Good times... As much as Halo 1 revolutionized the FPS genre, this game revolutionized online gaming on consoles. This game has so many good memories. Marathon custom games like zombies, tower of power, and hog wars. Even sessions of escaping maps and exploring them. Maps that are unmatched by any other video game. Customs were fun, whether they were with friends from real life, or Bungie community members. The matchmaking system was incredible. When I had free time, I could just play matchmaking and not be bored. The multiplayer was fun, had variety, and was quick. The game lasted years, before the era of buying a game so much more often. For a couple years, Halo 2 was solidly played as the standard Xbox game It is a game I will miss... RIP Halo 2 [Edited on 04.16.2010 3:55 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Goalie Master 8 Good times... RIP Halo 2[/quote]

agree that was a fun game type tower of power. when i first saw it i was like this is awesome

Wow, it's amazing to hear first-hand about the stress of the crunch. While it's said to see the end of the Multiplayer, I'll be playing the campaign for many years to come =)

Farewell to Halo 2. Also Very nice Screenshots. I am going to miss playing Halo 2 Multiplayer Online.

R.I.P Halo 2 My first memory of Halo 2 was my first online match. It was a quickmatch into rockets on sanctuary, my first game I came in 4th with 12 kills. What a way to break into Halo online, rockets and explosions everywhere. I have many the fond memory of just kill streaks and such. I got a kiltack on Backwash and felt like a god, Went 1v4 in team swat on elongation starting in the negative from de-levelers and coming back to win 46-45. So many memories into the best online multiplayer game there has ever been. It became a foundation for other games to build on and just became such a experience that will never be repeated. It was a sad day when after waking up from leaving my xbox in a lobby to find I had been disconnected. The only regret I have is I didn't get one last Team Snipers game before I got disconnected.

I got DSL in my home just to be able to play this game online. I had so many fun moments between Halo CE and this on split-screen that I couldn't wait to try H2 online. I have so many great memories of Halo 2 multiplayer, it's hard to pick just one. For the first week that I played, I didn't have a headset and I was terrible at it. One of the things I remember during that period was standing on a hill on one of the maps and hearing -blam!- through my TV right before I was assassinated. I hated the BR at first. Just didn't get it. It was probably a full year into playing before I actually figured out that it was the best weapon in the game and got really good with it. I loved to grief. Besides my fascination with betrayals, I can specifically remember a time where sudden death in Assault would last forever (they changed it at some point) and teams would conspire on Headlong to hide the bomb in order to make people quit. People would get SO MAD. Hilarious. I loved driving the Warthog into defense's base on Headlong from the sword building. I loved pushing the crates on Waterworks with the Wraith to prevent entry from the rear. Superbouncing on Zanzibar was fun when I mastered it. I was a damn good Warthog driver in Halo 2 and I can remember so many exhilarating moments of taking only a gunner with me, dropping him off, waiting for him to return to the hog with the flag, and then my heart pounding as we drove off and stunned opposing players pecking away at us with their BRs. The BTB maps in H2 were way more fun than the H3 BTB maps. I loved those maps so much and when I played H2 online for the final time on Tuesday I was reminded of this. There are so many more memories I have, those are just a few. I will miss you Halo 2, there will never be another like you. [Edited on 04.16.2010 3:48 PM PDT]

I think my most fond memory of Halo 2 was On Delta Halo. I had just defeated the landing zone temple and was gearing up to move on When all of a sudden a Warthog drops in front of me. At first I thought "where the heck am I going to drive this thing". I hoped in it anyway and found a nice little path the flowed into the next area. What I saw next could only be described as beautiful. A giant lake with surrounding mountains (including Mt.Halo) and a flock of birds flying overhead, needless to say it was breathtaking. I sat there for a good ten minutes trying to see all I could see. I noticed the lake had far away temples and the trees were covered in moss, I wanted to think the covenant there were enjoying some shore leave. It was a scene only people who loved the game could understand. Thank you Bungie for the amazing times of random grenade kills, accidental betrayals and unforeseen splatters. It truly was an amazing ride.

