All spoilers for Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: First Strike will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
"He was indeed my enemy, but in time I named him ally, even friend. The events that forged this bond were... complicated."
— Thel 'Vadam, Halo 2: Anniversary prologue
Halo 2 is the 2004 sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved and the second game in the Halo series, developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft for the original Xbox on November 9, 2004.
Following the events of the first game, the Master Chief arrives back at Earth, praised as a hero for his actions on Installation 04. In the midst of celebration, however, a Covenant attack begins on Earth, with the Chief and the UNSC racing to stop them. The Spartan soon learns that the Covenant are looking for something on Earth, and his quest takes him to a new Halo ring, where he uncovers more of the mystery behind the Flood.
Meanwhile, the game also follows a Covenant Elite named Thel 'Vadamee, better known as the Arbiter. Originally the leader of the Covenant forces that fought the Master Chief on the first Halo ring, he's branded as a heretic by the Covenant leaders due to his failure to stop the ring's destruction. Now given the role of Arbiter by the Prophets, Thel is tasked with a suicide mission that may potentially help him reclaim some of his lost honor. But as he learns more about the origin of the Halo rings and the fate of the Forerunners himself, he begins to doubt the Covenant cause.
Halo 2 introduced Guns Akimbo to the series; any gun that can be fired with one hand can be paired off with another one-handed gun of any type (besides the Master Chief, Covenant Elites can pull this off too). It also introduced vehicle hijacking - assuming you could get close enough to the vehicle without being gunned down or run over. Halo 2 solidified the presence of online console gaming thanks to the original Xbox Live service; thanks to Halo 2's success, practically any game of nearly any genre will have at least some debate from the developers on whether or not it should feature an online component.
To mark its ten-year anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary was released by 343 Industries on November 11, 2014, as part of the compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It comes with updated graphics, six remastered multiplayer maps with their own unique engine, and other bonus content, but unlike the original release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, it also comes with the original multiplayer.note
The game has also been ported to PC, in both its original and Anniversary forms. The original port came in 2007 as part of Microsoft's attempt to increase support for PC gaming and the then-new Windows Vista operating system through the oft-maligned Games for Windows Live service; it would end up the last Halo game in general to come to PC until 2013's Halo: Spartan Assault, and the last main Halo title to get a PC port until The Master Chief Collection came to PC in late 2019 with a port of Halo: Reach. Halo 2 Anniversary would later launch for the PC version of the collection in May 2020.
343 also announced that, in collaboration with the Digsite modding crew, it would release a rebuilt version of the 2003 Halo 2 E3 demo to the PC version, and it was released as free downloadable mod on the Steam Workshop on November 9, 2024, with the cut and unfinished Arbiter mission "Alpha Moon" being released as an additional add-on shortly after on November 15.
Halo 2 contains examples of:
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General Tropes
- 24-Hour Armor: As he does throughout the entire series, Master Chief wears his MJOLNIR armor at all times. Played for Laughs when he keeps it on even during the award ceremony at the beginning of the game, where a dress uniform (like the other characters wear) would be more appropriate.Master Chief: You told me there wouldn't be any cameras.
Johnson: And you told me you were gonna wear something nice! - Activation Sequence: The final battle takes place as Tartarus activates Installation 05. While the Arbiter and Sgt. Johnson try to take him down, 343 Guilty Spark keeps announcing various power-up phases completing in preparation to fire.
- Adaptational Weapon Swap: As this game removed the Assault Rifle, the Chief is instead typically portrayed as preferring the Battle Rifle in cutscenes, as well as the SMG on the cover art.
- Airborne Mook: This game introduces the Drones (appear in large swarms and can cling to walls, but are individually quite weak), Elite Rangers (Elites with jetpacks), and Enforcer Sentinels (large, missile-firing Sentinels with shields that protect them from the front), alongside the returning regular Sentinels (that also now have a more powerful golden variant).
- Alien Sky:
- Once Master Chief gets to Delta Halo, if you have a good view of the sky, things often look... alien.
- Your first mission as the Arbiter puts you on a station at the edge of a gas giant's atmosphere. It's all angry swirling clouds.
- Ammo-Using Melee Weapon: The Energy Sword has a limited battery, and the blade will vanish once it is depleted. You can continue to wield the hilt and use it to hit enemies, but it won’t do much damage.
- Another Side, Another Story: The levels "Uprising" and "Gravemind" occur at the same time.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Flipping a vehicle onto allies will (most of the time) safely push them out the way, fixing an issue from Combat Evolved where you'd have to make extra sure that you weren't crushing your Warthog passengers while trying to correct the vehicle.
- Art Evolution: The graphics are significantly improved from the original, despite being released for the same system. The remake takes this even further, and, unlike the remake of the previous game, was praised for staying true to the art direction of the original while massively increasing the fidelity.
- Artistic License – Space: On the level "Cairo Station", due to engine limitations, Master Chief will be pulled down directly towards Earth if he falls off the station during the outdoor segments in vacuum. In reality since Cairo Station is in orbit the Master Chief would still share its orbital velocity and would continue to orbit the Earth and not just fall down.
- The Atoner: The Arbiter's job description.The tasks you must undertake as Arbiter are perilous, suicidal! You will die, as each Arbiter has before you. The council will have their corpse.
- Attack of the Town Festival: The Covenant's attack on Earth begins while the UNSC is holding a big award ceremony to honor Master Chief, Sergeant Johnson, and the deceased Captain Keyes for their actions in the first game.
- Awesome, but Impractical: If you want to complete the level "Metropolis" as fast as possible, you'll have a much easier time if you take the Warthog instead of the tank the devs thought you would.
- Awful Truth: In the final mission, the Arbiter learns the truth about the Halo rings and the Forerunners. For a few seconds, he looks completely lost and heartbroken (This is even more apparent in the Anniversary addition) upon realizing everything he's done has been All for Nothing.
- Badass Boast:Lord Hood: Master Chief, you mind explaining what you're doing on that ship?
Master Chief: Sir, finishing this fight.Tartarus: You've drawn quite a crowd.
Thel Vadamee: If they came to hear me beg, they will be disappointed. - Big, Bulky Bomb: The Covenant boarding parties use these to take down Earth's defensive Kill Sats, blowing up at least the Malta and the Athens, and nearly doing the same to the Cairo until the Chief intervenes. Said bombs are easily bigger than any of the Elites tasked with guarding it, and are covered in spikes.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The Prophet of Truth and Gravemind.
- Bilingual Bonus: In the level "Outskirts" (set in Mombasa, Kenya), there are several announcements made in untranslated Swahili over the intercom; these range from public service announcements to random proverbs. There's also one that translates to "Warning! Old Man Martynote , who we used to respect, is actually a con man. He will be beaten with a stick tomorrow morning."
- Boring, but Practical: The Battle Rifle, a normal, burst-fire human rifle with a 2x scope. It kills Grunts and Jackals with one headshot, even on Legendary, and when used in combination with the plasma pistol is also capable of absolutely destroying Elites. It can also allow you to out-snipe Jackals and the ammo for it is usually plentiful. In levels where the BR isn't available, you can make do with its alien counterpart, the Covenant Carbine, which lacks the BR's generous spread but fires in semi-auto rather than a burst and can carry a lot more ammo.
