Posted on: Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Master Chief fights the Covenant, and you're in control
• Legions of players find it's not easy saving Earth
• 'Halo 2' takes aim at PlayStation 2
By Matt Slagle
Associated Press
There's a new media king, only he isn't on the radio or in the movies. His name? Master Chief. His role: Interstellar soldier and star of "Halo 2," one of the most anticipated video games ever.
Three years in the making, "Halo 2" pits super soldier Master Chief against throngs of vicious aliens called the Covenant.
It picks up right where the first game ended. It's the year 2552, and Master Chief — a last-of-his-kind engineered fighting machine who wears full body armor and a protective helmet — has just destroyed a giant ring world called Halo. The ring turns out to be an ancient alien artifact that was built as a last ditch doomsday weapon against an all-consuming life form called the Flood.
After decades of skirmishes with various human colonies, the Covenant has finally found humanity's home world. It's up to the player, who assumes the role of Master Chief, to stop them at all cost.
Getting to play as the lead character is part of Halo's attraction, but some players say the real draw is the multiplayer feature. The original game, which has sold 5 million copies, is limited to split screen battles with interconnected Xboxes.
"Halo 2," by Microsoft's Bungie Studios, is much more ambitious, allowing up to 16 gamers to play against each other from anywhere in the world using Microsoft's $50-a-year Xbox Live service.
Greg Kasavin, editor at the video game Web site Gamespot.com, attributed Halo's popularity to its story, which is rich for a video game and has been further chronicled in a series of novels and spawned an array of fan offshoots, such as the short "Red vs Blue" Internet films.
"Those disappointed by the 'Star Wars' prequels or how 'The Matrix' panned out probably find solace in the no-nonsense action and great sci-fi presented in Halo," he said. "Above and beyond that, though, the original Halo game featured some outstanding, never-before-seen game play."
Independent filmmaker Brian Josselyn, 30, said he waited about three hours at a mall near his home in Andover, Mass., to buy two copies of "Halo 2," one for himself and one for his brother.
He said video games are simply the newest media to snare a base of dedicated fans.
"Earlier on it was poetry and books. Then it went on to voice acting and radio. Then motion pictures. Games are just the next step," he said.
