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Halo2 Game Guides

tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:42

By Matthew Rorie
Design by Marty Smith

If you need to be told what Halo is, well, welcome to the sunlit surface world; hopefully you will find it comfortable after living in a cave for the past few years. We call this land America. In it, we have video games, one of which is Halo. Released three years ago as a launch title for the Xbox, Halo told the story of the war between humanity and the Covenant, a collection of races bent on activating an ancient and powerful weapon, which came in the form of the massive ringworld called Halo, for the purpose of fulfilling a religious prophecy. Had they succeeded, they wouldÂ’ve managed to end all life in the Milky Way, but it was Master Chief who managed to foil their plans, by destroying Halo.

As Halo 2 opens, a new battle erupts, this one beginning with the appearance of a Covenant fleet above Earth itself. ItÂ’s up to the same cast of characters to repel the Covenant from the planetÂ’s surface, and in the process discover why theyÂ’ve come....

Anyone who played Halo 2 will likely be familiar with many of the returning features and vehicles, but donÂ’t fret if this is your first introduction to the universe of Halo, because weÂ’ve got you covered. In this guide, youÂ’ll find a complete bestiary of the enemies youÂ’ll encounter, an armory readout on the various weapons in the game, a listing of the vehicles youÂ’ll drive, and, of course, an exhaustive walk-through for the single-player campaign.

Table of Contents
Weapons

Human Weaponry
Covenant Weaponry

Enemies

Grunts, Jackals, Drones, and Elites
Hunters and Brutes
Non-Covenant Enemies

Vehicles
General Combat Tips
Walk-through

Cairo Station
The Outskirts
Metropolis
The Arbiter
Oracle
Delta Halo
Regret
Sacred Icon
Quarantine Zone
Gravemind
Uprising
High Charity
The Great Journey

Multiplayer

Game Types

Slayer and CTF
King of the Hill, Oddball, and Juggernaut
Assault and Territories

Weapons
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:44

Weapons

Halo wouldnÂ’t be much of a game without some guns, now would it? As with most of the other features in Halo, many of the weapons in Halo 2 are direct repeats of the weapons in Halo, with a few new twists (no scope on the pistol!) and a few new additions.

The biggest new change here is the inclusion of dual-wielding. When you have a single weapon in your hand, you can pick up another and put it into your other hand, but only when both are capable of dual-wielding. You can mix and match weapons, as well; e.g. you can have a Plasma Rifle in one hand, and a Needler in the other. When you have a weapon in each hand, you can fire each individually with either of the trigger buttons, but youÂ’re rendered incapable of throwing grenades. Dual-wielding is thus a great method for taking down tough individual targets, like Elites, but when you have to take out large groups of easier foes, like Grunts or Jackals, youÂ’ll probably be better off sticking with a one-handed weapon and grenades.

USMC (Human) Weaponry

Even when you can barely see your enemy, youÂ’ll still know when you have one in your sights due to the red reticule.

Battle Rifle

The Battle Rifle is going to be one of your primary killing weapons in Halo 2. It fires a short, three-shot burst with almost no recoil and great accuracy, and has a 2x scope, making it well-suited for zoomed firing against targets at medium range. When you can fire at enemies who arenÂ’t aware of your presence, headshots become almost trivial, and it can be something of a sniper weapon if you can line up an enemy with the relatively weak zoom. Although powerful, it wonÂ’t be of much use against Elite shields, so keep another weapon handy to deal with those foes.

M6C Pistol (dual wield)

Halo players are probably going to be inconsolable when they hear this, but itÂ’s our duty: thereÂ’s no scope on the pistol. It didnÂ’t make a whole lot of sense to have one on the pistol in the first game, so this is an understandable move, but still, itÂ’s something of a sea change. In the first Halo, the pistol was a fantastic weapon due to its preternatural accuracy, even at long range, making it a combination sniper rifle / close-range blaster, but in Halo 2, itÂ’s exclusively a weapon of last resort. When dual-wielded, it can be useful against soft targets, like Grunts and Drones, but itÂ’ll be difficult to even find two of them, let alone enough ammo to keep you topped out.

In the early portions of the game, dual SMGs will be great ways to wear down Elite shields and kill them.

SMG (dual wield)

A single SMG isnÂ’t anything to write home about; although it can put a lot of lead in the air, youÂ’ll burn through a clip with a few seconds of constant fire, and wonÂ’t be able to hit anything except at close range due to the massive recoil. When you can pack a pair of SMGs, though, you should be able to take down pretty much anything in your way, up to and including Elites. You will have to get up close and personal, though; to counteract the recoil, slowly press forward on your right analog stick so that your reticule stays on the target.

Sniper Rifle

You wonÂ’t see the sniper rifle as often as you will the Covenant equivalent, because relatively little of the action takes place in human-controlled territory, but hey; itÂ’s a sniper rifle! Use it, love it. When you do spot one of these, you can bet that youÂ’ll have an opportunity to use it at some point in the immediate future, so theyÂ’re usually worth picking up.

Although possessed of both a 5x and 10x zoom, the sniper rifle will need to be reloaded after every fourth shot. This shouldnÂ’t often be a consideration - if you have to worry about being shot while reloading, you probably shouldnÂ’t be using a sniper rifle - but it does generally mean that the beam rifle gets the slight edge in usability, when you have access to both.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:44

Rocket Launcher

Sci-fi or no, Halo wouldnÂ’t really be an FPS without some kind of chemical explosive, and thatÂ’s where the rocket launcher comes in. ItÂ’s likely the rarest weapon in the game, but when you spot one, youÂ’ll almost certainly want to pick one up, as itÂ’s capable of laying waste to multiple enemies at a go, and is hands-down the best weapon to have at your disposal when you have to make a go at an enemy vehicle. (ItÂ’s appearance in game levels will usually foreshadow the appearance of enemy vehicles, for precisely this reason.)

The main drawback to the RL is that it can only hold two rounds of ammo at a time, and will require a lengthy reloading animation sequence before itÂ’s ready to fire again. In addition, it can only hold eight or ten rounds of ammo at most, making it something youÂ’ll probably use in one particularly difficult fight before discarding it in favor of something less situational.

There are two things to always keep in mind when using the rocket launcher. The first is that you can lock on to some targets, including enemy turrets and vehicles. To do so, hover the reticule over your target; the launcher will automatically begin tracking it and fixing a lock. When you get the notification that a lock has been achieved, fire your missile and itÂ’ll home in and connect automatically; if you fire too soon, youÂ’ll get a dumb-fire rocket that will streak forward and likely miss, if what youÂ’re aiming at is moving. You canÂ’t lock on to most enemies, though.

When you really need to kill a whole bunch of Elites, thereÂ’s nothing like the rocket launcher.
The second thing to remember is that itÂ’s devestatingly easy to blow yourself to pieces with the launcher, even when you seem to have a clear line of sight to the target. This is especially true when youÂ’re peeking out from behind cover; if the cover is on your right side, then youÂ’ll want to be well clear of it before letting loose. Your teammates are particularly bad about this, especially when they have to duck and cover, but they do get infinite ammo, so you may want to risk trading out a rocket launcher with one shot left to a teammate if youÂ’re willing to balance the chance that they might kill themselves with the chance that theyÂ’ll kill numerous enemies before they go.