- Boss Battle: Notable for being the only FPS Halo game until Halo 5: Guardians to have traditional boss battles; namely, the Heretic Leader, the Prophet of Regret, and Tartarus. On "Normal" all of them except Tartarus aren't much tougher than a King Mook, but on "Heroic" and "Legendary" they have multiple phases and are more like a traditional video game boss fight.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing:
- The white-armored Elite Ultras have 3 times as much shielding and health as regular Elite Minors (essentially having overshields), throw grenades, are faster and more accurate, and will pull out an energy sword if you get too close to them. On Legendary difficulty they can even survive a direct plasma grenade stick. They're pretty rare on "Normal" difficulty, but become more common on the higher difficulties. The Thunderstorm skull turns all non-specialist Elites into Ultras. Fortunately, the noob combo still drops them dead in a couple seconds.
- Gold-armored Elite Zealots only appear on "Legendary" difficulty now, appearing as squad leaders at key locations throughout the campaign. They've lost the overshields they had in Halo Combat Evolved and are no tougher than a regular Elite Major, but the energy swords they always wield are a One-Hit Kill.
- Sentinel Enforcers essentially serve as mini-boss fights, though most can be avoided or skipped.
- Hunters have been somewhat upgraded to this status. In fact you only fight about 13 of them throughout the entire campaign, half of whom are encountered in the level "Gravemind".
- Call-Back:
- An exchange between Pvt. Mendoza and Sgt. Johnson from the previous game, just before their team was attacked by the Flood — "I've got a bad feeling about this..." "Boy, you always got a bad feelin' about something..." — is echoed almost verbatim by a pair of Grunts right before, you guessed it, the Flood attacks.
- At the end of the Banshee section in "The Oracle", The Arbiter ends up crashing his damaged Banshee below a ledge, and leaves the audience hanging for a second before climbing up unscathed. The exact same thing happened with the Chief at the beginning of "The Maw" in Combat Evolved.
- The Cameo: A few recognizable screen actors are brought in to voice Marines. The one with the biggest role is Orlando Jones as Staff Sergeant Banks, but you can also hear the talents of David Cross, Laura Prepon and Michelle Rodriguez as unnamed Marines.
- Chekhov's Gun: The structure seen in the center of High Charity seems to be little more than a setpiece at first, but it later turns out to be a Forerunner Keyship that is used by Truth to lead the Covenant fleets to Earth.
- Classified Information: Johnson's response on how he survived the previous game (See Retcon below). This is a bit of Lampshade Hanging for players who are probably wondering the same thing (the reason is given in Halo: First Strike.)
- Defied later in the game, upon seeing a Halo ring Commander Keyes wants information and (rightly) makes it clear she will not tolerate this as an answer.
Commander Keyes: I want all the information you've got on the first Halo. Schematics, topography, whatever. I don't care if I have the clearance or not.
Cortana: Yes, ma'am. - Cliffhanger: The story ends with one of the most infamous cliffhangers in all of videogaming, being a very obvious Sequel Hook rather than the actual completion of the main threats à la the first game.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Enemy Elites get infinite cloaking while the Arbiter only has a couple of seconds. It's hand-waved by an ally stating that his armor is outdated.
- Contrast Montage: The opening cinematic of Cairo Station is this, contrasting Master Chief, Sgt. Johnson and Captain Keyes (via his daughter Miranda as a proxy) receiving honors at an award ceremony for their heroism in the first game, while the Covenant Elite Thel Vadam (soon to become the Arbiter) is put on trial and then publicly humiliated for his failure to prevent the destruction of Halo.
- Cosmic Horror Reveal: The game reveals that the Flood aren't just semi-sapient space zombies, but are being controlled by a Gravemind, a full-on Eldritch Abomination capable of playing its enemies against one-another. While it's exact backstory is left to expanded-universe materials and given almost no detail in this game, the creature coyly hints that it is extremely ancient, as it remembers the Forerunners and claims to have "listened through rock and metal and time".
- Creator Cameo:
- Bob O'Donnell, the father of series composer Marty O'Donnell, voices the Prophet of Objection's sole line in the opening cutscene ("Nay! It was heresy!").
- In the opening of "Gravemind" on Legendary difficulty, during the shot of the Grunts and Jackals protesting outside the Prophet's chamber, you can spot a sprite of Bungie co-founder Jason Jones in his underwear among the crowd. In the Anniversary version of the scene, he is replaced with an image of franchise director Frank O'Connor in his role as the janitor in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.
- Critical Existence Failure: Vehicles in the first two games had their health tied to their pilot's health, only being destroyed if they took enough damage to fully kill their pilot. However, 2 introduced battle damage to vehicles which means you can be piloting a Banshee that's taken an entire squad's worth of gunfire and as a result is missing a wing, both tailfins, and has a crooked & battered canopy, and it'll not only function just fine until you're dead, but if you back off and let your shields regenerate it'll be able to take another squad's worth of gunfire all over again without any visible repairs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: "High Charity", features a mostly onesided onslaught with the Flood taking down all Covenant in sight and you if you're not quick on your feet.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: The Drones are generally the Covenant's strongest asset against the flood thanks to their gift of flight and generally fair better than their Brute, Jackal and Grunt colleagues and kill several flood combat forms but not enough to stop the onslaught.
- Darker and Edgier: Combat Evolved wasn't a light game, but it did indulge in a fair amount of comedic moments, especially in its first half. Even after the Tone Shift caused by the introduction of the Flood, we still got gags about the Chief coming out of a teleport upside-down, and an extra non-canon joke ending if you beat the game on Legendary. Halo 2 by contrast is much more consistently downbeat and serious throughout its running time, largely thanks to the fact that the stakes are much higher from the beginning.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cortana, so, so much.Cortana: Ask yourself this question: "Is what I'm doing right now helping Cortana keep this station from exploding into tiny, tiny bits?"
- Death Seeker: The Arbiter. Pretty much comes with the job description.
- Decoy Protagonist: The Chief is primarily an observer to the game's primary conflict of the schism within the Covenant, which the Arbiter is far more personally involved in.
- Determinator:
- The Master Chief and the Arbiter, neither of whom will let anything get in the way of doing their duty.
- There's also a Meta example. The only thing that ended Halo 2's online gaming scene was the original Xbox Live servers getting shut down. The game was launched on Nov 9th, 2004, and the servers officially shut down on Apr 15, 2010. Officially, that is; several players hung on until getting booted on May 11th.
- Developer's Foresight: The Final Boss, Tartarus, is supposed to be weakened by baiting him into the view of Sergeant Johnson and his Beam Rifle. If you brought a Beam Rifle of your own into this battle, you can also use that to down his shields as well.
- This game introduces the ability to switch weapons with your allies. They'll react appropriately when given a stronger or weaker weapon. Johnson in particular is outspoken about it. Some of his comments: "I thought we were friends, Chief!" and "That hurts, Chief. That hurts real bad."
- The level Outskirts features a large array of rooftops in its first half, readily accessible via some creative platforming at the start of the level. As these rooftops house not one but two skulls you'll want to be decent at navigating them, but if you somehow get properly out of bounds there are sometimes crates and or other objects placed outside the bounds with you for you to mantle your way back into the level.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: There are holograms found throughout the levels "Delta Halo" and "Regret" that show the Prophet of Regret giving a sermon to the rest of the Covenant; before Cortana activates the Translator Microbes that render the speech in English, it sounds like the Gregorian chant intro to the main Halo theme.
