Leaked info

[Sng]

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=9817

Halo 2 Beta

Maps-

The build only had three maps. These were.

ZANZIBAR- The same as it was at E3. Really a well thought out and balanced

map, and, to be brutally honest, puts maps like Blood Gulch to shame. Not

much to say about it because we all already saw it at E3. The one thing is,

getting the plasma sword isn't as hard as they make it seem.

MID SHIP- A level taking place on a covenant battle ship. Mostly a round

map, it has plenty of different height elevations that allow for sneaky

tactics, especially in CTF. A main platform in the middle holds a new

weapon, witch I will get to later.

IVORY TOWER- I don't really get Ivory Tower, it seems to be some sort of an

enclosed greenhouse or park. It has elevator type platforms, something that

was missing from Halo:CE MP maps. It also has powerful air vents that if you

walk over will send you soaring through the air to the level above. Those

are an excellent way for avoiding death and turning the tables on your

attacker.

Weapons

SMG- Not as bad as it looks. It will definitely satisfy people who are

missing the ol' assault rifle because of its large clip size, but that

little baby packs a punch. Two SMGs can take kill a person in about one or

two seconds. Watch out for that one.

SHOTGUN- Back and badder then ever. It has a slightly new look, very sexy if

you ask me. The reload rate is a little slower, but it makes up for it with

it's powerful attack.

SNIPER RIFLE- Guess what it has? RECOIL WOOT WOOT! There is a slight recoil

when you shoot it, making it difficult to kill people as easily. Finally,

sniping in that game will take a little more skill then before. The bullet

trail is still there, and it sports a new, slicker look. It's scope is round

instead of square, and the rifle itself is more streamlined.

ROCKET LAUNCHER- Not much to be said here. It's a little bigger then it was

before, and fires slightly faster. Target tracking isn't as unfair as it

seemed, it actually adds more balance.

BATTLE RIFLE- A fun and cool looking weapon. Much deadlier when it is

scoped. Because it fires bursts unscoped, it can be more difficult to hit

your target and I prefer the SMG for close quarters stuff.

NEEDLER- Fast. Deadly. Awesome. This gun will become a favorite very

quickly. The needles are lightning quick and it fires much faster. SMG and

Needler duel wielded is really really deadly.

PLASMA RIFLE- Not much to say, sports a new look and sound and doesn't

freeze you as much when you are hit with it.

PLASMA PISTOL- Once again, not much has changed. New look and sound, still

pretty useless.

BEAM RIFLE- OMG OMG OMG new weapon! The covenant Beam Rifle is the

equivalent to the human Sniper Rifle. It has the same scope power, two times

and ten times scope. The main difference is that like all other Covie

weapons, it does not have to reload. This allows you to stay scoped as long

as you want. It has 100 charges and drains 4 charges with each shot, so you

do the math. However, it does overheat, and will do so after two rapid

succession shots. If you have patience though, you can keep up a steady

stream of shots without overheating.

BRUTE SHOT- Another new weapon, it is the Brute rifle. Not really a rifle

though, more of a grenade launcher. I didn't use it that much, the only map

it was on was Mid Ship. That, and it wasn't very good. It fires grenades

that bounce around, so it is hard to hit your target. Still cool though.

ENERGY SWORD- Don't mess with the best 'cause the best don't mess. That

pretty sums up the energy sword. If you see someone coming at you with it,

back away and empty every clip of every weapon you have into them, because

it is deadly. Once they get a good lock on you, pressing R will do the lunge

attack and one hit kill you back to Halo 1. I have lovingly dubbed it the

"n00b stick" to go along with it's other n00bish partner, the n00b cannon,

or rocket launcher.

Differences and new stuff:

-You can jump higher

-You seem to throw grenades a little shorter

-You can see your feet

-You see your shields spark and crackle when they are taken down, and you

see a ring similar to the one at the beginning of PoA when they recharge

-All weapons have more than one melee attack

-When scoped in with any weapon, it has an ammo count in the scope to tell

you how much is left.

-All weapons aside from scoped weapons have binoculars.

-Hijacking vehicles is hard but awesome. And I mean awesome. It's like.

knifing some one on Counter Strike.