Shotgun

The shotgun is another weapon that doesnÂ’t appear all that often, although it does crop up a bit more than the rocket launcher. Although the weapons are fairly dissimilar, the closest analogue the shotgun has on the Covenant side of things is the energy blade: both are intended solely for use against targets at melee range, and will be useless against anything at any kind of distance. The shotgun isnÂ’t, of course, a melee weapon, but it might as well be, as the spread will be wide enough to merely wing a target if it doesnÂ’t take up more than around a quarter of your screen.

It doesnÂ’t sound promising, but the shotgunÂ’s drawbacks have to be weighed against the fact that it deals an insane amount of damage when most of its pellets connect. Most targets will drop after a single shell gets ejected, while Elites will take a pair; one to drop their shields, one to finish them off. (Brutes and Hunters will, of course, require a bit more work.) Still, though, of all the human weapons, this is the one weÂ’d like to have at our side if Elites were charging down the hallway at us, as it can quickly overwhelm them, and is thus a good bet in most interior levels. Just be sure to reload after each skirmish, as reloading from empty will take five or six seconds, which is essentially infinite if it takes place while enemies are in the area.

Frag Grenade

You wonÂ’t get frag grenades in the same quantities as you will plasma grenades, but thereÂ’s no need to cry about it; frags generally arenÂ’t as useful as plasmas will be. DonÂ’t get us wrong, we like them, but they just arenÂ’t as controllable as plasma grenades, and thus arenÂ’t capable of dealing as much damage.

The basic use here is to throw them into concentrations of enemies; half a second after the grenade hits the ground or a wall, itÂ’ll blow, sending shrapnel into all nearby enemies. Against soft targets, like Jackals, Grunts, and Drones, this will be instant death at close range, but tougher enemies will shrug off the damage unless the grenade detonates directly underneath them.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:44

Covenant Weaponry

Plasma Pistol (dual wield)

Although marginally more useful than the human pistol (and vastly easier to find), you wonÂ’t be using the plasma pistol very often. ItÂ’s capable of rapid semi-automatic fire, or can be charged to deliver one massive blow. Even a fully-charged shot will rarely do more than drop an Elites shields, though, making this a weapon of last resort. Against most non-shielded targets, two simultaneous full-charge shots should be fatal, but non-shielded targets can be killed by pretty much any other weapon you come across, making any other weapon you come across preferable to these.

If you canÂ’t beat em, join em. Dual plasma rifles are great for almost any group of enemies.

Plasma Rifle (dual wield)

Ye Olde Faithful Plasma Rifle returns from Halo, and is now much improved by the inclusion of dual-wielding. In point of fact, since you can dual-wield plasma rifles, you wonÂ’t often want to use one by itself. Dual-wielded plasmas are capable of ripping through most enemies, and are often going to be your best chance to kill off Elites; just hold down both trigger buttons until your weapons are on the verge of overheating, let them cool down, then repeat the process. Since you donÂ’t have to reload plasma rifles, you can go for much longer in this vein than you can with most dual-wielded weapons, allowing you to overload Elite energy shields without giving them much of a chance to run and recharge.

The two drawbacks to the plasma rifle include its proneness to overheating when used for too long a time; four seconds or so of constant fire will cause them to shut down for two seconds, during which time you wonÂ’t be able to fire them. Their level of heat is displayed on the ammo bar beneath the numerical ammo readout; when the red bar extends almost all the way to the right, stop firing for a bit to let them cool down manually, which takes less time than their automatic cooling process does. Secondly, plasma rifles lose accuracy when fired for more than a few seconds at a time, forcing you to tap the triggers to gain a bit of precision when your target is at medium range. This coincides with the previous weakness, though, so if you can manage to not jam down the triggers every time you see an enemy, you should be all right.

Needler (dual wield)

The needler fires a set of small explosive needles at its target; these needles have the ability to home in, but only over small angles of incidence. If an enemy runs at a right angle to the vector of the needles, then, as many of them will, theyÂ’ll avoid most of the impacts. When needles do strike their targets, though, theyÂ’ll deal a small amount of impact damage, then explode for extra pain.

Against soft targets, needlers are fairly effective, but donÂ’t offer many advantages over plasma rifles or carbines, due to the fact that youÂ’ll usually have to wait for the needles to explode before your enemy dies. Due to the vague homing ability of the needles, itÂ’s also difficult to switch between targets on the fly, and almost impossible to land headshots on an enemy that isnÂ’t below you. Needles will have a hard time dropping Elite shields, as well. Needlers are thus almost useless in most combat situations.

Note the qualifiers, though; there is one particular enemy against whom needlers will be your saving grace. Brutes, since they donÂ’t possess shields, will take full damage from needlers, and since theyÂ’re so resistant to most other forms of attack, youÂ’ll find nothing so handy in a Brute fight than a pair of needlers. All it takes is 15-20 needles to kill a Brute, which equates to around one-quarter of a full clip of ammo from both needlers when youÂ’re dual-wielding. YouÂ’ll have to have cover to needle a Brute to death, though, and youÂ’ll also need to be fairly close to them, so get used to stealthing up to them before unloading on them while theyÂ’re unsuspecting.

Carbine

The Covenant carbine is their analogue to the battle rifle, with only minor differences between the two. The most noticeable of these is the fact that the carbine sends out one round for each press of the trigger, rather than dispatching bursts like the battle rifle, but this doesnÂ’t have a huge impact on its efficacy in battle; you just have to click the trigger a few more times for each enemy. The carbine does share the battle rifleÂ’s accuracy, though, making it a poor manÂ’s sniper rifle for enemies at medium ranges. Brutes are seemingly susceptible to headshots from carbines.

Although Covenant snipers are masters of the dreaded crotch-shot, itÂ’s generally better to aim for the head when a beam rifleÂ’s in your own hands.

Beam Rifle

The beam rifle is the CovenantÂ’s version of a sniper rifle. Although it doesnÂ’t use bullets, its particle beam gets the job done just as well, and without requiring you to reload, although it is prone to overheating, plasma rifle-style, when you fire too rapidly. Since this is a sniper weapon, though, this shouldnÂ’t be a problem unless you intend to drag the beam rifle into close-range fighting, for which itÂ’s wholly unsuitable. Another problem is that you canÂ’t pick up ammo from other beam rifles, but you can switch out a partially-depleted beam rifle for one with more shots easily enough.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:45

Brute Shot

The Brute shot is the weapon of choice for the new Brute enemies in Halo 2. For a grenade launcher, though, itÂ’s singularly unimpressive, as it features the limited ammo capacity of a rocket launcher/fuel rod gun-style weapon (four grenades per belt; 16 grenade total carrying capacity), but doesnÂ’t pack nearly the same level of fire power as those weapons, especially in terms of splash damage.

Since only Brutes drop these things, itÂ’s worth discussing the Brute shot in terms of its effects on its namesakes. A Brute can take at least two direct grenade hits before dying (on Heroic difficulty, at least), and has an outside chance to withstand four splash damage blasts without keeling over. Since youÂ’ll have to reload after every fourth round, then, youÂ’ll usually be better off resorting to a weapon that packs a bit more ammo in it, and use grenades for your splash damage requirements. On lower difficulty levels, the Brute shot might be worth packing, but on higher difficulties, its best recommendation is that thereÂ’s usually plenty of ammo to be found for it, even if each grenade doesnÂ’t do the kind of damage that youÂ’d like.