- Doppelgänger Attack: The Heretic Leader has spherical drones which project holographic copies of himself to attack you.
- Drives Like Crazy: Marines now have the ability to drive most vehicles. However, you should not let them drive you around; if your first thought while seeing a Warthog is "Oooh, that turret looks sweet, I call it!" instead of "You take the turret, I'll drive", you'll come to regret your decision pretty quickly.
- Drop Pod: The first game in the series to feature these; "Delta Halo"'s opening cutscene even involves the Chief and company being dropped down from orbit.
- Early-Bird Cameo: An example map in the PC port includes a version of the SMG with a slightly-smaller magazine and a suppressor. This silenced SMG returned in Halo 3: ODST as the primary weapon of the titular ODST squad.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The Brutes made their debut but are quite different from later games:
- Their appearance is more akin to a Wookiee from Star Wars in being tall, slender, covered in fur while using primitive-looking armor and gear. Halo 3 alters the more bear-like appearance to more of a gorilla, they are more groomed and their armor looks more advanced while taking on samurai vibe.
- In this game they have limited infantry variants in terms of behavior, acting as bullet sponges vulnerable to explosives and headshots, with just one unique weapon in the Brute Shot and a modified Brute Plasma Rifle, but would also adopt human weapons if it suited them. Later games Brutes have their own complete line of unique weapons and vehicles with an aesthetic distinct from the rest of the Covenant, while the Brute Chieftan would have a gravity hammer that was reserved only for Tartarus in this game.
- In Halo 3 they mostly served as a replacement for Elites and similarly have everything from regular infantry to jetpack soldiers to stealth ambushers with a few Brutish-traits thrown in, such as the ability to go berserk. Halo: Reach limited Brutes to more sporadic appearances when Elites weren't around, staying within lore about their Inter-Service Rivalry, would and focus more on Brutes as frontline attackers and less about being a sub-faction of Covenant, creating a middle-point between those two depictions.
- Halo 2 introduced Skulls, collectables that introduced gameplay modifiers with all kinds of weird and challenging effects, which would become a staple of the series. However, the way they worked was completely different. There was no option to toggle skulls in the menu. Instead, once you found a skull its effects would activate and remain for as long as you had the console switched on. Once you turned off your console, you had to find the skull all over again; and skulls in this game are much more difficult and esoteric to find than they would later become, so good luck.
- Sesa 'Refumee is named as such despite being the Heretic leader, and thus opposed to the Covenant. Halo: The Cole Protocol establishes that the "-ee" suffix is taken on by Sangheili to indicate their loyalty to the Covenant, and is removed by those who leave it.
- This game experimented a bit with its weapon selection and removed the Assault Rifle, a noteworthy exclusion given that it is a staple of every other Halo game. Played with in that the assault rifle in the first game functioned more like a submachine gun, and this game replaces it with an actual submachine gun which behaves in an almost identical manner other than slightly less relative damage per shot.
- The Brutes made their debut but are quite different from later games:
- Easter Egg: The game has many, but the most notable ones it introduced were the Skulls, which modify gameplay in all sorts of crazy ways.
- Elite Mooks: The black-armored Spec Ops Elites return from Halo Combat Evolved and once again serve as the Elite of the Elites. Most of the time they're on your side as the Arbiter, but you fight them throughout one of the final levels, "Gravemind", as Master Chief. They're about as tough as an Elite Major, throw grenades with frightening accuracy, and are overall more skilled and responsive than regular Elites. They also have cloaking devices now.
- Enemy Civil War: Following the assassination of the Prophet of Regret, the Elites are stripped of their traditional role as honor guards to the Prophets, which is given to the Brutes, who are presented as the antithesis of the elites. The Prophet of Truth then orders the brutes to wipe out the elites. Understandably, the Elites do not take kindly to this, sparking a civil war that sets the stage for the game's latter half. The brutes, jackals and drones form one side, while the elites, grunts and hunters form the other.
- Enemy Mine:
- The Gravemind recruits Master Chief and the Arbiter to stop Truth, making it a three-way enemy mine.
- Also, Sergeant Johnson and Miranda Keyes ally with the Arbiter's Elites to stop the Halos from firing.
- Establishing Character Moment: The opening cutscenes gives us these for the Prophets, Arbiter and Tartarus:
- Regret is characterized as being very accusatory and aggressive, being the first to suggest Arbiter's lack of religious conviction. In contrast to his name, he is the first to throw punches and suggest disloyalty on the Arbiter's behalf.
- Mercy is outraged over the loss of the ring, in contrast to his name that suggests forgiveness and temperance.
- Truth is calm and collected, yet he has no qualms punishing Arbiter. His coolness really belies his sinister nature, even if he comes off as the more collected and rational of the three Prophets.
- Thel 'Vadam is shown to acknowledge his failings while still fighting back against accusations of his being a heretic. He is an honorable warrior but far from a doormat who lets himself be unjustly persecuted in a Kangaroo Court.
- Tartarus relishes the Arbiter's failure. A later cutscene has him take great joy in branding him, showing that in contrast to the Elites, Tartarus is a far more violent follower of the Prophets who enjoys doing their dirty work, especially if it undermines the Elites.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The Chief and the Arbiter actually aren't this, if simply due to their limited interactions. Instead, this applies to the Arbiter and Rtas, as the latter doesn't come to respect the former until after a few missions together.
- Fire Keeps It Dead: When the Flood turn up on the gas mine, one of the Arbiter's fellow Sangheili/Elites lament that they didn't bring anything to burn the bodies with.
- Foreshadowing
- In the opening cutscene, the Prophet of Regret isn't there in person, but remotely as a hologram, foreshadowing that he's currently en route to Earth to begin his invasion.
- The same cutscene has Thel 'Vadamee, the future Arbiter, declaring that he will continue his campaign against the humans, to which the Prophet of Truth replies bluntly, "No. You will not." His words indeed prove, well, prophetic, as all the enemies you fight as the Arbiter are either Sentinels, Flood, or enemy Covenant.note
- Cortana suggests that killing the Prophet of Regret should shake up the Covenant leadership, and then remarks that the Chief might be doing Truth a favor. Turns out she was right, as Regret's death gives Truth an excuse to replace the Elites with the Brutes, which leads to the Great Schism.
- Gimmick Level: A few multiplayer maps bring some kind of extra interactive element to them:
- "Zanzibar" features a power station with a large entrance that starts the game closed off, and can be opened by hitting a switch inside the building. This can particularly change up dynamics in attack & defend modes.
- "Waterworks" features stalactites hanging from the ceiling around the map, which can be shot down to crush anything underneath them.
- "Elongation" already has a funky design with the very narrow hallways connecting the two bases, but it goes a step further than its predecessor in adding conveyor belts to the hallway which carry a steady stream of boxes down each path, which adds plenty of cover and gives you more options with how to get up to the higher level.
- "Terminal" has a high-speed train pass through the map at semi-frequent intervals. In King of the Hill, one of the hills is located on the tracks for extra joy.
- Guns Akimbo: Taking another cue from Bungie's earlier Marathon, this is the first game in the Halo series to have a set of weapons that you can randomly pair with other designated one-handed weapons. It precludes throwing grenades, since the hand you'd normally use for that is being used to hold and fire the second gun, and you can't switch back to your other weapon or bash people with melee without dropping the left-hand gun.Dunkey: It's called "Halo 2" because you can hold two guns instead of one.
