‘2’ Much Fun: Millions of game players celebrate release of Xbox’s Halo’ sequel

Kirk Baird

Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 | 8:18 a.m.

It was just past midnight on Nov. 9 and I, similar to many Xbox system owners across the nation, was wide awake with anticipation.

It was time to pick up my copy of the just-released "Halo 2," the much-awaited Xbox game.

"Halo 2" is the sequel to "Halo: Combat Evolved," a first-person shooting game (think "Doom" and "Goldeneye") between space marines and aliens battling it out for galactic survival.

Created by Microsoft's Bungie Studios, "Halo" went on to sell 5 million copies worldwide and convinced many gamers to buy the Xbox system over Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube.

In the three years since the original's release avid fans have eagerly waited for the game. Screen shots of "Halo 2" released by Bungie were meticulously scrutinized, and rumors abounded about the closely guarded plot of the game.

While "Halo 2" wasn't scheduled to be released to the public until midnight Nov. 9, leaked copies of the $50 game fetched as much as $265 on eBay.

Even 7-Eleven got in on the act, selling copies of "Halo 2" in anticipation of the demand. It's the first time the convenience store chain has ever sold a video game. It was a smart move.

"We're down to a handful of stores that have them left," said Steve Keane, sales and marketing manager for 7-Eleven's Mid-Pacific Division. "I don't think we'll have the supply of this product three weeks from now.

"It has been very good for us."

I elected to pre-order my game at a GameStop near my home. I knew there would be a few eager customers at the store when it opened at midnight, but I thought a half-hour or so would be long enough for the diehards to clear out.

After all, they had a game to play.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I realized how wrong I was.

The "few eager customers" had turned into a line of about 30 waiting outside the store. I'm not sure how many buyers were inside, since I didn't bother to stick around and wait in line.

It was late and I was tired, so my "Halo 2" killing spree would wait another 19 hours.

Andy McNamara, editor-in-chief of Game Informer magazine, who already had a pre-release copy of "Halo 2" through work, also made a midnight trek to buy the game.

"But the lines were too long," he said. As I did, he went home and bought the game the next day.

Across the nation, there were similar stories of rabid fans waiting in line for hours to buy the game.

Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell said the company sold 2.25 million copies of "Halo 2" on the first day alone, generating $125 million in sales.

"The Bungie and Microsoft teams are thrilled to see such a strong response from gamers across the globe," she said via e-mail. "We have heard reports of our fans from London to Seoul to Las Vegas lining up to be the first to get their hands on the game.

"It truly is a global phenomenon."

And for good reason.

Rarely, if ever, has a first-person shooter immersed gamers into a digital world as the "Halo" series has.

As Master Chief, a mysterious, cyber-enhanced soldier, you are mankind's last hope against the marauding threat of the Covenant, an army of alien races bent on galactic conquest.

Your battles take you from a doomed human starcraft to the Earth-like surface of Halo, a ringed space station with the power to destroy the galaxy.

Deeper into "Halo" there are encounters with powerful new enemies, such as hordes of zombies known collectively as the Flood.

The plot of "kill or be killed" is indicative of all shooter games. What sets "Halo" apart from the other titles, though, is the amount of interactivity and options.

There are dozens of advanced weaponry and military vehicles to master in order to beat the game. Being able to zip around a battlefield in, say, a Ghost, a one-crew alien fighter craft, breaks up the monotony of trudging through the often rough terrain on foot. It also changes the way you wage war.

While the single-player version of "Halo" is a blast, the game really shines in multiplayer. Up to four gamers can team up to beat the game, or even more can play against each other in various skirmishes, such as "Capture the Flag" and "King of the Hill."

"Halo" has been particularly popular among online gamers, who can challenge each other across the globe via the Xbox Live service.

As with any great sequel, though, "Halo 2" is all of the original and more.

Much more.

While the story again involves Master Chief and his battle against the Covenant, there are several new twists to the games -- none of which I'll reveal. Suffice to say, the twists add a new dimension to the story line, expanding the game in unexpected and brilliant ways.

There are also more weapons and vehicles to master. Two particularly cool new features include the ability to wield two weapons at once (More death! More mayhem!) as well as the ability to hijack a ship from the enemy. You simply get next to the vehicle, jump aboard the craft, grab the pilot -- perhaps punching him a few times in the process -- and then fling him helplessly to the ground.

It's the ultimate in road rage. Of course, the same can be done to you.

The multiplayer portion of "Halo 2" also was expanded to allow up to 16 players to compete against each other online, and includes new games as well as new battle maps.

Completing a mammoth project such as "Halo 2," though, took time.

O'Donnell said nearly 65 full-time employees spent three years developing the game.

"The development team more than doubled in size to work on 'Halo 2,' and spanned a broad range of talent -- from animation to AI (artificial intelligence), from environment design to network engineering," she said. "It took approximately 600,000 hours to create 'Halo 2.' The sound audio alone incorporated more audio than would be required in 10 feature films, with a whopping 17,000 lines of spoken dialogue."

Was it worth it?

Having completed nearly three-fourths of the single-player campaign of "Halo 2" so far, I definitely feel the sequel lives up to its hype. It's everything the original was, only better: better graphics and better gameplay, along with a more engrossing plot.

I'm not alone in my praise.

Spike TV's Video Game Awards nominated "Halo 2" as one of its choices of video game of the year, along with "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," "Burnout 3: Takedown," "Half-Life 2" and "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater."

Meanwhile, McNamara thought highly enough of the game that, in his review of "Halo 2" in this month's Game Informer, he awarded it a 10 out of 10 rating, along with the title "Game of the Month." It's an honor "Halo 2" shares with another sequel, the PlayStation 2-only "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," which also received a perfect score in the same issue.

"('Halo 2' is) a great single-player, it's a great multiplayer (game)," he said. "I've been playing it every night. Even after playing games all day at work, I'll go home and finish up with 'Halo 2.' "

As for the magazine's "game of the year" selection, McNamara said it looks to be a choice between "Halo 2" and "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

But he has a favorite: "Halo 2."

"Personally, for me, it's the Game of the Year," McNamara said. "(But) I haven't played enough 'Grand Theft Auto 3' yet. I got derailed by 'Halo 2.' "

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