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Halo 2 Tourney: To The Victor Go The Spoils
by Rob Taylor
Untitled
Master Chief
Master Chief Wielding a machine gun emplacement. This is one of the new features of Halo 2.
An action shot of a multiplayer battle in progress.
A shot of Halo 2's vast terrain.
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You might have noticed a drop-off in class attendance here in the past few days. Is the flu already invading the school and its students? Are students just lacking the desire to perform in class? If you asked yourself any of these questions, you are wrong. With the release date (November 9, 2004) of Halo 2, rabid fans are now able to sink their teeth into this highly anticipated sequel.
The original Halo blew other games out of the water. The expansive terrain, intricate game play, and mystifying soundtrack all made Halo an instant classic. Halo 2 does not disappoint. While Halo took place on an alien ring-world (hence the name Halo), Halo 2 brings the action close to home. Earth is now the target of The Covenant, the alien race that has sworn to wipe human existence from the universe.
You take your stand as Master Chief, who is back with more guns, tanks, and explosives. Rather than being confined to one planet like Halo, Halo 2 has you fighting across the universe. Master Chief's work has been cut out for him because the enemies are stronger, smarter and more numerous. It is up to you to defeat The Covenant once again, and save the human race.
Jared Cohn, a junior at Mars Hill and a proud owner of Halo 2 says, "I've been playing Halo 2 for almost a week now and haven't even come close to beating the game. The multiplayer features are so much more in depth; I don't think I'll ever get tired of playing this game. Friends that live across the hall have an X-BOX also, and we link our systems together to play four on four matches. Late bedtimes are what this game is all about."
Hopeful devotees reserved more than 1.5 million copies of Halo 2 before the release date, some more than three years ago. Gamers and fans alike lined up outside of Wal-Marts and video game outlets all across America before midnight of November 10, when the game was released. Since the madness has taken over, a new era in gaming has begun. With online and direct system link capabilities that the X-BOX system boasts, Haloers can spend days playing and still only cover parts of Halo 2's world.
The day after Halo 2 came out, students in Turner Dormitory held a tournament to honor the long awaited sequel. Not only was I allowed to overview this monumental moment, but I was also able to get involved in the mayhem. The session had begun hours earlier, before I arrived at sundown, and it lasted well into the morning.
By Cohn's account of Halo 2's first tournament at Mars Hill, anyone can see the match was one-sided. "The guys across the hall who we played against beat us bad," he said. "Every game that we played against them was a slaughter. We might have given them a close game once out of about a dozen. Still, it's great to finally be playing Halo 2, even if I always get beat down."
I jumped into the action only to get a beating myself. Teaming up with Jared Cohn, Prince Floyd, and Dustin McCue, our team constantly received a thrashing from our opponents: "Jago," "Achilles," "PimpinPoP," and "KiB." Our opponents turned out to be Joel Oliver, Dustin Whitlow, Jason Popkin, and Scott Nagel. They only knew us by our Halo 2 aliases: AJEW (Cohn), PARFET (Floyd), Lial (McCue), and Neo (Myself).
Said McCue about the evening, "I don't care how bad they beat us, I'm just happy to be playing. To be honest with you, those other guys have been playing nothing but the multiplayer mode, while I've done nothing but play the single player missions. Learning the maps in multiplayer challenges is the key to winning. Nobody on our team knew the maps, and everyone on their team did. That's why we got beat so badly."
When the pandemonium was over at two in the morning, I, along with everyone else, had gotten a full dose of Halo 2. It was everything that we had expected from three years of development and more. The sounds, sights, and visual effects are phenomenal and should leave these Halo fans coming back for more. This leaves just one question in mind. When's the next tournament?
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