- Hero Antagonist: The Covenant Heretics are trying to save all life in the galaxy by revealing the truth about the Halos. Unfortunately, your first two missions as the Arbiter involve wiping them all out.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After the Chief deactivates the antimatter bomb on board Cairo Station, he proceeds to take it down to a hangar, open the doors, and use the decompression to hurl the bomb toward a Covenant carrier. But wait, that's not all! He grabs hold of the bomb so that he can activate it right inside the carrier's reactor, before jumping off again and landing on a passing frigate.Master Chief: Sir, permission to leave the station?
Lord Hood: For what purpose, Master Chief?
Master Chief: To give the Covenant back their bomb.
Lord Hood: ... permission granted. - Hold the Line: This game loves having setpieces on elevators and gondolas, in which you were tasked with holding off waves of enemies until your ride reaches its destination. This game has about half-a-dozen sequences of this nature; "Regret" has two! The developers did seem to realise that they maybe overplayed this trope a bit here, as future Halo games are much more restrained with using them.
- I Am the Noun: The Gravemind's now iconic way of introducing himself:"I? I am a monument to all your sins."
- I Reject Your Reality: In contrast to the Arbiter (see Awful Truth), despite being told in no uncertain terms that the Halo rings are weapons of mass destruction and that the Forerunners are dead, Tartarus refuses to accept it. This blind loyalty is actually exactly why Truth wanted the Brutes and not the Elites in power.
- Incredibly Durable Enemies: Brutes have about 50% more overall durability compared to Halo 2 Elites, and they also have massive resistance against automatic weaponry, so it takes an absurd amount of SMG or plasma rifle fire to put one down. They also wear metal skullcaps that absorb a few headshots before breaking, even from high-damage sniper weapons.
- Invisibility Cloak: The Arbiter is equipped with one for Optional Stealth, replacing the function of the Master Chief's flashlight. It only lasts for a short period of time before needing to recharge, and using any attack will cause it to deactivate.
- Is This Thing Still On?: An Australian-accented Marine comments on his first views of Delta Halo, while Sgt. Johnson is still waiting to land.Marine: It's like a postcard! "Dear Sarge: Kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here".
Johnson: I heard that, jackass! - It's Personal: The Master Chief's destruction of Installation 04 led to the Arbiter being cast down from his lofty command position, branded as a heretic, and forced to become a disposable martyr to atone. When the Prophet of Regret is assassinated, the Arbiter quickly realizes that "the Demon" is on the new Halo, and Tartarus mockingly inquires if the elite is "looking for a little payback".Arbiter: Retrieving the Icon is my only concern.
Tartarus: (Chuckles) Of course. - Justified Tutorial: Master Chief gets an upgraded armor system (MJOLNIR Mark VI) that gives an In-Universe explanation for some of the gameplay changes (for one, no more need for health packs, as there is now an internal "biofoam" system to automatically heal wounds). The game's initial camera and shield tutorial is the Chief being walked through some of these changes in Cairo Station's armoury.
- Loophole Abuse: Forerunner technology only responds to humans. After trying and failing to threaten Miranda Keyes into activating the ring, Tartarus simply shoves the Activation Index into her hands and then forcibly pulls her arms into slamming the Index in. That counts as a human doing it after all.
- Made of Explodium: Covenant vehicles in this game, more so than the other games. Do enough damage and they violently explode. Twice. Human vehicles are also now destroyable for the first time in the series.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: At the end of "Quarantine Zone", we see Miranda Keyes (accompanied by Sgt. Johnson) retrieving the new Halo's index from the depths of its flood-infested library, having apparently disembarked from the In Amber Clad to lead the strike force herself, for whatever reason.
- Make Way for the New Villains: The savage, ape-like Brutes are introduced here, and late in the game they launch an Enemy Civil War to usurp the now-sympathetic Elites.
- Match Cut: The Covenant-focused portion of the original opening cutscene ends with a lingering shot on the Prophet of Truth's face, before fading into space surrounding Earth, with the circular emblem on Truth's headwear fading in to the moon.
- Mêlée à Trois: All over the place in this installment, due to showing the Covenant's side of the war as well.
- The Oracle is the Covenant vs. the Heretics vs. the Flood.
- The Sacred Icon pair of missions is a four-way between the UNSC, the Covenant, the Flood, and the Sentinels. We don't see much of the UNSC's side of this particular battle, since Marines are never directly fought as enemies.
- Gravemind sees the Master Chief and the marines he rescues get caught in the crossfire of the Great Schism. Sadly, the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters don't seem too keen on an Enemy Mine. In High Charity, the Flood join the fray, and they win handily.
- Neo-Africa: New Mombasa, Kenya is a high-tech city and spaceport, loomed over by a Space Elevator.
- Nerf:
- While their shields are about the same as before, Elites have less than half as much relative health as they did in the first game (or in Reach). An unshielded Elite can take about as many hits from bullet weaponry as an equally ranked Grunt. They are however even more resistant to plasma weaponry than before, such that they can still survive about the same number of plasma bolts as the previous game despite having half as much health. They're also a lot less agile and evasive than they were in the first game, but do behave more tactically such as sticking into a cover position or mantling up on high positions for a better firing angle.
- The pistol is no longer the Punch-Packing Pistol it was in the first game, dealing about half as much relative damage, no longer having a scope, and no longer counting as a sniper weapon when it comes to the Hunter weak points. Justified in that the pistol in Halo 2 is a completely different weapon firing more standard armor-piercing rounds rather than the explosive-bullet Hand Cannon from the first game.
- The plasma pistol has also been toned down, with its damage against enemies reduced so it now deals less damage than the plasma rifle against NPCs, rather than more. It now does about half as much relative damage as it did in the first game, likely to balance out the fact it can now be dual wielded.
- The SMG is functionally equivalent to the assault rifle from the first game, with the same accuracy, rate of fire, and magazine capacity, but it deals about 7 relative damagenote instead of the 10 damage the assault rifle did, and the total ammo is drastically cut down. On the other hand, you can use two of them at once for an even more impressive wall of lead, or it and a plasma weapon in each hand to cut down on the number of bullets needed to cut through an enemy's shields.
- Never Trust a Trailer:
- The trailers, promotional materials, and even the blurb on the game's box all gave the impression that the Chief would spend all or most of the game helping humanity repel the Covenant invasion on Earth. He ends up spending three missions there, one on a station in orbit and two in a single city, before the head honcho they're tailing makes a slipspace jump and leads them to a new Halo.
- The gameplay trailer for E3 2003 wowed audiences for its at-the-time stunning graphics and effects. In fact, the demo was so advanced that it couldn't possibly run on the Xbox, meaning Bungie had to scrap the whole thing and start making the actual gameplay. Even with ports to modern gaming P Cs via The Master Chief Collection the level is still a buggy mess, with very little in the way of AI behavior, meaning it breaks very easily should the player do such unconventional things as look in the wrong direction.