LetÂ’s not even talk about the bayonet attachment here; if you want to go melee on an enemy, youÂ’re going to be using an energy blade or nothing at all. Brutes, especially berserk Brutes, will smack you down with extreme prejudice if you get anywhere near them. If youÂ’re stealthed, and can sneak up onto a low-level enemy, you can probably use the bayonet for a quick kill, but this is a pretty limited application of the weapon.

Energy Sword

Although you might not think it from your experiences in Halo, it can sometimes be beneficial to close to melee range in Halo 2, especially when you have an energy sword at your disposal. These things take a bit of getting used to, but when you learn the basics of shield management and taking cover, you can use a sword to get one-hit kills on almost anything you come across.

The energy sword is probably the most devestating weapon in the game, but using it without getting killed is fairly tricky.
There are two basic ways to use the energy sword; you can walk up to something and use the right trigger to whack it, which will usually be fatal against Drones, Grunts, and the like, or you can wait for the blade to lock on to your target (the reticule will turn red), and then press the right trigger. At this point, youÂ’ll cover any remaining ground between yourself and the target in the blink of an eye, and deliver a massive energy blade uppercut; the combination of the speed and pose makes us imagine that this would look a bit like the Heisman Trophy when viewed in third person. Regardless, the locked-on blow is mindlessly devestating, and will cut through almost anything in a single blow, save for shielded Elites or undamaged Brutes; these enemies will require a lock-on blow followed by a slash to kill.

Note that the energy sword will use up "ammo" as you slice and dice enemies. A lock-on slash will require around 10% of the swordÂ’s energy supply against most targets; Flood zombies seem to require less energy to kill, though, making this a terrific weapon to use against them.

If a plasma grenade detonates near plasma grenades on the ground, theyÂ’ll all go off at once. This can cause some massive slaughterage for any enemies nearby.

Plasma Grenade

Plasma grenades are differentiated from their human counterparts by their ability to stick to surfaces and, much more usefully, to enemies themselves. If you manage to throw a plasma grenade so that it hits an enemy directly, it wonÂ’t explode immediately, but will instead stick to them while the fuse burns down, after which point itÂ’ll detonate and almost certainly kill whatever itÂ’s attached to, as well as severely damage anyone nearby. This is your best bet for killing difficult targets like Elites and Brutes, but beware; sometimes enemies will run straight towards you when they have a grenade stuck to them, intent on taking you out at the same time.

Fuel Rod Gun

The Covenant rocket launcher is perhaps a bit less powerful than its human analogue, but it makes good the deficit by being able to fire more rounds without recharging (up to five), and by being able to hold more rounds in all (25 or more, although youÂ’ll rarely have this many at once). It doesnÂ’t appear to be able to lock on to targets, though.

The Sentinal beam will get a bit of lock-on when youÂ’re slightly off-target, but you shouldnÂ’t need it at the ranges in which youÂ’ll be using it.

Sentinal Beam

The Sentinal Beam isnÂ’t technically a Covenant weapon; rather, itÂ’s used by the mechanical defenders of the Halo ringÂ’s interior to ward off the Flood infestation and other intruders. Anyone whoÂ’s played Quake will recognize this as being technically similar to a lightning gun; when fired, it shoots out a solid beam of energy that will cook anyone in the path. It has a decent range, and is perfectly accurate, but canÂ’t penetrate Elite shields very well and will overheat if you fire it for too long. That said, though, itÂ’s a perfect weapon to use against Sentinals themselves and Flood zombies, and you shouldnÂ’t have a problem finding them inside Halo, where all of the Sentinals drop them.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:45

Enemies

YouÂ’ll have plenty of enemies to deal with in Halo 2. Almost all of these are repeats from the first game, though, so if you played the original Halo, you should be familiar with most of these. The new kids on the block are the Covenant Brutes and Drones.

Grunts

Grunts are the most basic building block of the Covenant army. TheyÂ’re numerous, but extremely easy to kill, and have a habit of running for cover when their Elite commanders bite the dust. These guys usually pack plasma pistols, but will sometimes be found manning defensive turrets.

Jackals are easiest to kill if you can get above or behind their shields.

Jackals

Jackals are a step up from Grunts. They arenÂ’t any more difficult to kill than Grunts, when you can hit their meat, but they will almost always bring shields into battle which will deflect all small-arms fire, rendering them difficult to take down in straight-out combat. You have a few options here.

Explosives: Rockets and grenades will do the job right fine.
Turrets: You can overwhelm their shields by blasting them with turret fire, after which theyÂ’ll fall quickly.
Bypassing the Shield: If you can attack them from behind, or can snipe them through the small slot through which they fire, you can avoid hitting the shield and go straight for the body.
Overwhelm Them: If you wail on a Jackal enough, its shields will drop, allowing you to blast it to pieces. TheyÂ’ll also stagger when hit, so if you have a rapid-fire weapon, try aiming for the shield, then switching to the body when the view is clear.

Jackals will also usually bring plasma pistols to fights, although theyÂ’ll be more likely to charge them up than Grunts will. Jackals are also the CovenantÂ’s chosen snipers, though, so you can expect them to wield beam rifles on occasion, but any Jackals with beam rifles will be shieldless, making them easy kills.

Drones

Drones are apparently the CovenantÂ’s fearsome janitor brigade; apparently they use their flight abilities mostly to maintain Covenant ships, but some have been retasked to combat with devestating results.

Drones are basically flying Grunts, in that theyÂ’re completely unprotected from fire, incapable of taking much damage, and will usually pack plasma pistols, but itÂ’s the whole "flying" part of the equation that will make them a hassle. Since weÂ’re talking about a console FPS, it should go without saying that precision firing is difficult enough to do when an enemy is strolling about on the ground; add a whole other dimension of movement to the equation, though, and weÂ’re talking headachey badness. Luckily for you, you have a bit of auto-aim capability (assuming you didnÂ’t turn it off), which will help you direct your fire towards the targets. At close range, an SMG will chew through a Drone in a second or so; at long range, a battle rifle or carbine is a better choice. If you have a bit of patience, Drones will often attach themselves to walls or ceilings, making them much easier to hit.

Elites

For the most part, Covenants forces can be divided into two groups: Elites, and non-Elites. YouÂ’ll be seeing a lot of Elites in the game, as theyÂ’re the gameÂ’s most distinctive enemies, and theyÂ’ll almost always be a headache.

The most obvious distinction between the Elites and the other Covenant forces is the fact that they have personal shielding, much like Master Chief does. This lets them resist almost all of the damage from your attacks, at least until their shields fall. Also like Master Chief, though, if you donÂ’t press home your attack, their shields will eventually regenerate, meaning that youÂ’ll have to deal all of the damage that you did again in order to actually kill them. This necessitates a kind of bumrush approach to attacking Elites, in which you absolutely have to deal X amount of damage within Y seconds, or else the Elite will run off and hide and regenerate, which will effectively make your entire first attack worthless and a waste of ammo. In other words, you have to deal all of your damage in a short period of time, meaning that you canÂ’t leisurely strafe in and out of cover, whittling away at an EliteÂ’s health reserves.

