Halo 2 multiplayer review

A big release like Halo 2 is something to savour. It's a game that we feel should be reviewed in great detail. So here we present the review of the online multiplayer features. Next week you'll be able to read our thoughts on the single-player campaign.

Halo: Combat Evolved was a fantastic multiplayer game. The two-player split screen co-op was extremely satisfying. But where the game really took off was in the split screen multiplayer and system link games. It was so popular that Xbox LAN parties abounded – and a few bright sparks came up with a way of spoofing the Xbox into playing system link games across Internet connections.

Great controls, which no Xbox first-person shooter has managed to emulate, and more options than you could shake a Needler at, meant the game provided the kind of thrilling LAN experience previously only available to PC gamers. It's the excitement of playing with a group of friends in a party atmosphere that has inspired the design of the multiplayer aspects of Halo 2. Bungie has implemented this concept to such a level, that even the best Xbox Live games seem poor in comparison.

Party of one

What marks out Halo 2 as different from any other Xbox Live game you may have played is the party system. This is Bungie's attempt to give the player the atmosphere of a LAN party, hanging out with friends, playing whatever game types take your fancy, and then heading out onto Live to take on other players. It's a strange philosophy at first, seemingly cutting down on player choice, but as I'll explain, it really does work.

Entering the Xbox Live menu brings up the party screen and you'll be sat there all on your lonesome. You are a party, but a party of one. So invite some folks from the friends list over and there you have your little LAN party. Unlike many similar games, this custom game isn't open to the whole of the Live community; no-one other than folks on your friends list can see it. There are privacy options though; letting you make the party invite only if you don't want beered-up gatecrashers from the less salubrious end of your friends list.

Remember all those game options from Halo: Combat Evolved for split screen and system link games? Well that ridiculously expansive feature set remains. The party manager can tinker to their heart's content with the options.

A selection of locked game types exist to get you started, but game types can be created, tweaked and saved for quick retrieval later. The ability to work on your own playlists and then recall them quickly when friends pop in to play makes hosting a game a breeze.

Into the wild

So you've got a little party of friends together, maybe four of you and have played some custom games. What next? Well you can take the party on the road and enter some ranked matches.

All the party leader has to do is choose a game type from selections such as skirmish, team skirmish, large battle etc. Small team battles are limited to four vs. four and work particularly well if you've entered with three friends.

The party system has several major bonuses for the quality of the games you enter. Firstly you get to play in a team with all your friends; it certainly cuts down on intentional team killing and spoilers, and provides a much greater sense of camaraderie. Friends communicate better in battle and I can honestly say I haven't ever seen as much dedicated teamwork in an online FPS as I have in Halo 2. It really does take the LAN party philosophy on the road. It's a real joy to mount a Warthog with two friends and head for the enemy base.

Using the voice communicator takes some getting used to. Whenever you talk, everyone nearby can hear. In a team game this could give away your position or your team's plans. An overly talkative enemy team is a great boon, and I've played several games where their team chatter has helped me hunt down members.

Thankfully there is a secure team channel – tapping the white button ensures what you have to say just goes to the folks on your team. With the default settings, voices you hear from other players come through the TV speakers, with team voice-coms coming through the headset – it's a neat system once you've spent some time with it.

Less is more?

One interesting aspect of the way multiplayer games are organized, and it's something that's going to annoy some people, is that the party has little control of the game type they will play when entering the matchmaking system.

Yes, the party leader can select a small or large team battle, clan match or skirmish – but the actual game rules; whether assault, capture the flag or slayer are chosen by the Bungie system.

Taking a party into a battle goes through four stages. The system tries to match up parties of equal sizes and waits for other groups to enter the fray. It then makes a choice of what game type to employ and selects the player with the best connection as the host. It's brilliantly seamless and if the host drops out, the hosting duties are passed to another player after a brief pause.

At first it really does seem a puzzling choice, but after spending a few hours online the value of this system really does shine through.

Bungie has put together playlists of different game types ensuring players get to play a variety of different games, gaining experience in each. The game types also reflect the numbers of players present and their skill levels.

The developer plans to keep mixing up these playlists, with voting on game types appearing on the company website. Some events may appear briefly for special occasions, others being rotated out for not being popular.

Lies, damn lies

Bungie has really gone to town on the statistics available in Halo 2. After each match players can browse all kinds of figures from the battle, looking at how well they did with map objectives, kills and the like. When sitting in the party lobby it's possible to look at the stats for the last game you've played.

Things really hot up on the stats front when visiting Bungie.net. I really recommend you register at the site if you play Halo 2 online. Once your gamertag has been linked to the Bungie site, a whole new world of stats are opened up. As you can see in some of the screenshots accompanying this review (I've blurred gamertags to protect the innocent) there are many different ways of looking at your progress online.

Perhaps the most dramatic display of statistical power is the game view, here it's possible to view the game maps from ten or more angles and see where kills occurred. If you notice you always get taken out at a certain spot you can play differently on that map next time. Or perhaps you died a few times and had no idea where that shot came from. Well now you can see that sniper position, you can sneak up on someone using it.

Some might say these kinds of statistics are overkill. But for me they increase the value of this game. Microsoft and Bungie have clearly set out to provide the best Xbox Live experience possible and the integration of the web statistics adds a new level of enjoyment to the game. Players are ranked on experience and skill in a similar way to Rainbow 6 and the system then tries to make sure that players of equal ability are matched up against each other. The aim? To ensure everyone has a chance to succeed and never feels too out of their depth.

Live perfection?

There are a few hiccups along the road. Some maps don't exactly work with 16 players at a time in certain game types. For example the narrow confines of Zanzibar's power station made 8 vs. 8 capture the flag games a random bun fight at times.

I'd also say that the plasma sword, a one-hit one-kill weapon, is just too powerful for many games, especially close quarter battles. It's tiresome for a match to be dominated by someone with the sword when the confined spaces make it almost impossible for them to be brought under fire for very long.

Yet these are just small bumps, things that will no doubt be ironed out as Bungie watches us all play and adapts Halo 2 to our tastes. That's one of the real strengths of the game – it feels like a game that's going to get better and better with time. As new maps and playlists are released, as the stats show the developer what works and what doesn't, this experience is going to improve week by week.

Killing Spree

So we come to the matter of the overall score. Words tell you more than numbers, but I am giving the game a 10, something I rarely do. It's not a decision I've taken lightly, but Halo 2's Xbox Live play really does take the system to the next level. It raises the benchmark for online play beyond anything seen in console multiplayer and teaches many a PC developer a trick or two.

I have never felt more part of a team or more excited by an online experience. Halo 2 has had my heart beating like a broken clock. It really is that good. So if you've a length of Cat5 cable and a broadband connection you really do owe it to yourself to take the plunge and make use of the two-month Xbox Live trial bundled with the game.

Halo 2 online is not total perfection, but it's miles better than anything out there right now, by a long long way. Neat touches aboud, such as your custom logos appearing in stats pages and on your character. In every part of the experience, whether playing custom games with friends or fighting large groups through the matchmaking service, Halo 2 strives to make sure you have the most fun possible. It's a genuine milestone in online console gaming.