Halo 2

Platform(s): Xbox

Publisher: Microsoft

Developer: Bungie Studios

ESRB Rating: Mature

Players: 1-16 (with Xbox live)

Halo 2

Story and Gameplay

Bungie and Microsoft brought you the best-selling Halo and its sequel Halo 2. In this rendition, the Master Chief and Cortana return to Earth to try to prevent an aggressive alien civilization, the Covenant, from taking over.

There are enhanced graphics, new and destructible environments, extra weapons that can be dual-wielded, vehicles and Xbox Live multiplayer gaming for up to 16 players. The core Halo gameplay is intact, but the campaign and multi-player modes are highly enhanced.

Record-breaking Sales

On its first day of release in November 2004, Halo 2 had $125 million in sales. There are now more than 5 million copies in the hands of consumers and the game is credited for helping Xbox console sales in the 2004 Christmas selling season.

Halo 2 took more than 3 years to develop, but with sales like that Microsoft is finding it well worth it. Along with the first game in the Halo franchise, sales total more than 11 million units.

Busting Cheaters and Hackers

In a game update that was released in July 2005 for Halo 2, the developers have included software that scans for "modded" Halo content on the Xbox hard-drive. The presence of this modified content will ban the player from connecting to Xbox Live multiplayer gaming with Halo 2. Accused cheaters have no recourse, according to the developers at Bungie. At the same time, the update fixes several known bugs including the teleporter bug found in the Relic map.