If you let an Elite with an energy sword get this close to you, prepare to go back to your last checkpoint.
In practice, there are relatively few weapons that are worthwhile against Elites. Dual plasma rifles will be your usual recipe for success, since theyÂ’re easy to find and deal a good amount of damage, and donÂ’t need to be reloaded, but youÂ’ll need to be mindful of your surroundings when using them, as theyÂ’ll take a few seconds to penetrate an EliteÂ’s shields, during which your foe will have plenty of time to return fire. Rocket launchers, fuel rod guns, and turrets are also trusty standbys, when theyÂ’re accessible, but theyÂ’re often not. Shotguns and energy blades are similarly useful, if you happen to have one handy, but your best bet will usually be to charge in with a plasma grenade and attempt to land one directly on the EliteÂ’s body; this almost always equates to a dead Elite.

We say "almost always" because there are a few different varieties of Elites, ranging from the run-of-the-mill blue variety, which have weak shields, to the Ultra-class grays, of which there are only a few in the entire game, but which will absolutely drive you crazy on higher levels of difficulty. These latter guys can survive a terrific amount of damage; we had to use almost three full clips of carbine ammo to take one down later in the game, and close-range grenade explosions arenÂ’t likely to do much more than itch. If you can attach a plasma onto an Ultra, then good for you, but be prepared with an automatic-fire weapon in case the grenade doesnÂ’t kill the target. WeÂ’re not even going to mention the flying Elites, which are pretty much frustration incarnate.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:45

Hunters

See It in Action

Watch out for the Hunter's melee attack; they'll charge forward, then slam their fists behind them.

Hunters are the most physically imposing of all of the Covenant races, albeit also the rarest; there are probably less than a dozen of these baddies throughout the entire game. These guys always travel in pairs, and pack a modified fuel-rod weapon that acts somewhat like a Sentinal beam; the fire from these is relatively easy to avoid. What makes the Hunter unique isnÂ’t its weaponry, through. Rather, theyÂ’re notable for their intense melee power (one good swing of a HunterÂ’s arm is usually enough to kill you) and their nigh-impenetrable armor.

When fought head-on, youÂ’ll find that Hunters are nearly impossible to kill. You can attach plasma grenades till the cows come home, hit them with carbine ammo, plasma rifle shots, etc., and theyÂ’ll flinch it off without so much as a grunt of pain. In order to kill them, then, you have to get past their armor and aim at the portions of their bodies that are unprotected. The most accessible zone is on their back; if you can manage to shoot them in the back of the head, for example, you should find them as vulnerable to headshots as any other race. The other main zone to focus on is on their waist; this will usually be covered by their arm as they lope around, but when they roar, it will become uncovered momentarily, allowing you to blast away. (You can also wait for it to charge, then sidestep and shoot it in the back, but this is obviously somewhat dangerous.) You should see beige blood staining the floor whenever you successfully deal damage to a Hunter.

If you can, get behind Hunters and attach a grenade to their back.
If you can take on Hunters by themselves, in a fairly open space, the battle usually devolves into a run-n-gun exercise, where you have to run around until you can get an open shot at an unprotected zone, take your shot, then continue running. Since you have to deal with these guys in pairs, try to focus on one at a time to cut their numbers in half. If possible, use a turret to deal with them, as turret fire seems to overwhelm their natural shielding and will take them down easily. Luckily, their weapon fire is easy to dodge, and they move slowly enough for you to keep out of range of their melee attacks.

Brutes

Although Elites will be your primary nemeses for much of the game, youÂ’ll have to start dealing with Brutes in large quantities towards the last third of the campaign. This is actually something of a downgrade in difficulty, in our opinion, but thatÂ’s not to say that Brutes are easy to deal with; far from it.

The main reason that Brutes can be considered easier to deal with than Elites is that they donÂ’t pack energy shields. Thus, you can deal damage to them, duck under cover to let your shields recharge, then whip back out to finish the job, without having to worry about your enemyÂ’s shields doing the same. This is a good thing, too, because Brutes have more health than any other enemy in the game, save Hunters and the massive Halo Guardians.

In addition to normal weapons, Brutes are also perfectly susceptible to the old grenade-on-the-butt trick.
In a pinch, dual-wielded plasma rifles can do the job on a Brute, but will take quite a bit of time; Brutes seem to be specifically resistant to the fire from such weapons. The two most common options for killing off Brutes involve either dual-wielded needlers, which do the job quite nicely, or headshots from a carbine, which is your best bet when you spot a Brute at medium distance, but the old rocket launcher/turret/energy sword standbys are also appropriate, where applicable. If you happen to have a beam rifle, Brutes are perfectly susceptible to headshots, although you may require two headshots to kill them due to the fact that many of them wear helmets.

So far as offensive capabilities go, Brutes will usually pack either a carbine, a Brute plasma rifle (essentially an upgraded version of the blue plasma rifle that Elites wield), or a Brute shot weapon. Brute lieutenants (the ones with red flags on their backs) are most likely to pack a Brute shot, but normal soldiers will also carry them on occasion. Although theyÂ’re deadly with their weapons, Brutes are also a hairÂ’s breadth away from unleashing their berserk nature; if you manage to systematically kill a group of Brutes, then, the last member of the group will usually go insane, drop his weapon, and charge towards you and attempt to ram you with his shoulder. You can easily get killed with one or two blows from a berserk Brute, so do your best to finish them off quickly, or from a vantage point that prevents them from reaching you. These guys seem to be a bit more resistant to needler damage when theyÂ’re berserk, but we mightÂ’ve just been imagining this.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:46

Flood Zombies

Yes, the FloodÂ’s back, and yes, thereÂ’ll be plenty of resuscitated corpses to deal with in Halo 2. They arenÂ’t quite as annoying as they were in the first Halo, though, so donÂ’t start cursing at the night sky or anything.

At its most basic level, the Flood is represented by hordes of small parasites that will scatter the floors of each level and look for corpses. If they canÂ’t find an intact corpse, theyÂ’ll attempt to run into you and explode, which will only marginally damage your shields, but if they can, theyÂ’ll return that corpse back to life and will start attacking you with it. Such zombies can sometimes appear with the weapons that they used in their previous life (and Elite zombies will sometimes have energy shields), and some of them will be possessed of terrific combat reflexes, and will launch at you from a long way away with a slashing attack. These are easy enough to avoid, so long as you donÂ’t let them get too close to you.

Energy blades will let you pop most zombies with a single swing.
Defensively speaking, Flood zombies are almost always weaker than they were in their previous incarnations, meaning that a human soldier zombie will take less damage to kill than a real human soldier (not that we ever shot at any of our teammates, not us, no sir). Two weapons are particularly useful against Flood zombies: Sentinal beams and energy blades. The former will be able to cut through groups of zombies without much effort, while the latter can explode enemies into mere puffs of grave dust with a single shot.

Halo Sentinals

Within the musky interior of Halo (and parts of the exterior) ancient Forerunner machines still silently patrol the corridors, wary of interlopers. One of these is the Sentinal, a levitating pod equipped with a Sentinal beam. Sentinals are extremely easy to kill, at least when you first meet them, as they donÂ’t possess much in the way of defense, but you may find it profitable to leave them alive, as theyÂ’ll focus their beams on Flood zombies when such enemies are afoot. Later on, youÂ’ll come across upgraded Sentinals, with shielding and better lasers, but these are fairly rare.