- New Eyes, New HUD: As the chapters switch to the Arbiter's perspective, this change in player character is further communicated by the change in the user interface, changing to a more Covenant style purple color scheme.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: While Master Chief goes to assassinate the Prophet of Regret, Miranda takes the In Amber Clad to launch an assault on the Library and retrieve the Index. This results in not only the capture of Miranda, Johnson and their away team, giving the Covenant the means to activate the Halo, but the In Amber Clad gets boarded by the Flood infesting the Library, allowing the galaxy-ending parasite to escape the ringworld.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: After Regret is killed, the Prophet of Truth orders the Brutes to replace the Elites as the Praetorian Guard, setting the stage for a violent purge of the Elites, who had become increasingly prone to questioning the Prophets after the discovery of Halo. In barely a day's time, Truth's betrayal not only splits the Covenant in half and provokes a massive civil war, but it also gains the humans a critical ally in the Elites.
- No Ending: As noted under Cliffhanger, the game itself doesn't really come to a story conclusion so much as just stop after the Master Chief's line "Sir, finishing this fight."
- Nostalgia Level:
- "Beaver Creek" and "Coagulation" are faithful remakes of "Battle Creek" and "Blood Gulch" from Combat Evolved. Later map packs would also add "Warlock" as a remake of "Wizard", "Elongation" for "Longest", "Desolation" for "Derelict", and "Tombstone" for "Hang 'Em High".
- "Gemini" was designed as a
Spiritual Successor to the Marathon Infinity map "Duality", while "Foundation" is a remake of the Marathon 2: Durandal map "Thunderdome". - The final stretch of Quarantine Zone recreates part of The Library's infamous circular hallways. Fortunately, this time you enter the facility at the top floor where the Index is kept.
- Optional Stealth: The Arbiter's Invisibility Cloak lasts for only about five seconds anyway, so ignoring it is a perfectly viable option if you don't want to spend most of your time just going in and out of hiding. A hidden skull lets Master Chief have invisibility too, but it lasts for the same amount of time and has a second disadvantage of no visible timer.
- Palette Swap: The Brute Plasma Rifle is this to the standard Plasma Rifle, with its only differences being its faster rate of fire (resulting in it overheating and consuming its battery reserves quicker), the red colouration of the weapon and the plasma bolts it fires, and that its wielded near-exclusively by Brutes.
- P.O.W. Abuse: Brutes in the level "The Great Journey" are shown preparing to execute Marine prisoners of war.
-
Word of God indicates that the Brutes would be preparing to behead the human prisoners. Due to the uncomfortable similarities to terrorist beheadings by groups like Al-Qaeda, this was removed.
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- Pragmatic Villainy: Although the Covenant in general view human technology as heretical, the manual
with the Limited Collector's Edition (which took the form of a report by then-Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee) featured a section on "Primitive Implements of War" (i.e. human weapons) advising that they can still be useful in a pinch and recommending that Covenant troops have some understanding of their workings, as they may need to rely on them when no Covenant weapons are available (the rocket launcher in particular is described as "surprisingly effective and somewhat admired"). Thel has evidently taken his own advice, as when facing the Flood (which is more easily killed by projectile weapons than plasma) in "Sacred Icon" and "Quarantine Zone", he has no difficulty handling human weapons. - Red Baron: The Master Chief (who is already famously known by his rank) is now known as "the Demon" to the Covenant, after he proved his One-Man Army credentials and destroyed the Halo ring in the first game. Notably, they do know his rank, but after the Prophet of Truth likens him to a demon in the Arbiter's highly publicized trial, the evocative title sticks in all further dialogue and Enemy Chatter.
- Remember the New Guy?: The introduction of the Drones and especially Brutes became this, although not by intention: their lack of presence in the first game was originally explained by humanity simply not encountering either species until the events of Halo: First Strike, which is set between the first two games. Then every other piece of Halo media set before the first game included them anyway, up to the point that a 2010 reprint of First Strike had to excise all mention of it being the first appearance of either species because by that point it had been established that humanity's first contact with the Covenant involved both of them.
- Retcon:
- Master Chief (with Cortana) was originally the only human to survive the destruction of the first Halo. The Legendary ending of the first game even gave a (humorous non-canon) scene depicting Johnson's last moments before the Autumn exploded. This game just has Johnson show up in the medal ceremony with no explanation given. Halo: First Strike had to explain how he survived. Sergeant Stacker and PFC Dubbo, two other prominent Marines from the first game, also return; as yet there is still no explanation as to how.Master Gunnery Sergeant: So, Johnson, when you gonna tell me how you made it back home in one piece?
Sergeant Major Johnson: Sorry Gunns, it's classified.
Master Gunnery Sergeant: Huh!My ass! Well you can forget about those adjustments to your A2 scope, and...! (continues shouting as Johnson and Chief move out of earshot) - Also, this game introducing the Brutes and Drones as enemies were supposed to be because they were literally newly introduced to the war, only brought in to fight humanity in its last days (the events of First Strike were originally humanity's first contact with either species). This quickly fell through when every other game set before Combat Evolved included Brutes and Drones anyway - now, the Brutes were the second Covenant race humanity ever encountered - which means their absence in Combat Evolved is now bog-standard Early-Installment Weirdness.
- Master Chief (with Cortana) was originally the only human to survive the destruction of the first Halo. The Legendary ending of the first game even gave a (humorous non-canon) scene depicting Johnson's last moments before the Autumn exploded. This game just has Johnson show up in the medal ceremony with no explanation given. Halo: First Strike had to explain how he survived. Sergeant Stacker and PFC Dubbo, two other prominent Marines from the first game, also return; as yet there is still no explanation as to how.
- Reviving Enemy: Flood pod infectors can now burrow into defeated combat forms to reanimate them, unless the body is gibbed with an energy sword or repeated melee attacks.
- Riding the Bomb: After Chief manages to turn off a Covenant bomb before it blows up Cairo Station, the very next thing he does is "give the Covenant back their bomb". By literally diving with it into a Covenant assault carrier.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The infighting between the Brutes and the Elites leads to a schism within the Covenant which becomes basically the only hope for humanity's survival.
- The Scapegoat: As the high commander of the Covenant forces in the previous game, the Arbiter catches the blame for Halo's destruction, getting him stripped of his rank and branded with a Mark of Shame in a public humiliation ritual. The Prophet of Truth signs off on it, since the Arbiter did fail miserably and the High Council needed to be appeased, but acknowledges afterword that the Council was "overzealous" in declaring him a heretic.
- Secret A.I. Moves: The Covenant wraith tank has some point-defence plasma guns to shred infantry, similar to the scorpion's machine gun; but despite the wraith being driveable this time around, the player can't use the point-defence guns themselves. Instead, alt-fire is mapped to the wraith's new boosters.
- Secret Level: "Foundation", which in the original Xbox release could be unlocked by performing specific Banshee tricks in the final level. Unfortunately, the unlock criteria was so obscure and random, and glitchy to boot, that Bungie gave in and just unlocked the map for everybody in a patch.
- Second Chapter Cliffhanger: The end of the story mode infamously leaves players knee-deep in The Climax but gives them no denouement, thanks to development troubles forcing Bungie to split off the intended final act for the sequel. After defeating the Final Boss Tartarus, the removal of the Index shuts Halo down, which triggers a fail safe protocol. This causes the remaining platforms to enter standby and get ready for remote activation from a mysterious new location called "the Ark". Then Truth's forerunner ship arrives at an embattled Earth, Master Chief declares that he's "finishing this fight", and the game ends. Meanwhile, the Flood successfully escape Halo to roam the stars once again, and The Stinger shows the Gravemind nesting on High Charity and conversing with Cortana.