This day was so sad. Halo 2 was, without a doubt, the first Xbox game that I really played LIVE on, which can be said for so many people. The first time I played a game with a random group of people, we were all talking about how fun this whole "online gaming" thing was. I loved stomping through the open fields in Coagulation in an effort to steal a flag, I loved pressing the button in the Zanzibar base and listening to the reactions, I loved the bridge fights in Waterworks. Even in the midst of all of these glitches and bugs in the game, I always found a way to have the most fun with my friends and Halo 2. This game wasn't just a new game to me, it was the introduction a an awesome community and the start of an experience that would last for 5 years (give or take the time Halo 3 came out). Between the constant firefights to get to first place in matchmaking, to the utter shenanigans made from climbing the staircase to heaven or firing a ring or rockets around a warthog, and challenging the driver to see how far they could go, I soon came to realize that Halo 2 told us that there are so many more ways to play the game than just what is offered in the menu. The last game I played on April 14th was actually a custom game to climb the staircase to heaven in Burial Grounds. When I was the first to reach the invisible ramp that topped the level, I took one look around and shot from my rocket launcher one last time into the air and said to my friends "It's been a great 5 years!" and hit the leave button. If only I was there to see my Spartan ascending up into the heavens instead of a menu screen, the scene would be perfect. Goodbye, Halo 2, we will all miss you, but at least we still have campaign. P.S.: SMG starts...what was up with that!?

It's sad to see it go, but to have another game on its way. My favorite halo 2 memory was getting the scarab gun, killing large amounts of guys on the scarab, then killing myself to do it again (lasted for hours). Also halo 2's stickies. THEY DA BEST!!!

You've banned over half a million people from Halo 2? Including same people which likely reduces the number by 1/3rd or 1/4th at least, right? Nice. And we have killed the world's population over 5.5 times? Lol?! Nukes ain't WMDs... normal weapons and Halo players are :P Love statistics. [Edited on 04.16.2010 3:55 PM PDT]

"...What are they to say now?" That quote still gives me chills, especially hearing it in Truth's voice (his voice from 2 not 3 of course). My best memories of Halo 2 are from campaign so I guess lucky for me I can still play that but... yeah Halo 2 was my first and pretty much only XBL game from the original XBox so it is more sad to see it go because of all the memories and all it opened up for me... despite the constant harassment for my gamertag. Thankfully I hardly ever get that in Halo 3. Coagulation and Headlong are still my favorite maps from 2. I remember I played most of my games splitscreen back then and it caused some horrible lag especially for the shotgun. My friends never understood how bad it was for us and always thought we just sucked... until that day on Gemini I played solo 1v1 with my friend and totally kicked his butt with the shotgun he was actually pissed about it. And I love Gemini, too. I couldn't believe we could see all of High Charity in a multi map... man that makes me wish so bad we could see how the inside of High Charity could look in 360 graphics... *emo* Heretic remake made my jaw drop to see Covenant tech so rich and detailed. My only regret now is that I never got to get a match on Coagulation before it ended. :c Edit: Oh yes and THANK YOU for posting the story boards. I love that stuff so much. Do you guys have more? I wanna see your arts of the Prophets. [Edited on 04.16.2010 4:03 PM PDT]

I've been playing halo (starting with combat evolved) since I was seven, and It's truly helped me a lot in life. Whenever I felt depressed (I was bullied a lot as a child), Halo 2 was always there to make it better. me and my dad used to play custom games and co-op campaign all the time. also I will never forget the long summers of 05, 06, and 07, when practically every other day my three best friends and I would walk around talking for a couple of hours, or having a water fight, before going over to one of our houses (normally mine because I was my house was about halfway between all of the others) for split screen games on halo 2. FFA slayer on coagulation with all vehicles enabled and no time limit, first to 100 kills (horribly unbalanced when one of us would grab a scorpion and destroy all of the other vehicles, but we really didn't care because it was still fun) I remember how I would grab a ghost and attempt to jump off and board the scorpion, but got killed almost every time. one day I managed it only to be killed by the tank exploding upon me hijacking it, we laughed until we could hardly breathe. there were other gametypes we played of course, with Fiesta and snipers being popular choices too. I didn't get xbox live until after halo 3 had come out, and I will forever regret not playing more of halo 2 online. I will never forget halo 2, and I hope that one day in the future we'll meet up again like we did back then and play splitscreen like we used to. thankyou bungie for making such an amazing game <3. [Edited on 04.16.2010 4:05 PM PDT]

There are so many amazing memories, waiting in the pouring rain to get my copy. The runs through single player, as I hadnt made a live account back then. Then finally getting online and having the time of my life. There were moments in my life where I can clearly remember being depressed, and turning to Halo 2 to help me through it. I made great friends, who I still hang out with today. Ever since the beginning, I've been a member of the column, I even have the septagon tattooed on my left wrist. Bungie, thank you for everything, for Halo, Halo 2, 3, ODST and soon to be Reach. Thank you for Marathon and Pathways, and even Myth. I'll follow you guys into Hell.

Ummm, not to be blunt or ungreatful but i was wondering what the "Reach Visual flare" us gamers who played Halo2 on the 14th will be receiving is? [Edited on 04.16.2010 4:08 PM PDT]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] GodOfGnar Ummm, not to be blunt or ungreatful but i was wondering what the "Reach Visual flare" us gamers who played Halo2 on the 14th will be receiving is?[/quote] No one knows. It's probably an emblem, or a title like of COD (If for some reason they're in reach.) Or, if we're really lucky, some kind of armor.