Halo Guardians

Guardians are usually accompanied by Sentinals, which can make for some fierce firefights.
The most sensitive portions of Halo are patrolled by the massive Guardians. These ageless monstrosities are somewhat of a combination of a Sentinal, in that they hover around in mid-air, and Jackals, in that they have front-mounted shields that are impervious to gunfire. The solution is fairly obvious: get behind them and fire at the portions of their bodies that arenÂ’t shielded. These guys can take a lot of damage, though, so you can expect to do a lot of hiding behind pillars unless you have a vehicle handy.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:46

Vehicles

One of the most remarkable things about the original Halo was its incorporation of vehicles, which were seamlessly integrated into the gameplay in ways that never forced you to make use of them, but rewarded you for recognizing when it was wise (or unwise) to do so.

All of the vehicles of Halo return in Halo 2, so you should be fairly familiar with those that you encounter in the game. For the neophytes, though, hereÂ’s a list of the vehicles, along with some of their attributes.

Human Vehicles

Warthog

EveryoneÂ’s favorite vehicle from Halo has returned in Halo 2, and itÂ’s much the same as it was before. This rugged, four-wheel vehicle is great for speeding past trouble, and in a pinch, your passenger and turretteer can dish a beatdown on enemy forces. The Warthog isnÂ’t usually capable of taking down enemy vehicles very easily, though, unless youÂ’re manning the turret and can manage to keep a consistent aim on the target; if you have an AI soldier manning the turret, theyÂ’ll usually shift targets too often to kill any vehicles that get in your way, unless itÂ’s the only target around.

One of the new additions in Halo 2 is the inclusion of a gauss cannon-equipped Warthog. The gauss cannon replaces the turret, and is intended for use primarily against vehicles. ItÂ’s much more powerful against armored targets than the turret, but will only fire once a second or so, making it less effective than the turret against infantry. There are only two or three of these gauss cannon Warthogs in the entire game, though, so itÂ’s not something youÂ’ll really have to worry about.

Scorpion

Although itÂ’s ponderously slow, the Scorpion is bar none the most powerful vehicle in the game, capable of dishing out death to both enemy vehicles (with its main cannon) and enemy infantry (with its turret, fired with the left trigger). There isnÂ’t much else to say about it, really, as all of its uses are fairly straightforward; just roll on forward and blast until you can blast no more!

If your ScorpionÂ’s on fire, itÂ’s probably time to get out. If you have a teammate along, they might hop in and drive it for you!
This latter circumstance will likely arrive more quickly than youÂ’d like, though, especially on the harder difficulty levels. In exchange for its power, the Scorpion sacrifices both speed and maneuverability, making it all but a sitting duck for enemy fire. When you spot one, use it as long as you possibly can, but be prepared to bail out as it starts to take damage. When the rear panel falls off, revealing a fire underneath, youÂ’re nearing the end of your vehicleÂ’s lifespan.

Covenant Vehicles

Ghost

Ghost drivers are awfully exposed to enemy fire. While you can take advantage of this against enemy Ghosts, the tables will turn when you try to drive one yourself.
One of the most consistently useful vehicles in the game, the Ghost is a single-pilot ground craft. ItÂ’s essentially an extension of your normal battle capabilities, in that itÂ’ll let you move a bit faster, do a bit more damage, and take a few more hits than you normally would while youÂ’re driving it. Its main armament is a pair of plasma cannons, slightly more powerful than dual-wielded plasma rifles, but which cannot overheat.

In combat, your best bet is to strafe side-to-side in the Ghost while using the cannons to blast whateverÂ’s in your path; if youÂ’re keeping a distant range between yourself and your target, this movement should be enough to avoid most of the incoming fire. When you have an infantry enemy in the clear, you can attempt to ram them by using the left trigger while moving forward; this will kill most enemies, but it may merely drop an EliteÂ’s shields, thus necessitating a second pass before they die off.

Beware of hills, bumps, and dips when riding around in a Ghost, as theyÂ’re prone to tipping when they hit an irregularity in ground level at any kind of speed. When this occurs, youÂ’ll be automatically ejected; youÂ’ll have to flip the Ghost back over before you can get back in.

Spectre

The Spectre is the Covenant analogue of the Warthog, with the similar driver + turret setup. Maneuverability is good, and although the Spectre is a tad slower than the Warthog, it has two slots for passengers, allowing you to load up with one more gunner than you would be able to with the human buggy. The left trigger will give you a speed burst.

Wraith

The CovenantÂ’s heavy tank is the Wraith. This is theoretically intended to be a counterpart to the Scorpion, but the vehicles are fairly dissimilar. Where the Scorpion packs a cannon and turret, the Wraith instead brings a large mortar to the table. This fires in an exaggerated arc, which makes it difficult to accurately land shots at long range; all we can say is that youÂ’ll need a lot of practice to use this baby with any kind of ease. At close range, youÂ’ll have a pair of plasma cannons that will automatically lock onto and fire at any enemies that come near you.

What can I say? IÂ’m a baaad man.
The one "good" thing about the Wraith, at least in the single-player campaign, is that it moves quite slowly. That doesnÂ’t sound like such a boon, but since the front side of the Wraith is so heavily shielded, itÂ’s often easier to just run up to the damn things and hit the driver until he falls out than it is to actually destroy it with weapons fire. Since it moves only marginally faster than a Scorpion, this is easy enough to do, but be careful about standing in front of a Wraith, as their pilots will often try to run you down with the left-trigger boost of speed.

Banshee

If you spot a turret while flying a Banshee on a high difficulty setting, take it out or itÂ’ll shoot you down with just a few seconds of concentrated fire.
The sole vehicle in the game capable of taking to the air, the Banshee is somewhat akin to a flying Ghost, in that it possesses the same dual plasma cannons, although it does possess a bit more armor (although still not enough armor) and a fuel rod cannon. When you first encounter one in the campaign, take a couple of seconds to get used to its controls; instead of using the left trigger to accelerate, youÂ’ll need to use the left trigger to get around. Even when youÂ’re not depressing the trigger, though, youÂ’ll constantly move forward, albeit slowly, making it difficult to strafe or hold your position.

On higher difficulties, enjoy the Banshees while it lasts, because itÂ’s quite easy to get shot down while flying one, especially when youÂ’re exposed to hostile Banshees or enemy turret fire. If your Banshee starts looking like it was reclaimed from a junkyard, youÂ’ll want to land and hop out before you take too much more damage.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:47

General Combat Tips

WeÂ’ll be honest: a large part of learning to play Halo takes place as a kind of trial-by-fire, in which youÂ’ll just have to play the game to get a handle for how things work. Hopefully these following tips will give you a bit of a head start, though!

Know When To Walk Away, Know When To Run
Arguably the most unique aspect of HaloÂ’s gameplay, even including the two-gun inventory system, is the way that there isnÂ’t any health to monitor, nor medikits to pick up, or first aid stations to monitor; you donÂ’t actually have any health in Halo. Instead, what you have are shields.

