Chris Butcher - Bungie’s senior engineering lead - described the game’s development as a “three-act tragedy.”
Bungie’s two founders had left the game – Alex Seropian had quit to return to Chicago, and Jason Jones was working on another project – and Halo 2 was instead being lead “by a committee,” said Butcher, “who were trying to deliver something impossible…we were standing there after E3 2003 saying, we can’t possibly build this game.”
The initial graphics engine used for Halo 2 was totally unsuited to the Xbox. “We had these levels that just really didn’t make sense with the Halo engine or any kind of shooter engine”, said Butcher. The new tech had to be considerably scaled back.
The experience of Halo 2 changed Bungie. The studio introduced new systems and processes from Halo 3 onwards, which enabled it to better coordinate development, and enable it to experiment without risking huge and complicated delays.
Halo 2’s multiplayer swallowed a huge amount of Bungie’s time and resources. Having to create multiplayer maps that looked as good as singleplayer contributed to its late running. In fact, Bungie’s input shaped the development of Xbox Live itself. The developers liaised with Microsoft engineers building the first - and still the best –console gaming network.
The multiplayer maps were enlarged from the original. They’re multi-tiered, labyrinthine and always offer several different routes to a single all-important location. Brilliantly, the best weapons are placed in the most exposed positions, creating satisfying risk/reward scenarios. It’s a design choice that’s been used in every Halo game since.
New species join the burgeoning alien congregation, most noticeably the Prophets and Brutes with their devastating melee attacks. Elites and Jackals are upgraded to have access to new weapons like the Covenant Carbine and Beam Rifle. Halo 2 also introduced vehicle hijacking, providing both balance and crowd-pleasing spectacle.
Having planned a final dramatic showdown on the surface of earth, Bungie had to cut the final act entirely just to get the game finished in time. We see Master Chief promising to “finish the fight,” then… the credits. It was a disappointment to players and Bungie themselves. Audio lead Jay Weinland admitted it “had most Halo players throwing their controllers at their TVs”. Chief Operating Officer Pete Parsons went further: “a gigantic flaming turd of failure, would probably be the right way to describe it.”
The month Halo 2 launched was the only month in the original Xbox’s lifespan in which it turned a profit. But its legacy was less the singleplayer campaign and more the multiplayer, which became the most popular game on Xbox Live on launchday and stayed there for the life of the Xbox, until it was dislodged by Gears of War on Xbox 360.
Which isn’t to say that Bungie was entirely satisfied with that, either. “Even the multiplayer experience for Halo 2 is a pale shadow of what it could and should have been if we had gotten the timing of our schedule right.” Chris Butcher told Edge in 2007. “It’s astounding to me. I cannot play Halo 2 multiplayer. I cannot do it”.
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