Well I am depressed. :'(

<3 Halo 2. My second favorite Halo game so far. Almost teared remembering the memories.

Oh man, soooo many great memories of Halo 2. This game was a HUUUGGGGE deal for me. Halo CE lan parties had been awesome, and my hype for this game was growing uncontrollable. About two years or so before this game came out, I became a manager of a GameStop store, and when the time came to get pre-orders I pushed this game like nothing before and nothing after(well, maybe Halo 3). I worked my buy off to get the highest reserves in my district on this, and every other manager in the district knew I was the crazy Halo fan of the district. One of the best memories of the period before this game launched would probably be our annual GameStop managers conference. A few months before the release of the game, and I was lucky enough to win a "vip" ticked to play the game at the conference. It was such a blast. The launch at my store for this game was insanely nuts, busy, and one of the funnest nights I've ever had working EVER. Then after we finally got done and the store cleaned up, I FINNALLY got to go home and play this game. Definitely didn't sleep at all that night. Too busy playing, and trying to come up with a cool clan name before it got taken. Our clan was never terribly organized, or good, but it was sure fun. Halo 2 created some of the best memories of my job, the friends I made at my job, and the times spent with old college friends playing this game in lan and online for years after the launch. It trulylived up to Ninja on fire metaphor. Halo 2 online, you will be missed!

Counter was on 298 when I had to sign off. I refreshed the page- it was on 295. If I wasn't in the Army I would have absolutely not signed off until I was kicked off, but unfortunately I had to go to work. I was number 16 in line on launch at my store; so proud to be in the final 300. My favorite memory- Everything. From getting out of school and going straight to Electronics Boutique with six of my friends, just to sit there to get it- alarm clock set for twelve in hand the whole time. To then skipping school the next day with one of those friends to play all day at my house, with my mom making us peanut butter crackers for lunch. From all the wakeup on Saturday to sunup on Sunday marathons on live to the all night lan parties with friends. From skipping school for all of the map pack releases to having to recently redownload them all for one last stand. From November 9th, 2004 at 12:01 sharp; to April 15th, 2010 at 01:00 in the morning. Halo 2, you are missed.

I will always remember skipping class my freshman year of college to play system link H2 in my dorm. Those were the days, thanks Bungie.

I remember standing in line at the iLoveBees event in NYC. I looked ridiculous in the documentary summarizing the event. When Halo hit, I looked like a completely different person. I cannot imagine how long its been. How many years Halo has been a part of my life. Halo has become an inspiration for my own game designs and I can't imagine that at one point I didn't know what Halo was. That documentary video reminds me of how excited I was for this game, playing it the other night reminded me how much I miss it and the quality and hard work Bungie put into their games. Thanks Bungie, plain and simple....thanks.

You guys are so awesome, thanks for the support and the creation for the most awesome games on Xbox 1 and Xbox 360 :D. Great to read your memories of Halo 2. I can't wait for Reach but until then I think some Halo 2 Vista and Halo 3 will get me through the time until then.