-When in the warthog passenger seat, it is a third person view instead of

FP, making it much easier to aim.

-The warthog handles better, and the right trigger is a horn and the left is

a brake. It DOES NOT have a boost.

-The Ghost is still awesome and has unlimited boost.

-One strange thing I noticed was that there is no fall damage, but that is

probably just the beta.

-The HUD is completely different. The health bar is now vertical, and is

above your radar in the lower left hand corner. Your right-handed weapon has

taken the health bars previous spot, and the left-handed weapons info is in

the upper left hand corner. You also can see what your reserve weapon is. In

the bottom right hand corner is a score keeper, a red bar and a blue bar

that show the difference between kills, flag captures, etc. This allows you

to quickly check the score without having to press back.

-There is no more health. Once your shields go out, you can take three or

four more shots, but there is nothing to indicate how much health you have

elft.

-Frag grenades don't look like pineapples anymore.

-You move slower while carrying the bomb or flag, and must hold x to pick

them up.

-Spartans and Elites grunt in pain when they are it with no shields up.

-Halo 2 will support four people on one Xbox for LIVE play. All at the same

time. In case you didn't here me, I just said FOUR PEOPLE ON LIVE AT THE

SAME TIME ON THE SAME BOX! How awesome is that?

-There is no flashlight it is now a teamspeak button.

New Gametypes

SWORDS- Yes, there is a swords only game type. 'Nuff said.

ASSUALT- This is not like the assault with flags. This one is done with

bombs. It is a lot like bomb maps on CS. One team is on defense, while the

other is on offense. Some one on the offensive team must pick up the bomb,

which is like flag in that you can melee with it but can't carry it and use

guns at the same time. The offensive team must then escort the bomb bearer

to the defensive teams base, plant the bomb, and prevent the enemy from

defusing it. You defuse by simply standing on the bomb. After the round is

over, the teams switch roles, like one flag CTF. It is really an awesome

gametype.

Rumors killed or confirmed-

-You CANNOT drive any vehicles while carrying the flag or bomb.

-You CANNOT duel wield plasma swords.

-The flag and bomb DO slow you down.

-There IS NO DIFFERENCE aside from appearance between Spartans and elites in

MP.

-There is NO health meter.Maps-

WATERWORKS- You can all see the waterworks screenshots, and it is really,

really huge. It has all of the known vehicles; Tanks, 'Hogs, Ghosts, and

Banshees. This map truly is gigantic, and you need at least 10 people. In

the middle of the map is a giant crevice that you can fall down (and die)

and fly banshees down (and live, but nothing is there). The bases have an

assortment of weapons and a stationary gun turret with a good field of fire.

Weapons-

COVENANT CARBINE- I never found this before because it is hidden on both

Midship and Ivory Tower. Why is it hidden? Well, I'll tell you. It is

probably the best gun in the game. It basically is the equivalent to the

battle rifle, only better. It always fire single shot, but you can hold down

the trigger. This way it is like shooting a machine gun with a decent rate

of fire through a scope. Also, it doesn't overheat, it fire cartridges. That

little flower thing on top is the clip. It has a 20 shot clip.

MAGNUM- So there it is. The pistol. I hope all you pistol crazy people are

happy, it's there. Honestly though, what game doesn't have a pistol? It HAS

been toned down though. I couldn't tell about the amount of damage it did,

but it only has a ten shot clip and no scope. It still has the same shape as

before, but it is completely black.

Vehicles-

SCORPION TANK- There it is, it also is back. It is the exact same thing as

before, except it's main weapon has a faster rate of fire, and cooler

explosion effects. It also moves on an independent axis from it's turret.

Now you can "strafe" so to speak with a tank. Also, it doesn't take any

vehicle damage. I spent 5 minutes shooting it with every weapon, including

another tank and it didn't leave a scratch.

BANSHEE- The Banshee also is the same, except for a few minor performance

upgrades. It can strafe, that is a big improvement. It also doesn't have a

fuel rod god, that was replaced with the boost. It CAN be hijacked

Stuff to note.

-Vehicles damage is highly case sensitive, and you can't shoot out the tires

of a warthog

-The SMG target reticle is the same as the AR from Halo:CE.

-Elite hands look funny, our clan HAS to be Spartans.

