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Halo 2 Reader Feedback Follow-Up #2 (Xbox)

Frank' s back to help answer your questions about the biggest Xbox game ever!

By Will Tuttle | Sept. 12, 2004


Last week, we brought you a surprise Halo 2 Multiplayer Hands-On, featuring a plethora of new information on nearly all of the aspects of the mode. Weapons like the Brute Shot and Covenant beam rifle were officially introduced, and we finally got a chance to see some of the new multiplayer maps. Everything' s looking great so far but, as is usually the case with a game of this magnitude, there are still plenty of questions to be answered.

We get a lot of Halo 2 feedback from the readers out there, and it' s obvious that most of you are passionate about the game. It' s great to see that everyone' s got the game constantly on the brain, it' s nice to know that I' m not the only one. Everyone' s got their opinions about we' re going to be seeing on November 9th, mostly based on either published facts or whispered rumors. With that in mind, last month we featured our first Halo 2 Reader Feedback article, in which Frank O' Connor, Content Manager for Bungie.net, answered a bunch of your questions.

The article was a big hit, and we received a flood of new questions and comments, and they were quickly forwarded on to Bungie. Even though everyone at Bungie is working as hard as anyone right now, Frank managed to make time to sit down and answer some of them. We' re not the only ones who appreciate the fact that people are intrigued and curious about the game, and Bungie is always happy to put in a little extra work to make their fans happy. Without you guys, we' d all be pushing a pencil or selling cars.

Alright, with all of that sappy stuff out of the way, let' s get down to your questions! And remember, if you want to let us know what you think, if you have any questions, or you want to point out anything we might have missed, let us know. We' ll be happy to hear from you, and your question might even make it to Frank' s inbox!

In our last article, we speculated a bit on some of the new vehicles we' d be seeing in Halo 2. There was one image in particular that raised a lot of questions, as it showed a wide variety of Warthog-type vehicles. One was white with snowtreads, while another looked like it was designed to hold troops. Some people had questions about the weapons that would be mounted in the back. Greg Robinson wondered:

How many new Warthogs will there be? I' ve seen a picture with a few different kinds, like a jungle one. Also, will they all have different weapons like a rocket launcher or a machine gun?

So far, the only Warthog that I' ve played with is the standard looking one, but that' s not to say that there won' t be others in the single player mode. While Frank doesn' t mention anything about the look or model of the Warthog itself, he can tell us a bit about the mounted weaponry we can expect:

There will be two main variants - one with a large turret-mounted machine gun (as seen in the original game) and another with a Gauss cannon, using an electro-magnetic coil to fire projectiles at very high speeds.
Hopefully we' ll be getting to drive around in some of those other models. I like the look of the snow vehicle, it looks like it would handle well on the ice levels.

Vehicle jacking is a new additon to the game, and I' ve found that there are few things more satisfying than hopping up on your foe' s ride then tossing him under the wheels. What about if you' re the one behind the wheel? Matthew Norris asks:

My question is if when your enemy jumps on to steal your vehicle, is it possible to slam on the brakes and send him flying like an unbuckled child through a front windshield? I mean seeing a covenant elite being launched 30 yards because you slammed on the ghost' s breaks would be hilarious.
Hilarious indeed, Matthew. It would be nice to know that there' s a way to keep from being jacked, aside from rolling up the windows and putting on your seat belt. So, Mr. O' Connor, is there an ejector seat or anything?

If they' ve started to jack your vehicle, you can fight them off by trying to rejack it yourself, or boost to knock them off. Some instances, such as the Scorpion have jack-variants - here, you can' t simply pull the driver our, but you can drop a grenade into his cockpit, or simply beat him with a melee attack.

Speaking of tanks, we were introduced to the Wraith during our time with multiplayer. It looks and handles pretty well, although it' s quite a bit different than the Scorpion. Kyle M. wondered if there would be any new control schemes:

Will there be new tank controls? Move with one stick, aim with the other? This is one feature I' m really hoping for.

We noticed that the Scorpion' s ground and turret speed had changed a little bit, but I don' t know if the control changed much. Frank wasn' t quite ready to give any details, but he promises:

The Scorpion controls are being tuned as we speak. Expect it to control logically and nicely.
A few readers had seen some images somewhere of another potential vehicle, a new type of human transport. 1)ragon420 explains:

I have seen a screenshot of a fourwheeler that is suppposed to be the human equivilent of a Ghost. Is this in the game?

I think I remember seeing something about that, too, but I don' t know if I' ve ever seen it. Who knows, though? Oh wait, Frank knows, and it doesn' t look like you can read between the lines too much with this answer:

No.

OK, I guess that settles that.

Fire in the Hole!

One thing everyone is dying to know about is the new weapons Halo 2 will have to offer. In the multiplayer preview, we introduced a few new ones, including the Covenant beam rifle, which is a lot like the human sniper. We also got some info on a Covenant grenade launcher carried by the Brutes, but Thom Mathieson thinks there might be another Brute weapon:

I heard that the big ape guys in Halo 2 (called Brutes) will carry grenade launchers and a flamethrower. I guess the flamethrower was supposed be in the last game, too. Will we get to toast our enemies in this one?

Well, Thom, it looks like you' re half-right, in some ways. Notice that Frank doesn' t refute the existence of a flamethrower, and that he also mentions a new type of badass melee kill:

No, Brutes carry a grenade-launching weapon called the Brute Shot. It also has a large blade to be used in melee attacks.
I actually played with the Brute Shot a few times, but I never got a chance to melee anyone. Still, if you look at a screenshot of the Brute Shot in action, you' ll see that wide, curved blade on the back. I can just imaging flipping one of them around and eviscerating an opponent with a melee kill!

Grenades play a big part in both the multi- and single-player game, and there' s nothing better than tossing a plasma grenade on your buddies back and slowly backpedaling so you can watch him blow up. But will there be new grenades? Joel Houston claims to have a friend who works at Bungie (sorry Joel, we hear that one a lot) and he tried to get a little info on some new ones:

I asked him if there would be another type of grenade. He responded, " Yes, it is known as the C7. It stuns all enemies within a certain vicinity."
That sounds like it would definitely come in handy. Stunning your enemies is always helpful, and even slowing them down can allow you to inflict some serious damage. I' m sure we' ve all blasted our opponents with the plasma rifle while charging them for a satisfying melee atack. There are rumors of other types of grenades, too. Kory McCorkle wrote:

Supposedly, there is word that a player will be able to use the much-loved " sticky" feature of the Plasma Grenade in a remote detonation effect. Something about holding down on the button after it has been stuck to your enemy, moving a safe distance away, and releasing the button to receive the satisfying result of your enemy being blown to pieces. This feature could be used for sneaking behind your enemy, placing an unseen Plasma Grenade on their backs, waiting for them to take cover in a group of their teammates, and then blowing up multiple enemies instead of just one.
Both of those grenades sound pretty awesome, I can think of all sorts of scenarios when that remote detonation would be a big help Unfortunately, it seems that we' ll have to wait while to find out, as Frank says:

There are more weapons we have not yet discussed or revealed.
Oh well, I guess I can wait another two months to find out. Hopefully there are some other types we haven' t even heard about yet!

Well, that about does it for the first part of our second Halo 2 Reader Feedback Follow-Up feature. Be sure to check back tomorrow for another installment, as we' ll talk a bit about some of the new gameplay features, as well as some good old fashioned speculation about the single player mode. As always, if you' ve got any news or questions, let us know!

Hello...

Anybody out there?

(wind whistling...)