Shields work as such: when you enter combat, your shields will likely be fully-charged. As you take damage, your shields will begin to drop; big sources of damage will cause your shields to drop more rapidly than less intimidating sources. After your shields drop almost to nothingness, youÂ’ll hear a high-pitched beeping tone, warning you of impending doom; when theyÂ’re completely gone, the tone will hit a lower pitch. If you canÂ’t find immediate cover at this point, youÂ’re probably dead.

Luckily for you, you can take a few hits from most weapons while unshielded without dying. Some weapons, like beam rifles, will instantaneously kill you when youÂ’re unshielded, however, while others, such as rocket launchers or plasma grenades, will probably kill you no matter whether youÂ’re shielded or not. There isnÂ’t much you can do about these latter damage sources, save for trying to avoid them altogether.

Lowered shields donÂ’t mean that youÂ’ll have to run through the rest of the level on eggshells, though; your shells will eventually recharge if you can take cover and donÂ’t get hit for a while. ItÂ’ll take around five seconds for the recharging process to begin, though; if you get hit during these five seconds, youÂ’ll have to wait another five seconds for recharging to commence, and so on. If you get hit while your shields are recharging, youÂ’ll take normal damage, and theyÂ’ll stop recharging. So, long story short: when you need your shields to recharge, run away from your enemies, find some cover, and wait around ten seconds for the recharging process to begin and for the shields to completely recharge before heading back into the fray.

Outfit Your Teammates
Every so often, youÂ’ll find yourself strolling through a level with a bunch of AI-controlled teammates. These guys arenÂ’t superpowered - theyÂ’ll die eventually - but if you want to take full advantage of them, you should consider upgrading their weapons as you come across guns that are better than what theyÂ’re packing. This is easily enough accomplished by picking up the weapon you want to give your teammate (temporarily dropping whatever you yourself were using) and then standing in front of your ally and holding X to switch weapons. In particular, you should try to upgrade from SMGs to battle rifles and from plasma rifles to carbines, but your teammates can use any weapons that you give them, from sniper rifles to rocket launchers.

If theyÂ’ve got room to aim, your teammates can make good use of rocket launchers and fuel rod guns.
One note about the latter weapon, though; your teammates will sometimes destroy themselves by firing a rocket launcher or fuel rod gun when they fire after not completely getting out from under cover. ItÂ’s incredibly annoying (especially when youÂ’re standing next to them), so be wary of giving such weapons to teammates when you know that youÂ’ll have to duck and cover a lot, or when youÂ’re all going to be in tight quarters. In open spaces, though, your teammates can use these weapons to great effect, especially since they get infinite ammo for them. In point of fact, if you only have one round of ammo left in a launcher, it may be better to give it to a friend than to use it up yourself. (You canÂ’t give your teammates empty weapons, unfortunately.)
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:47

Halo: San Andreas
One of the new features in Halo 2 is your ability to take over enemy vehicles as they fly around. This is a lot more difficult to accomplish than in a Grand Theft Auto game, but the results are the same, in that you get to take control of the vehicle while simultaneously ridding yourself of at least one enemy (the driver).

To jack a vehicle, youÂ’ll need to be standing almost directly next to its driverÂ’s seat (wherever you would be able to enter it from if it was at a standstill), then hold the X button to jump aboard. YouÂ’ll then be able to use melee attacks against the driver of the vehicle with the B button; hit him enough and heÂ’ll either fall out or be killed. On vehicles like the Wraith, youÂ’ll also be able to eventually throw a grenade into the driverÂ’s seat, but you should only do this if you donÂ’t intend to drive the vehicle after killing the driver. When the driverÂ’s out of his seat, youÂ’ll either automatically take control of the vehicle, or will have to jump off, then hit X again to get in and drive away.

Of course, there are a few complications to mention. One is that hopping aboard certain vehicles, especially Ghosts, can be really difficult to do, since you need to hold X for a moment. (With a Ghost, the place to jack is at a corner or turn; wait until the Ghost slows down, then hop aboard and kick the driver off.) The second is that youÂ’re not magically protected from enemy fire while you wail away on the driver. If you hop onto a Wraith, for instance, itÂ’ll take you five or six seconds to bash through the driverÂ’s hatch and kill him, during which time youÂ’ll be taking fire from any nearby enemies, which can easily kill you. Lastly, when jacking Ghosts, itÂ’s possible for the driver that you just ejected from the seat to get back up and jack you, so be careful!

On higher difficulty levels, you wonÂ’t be using vehicles for as long as you would on normal or easy difficulties, if only because they donÂ’t last as long, but you can still jack vehicles, especially Wraiths, to prevent enemies from using them.

If an enemyÂ’s moving around a lot, and you have plenty of ammo, feel free to take them down with body shots, but be prepared to do around three times as much damage as you would with headshots.
Straight to the Dome
Like any good modern FPS game, itÂ’s worth mentioning that Halo 2 has a damage model that includes increased damage for headshots, meaning that if you shoot something in the head, itÂ’s unlikely to get back up any time soon. Many enemies, especially Brutes, are much easier to kill when you possess a decent ability to aim at their heads.

This is, of course, much easier to accomplish when you possess an accurate weapon, and when your enemy is standing still. Suitable weapons are usually limited to the carbine, the battle rifle, and the beam or sniper rifles; everything else either has too much spread or is simply too inaccurate to get consistent headshots. (Except at very close ranges, where anything can happen.) When you possess one of these, and are able to zoom in on your opponentÂ’s head, all it should take are one or two shots to finish the beast off, with more perhaps required for Elites and other shielded enemies.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:47

Walk-through

Two notes here. The first is that, so far as such a thing is possible, this is a spoiler-free walk-through; weÂ’ve done our best to avoid discussion of cutscene events or plot details. Secondly, we based most of this on a playthrough of the game on the Heroic difficulty. Thus, if youÂ’re playing on Normal, youÂ’ll probably find some of the gameplay tips a bit too cautious; feel free to blast through the game at full speed ahead. If youÂ’re having trouble with a specific part of the game, though, hopefully our techniques will get you through!

Cairo Station

Before you can head into battle, youÂ’ll need to get geared out. After you regain control of Master Chief, follow the soldiers down the stairs and step towards the gunracks on the wall to pick up an SMG and a Battle Rifle. Since you donÂ’t have any grenades, you might as well go ahead and dual-wield something; the only weapon that makes any sense to dual-wield here is the SMG, so flip over to it and grab another one from the rack by holding down the Y button when prompted.

Home Field Advantage

Repel the Covenant Boarders
Now that youÂ’re loaded out, youÂ’ll have to head towards a nearby bulkhead, so follow Sarge; he knows where to go. The Covenant will begin to cut through the door, forcing you to repel a few waves of them, but with your dual-wielded SMGs, and the suppressing fire of your teammates, you shouldnÂ’t have any problem taking them out. If your shielding runs low, you can retreat behind the obstacles on either side of the door and wait for it to recharge.

When the Covenant retreats, or when you notice your fellow soldiers moving through the door, follow them and take a left. Your enemies are fortified to the right, but theyÂ’ll have to split their attention between you and a soldier with a turret beyond their position, so switch over to your Battle Rifle, zoom in, and start plugging away at the Elites. When theyÂ’re dead, head past the turret gunner to reach a room with another turret in it; hop in and start blasting away at the aliens below. You donÂ’t have to do this, of course, but youÂ’ll have an easier time of it later on if you take advantage of the fire superiority that the turret affords you.