-The Elite HUD is purple.

-No melee while duel wielding.

[Sng]

Although:

"The health bar is now vertical, and is above your radar in the lower left hand corner. "

"There is no more health. Once your shields go out, you can take three or

four more shots, but there is nothing to indicate how much health you have

left."

Huuuuh?

[Kryptonian]

Sounds AMAZING. Literally can't wait.

[Mr Do 71]

IVORY TOWER- I don't really get Ivory Tower, it seems to be some sort of an enclosed greenhouse or park. It has elevator type platforms, something that

was missing from Halo:CE MP maps. It also has powerful air vents that if you

walk over will send you soaring through the air to the level above. Those

are an excellent way for avoiding death and turning the tables on your

attacker.

Cool, I do like the sound of that

[auntyclimax]

4 people on one xbox on live.....

well, it's got novelty value, but will be LAGGY AS FUCK.

[Spunky Monkey]

why will it be as laggy as hell when the game supports 16 people? All its doing is sending the 4 bits of data from one xbox rather than 4 serperate ones.

[Lazychu]

4 people on one xbox on live.....

well, it's got novelty value, but will be LAGGY AS FUCK.

You'd think they'd have it in there if that where the case?

Also, even some 'leaked' info doesn't mention any single player campaign levels.

[Spunky Monkey]

Probably because they are playing the beta, for multiplayer testing, very few companies let out single player bits for outside beta testing.

[Lazychu]

Probably because they are playing the beta, for multiplayer testing, very few companies let out single player bits for outside beta testing.

Hrrumphh.

I guess so.

[McNeillR]

PLASMA RIFLE- Not much to say, sports a new look and sound and doesn't freeze you as much when you are hit with it.

Anyone explain this? It freezed when you were hit...with...it?!

Sounds good though, especially the shield sparking thing and the convenant zoomy weapon.

[probeater]

Anyone explain this? It freezed when you were hit...with...it?!

Sounds good though, especially the shield sparking thing and the convenant zoomy weapon.

on halo 1 when you shot someone with the plasma rifle it slowed them down a lot so they couldn't move or aim properly.

I really do hope the pistol is still in halo 2 and as good as it was in halo 1.

[Mr Spew]

-The warthog handles better, and the right trigger is a horn and the left is

a brake. It DOES NOT have a boost.

-The Ghost is still awesome and has unlimited boost.

HORNN!

Boost?

Well, it all sounds aces.

[Mr Spew]

-You CANNOT drive any vehicles while carrying the flag or bomb.

Errr, WHAT?!

...actually, that means you have to be a passenger, right?

[Sng]

Suppose so. Encourages teamplay I guess!

[Mr Spew]

I was almost thinking you'd have to walk the whole way back to the other base. Imagine that on Sidewinder.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

So the Cov Pistol is 'still useless', eh? Foo'.

It rocks.

[Poet]

4 people on one xbox on live.....

well, it's got novelty value, but will be LAGGY AS FUCK.

I'm sure they've initiated this outrageously protracted Live Beta test to make sure nothing is ever "laggy as fuck".

And whay Ryan (sorry, Ulala) said.

[Kryptonian]

4 people on one xbox on live.....

well, it's got novelty value, but will be LAGGY AS FUCK.

Yeah, just like Moto GP.

No, wait. That's bullshit.

[jcafarley]

I wonder if they will do co-op story mode over Live, because that would be very cool, perhaps you and three others vs the Covenant.

That and system link co-op.

[Darragh]

Oh, how I wish I had broadband. That sounds amazing.

[Ryan]

Are they dropping the Assult Rifle from the game? Shame, I quite like it.

[Preacher]

Tis stuff like this that gets me psyched for the game. Can't wait for this one.

[auntyclimax]

Anyone who doubts it will be laggy is speaking out of their arse. look at Ghost recon, you can't even fire a grnade on ;live without it spazzing out all the gamers, and just think how fast paced halo 2 is going to be.

Oh, and to those that mentioned Moto GP 2, that games predicts your opponents path, and updates every half a second or something, hence seeing players appearing and dissapearing. Now that's harldy a game that needs much data transfer.

