It was another one of those behind closed doors presentations given “Disneyland ride” style. That is, you line up for hours just to experience a thrill ride that excites your senses for only a few precious minutes with the outcome hopefully being you walking out with a silly grin on your face.

The folks at Microsoft/Bungie have decided that Halo 2 was to be their thrill ride of E3, and we were able to catch a run of it at the show. What we saw was a live demo running under Bungie’s controlled environment. The presentation kicked off with the marine sergeant telling the live Bungie employee to sit down and shut up so that the game demo could get underway. It’s great to see that Bungie humor.

Close up shot.

'Cos one gun's never enough.

The MasterChief

As many of you have already seen from the original Halo 2 trailer, the graphics have been given a huge overhaul over the first game. The distinct style of the Halo universe is still there, but everything is more detailed and there are more special effects. Remember that Halo spent some of its developmental life as a PC/Mac game before switching over to Xbox. This time around, Halo 2 is being designed from the ground up as an Xbox game, so it will take better advantages of all the NV2A GPU. The lighting system is a huge improvement over the first game, giving everything a greater sense of depth. MasterChief’s suit looks especially impressive when its bump-mapped surfaces reflect the light around it. Having said that, the lighting model doesn’t seem to be as advanced as DOOM III’s, but then again, Halo 2 has shown far more onscreen action and larger environments.