After breaking off from the turret, head on to reach another set of steps. ThereÂ’s another Elite here, and a tough bastard, at that. You can take him down with your dual SMGs at close range, but a better idea might be to try and flush him downstairs and out into the hallway at its bottom, where a soldier will likely plug him.

The corridor beyond here will be infiltrated by more Elites and Grunts as you walk down it; theyÂ’ll come from doors on either side of the end of the corridor, so walk along until you trigger the influx, then take cover and switch over to your Battle Rifle to plug them from a distance while your teammates take the brunt of the fire.

YouÂ’ll find plenty of frag grenades on the upper level here, so use them!
The next room that youÂ’ll encounter is a docking bay, which the Covenant have breached with one of their boarders. If you want to stay alive here, stay on the upper platform, ditch your dual-wielded weapon, if you have one, pick up as many grenades as you can carry, and start chucking them at the boarders. You should have a dozen or so plasma grenades at your disposal, so go crazy! YouÂ’ll have to kill off two or three waves of baddies before you can move on, so if anyone starts hiding behind a crate, use your Battle Rifle to pick them off.

Eventually soldier nearby will start talking about the Malta; look out the window to witness that battle stationÂ’s unfortunate fate. As soon as itÂ’s destroyed, more Covenant will flood into the bay from an adjacent room; you can still take them down from above, so grab more grenades and use the wings of the Marine Corps landing craft as a perch from which to fire.

After proceeding through the doorway, youÂ’ll come to another landing bay, but one in which the Covenant has heavily fortified themselves. You can take out the turret gunners with your Battle Rifle, but youÂ’ll need to proceed with caution from there, as there are plenty more targets on the far side of the room. If you want to gain a little perspective on the situation, you can use the doorway on the right side of the room to reach the upper level; on harder difficulties, though, you might find it a bit easier to reach the recessed stairwell near the Covenant shift that heads downwards to a locked door, using it to as a redoubt from which to dart in and out of the battle. If you move in and out, the Covenant will have to continually refocus their efforts and shift from your teammates to you, letting you divide and conquer.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:48

Priority Shift

Find the Covenant Bomb
Now that you know why the Covenant was boarding your station, you have to locate and deactivate the bomb that theyÂ’ve brought along with them. You can head out through the doors marked Mac Storage at the bottom of the stairs here, but before you do, pick off the enemies below with help from your soldier friends.

Watch for an invisible Elite as you descend into this stairwell.
When you descend the stairs, you can pick up another dual-SMG combo from the weapons rack in the middle of the room, which will come in handy, because two more Elites will appear from either of the far doors as you approach them. One is stealthed, so watch for the telltale Predator-esque waviness and bust a cap. From there, head up the stairs and drop the two Elites after they kill your friend. You shouldnÂ’t have a problem with these guys, so long as you stay on the stairs and retreat belowdecks if you need to recharge your shields. Take the respite offered by this room to switch out your guns, if you wish; thereÂ’s a Battle Rifle on one of the tables, and the soldier who was killed dropped a Shotgun.

In the Commons Blue, the next room over, youÂ’ll have to maneuver your way through the field of fire of multiple turrets. If you can bust the Unggoys across the way, then dash across without getting killed, you should be able to eliminate the first two turret stations with a combination of Shotgun and Battle Rifle fire. This will let you fall back to the end of the long corridor and pick off the distant turret stations with the latter weapon, which should clear your approach. YouÂ’ll then have to fight through a few more clusters of Covenant before you reach Tramstation B-01, where youÂ’ll meet up with more soldiers, including the Sarge. Fight with them for a bit, then head through the pressure chamber at the end of the hall for a brief excursion into space.

Authorized Personnel Only

As soon as you hit the checkpoint here, youÂ’ll have two Elites bust through the door, so use grenades or a weapon to bust them down. There are two more Elites waiting for you outside, but they can be really tough to hit due to the way they fly around, so you might want to just run for the far door and head through the airlock there, rather than bother to engage them.

At long range, a battle rifle is the best way to deal with Drones, but keep an SMG handy in case they close in.
Through said airlock, youÂ’ll have to deal with an influx of Drones. These guys are supremely annoying, so youÂ’ll want to grab as much cover as possible and use your Battle Rifle to take them down from a distance, if at all possible. ThereÂ’s an SMG near the door, so if youÂ’re having trouble, grab that and try to lure them towards you; one of the good things about Drones is that they canÂ’t take a beating, so a second or so of concentrated SMG fire will usually drop them.

After all the Drones are dead, you wonÂ’t have much time to recuperate, as the elevator down below will begin rising, and it brings with it a load of a couple of Elites and numerous Grunts. Do your best to pick them off as the elevator rises; when it stops, you should have plenty of room to maneuver. After that battleÂ’s over, look around for extra ammo and grenades before descending on the elevator yourself.

When you reach the bottom of the elevator, use the Battle Rifle there to take down the flying Elites outside, then hop across the ever-shifting landscape until you reach another airlock.

Return to Sender

Now that youÂ’ve located the bomb, youÂ’ll have to kill off the Elites that guard it. There are three or four of them, though, so youÂ’ll need to play it smooth. If you manage to get into the room without alerting the Elites, try to sneak up along the right-hand wall until youÂ’re within easy shot of the one closest to you, then stick an Energy Grenade onto it and watch the fun. The other three will, of course, be alerted to your presence, so retreat back to the far end of the room and outfit yourself with dual SMGs, and restock your Battle Rifle ammo. You should have plenty of places to hide in the room, so lure them out one by one and off them with your grenades and SMGs. After you kill all of them, the level ends.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:48

The Outskirts

TheyÂ’re Gonna Regret That, Too

Defend The Marines Until Help Arrives
Not much to say about the beginning of this level. Essentially, youÂ’re boxed into a small portion of the cityscape and beset on all sides by Covenant forces (as well as the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men, of course). Luckily for you, you have a bit of help along, in the form of Sarge and a sniper. The sniper is apparently unkillable, or perhaps he just avoids trouble by staying atop the building here, but sheÂ’ll be a big help to you, because there are quite a few enemy snipers in the surrounding buildings. These guys canÂ’t instakill you if youÂ’re at full shields, but they will instantly zap away your entire shield reservoir, forcing you to beat a hasty retreat to the interior of the building until it recharges.

After clearing the building, you should make your way to the turret on the second floor landing and use it as a base of operations. ThereÂ’s a Battle Rifle nearby; if you already have a Battle Rifle, you can walk over this one for nearly unlimited ammo. The turretÂ’s going to be your primary form of communication with the Covenant forces, though. However, the first few waves (usually Grunts and Elites) will come from the left, where the turret canÂ’t fire, so use your SMGs or Battle Rifle to drop them before dealing with the waves from the right, of which there are more than a few. The most annoying will be the Drones, but your turret has enough spread to pick them out of the air. The turret will come in incredibly handy against the Jackals that occasionally walk into the courtyard, though, as it punches right through their shielding.

Eventually a Covenant dropship will appear and blast you from above; its goal isnÂ’t to kill you, though (although thatÂ’s obviously a nice side effect for them), but rather to cover the descent of more troops into the courtyard. As soon as the dropship takes off, return to the turret and use it to blast the Grunts, if you can.