- Sequel Escalation: It tries to amp the ante on the original, to the point Bungie struggled to finish development.
- Situational Sword: The Sentinel Beam became an equippable weapon in this game, and it's almost exclusively designed to kill Flood. It's very accurate and can drop Flood forms near instantly from any range, but it drains ammo and overheats so rapidly that using it against any other enemy can easily be wasteful. Justified by the fact that Sentinels were designed to combat the Flood.
- Shameful Strip: After being scapegoated for the destruction of Halo, the elite fleet admiral who becomes the Arbiter is stripped of his armor and branded with a heretic's mark by a searing iron. He's later hauled through the jails to be dumped before the Prophets, still naked.
- Shooting Superman: When Johnson steals a Scarab in the final mission, the Covenant enemies will shoot at it, despite the fact that it can't be destroyed in-game.
- Short-Range Shotgun: The shotgun deals even more damage than it did in the first game, with a point-blank blast sufficient to kill anything less than an Elite Ultra on Normal difficulty. However, the damage drop-off has been made much less forgiving, with the damage being nearly halved at a distance of only a couple meters.
- Shows Damage: One of the changes from the first game is that vehicles now show damage; however, this is purely cosmetic. Vehicles are still tied to the player's Critical Existence Failure, so you can drive around with your vehicle on fire for as long as you want if your health stays above zero. Also, you can still fly in a Banshee even after it's had both of its engines and wings shot off.
- Slasher Smile: The Halo 2 Jackal's facial expression vaguely resembles an evil grin.
- Soldier Versus Warrior: The elites, given more characterization as a dignified Proud Warrior Race, are contrasted with the newly introduced brutes, who look and behave like tribal marauders. Naturally, the two races have a deep-seated rivalry, which eventually boils over into an Enemy Civil War.
- Spit Take: Happens when In Amber Clad tags along with the Covenant ship which left Earth.Miranda: Cortana, what am I looking at?Cortana: That...is another Halo.Sergeant Major Johnson: (coughs, spits out cigar) Say what?!
- Strong Flesh, Weak Steel:
- For gameplay reasons, Master Chief is incredibly squishy without his shields, being able to take much less damage than regular UNSC marines despite their much less advanced armor.
- Strangely, the dress uniform-wearing marines in Cairo Station are actually tougher than the ones wearing full combat armor, having about 195 relative health compared to the 150 relative health of the regular marines. Not even the ODST troopers in the later levels have that kind of health boost.
- Switch to English: Cortana, being a high-powered, advanced A.I., is able to do this when the Chief finds a recording made by the Prophet of Truth.Prophet of Truth recording: *speaking San'Shyuum*Cortana: The Prophet of Truth is planning to activate Halo!Master Chief: Are you sure?Cortana: *snaps fingers*Prophet of Truth recording: I shall light this holy ring, and use its fire to burn a path into the divine beyond!Cortana: Pretty sure.
- Technician Versus Performer: Arbiter vs. Master Chief, in terms of gameplay. The Arbiter generally has fewer weapons available to him than the Chief does, but he can use active camouflage to ambush his enemies from behind and escape to cover while the Master Chief only has a flashlight.
- Temporary Online Content: The "Blastacular Pack", which includes Desolation and Tombstone, was only available as online DLC, as they were released after the offline Multiplayer Map Pack disc (early 2007 to the disc's mid-2005 release). With the closure of the original Xbox Live service in 2010, it's impossible to play on those maps unless they were downloaded beforehand.
- Tempting Fate: During the battle aboard Cairo Station, the Marines and Master Chief spot the Covenant fleeing from Malta Station. The station's comms officer jubilantly cries out that they've won. Cue the station's destruction mere seconds later from an internal bomb blast.Marine: This is bad. Real bad!
- This Cannot Be!: In the final mission, when the presumed dead Arbiter returns to confront Tartarus, given that the latter had blasted the former into a seemingly bottomless pit:Tartarus: (gasps and jerks his neck up in surprise) Impossible!
- Took a Level in Badass:
- The generic UNSC Marines got way more competent in this game. They're more accurate, they've learned to drive multi-passenger vehicles (though not particularly well), and they're about 50% more durable compared to the first game, being roughly on par with a Blue Elite in terms of how many hits they can take now. They're actually pretty helpful when they appear, as long as you throw any submachine guns and shotguns they're holding into the trash and replace them with Battle Rifles and Sniper Rifles. Give one a rocket launcher and the marine's good aim and unlimited ammo will usually let him rack up almost as many kills as you.
- Hunters have received various minor tweaks to make them less of a Fake Ultimate Mook; they're much larger, are harder to bait into performing a melee attack (which exposes their weak points), and can now perform a 180-degree attack behind them to hit anything trying to shoot them in the back. Their armor also now completely negates damage, instead of merely reducing it. Their weak points also have proper coding to act as actual weak points and not "instantly kill them with a single pistol bullet" points, on top of the pistol being nerfed so it doesn't kill them in one shot. They still die to one weak point hit from a sniper rifle or beam rifle, though, and a direct grenade hit will confuse them and cause them to spin 180 degrees around, exposing their weak back. They do have somewhat less raw health than they did in the first game, but this is offset by their more intelligent use of their shield and their armor now offering 100% damage resistance.
- The plasma rifle now has a much faster rate of fire while still dealing roughly as much damage as it did in the first game, and can now be dual-wielded for even More Dakka. It also holds twice as many shots on a full battery as before.
- Touché: In "Uprising", the Arbiter finds a cache of human weapons, gathered by the brutes from their human captives. An elite accompanying the player will scoff that "even as trophies, these weapons are worthless". However, if the player grabs a rocket launcher and uses it to blow away the next batch of enemies, the same elite will admit that he "spoke too soon".
- Translator Microbes: Cortana, being an advanced A.I., can understand the Prophets' language. And she can translate it for others to hear.Prophet of Regret: *speaking alien language*
Cortana: That's what I thought he said. The Prophet of Regret is planning to activate Halo!
Master Chief: Are you sure?
Cortana: *snaps fingers*
Prophet of Regret: *English* I shall light this holy ring, release its cleansing flame, and burn a path into the divine beyond!
Cortana: *snaps fingers* Pretty much. - Two Lines, No Waiting: The game is divided between Master Chief and the Arbiter, switching perspectives every couple of missions. Gameplay-wise they play almost the same, except the latter has Active Camouflage and the former has a flashlight.
- Two-Part Trilogy: With Halo 3.
- Tyrannicide: The final battle in the level "Regret" is Master Chief assassinating the Prophet of Regret.
- Unique Enemy: Likely owing to this game's chaotic development, there are quite a few one-off enemy concepts scattered throughout the game:
- The first group of enemies in "Cairo Station" includes a pair of Elites dual-wielding Plasma Pistols. Later on, you can encounter an uncloaked Stealth Elite, and at the very end, there is an Elite dual-wielding a Plasma Rifle and Needler (also the only enemy that is dual-wielding two different weapons).
- During the drive through the tunnels in "Outskirts", you drive past a convoy of Shadows. These vehicles receive an entry in the manual despite being undriveable and never appear beyond this minuscule appearance.
