Fresh Halo 2 Details: Third Weapon and More Revealed!

In its latest update, Bungie has revealed some new details regarding Halo 2, without doubt the most anticipated Xbox title to date.

Speaking of the uprated cinematic approach the sequel will enjoy, the post said, “Been cranking along on the videomatics...We're closing in on having all the cinematics of the game videomatic'd out. Which means most of the game's cinematics now have timing and camera work that is locked down, as well as basic animation for the animators to work off of. Even better, most of them actually work in engine, which is a miracle in many different fields including nuclear science, landscape architecture, and dominoes. This week I finally started blocking out the videomatics for one of the last levels of the game that we haven't worked on previously,” illustrating the scope and attention to detail being invested in Halo 2.

And on to the good stuff - in response to questions about being able to carry a third operable weapon, Bungie said, “Well, if you're holding a weapon in one hand, and you have another holstered you can dual-wield a third. That means the reserve weapon simply stays put when you pick up the dual-wield weapon. Effectively that lets you have three weapons at one time,” a decision that simply deserves to be included in every 'blast-heavy' FPS.

And then on to the water effects. At E3, Bungie showed a water-heavy level during its regular demonstrations. According to the team, this is not the final representation of the water in the game. “The briny deep demoed at E3 is not the final water. In fact, several techniques are being experimented with, but I saw a cool one yesterday in a Zanzibar test level. Only it was deliberately broken. So when you jumped, the level literally filled up with water. It was kind of funny to go inside the control room part of the level (where the defender's flag normally sits) jump once and flood the place with sparkly, gorgeous, reflective wet stuff,” again hinting at the production values being invested in the title. Some may say 'it’s only water', though it’s well known that strong water effects are amongst the benchmarks of videogame visuals in all new releases.”

Stay tuned for everything Halo 2 in the run up to the game’s release in October this year.