If you donÂ’t use the turret on the Hunters, theyÂ’ll be next to impossible to kill.
After all of the waves have come and gone, youÂ’ll hear the Sarge requesting that someone place a satchel on a pair of reinforced doors in the courtyard. When you hear this, make a beeline for the turret, if youÂ’re not already there, as a pair of Hunters will come smashing through shortly, and you donÂ’t have anything in your arsenal that will let you easily kill them. The turret will make short work of them, though; just ignore their fire if at all feasible, and just blast away until they both fall down.

Rendezvous With the Pelican
This is easily accomplished; just run through the doorway that the Hunters blasted, and the Pelican will appear. Sarge will hop aboard, leaving you with a few grunts as your only company. Before you hit this point, though, you might want to grab SargeÂ’s sniper rifle....

Find the Marines From the Second Downed Pelican
Around the corner from the first Pelican, youÂ’ll come to a long corridor overwatched by multiple enemy snipers. If you grabbed a sniper rifle, you can use it to pick them off from long range; if all you have is a battle rifle, then youÂ’re probably going to have to run from cover to cover until you get into a position to return fire. (You might check to see if any of the Jackals near the Pelican dropped a Beam Rifle, which is basically a Covenant sniper weapon.) On Heroic or Legendary difficulty, this is going to be a happy fun death march for you, as a couple of stealthed Elites will also eventually appear. Your teammates are likely not long for this world, so let them go on ahead, and use whatever weapons you can to pick off the Elites and the snipers, but be watchful for Drones, whoÂ’ll complicate matters by flying around overhead and zapping you while you try to zoom in your weapon. Fun!

If you start getting shot, and canÂ’t tell from where, look up; a Drone is likely hovering around.
At the very least, youÂ’ll have a good idea how capable youÂ’re going to be of playing on your chosen difficulty when you hit this area. When youÂ’ve cleared everything out, head down to the far end of the corridor to hit the checkpoint, then gradually peek into the corridor on your right to check for yet more snipers. There are at least three of them here, including one that may spawn in behind you, so if you donÂ’t have a beam or sniper rifle, check the burning crater nearby. A fallen soldier here has an almost-full sniper rifle for your distance-killing pleasure.

As you work your way through the buildings, youÂ’ll have to deal with quite a few Grunts and Elites, including a sniper or two thatÂ’ll appear on the rooftops. Deal with them as you see fit; the tight corridors lend themselves well to grenades or dual SMGs/Plasma Rifles, but your mileage may vary.

Depending on how thoroughly you killed off the baddies, you may have to deal with another firefight in front of the hotel. There may or may not be a gray Elite here; if there is, then you may be screwed, especially on higher levels. The gray varients seem to have a lot more shielding than any other color, but you may be able to take him on with an energy sword, if any of the earlier Elites dropped one. He can even survive a stickied plasma grenade! Regardless, youÂ’ll have to do your best to take him out, if indeed he appears.

Inside the hotel, youÂ’ll come across the survivors of the crashed Pelican, whoÂ’ll want to escort you through the hotel itself. As per usual, your teammates are expendable, so run ahead into the hallway (donÂ’t forget you have a flashlight on your white button) to spawn the Covenant forces, then pull back a bit and let the troops do the heavy lifting.
tkgg
12 Feb 05, 21:49

A Day At The Beach

Destroy the Covenant on the Shoreline

If your teammates are driving, you wonÂ’t have any way to avoid dropship cannon fire; you might want to try shooting off the cannons with your turret.
After you clear the hotel, youÂ’ll have to dispatch more Covenant that fall from a dropship, so clear them out. After you do so, a welcome gift arrives, in the form of a Warthog. Yay! Hop on into the driverÂ’s seat if you wish to drive; if not, you can hop into the turret position and blast away while one of your teammates drives. This latter option is probably preferable, as you can pick targets a bit better than your teammates will be able to, while they can drive passably well, with the exception of some annoying pauses.

You have two groups of Covenant to destroy here. The first consists of a couple of small encampments, each with Grunts and Elites, as well as a Ghost thatÂ’ll zip around. The annoying part about this fight is the fact that an apparently indestructible Covenant dropship will appear as youÂ’re wrapping up your destruction of the ground forces and drop out two or three more Ghosts, while it itself lays down a base of turret fire on you. WhatÂ’s even more annoying is that it just hovers off the shore and continues to blast away while you try to deal with the Ghosts, but after all the Ghosts are dead, itÂ’ll back off a bit.

After penetrating the fortifications and making it to the second section of beach, hop into the driverÂ’s seat and blast towards the large tunnel behind the second set of Covenant fortifications. The dropship will assume a gunning position above the fortifications, which are well-manned by Covenant forces, so youÂ’ll have a difficult time breaking through, but just keep in mind that your goal is to survive, not blast everything that moves. In point of fact, you shouldnÂ’t waste your time with pointless battles here; just drive the Warthog as close to the tunnel as you can get it, then jump out and head towards the Ghost thatÂ’s parked inside.

Speed Zone Ahead

Take The Highway Tunnel To The Bridge
The Ghost here is a maneuverable, if somewhat slow vehicle, and it has rapid-fire lasers with infinite ammo, which should add up to a lot of fun for you. WhatÂ’s better is that a Warthog with a turreteer will follow you into the tunnel, allowing you to hang back and fire at targets while the peons sacrifice their lives for you. This is precisely what you should do, in fact; let the Warthog go on ahead and take all the fire, while you sit back and blast anything that moves. The Ghost is fairly durable, but wonÂ’t last forever, so if you can avoid fire now, youÂ’ll be able to hold onto it a bit longer than normal.

If you can catch up to the Shadows, they should be easy to kill.
Of course, the Warthog isnÂ’t exactly indestructible, either, so itÂ’ll blow up eventually. Keep fighting on, though, and youÂ’ll eventually see another one join the party; this is congruous to the appearance of large Covenant transports in the tunnel. The Warthog wonÂ’t stick near you if you fall back; itÂ’ll instead choose to move on down the tunnel, where itÂ’ll engage the troop transports on its own. If you donÂ’t want to deal with any of these battles, or if your Ghost is on its last legs, just hang well back and watch the action as it unfolds.

Eventually, youÂ’ll come to a staging area that the Covenant is using to push out onto the bridge beyond. Included here are three Ghosts, possibly more if the transports made it here alive. These guys have very predictable movement patterns, so theyÂ’re not difficult individually, but in groups they can be annoyingly tough to bring down. With any luck, youÂ’ll still have your own Ghost at this point; if so, then killing them off should be a simple matter of sweeping from side to side while they charge in and blasting them as they approach. If one turns tail and runs, let it go and concentrate on another target, but try to keep them all on one side of you. If worst comes to worst, you can try to board one of their Ghosts while theyÂ’re in it, but itÂ’s not quite as easy as certain gameplay movies mightÂ’ve led you to believe. They really have to be either standing still or turning, as you have to hold down X for a second or so in order to pull it off.

If youÂ’re forced onto your feet, though, try to do your best with whatever weapons you have available to you. Dual-wielded plasma rifles are acceptable weapons to use against Ghosts, but youÂ’ll have to let them get pretty close. If you want to run for it, you can try to break through and head for the ramp leading out of the tunnel; when you start moving up it, youÂ’ll launch into the next chapter.