- "Delta Halo" features a group of Jackals that use Plasma Rifles.
- "Regret" features a group of cloaked Grunts in their only antagonistic appearance.
- A squad of enemy Marines can be indirectly encountered in "Sacred Icon"; they are scripted to die when the player reaches their location.
- "Quarantine Zone" has the Needler Sentinel, a single Sentinel that fires Needler rounds and will drop one upon being destroyed. According to a developer, this was an experimental concept they forgot to remove from the final game. Also, "Quarantine Zone" holds the distinction of being the only level in the mainline games where the Flood use vehicles. By extension, this is also the only level in the entire franchise where you face hostile Warthogs and Scorpions, and among them there is just one Gauss Warthog.
- "Gravemind" has another Glitch Entity in the form of the Honor Guard Councilor. The Honor Guard Councilor is coded as a Zealot rather than a full Ultra or Councilor, and was supposed to be the only Zealot you fight on difficulties lower than Legendary. On the intentional side, this is the only mission with Spec-Ops Elites and Grunts as enemies, as well as one Elite with a Fuel Rod Gun at the end.
- "High Charity" is the only mission with cloaked Flood, as well as Flood Combat Forms equipped with Brute Plasma Rifles. There is also a lonely Combat Form with a Brute Shot. High Charity also has the Drones wearing a brown exoskeleton.
- Universal Driver's License: You would expect an experienced, highly-trained warrior like the Master Chief to be able to operate multiple human vehicles and captured Covenant ones. But the Arbiter also has no trouble using human vehicles and weapons, despite the fact the Covenant think humans and their technology are an abomination.
- Villain Ball:
- Truth wants to eliminate the Elites and fill their shoes in the Covenant with the Brutes, whom he thinks will be more blindly obedient underlings, especially if the truth about Halo gets out. While this might be a sound plan for the long term, the problem is that Truth's goal, which he comes very close to achieving in Halo 3, is to activate Halo and wipe out all life in the galaxy (or as he believes, Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence) meaning that there is no long term for him. Many of the Elites are still loyal to the Covenant and devout followers of its religion; even if the truth about Halo got out, it likely wouldn't sway enough Elites to turn against the Covenant in time to stop Truth. Instead, Truth gives all of the Elites a very good reason to turn against him for no particularly good reason, something that directly results in Truth's failing to achieve his goal in this game as well as his ultimate defeat.
- The Heretics want to prove to the wider Covenant the Prophets have lied to them about their religion's foundational beliefs. Their leader even convinces the Arbiter to hear out 343 Guilty Spark...and then when Thel lowers his guard, opens fire on him, because what better way to convince someone to abandon their faith than to try murdering them?
- Villain Episode: The levels where you play as the Arbiter show the conflict from the Covenant's point of view, with the cutscenes providing insight into their internal politics (and the growing tensions between the member races). The Arbiter himself is initially a straight-up Villain Protagonist, until his Heel–Face Turn near the end.
- Villainous Rescue: "Regret" and "Quarantine Zone" end with, respectively, the Chief falling into a deep lake while fleeing a Covenant glassing beam, and the Arbiter being knocked into the Library's pit by Tartarus, in what turns out to be the opening shot of the Great Schism. Both of them would have died if not for the intervention of the Flood Gravemind, who wants them both alive for its own purposes.
- Villainous Valor: The Delta Halo arc (really, every level but the last two of the UNSC campaign) revolves around the Master Chief assassinating the High Prophet of Regret. Finally cornered in a temple, the Halo's Cartographer complex, Regret is protected by a platoon of Honor Guards, high-level Elites armed with swords and tougher shields, but the Prophet is no slouch himself, flying about the arena and shooting at the Master Chief with an Assault Canon, a weapon normally carried in battle by Hunters. The Expanded Universe would elaborate on this: Regret always got along with Elites better than the other two Hierarchs in part because he was completely willing to get his hands dirty, including carrying a plasma pistol conceiled in his robes.
- Villain Shoes: When you use the Arbiter for the first time, you're still on the bad side, hunting down an apostate sect who have learned the truth of the Covenant's religion.
- Wham Episode:
- The level "The Arbiter" was one originally, before everyone knew that half the game was spent playing as the Arbiter.
- What happens in the cutscenes between "Quarantine Zone" and "Gravemind": The Flood are revealed to have a leader and the Enemy Civil War among the Covenant begins.
- Wham Line:
- From the end of "Quarantine Zone":Tartarus: A bloody fate awaits you and the rest of your incompetent race. And I, Tartarus, Chieftain of the Brutes, will send you to it.
Arbiter: When the Prophets learn of this, they will take your head!
Tartarus: When they learn? (low laughter) Fool, they ordered me to do it.- The fact that Arbiter's eyes widen in shock upon hearing that in the Anniversary edition cements it.
- The Stinger as well:Gravemind: Silence fills the empty grave...now that I have gone. But my mind is not at rest...for questions linger on. I will ask... and you will answer.
Cortana: ...Alright. Shoot.
- From the end of "Quarantine Zone":
- Wham Shot: Tartarus successfully activating Halo.
- What the Hell, Player?: The reaction of your allies when you kill one of them.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Sort of; Tartarus only ever uses his ceremonial gravity hammer throughout the game. However, said hammer is outfitted with a powerful gravity generator that allows it to one-shot even light vehicles (and, as shown in cutscenes, allows it to be used as a ranged weapon), which, when combined with his near-impenetrable energy shield and insane natural durability, makes him incredibly dangerous.
- The Worf Effect: In the same mission no less. At the start of "Metropolis," you are treated to a cathartic segment of a Scorpion and a long bridge filled with enemies ripe for you to blow up. The climax of the level has you taking down a Scarab but not before it makes its entrance by blowing up another Scorpion like the one you used earlier.
- You Do NOT Want to Know: In a cutscene early in the game, Master Chief disarms a Covenant bomb on board Cairo Station with the help of Cortana.Master Chief: "How much time was left?"
Cortana: "You DON'T want to know." - You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tartarus is ordered by the Prophets to kill the Arbiter after Delta Halo's Index is secured.
- You Have Failed Me: The Elites as a whole suffer this after Chief kills the Prophet of Regret, as the surviving Hierarchs attempt to replace them with the Brutes. The Elites don't take it very well. Unlike most examples, the Elites actually weren't to blame for the just-mentioned debacle; the Prophet of Truth deliberately engineered Regret's death just so he could have an excuse to get rid of the Elites, having knowingly weakened Regret's security despite the protests of, ironically enough, his Elite subordinates.
Anniversary Tropes
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: A minor case. In the original, when Arbiter responds to Rtas stating he doesn't care if the former lives or dies with "That makes two of us." he is staring Rtas down, emphasizing his defiance. In the re-animated Blur cutscene, Arbiter drops his eyes while delivering the line, emphasizing his sense of shame over his failure.
- Adaptational Badass: In the original Halo 2, Sgt. Johnson went down in one hit when attacked by the Arbiter, while in the new Anniversary cutscene he's actually able to trade blows with the Arbiter for a few seconds. This may be a result of him having been revealed as a Spartan-I sometime after the original release of Halo 2.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the cutscene where the Prophets and the Brute honor guard get ambushed by Flood infection forms, the Prophet of Mercy is seen rapidly mashing a button on his gravity throne, likely as a way to defend himself from an advancing infection form, but it fails to do anything, and the infection form successfully lashes onto him with the Prophet of Truth still preventing Tartarus from saving him, further implying that Mercy's death was orchestrated.