I had so many awesome times with this game. So breace yourselves for a wall of text because I'm going to highlight Halo 2 moments until quite possibly, I have to continue in a second post :P [b][u]Campaign[/u][/b] Halo 2, in my opinion, had the best Campaign as it was the longest and featured many different encounters that were all golden. Funniest moment: I was playing through Delta Halo for the bajillionth time. I had reached the point where they were "pouring out of the middle". I continued on up the left ramp and started killing Covies from behind cover while the Marines chased the Ghosts around in their Warthog. I was picking off Jackals and Grunts with my BR and unloading the ammo into Elites when I ran out of ammo. Still having a Rocket Launcher, I decided to take down a Ghost as I no longer required a vehicle and needed any weapon to replace my empty one. The out of nowhere, Joe Staten's Grunty voice came from a particularly brave Grunt who jumped out from behind an obelisk and yelled a battlecry at me. Naturally I was startled and my heart was racing. Out of instinct I hammered down the Right Trigger before realizing what I had just wasted. It was in no way wasted. The Grunt flew straight up in the air while I recovered and calmed down. I had spotted the Ghost and was about to get a lock on. The Ghost took the ramp and the Warthog was still giving chase. It was at that particular moment when the Grunt decided to fall from the sky. The Ghost at full boost rammed what I assumed was a Grunty corpse as I heard no sound emanating from the Grunt. The Grunt rocketed into a far wall at tremendous speed. I was rolling on the floor laughing for a good 5 minutes or more. Funniest Halo 2 moment I have ever witnessed. Bar none. Favourite levels: Delta Halo, Regret, and Gravemind Favourite encounters: Any part of Gravemind. Specifically the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. Pretty much because of Blow Me Away playing in the background. Favourite enemy to fight: Elites Notable mention: The first time I played Halo 2's Campaign was with my brother and he skipped all the cutscenes and I had no idea about the story until late 2006 when no one skipped the cutscenes and actually let me play a level other than The Silent Cartographer on Halo: CE. We had played through Cairo Station, Outskirts, and Metropolis. Knowing the story, my brother again skipped the cutscene. Being the a first time player of Halo 2's Campaign, I had no clue why I had started with a weird looking lightsaber that I quickly remembered was the Energy Sword I never got to use. Seeing an Elite in front of me, let alone 2 was enough to make me start wildly slashing. I continued to kill every Covie I could find while my brother was distracted by someone. We continued to kill some Heretics and not being a very skilled player, I had missed some of our allies. I started unloading shots into the "shiny aliens". My brother then told me that that if the reticule was green, they were on our side. I replied by stating that we were the green cyborg guy, not aliens. He then told me to look at his player model. I saw a weird looking alien known as the Arbiter. My brother then told me I was an alien too after my astonishment that he was an alien (By this time I was shooting him)., I looked down and sure enough I had non-human legs. I then proceeded to suicide bomb the both of us to "save humanity". [b][u]Multiplayer[/u][/b] Funniest moment: Watching as my attempted killer got run over by the train on Terminal. It happened so much and was really funny every time. Favourite moments: Let's start with the first time I ever played Halo 2. December 7th, 2004. It was my friend's (The one who had fully introduced me to Halo and taught me that you could shoot people too. Not just take cool jumps off of Jeeps and flipped Tanks with a weird looking hovering motorbike.) birthday and I was at his house along with 1 friend I didn't know who had been playing Halo 2 online, and our mutual friend who had also never played Halo 2. We were noobs and began playing a 4 player LAN party with 2 Xboxes and 2 copies of Halo 2. We played for 12 hours until 6:36 a.m. when his mom finally told us to go to sleep. Good times. Any other good moment is at the dozens of LAN parties I was part of that were Halo 2 and Halo 2 only. If we played video games ever. It was always Halo 2 (Though I was introduced to KotOR, Fuzion Frenzy, and Fable when we weren't playing Halo...which was rare :P). Favourite maps: - Terminal - Headlong - Coagulation - Ivory Tower - Waterworks - Relic - Elongation - Ascension - Lockout - Turf - Midship - Burial Mounds - Containment - Colossus - Zanzibar - Ummm...actually all of them. Except for Foundation, Backwash, and Desolation. Gemini and Warlock were ok but not favourites. - Tombstone - Sanctuary - Beaver Creek Favourite weapons: - Sniper Rifle - BR - Shotgun - Rocket Launcher - Energy Sword - Beam Rifle - Plasma Grenade Favourite gametypes: Slayer, Team Slayer and CTF anything. [b][u]Conclusion[/u][/b] Halo 2 was great and I will miss it a lot. I only regret not playing it more online. Halo: Reach will help fill the void. But one day I will have another Halo 2 LAN party. And it will be awesome. :D Thanks Bungie, for the memories. You guys/girls rock!!! [Edited on 04.16.2010 5:31 PM PDT]

I don't want to sound like an ass but I find it extremely wierd how everyone is saying RIP Halo 2 when you can still play the single player of the game. Yes its a technicality ¬.¬ but still it annoys me that people think without online Halo 2 is dead, talk about its loyal fans [/sacrasm]. I mean yeah Halo 2 online was a big thing for me whilst growing up and it took alot of my time =P So I will miss it, but we have moved on to 3, ODST and now soon Reach but you can play the single player campaign and still be amazed. Now if Bungie/343 Industries/Waypoint were to support the single campaign maybe Halo 2 could live on hell even Halo CE could as well. *hint* *hint*

No game will ever equal Halo 2's online experience. That's why we say RIP Halo 2, because it's online experience(and Campaign) were...words can't describe it. I have to say, I've never had more fond memories than in Halo 2. Ever since 6th grade I started playing Halo(I'm a senior). I use to always go to my neighbors house and we would all just play Halo CE, and eventually Halo 2 everyday after school until night. Then he got live...you know what happens next of course. Some may say, "It's only a video game", but if I could go back I would still play Halo 2 all over again. On April 15th, 2010 a piece of me died along with Halo 2. I won't forget the best memories. All because of Bungie. [Edited on 04.16.2010 5:42 PM PDT]