Bungie evolve Halo 2

News - Multiplayer tweaked

Next Monday, Halo 2 developer Bungie will release a brand new update for the super-popular FPS title via Xbox Live - as well as addressing the ongoing battle with bugs and glitches, the update will also continue the gameplay balancing and tweaking Bungie have deemed appropriate. In the biggest of the three Halo 2 updates to-date, this patch is said to overhaul the multiplayer weapons balancing in a bid to make play more entertaining.

"The scale of the auto-update gave us a unique opportunity - a chance to implement balance changes on certain weapons to smooth out the Xbox Live and System Link experience, and in a couple of cases, we feel, subtly improving the overall feel of the game," Bungie's Frank O'Connor stated.

"Now if someone charges too closely with dual SMGs, you can melee them and actually kill them faster than they can kill you," added designer Jaime Griesemer. "You have viable options again."

The fuses on grenades has also been made shorter, in the hope that last ditch attacks have a greater chance of proving effective. Generally the power of various weapons has also been tweaked. Griesemer commented: "With these changes, the stories get a lot more interesting and varied. Now, sometimes it's 'He came up behind me and started shooting. So I ducked around the corner and dropped a grenade, and he ran right into it!' or 'He jumped down at me just as I was reloading, but he got in too close, and I beat him to death with my battle rifle.' The fights last longer, and each player has several options."

Gamers without the Live service will be able to get this upgrade on June 28th, with additional new multiplayer maps, whilst everyone else can address the balance of play to Bungie's satisfaction from Monday April 18th.