- Alternate Universe: Expanding on the concept of "Fractures" as seen in Halo 3 and Halo Infinite, an update added some new armor options for this game based on the concept of Halo being transplanted into other genres. In this case, it's a trio of universes based on classic Japanese pop culture: "Bioroid" is a homage to Guyver and its Bio-Armor, "Panzerdoll" is inspired by the Super Robot Genre, and "Megaframe" is a sendup of Toku.
- Art Evolution: Graphical power has grown significantly since the original. For example, Forerunner architecture originally tended to look more like geometric stone, while the updated version has it more of a sleek chrome. In some ways, it is welding the cosmetic changes made in Halo 4 to the designs of the original trilogy. Then there's Gravemind...
- Call-Forward: The Superintendent shows up on some monitors in "Metropolis".
- The Cameo: Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee and Brute Chieftain "Thrallslayer" make appearances in the terminals.
- Canon Welding: Like the Terminals in Halo: Combat Evolved: Anniversary, the ones here explain some previously unanswered lore questions and provide hints about future installments (in this case, Halo 5: Guardians).
- Continuity Nod: The terminals have quite a few to the expanded universe:
- The fight between Thel and Jai-006 is taken straight from The Cole Protocol, complete with a cameo from Zhar.
- Fal 'Chavamee makes a couple of appearances and is even referenced by name.
- The final terminal marks the first in-game appearance of Fred-104 (and the first voiced appearance of Linda-058), and directly references the mission to destroy the Unyielding Hierophant from First Strike.
- The details of both the Taming of the Lekgolo and the Unggoy Rebellion come from Contact Harvest.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Most of the Fleet of Particular Justice's battles against the humans were utter defeats for the latter, thanks to Thel's leadership and tactics.
- The Dreaded: Thel 'Vadamee, the future Arbiter, was apparently this before the Fall of Reach, as he was much more strategically flexible than other Elite Fleet Masters. Agent Locke believed that if the Fleet of Particular Justice attacked Earth, the UNSC would lose outright.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The new multiplayer mode includes the scoped SMG (marking its first appearance since Halo 3: ODST), which would go on to be present in Halo 5, the very game which Halo 2: Anniversary specifically and the Master Chief Collection in general were released in part to hype.
- Framing Device: In the Anniversary remaster, the story is framed as Thel 'Vadamee recounting events of the game to Jameson Locke, which also serves as a set up to Halo 5: Guardians. This was eventually patched out of the MCC.
- Flash Forward: The events of Halo 2 are interspersed with post-war scenes of Agent Locke and the Arbiter talking about Master Chief.
- George Lucas Altered Version: The campaign itself is preserved to a religious degree (besides the updated graphics), but the cutscenes are fully overhauled. While the Anniversary cutscenes mostly play out the same as the original ones, just with cinema-quality CG rather than in-game renderings, there are some minor changes scattered throughout. Additionally, there is a new multiplayer mode created with a unique engine; included in it are remastered versions of several classic maps, the Hornet from Halo 3, and a new Mongoose variant called the "Gungoose". The classic game with the original graphics and gameplay are still available if you so choose.
- Gimmick Level: Many of the remade maps in Anniversary now have an extra gimmick added to them to spice things up:
- "Bloodline" ("Coagulation") now features a console in each base that, when activated, emits an EMP discharge that disables all vehicles in the vicinity.
- "Lockdown" ("Lockout") has large chunks of ice hanging above key locations on the map, which will drop down when shot at and can crush unsuspecting players.
- "Shrine" ("Sanctuary") features targets above each team's base, which when shot at will release a waterfall, blocking vision in and out of the base.
- "Stonetown" ("Zanzibar") retains the switch that opens the entrance to the power station, albeit in a new location.
- "Zenith" ("Ascension") features switches around the map, which when triggered will activate an energy shield to protect players in the radar dish in the middle of the map.
- Gory Discretion Shot: In some releases of Halo 2: Anniversary in China, the Gravemind's new design made of bloody flesh is cut off from view.
- Guide Dang It!: Getting the hidden skulls in the other titles in the original trilogy was already fairly hard requiring the player to visit out of the way locations with difficult jumps and what not. Halo 2 ups the anty by requiring the player be on the hardest difficulty and then adding in other conditions; like standing still for five minutes and then grabbing the skull through the wall of a moving tram or having the skull linked to a random number generator so it'll only appear with a 1/8 chance.
- Guns Akimbo: The one major gameplay change between Halo 2 Anniversary and the original Xbox/Vista version of Halo 2 is that most of the dual-wielding NPCs have had their dual-wielding removed from the single-player campaign, with a couple rare exceptions such as the dual plasma pistol wielding Elites at the beginning of "Cairo Station". The Heretic Leader is the most obvious example of this, as he and his clones still dual-wield in the cutscenes but immediately lose their second plasma rifles once gameplay starts. Miranda Keyes also no longer dual wields SMGs during her confrontation with the Arbiter. Dual-wielding enemies were eventually added back into the game in a later update.
- Honor Before Reason: In one of the Terminals describing the Battle of Camber, the Arbiter managed to catch a UNSC garrison completely by surprise. He ordered his men to wait for the humans to arm themselves before attacking, then proceeded to slaughter them all.
- Oh, Crap!: In an updated cutscene during the Arbiter's chase of the Heretic Leader, this is very visibly his reaction to the Heretic turning his fleeing Banshee around and taking aim with the plasma cannons.
- Reptomammal: Everyone, say hello to Doberman-Gator!◊
- Retcon: The change to the status of the position of Arbiter in Covenant society since the release of the original Halo 2 straddles the line between these two. Halo 2 all but stated that the Arbiter was a position of great esteem in the Covenant and that Thel 'Vadamee's appointment to Arbiter to be an unconventional move on the part of Truth and Mercy, bordering on Loophole Abuse. All subsequent media (including Anniversary's terminals) treat it as more or less the normal procedure. Since Anniversary's campaign is identical to the original, there are several inconsistencies like Sesa 'Refumee saying the position is a badge of shame in the terminals, while Thel 'Vadamee in the campaign states that even on his knees he is unworthy to be in the Mausoleum of the Arbiters. Or Guilty Spark stating (again, in the terminals) that the position was manipulated by the Prophets to disgrace Elites that were becoming too powerful, while in Thel's trial Truth is if anything trying to defend him and only denounces him as a heretic to satisfy the High Council.
- Updated Re-release: Like Combat Evolved Anniversary, this one has a complete graphics and sound overhaul while 100% faithfully retaining the original gameplay engine. Unlike the former, the in-engine cutscenes are replaced by pre-rendered cinematics courtesy of Blur Studios, though the player can switch between them and the original cutscenes as they're playing. The Anniversary graphics also feature a greater degree of original assets, with the majority of Prop Recycling instances being edited to better conform to the design of their classic graphics counterparts. This stands in stark contrast with CEA, which recycled the majority of its assets from Halo 3 and Reach, with only a few changes made to fit CE's aesthetics and animations.
- Uriah Gambit: 343 Guilty Spark points out that the Prophets seem to have largely used the appointment of Arbiter as cover for eliminating politically powerful and outspoken Elites.
