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 <item
  id="1"
  name="Halo 2"
  platform="Xbox"
  players="Offline: 1-4 Players; Online: 16 Players"
  editor="Microsoft Games Studios"
  developer="Bungie Studios"
  released="Nov 09, 2004"
  web="http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox/halo-2##MobyGames"
  case="1"
  manual="1"
  added="24/09/2009"
  borrower="none"
 >
  <description>In the sequel to Halo, Spartan-117, better known as the Master Chief, has returned to Earth, where he is promptly needed: despite all precautions taken, the Covenant have discovered the location of humanity's homeworld and are launching their attack. For some reason, however, their fleet is much smaller than expected. To solve this mystery, the Chief must return to the stars, learning more about the mysterious Halo rings and their constructors.Meanwhile, the Covenant Elite who commanded the fleet at the Halo construct is blamed for the destruction of the ring and branded a heretic. The High Prophets grant him another chance, however: he is made the Arbiter, a special operative for the Prophets, ordered to carry out impossible missions. He will be dealing with dissent and rebellion among the Covenant - a conflict where he might find himself to be on the wrong side.The player controls both the Chief and the Arbiter in Halo 2, a first-person-shooter in the same style as the first game. Its main gameplay characteristics are the same: only two weapons can be carried at a time (leading to a tactical choice as to which are to be taken), instead of a standard health points system there is the recharging energy shield (leading to an emphasis on finding cover during firefights), AI-controlled teammates will fight along the protagonist, and there are lots of sections involving vehicles.New features include the ability to double-wield certain weapons, doubling the firing rate at the expense of accuracy and the ability to execute melee attacks or throw grenades. Part of the weapon arsenal is unchanged from the first game, but there are also some additions. The human projectile weapons are mostly new and include a pistol, shotgun, SMG and battle rifle. Returning are the sniper rifle and the rocket launcher. The Covenant energy-based weapons (still prone to overheating) from Halo all return, and new additions include several heavy hitters like the Brute Shot and Fuel Rod Gun along with the projectile-based Carbine and the Beam Rifle, both useful for sniping. The Energy Sword is a powerful melee weapon, able to kill most enemies with a single strike.All vehicles from the original game also return: Warthog jeeps and Scorpion tanks for the Humans, Banshee fliers, Ghost gliders and Wraith tanks for the Covenant. A new addition is the Covenant Spectre, which with its rear-mounted cannon wielded by a dedicated gunner is comparable to the Warthog. A new player ability concerning vehicles is to board them while in use and either kick off the driver and take over, or in the case of heavy tanks, throwing in a grenade.The multiplayer component of the game has been greatly expanded. On the Xbox, Xbox Live is now supported in addition to split screen and system link. The campaign can be played by two players in split screen. Competitive game types include Slayer and Team Slayer (standard free-for-all deathmatch), Capture the Flag, Assault (planting a bomb in the enemy base), Territories (controlling sections of a map for a certain amount of time), Oddball (finding a skull on the map and then holding on to it as long as possible) and more. All types have several built-in variants and can also be customized further. Players can choose from Spartan and Covenant Elite skins. The PC version comes with a map editor.</description>
  <genre>
   <line>
    <col>Action</col>
   </line>
  </genre>
 </item>
 <item
  id="2"
  name="Halo 3"
  platform="Xbox 360"
  players="Offline: 1-4 Players; Online: 16 Players"
  editor="Microsoft Games Studios"
  developer="Bungie Studios"
  released="Sep 25, 2007"
  web="http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox360/halo-3##MobyGames"
  case="1"
  manual="1"
  added="24/09/2009"
  borrower="none"
 >
  <description>Halo 3 is the final game in the main Halo series.  Like the rest of the series, it is a sci-fi/military-themed first-person shooter with an emphasis on vehicles and an extensive multiplayer mode in addition to the single-player campaign.As before, the series' signature shield system is used where, rather than health, you have a force field of sorts which loses power as you are attacked.  You needn't pick up anything to refill it, only take cover for several seconds.  If you can avoid being attacked, the shield will recharge on its own.Vehicles are again present.  These are human and alien transport which can be driven or ridden in with another player or AI doing the driving.  Halo 3 adds numerous new types of vehicles, notably a massive mobile command center called the Elephant and a human VTOL aircraft called the Hornet.  Enemies with good timing can board a vehicle, kicking out the occupant.Also as before, you are limited to one weapon in hand (or one in each hand for some of the smaller guns) and one on back-up with both human and alien weapons available.  Weapons can be fired or used to club someone for a melee hit.  There are several new weapons, including the gravity hammer, which is a massive hammer for one-hit kills in close combat.  When using a single weapon, your second trigger throws grenades, which have a new spike type in addition to the basic sticky and frag ones from previous games.  Turrets are back, which are mounted guns with a new missile pod variant and the added ability to rip them off their moorings and carry them around in 3rd person view.There is a new feature called equipment where you get objects with particular effects, such as a gravity lift, a shield drain field, a shield recharge field, land mines and a bubble shield which can be penetrated by players, but not gunfire.  One piece of equipment can be carried at a time and it can be deployed anywhere.All the multiplayer game types from Halo 2 are back.  This includes the standard fps games like slayer (essentially deathmatch), capture the flag, assault (reverse ctf), territories and king of the hill (territories with a single point).  There are also Halo-specific games, like oddball, where you must hold an object the longest time and juggernaut, where one player gets specials powers.  Only they can score points.  If you kill that player, you become the juggernaut.  Two new games are added: VIP, where you are tasked with killing a specific player on the other team and must protect your own VIP, and infection, which is a human team vs a zombie team and humans are infected and brought to the other team as they are killed.  There are also dozens of variants of these, such as crazy king, which is king of the hill with a moving hill, mad dash which is a juggernaut games where the object is to get to waypoint instead of kill people and single-weapon versions of slayer.  You can make your own custom game types by manipulating a a number of variables such as weapons, goals and player stats.This is augmented by Forge, which is a map editor.  While it doesn't have the ability to change level geometry, Forge can be used to completely change object placements.  This is not only weapons and vehicles and power-ups, but spawn points, crates, fusions coils (exploding barrels), etc.  The map editor is actually a playable game mode with some players becoming the monitor and placing objects for use by their teammates.  They can give give them a tank, for instance, or create a barrier and levitate it along as mobile cover.The campaign mode contains a number of new features as well.  The players now control distinct characters in co-op rather than the Chief just having an identical twin, the player limit has been expanded to four and it is now playable online.  There is a metagame where you score points in the campaign (used for some of the achievements) and the skulls from Halo 2 have been expanded with a checklist and additional features, such as unlocking extra armor for use in multiplayer and additional dialogue featured throughout the game.The ability to customize your appearance has been expanded from Halo 2 with not only a longer list of emblems to place on your armor and the ability to pick a third color, but multiple armor variants which can be mixed and matched and the ability to use a female voice.Other new features include a theater where you can re-watch games you or others played from the viewpoint of any player-character or in third-person or with a free camera.  You have the ability to save films for posterity, take screenshots or edit films for highlight reels or machinima (multiplayer only).  This is a multiplayer feature, so you can watch films with people in your online party.All of these things (edited maps, custom games, films and screenshots) can be put in a new file-sharing feature and are accessible to other players or through any PC via the internet.</description>
  <genre>
   <line>
    <col>Action / Racing / Driving</col>
   </line>
  </genre>
 </item>
</collection>
