alo 2 has undoubtedly consumed your life since its release on November 9th. With its intense action and engaging multiplayer experience, it’s vaulted itself to the top of Xbox Live gameplay and sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. But developer Bungie isn’t quite so complacent to simply rest on its laurels. Enter the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack, a special bundle of nine new multiplayer maps and a couple of other bonus movies (if you buy the retail version) for your viewing pleasure. With a diverse set of new locales to frag your opponents, the new maps add just what’s been needed: more variety. But interestingly enough, there’s more than just some new maps to run around in contained on the disc.
The most notable feature outside of the new maps is an auto-update which actually goes live today, April 18th, 2005. The foremost function of the auto-update is to address cheaters and those gamers utilizing hacks or other unsavory content. All of the major cheating vulnerabilities have been addressed, from network hacks that allowed players to essentially freeze time for their opponents, clone their character, utilize hacked profiles so that they never had to reload their weapons, and more mundane actions such as passing CTF flags though walls or bouncing them off conveyor belts. Bungie has dedicated itself to actively monitoring all games and will also implement a new banning system for offenders.
Containment in action
An aerial view of Containment
On the gameplay side of things, Bungie has quite a few new additions for Halo 2 multiplayer. The first and most noticeable change is a heavier focus on melee combat. In what Bungie refers to as Halo 1.0 (or the regular version straight out of the box), melee damage was more of an afterthought than anything else. Combat basically boiled down to who could start shooting the fastest. To address this issue, Bungie has upped the damage received from melee attacks, thus ensuring that if you find yourself outgunned, you still have a fighting chance at surviving the encounter. All weapons benefit from this enhancement, especially the tweaked Brute Shot, which now deals more damage from its bouncing grenade rounds and its newly lethal blade attachment. Grenades have also received a damage upgrade as well as shorter fuses to make them explode quicker. Fielding complaints that grenades were more of a tool to annoy rather than kill, Bungie set out to make them as deadly as they should have been. And frankly, the results for all the changes are impressive.
The ancient ruins of Sanctuary
An aerial view of Sanctuary
When you actually play the game and get to experience the combat enhancements, it becomes pretty clear that Bungie isn’t messing around. The new melee combat focus makes every single combat engagement a roll of the dice. Say I have a pistol and my opponent has two SMGs. In Halo 1.0, I would have been toast. But now, if I can get close to my opponent, he’s in for a world of hurt and chances are if I attack quickly enough, I may just come out of the fight alive. Whereas melee combat was a last resort prior to the auto-update, now it becomes a bona fide attack strategy. The same goes for grenades, too, which now are more than simply annoyances. Fragmentation grenades are more powerful than before, helping to ensure that if an opponent walks right over one as it detonates, they’re going to pay with their lives. Plasma grenades, however, seem just as powerful as they’ve always been, but it’s nice to finally see frag grenades get the attention and damage power that they deserved.
Turf takes place in a familiar locale
An aerial view of Turf
Another complaint that Bungie received continuously were issues with gameplay balancing, especially during Matchmaking. To address this, they’ve gone ahead and made the difficult decision to reset the leader boards, as well as implement a more intuitive Matchmaking system. Previously, games would match players with other players with a rank differential up to seven levels. Needless to say, this would result in some players being matched with gamers far ahead of their skill level, making ranking up a long and difficult process. Now, Matchmaking will make better match-ups and utilize more date when grouping players together. And, for variety’s sake, Bungie will release new playlist options, including a new 2 on 2 option that will feature a more robust map selection system for online gaming.
Warlock is small and and favors close quarters combat
And then there are the maps. While I’m restricted to just being able to talk about the first four new maps, they offer up more than enough variety to keep you busy until the remaining maps become available on June 28th. While the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack will be released as a standalone retail product in June, the first four maps will be released via Xbox Live starting on April 25th. On that date, two maps, Warlock and Containment, will be released free of charge for download. In addition to those free maps, Sanctuary and Turf will also be available for download for a price of $5.99. When the retail Map Pack hits store shelves, the remaining maps will become available for a price of $11.99. If you’re still deciding on whether or not you want to shell out the cash to play the new maps, keep in mind that by the end of the summer, all nine maps will become available for free download via Xbox Live. But, during that time span, you won’t be able to play any of the new maps on Xbox Live if you try to join a game utilizing one of them. If you’re strictly an offline gamer who enjoys playing Halo 2 via split-screen or system link, the retail bundle offers up a wise purchase, considering that not only will you get the new maps, but the disc also contains the Xbox Live auto-update that contains the new gameplay tweaks and upgrades.
The first four maps to be released (Containment, Warlock, Sanctuary, and Turf) offer up a fairly diverse selection of locales to play through. Containment takes place on an icy field located on the Delta Halo, with an enormous trench spanning the middle of the map. Ideally, the map is set up for Capture The Flag matches, and its expansiveness offers up a plenty of territory for both offensive and defensive teams. To make things more interesting, the map supports the use of all of the vehicles in the game, including Warthogs and even the Scorpion tanks. Warlock, on the other hand, features a comparatively more intimate experience, given its small size. Taking place in an ancient Forerunner ruin, the map puts more emphasis on close quarters combat. The map’s round symmetry helps to give it a sometime confusing element, but the narrow corridors and passageways will make fans of all out brawls extremely happy. Sanctuary is another map specifically suited for CTF games, and with its elegant background scenery and temple locale, should give gamers plenty to have fun with. The map also takes place on the Delta Halo, and while it seems like an ideal single player level, its layout and symmetry make it ideal for CTF and other related modes. In all, Sanctuary is one of the more organic maps that you’ll experience in Halo 2, and the vegetation and waterfalls that are scattered around the level help to really give the entire place a feeling of life. The last map, and probably my favorite, is Turf. Taking place in the streets of Old Mombasa, Turf is an amalgamation of small map combat and big map exploration. Blind corners are strewn literally everywhere, so you can never be too sure of what’s lying around the next bend. And while the map is primarily meant for a Territories match, it’s diverse layout and structure makes it ideal for any game mode you can think of.
Overall the new maps really offer up a breath of fresh air, one that’s been needed for quite some time. They offer up a diverse range of environments, from small and tight close quarters areas to large and expansive areas meant for some of the more involving game modes. But despite their differences, they work mainly due to one reason: the auto-update content. Gameplay has been balanced to an almost unprecedented level, helping to ensure that every single online game is not only fun, but also fair. While some gamers out there will undoubtedly feel cheated after having gotten used to some of the less than admirable weapon balancing and level glitches, those gamers still looking for a fun and pressure-free time will find the new content wholly accessible.
Stay tuned to Game Informer Online where we’ll be bringing you more details for the remaining maps in mid-June.