I've play multi-box games over campus LAN.

If you liked the multiplayer in Halo 1 you will most definitely like Halo 2's multiplayer. They feel similar but there's all kinds of added stuff. For example, there can be banshees in multiplayer maps, you can jump on a banshee and steal it like a ghost, there are added weapons (a plasma-based sniper rifle that kicks ass, the AR, the sword, etc), there are the duals (one thing you'll learn fast is it's hard to compete in multiplayer if other people are using duals and you aren't. Find a second weapon fast), plasma pistols now are incredibly effective, damage works differently, etc.

You'll pick up on halo 2 really fast. Hold Y to pick up/swap your left hand weapon, grenades and swtiching weapons drops the left weapon, dual plasma pistols (charged) or a plasma pistol charge with a battle rifle are incredibly devastating because of how damage works. That is, once your shields go you have 1 hit point and then you die. So when you knock someone's shields out with a plasma charge they're pretty well bent over unless they can take you down with a grenade or some other such wmd. Sword lunges are a one hit kill regardless of shields (the sword is a very deadly weapon because when you lunge with it you charge at your target really fast), sword swings kill in two hits.

Blood gultch is available as a map. It was changed in a couple ways (for example, the warp points are safer), but it's still awesome. It now has banshees instead of tanks. Sniper rounds there are especially awesome because you now have two sniper rifles to swap between.

The multiplayer maps are all great. Some of them are big, but they're well enough designed it's not a problem. Zanzibar, the map with the big windmill, is a good one for trying out different game types and options. Battle creek is also available, but I think they renamed it to something like "Beaver Creek". CTF on that map is brutal because outside you've got people tearing at each other with dual plasma rifles and/or needlers and inside you've got people running around with plasma pistols, bullet hoses, and nades.


I don't know how Halo 2 runs off a cd. It might be slow. I've only played it on beefed-up xboxes (one of my bro's friends professionally mods and upgrades xboxes) with the game stored on and ran straight off its hard drive, which is a lot faster than running off a cd. It's not too complicated. Halo 2 about the best designed game you'll ever see.