Oh, and to those who mentioned 16 players on Halo 1, you are obviously a fool. that's over a 10/100 network, not broadband. there is a huge difference.

[Rushy]

Anyone who doubts it will be laggy is speaking out of their arse. look at Ghost recon, you can't even fire a grnade on ;live without it spazzing out all the gamers, and just think how fast paced halo 2 is going to be.

And I'm guessing you have seen the network code then.....thought not.

Don't make judgements about the way the game will run online till you have experienced it. Do you seriously M$ will let Bungie implement a 4 player splitscreen online mode if it wasn't up to scratch? The answer is no, M$ are fairly strict in this respect and have been looking to make sure Live games run more efficiently.

Personally I don't see a problem. On my 512/256 line I can host a CS game and have 2 other PC's in the house all running off the same connection playing CS AND have up to about 4 or 5 people join in the game as well before lag becomes an issue.

[a big boy]

And I'm guessing you have seen the network code then.....thought not.

Don't make judgements about the way the game will run online till you have experienced it. Do you seriously M$ will let Bungie implement a 4 player splitscreen online mode if it wasn't up to scratch? The answer is no, M$ are fairly strict in this respect and have been looking to make sure Live games run more efficiently.

Personally I don't see a problem. On my 512/256 line I can host a CS game and have 2 other PC's in the house all running off the same connection playing CS AND have up to about 4 or 5 people join in the game as well before lag becomes an issue.

I agree. Also, haven't the last few months' development time been almost exclusively for multiplayer? I'm sure everything will be polished to perfection. My only worry is not being able to rely on my mad pistol skillz anymore.

[Venice Cull]

Only 12 weeks to go...

[geldra]

Only 12 weeks to go...

Its definitely going to be here before we blink.

Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink .

[Spunky Monkey]

Anyone who doubts it will be laggy is speaking out of their arse. look at Ghost recon, you can't even fire a grnade on ;live without it spazzing out all the gamers, and just think how fast paced halo 2 is going to be.

Oh, and to those that mentioned Moto GP 2, that games predicts your opponents path, and updates every half a second or something, hence seeing players appearing and dissapearing. Now that's harldy a game that needs much data transfer.

Oh, and to those who mentioned 16 players on Halo 1, you are obviously a fool. that's over a 10/100 network, not broadband. there is a huge difference.

I was refering to halo 2 having 16 players in multiplayer. having 4 people on one xbox, sure its a bit more strain for that one xbox sending out data (4 times as much) but it recieves less data than if there was 15 seperate xboxes connected to it. Seeing as 4 are running on one xbox it only needs to recieve data from 11 other xboxes, rather than 15.

Ghost recon is a game that id say is pretty crappy, it obviously didnt have the development time or money spent on it, and its obvious bungie have been working on this before xbox live was created and have more detailed info than ubi soft probably.

Also take halo xbconnect, Halo multipler online, where most people can get 8 player running pretty well on a 512k connection. And this is a game that isnt xbox live compatable and was made in mind for a 'that's over a 10/100 network'. With a lot of tweaking i can see them doing it easily. Hell the dreamcast on 56k could do 8 player unreal tourny pretty well.

[Kryptonian]

Anyone who doubts it will be laggy is speaking out of their arse. look at Ghost recon, you can't even fire a grnade on ;live without it spazzing out all the gamers, and just think how fast paced halo 2 is going to be.

Oh, and to those that mentioned Moto GP 2, that games predicts your opponents path, and updates every half a second or something, hence seeing players appearing and dissapearing. Now that's harldy a game that needs much data transfer.

Oh, and to those who mentioned 16 players on Halo 1, you are obviously a fool. that's over a 10/100 network, not broadband. there is a huge difference.

Ghost Recon is the worst game for lag on Live.

I don't see people appearing and disappearing on Moto GP 2

How about Unreal, Wolfenstein, Counter Strike - I believe you may be able to fire grenades on those too (and are fast paced) and it doesn't 'fuck up'.

[Bojangle]

Can't wait. It sounds awesome.

As for the lag, I'm sure Bungie have been optimising the hell out of the game to try and all but eliminate lag. Like someone said further up, haven't Bungie spent the last 6 months or so soley on multiplayer? If it weren't for the Live! aspect we'd probably all have it by now.