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Halo 2 is by far the most eagerly awaited Xbox game on the horizon, so to many people it may seem strange that it didn't have a larger E3 presence. In actual fact, despite not being playable on the show floor, the game was demonstrated to press by a Bungie representative, but only certain sites (which charge for their content) were allowed to use video footage of the demo, so it went largely unseen. Fortunately, last Friday Bungie came to their senses and released it to the general public, and we've swiped a copy from their site and mirrored it here so you can get a nice, super-fast download.
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The video shows what is presumably a very early level in the game, where the Master Chief descends to Earth in a drop-ship along with a handful of marines to help out on the front-line. As the drop-ship approaches for landing, you can see the surrounding area coming under enemy fire with blue plasma explosions going off left, right and center. Having landed, the marines and the Master Chief disembark, and as in the style of the first game, the screen fades to white as you assume control of the genetically-enhanced soldier again.
Like the first level of the original Halo, you get a real sense of involvement in the game world in Halo 2. There's always loads going on around you, whether it's enemy ships attacking, other marines helping out the injured or simply marines talking to one another. The game's sound system seems to be exploited much more from the first game, with environmental sounds fading in and out all the time as you walk through the battlefield. After a brief wander around, the Chief gets his first fight with the Covenant, which consists of a handful of grunts. After a grenade and a few blasts of a nicely-placed gun turret they're toast, and this is when you aquire two assault-rifles, showing off the game's two-weapon system.
Although seemingly just offering you more firepower over a single assault-rifle, there's still something inherently cool in going about a level with two weapons instead of one and blasting away any enemy that dares to stand in your path. However, half a minute later and things really heat up, as a Warthog pulls up with the driver requesting a gunner. Of course, you hop in, and it's time to take out some Covenant scum.
With the marine driving, this section is stuck on-rails as you simply control the gun on the back of the vehicle, but we see no reason why you can't jump out any time and explore on-foot if you wish. It's only once in the Warthog that you can really appreciate the scale of the city you're in, with loads of roads, parked cars and Covenant gunships waiting to be discovered. One thing's for sure - the enemy presence in this game is much, much greater than the first, with huge ships to be destroyed and many more ground troops to deal with.
After a brief stint on foot while sorting out some particularly large aliens, the Master Chief hi-jacks a Ghost in a particularly stylish manner, before going head-to-head with other Ghosts in a highway chase cut-scene. Of course, the Chief wins, but only to be confronted by yet another load of aliens, and one hefty battlecruiser to take out, which we guess will feature in the next level of the game.
Overall, the quality shown in this brief video bodes very well for the rest of the game, although it has raised its fair share of questions. For instance, at the end of the original game trailer, the Master Chief was descending upon a Covenant battlecruiser, yet at the start of this level he is already on-board a marine drop-ship - is there a level in-between or has the original story been changed? Will any of the levels return to the original's hugely impressive organic, outdoor settings, or will they all be set on a war-torn Earth? With nothing publicly playable at E3, just how much of the game is complete, and will it still meet it's Spring 2004 deadline? No doubt, things will become clearer closer to the end of the year, when we expect the Microsoft marketing machine to be in full swing. Until then, though, we'll be reporting any little snippets of info leaked from Bungie as soon as we get our hands on them.
Marc Hull
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