Halo 2: Amazing New Hi-Res Screens

Check out these downright stunning hi-res screens from Halo 2's multiplayer mode. Fresh details also inside!

Bungie has revealed the latest on Halo 2's astonshingly good multiplayer mode - showing off some drop-dead stunning new hi-res screenshots, as you can see here.

The screenshots reveal some new environments, and Bungie has also been good enough to reveal new details on the levels.

Lockout is the name of one of the new multiplayer levels. "Lockout is popular with the agoraphobic," explains the developer. "Although it's set in the mountains, and features plenty of brisk outdoor battles, there's a ton of narrow, twisty corridors and horrifying shock moments as you run into shotgun blasts. This map features heavily in the Sketch-Frankie official deathmatch battles."

Dark corridors give way to bright courtyards, or the eerie green glow of underground installations. It's a lot bigger than the early map concept art indicates. And certainly more complex. Two central towers make excellent sniping platforms, although close-up battles happen there more often than not.

Bungie continues, "Another cool thing about this level is the audio. When outdoors, you'll hear, in awesome digital surround, wind whistling and howling through the mountaintops. Eerie and tense, it makes sniping a solitary and frightening job. Of course inside, you hear the gentle hum of machinery, or footsteps above as your assailants take the high road. This level has many, many vertical levels, and lots of ways to reach them. Carefully timed jumps can be a tremendous shortcut in Lockout."

Waterworks is "one of those rare maps that kinda works right off the bat," according to the team. "It's a big map, as this concept shot shows, and while at first glance it seems like a huge, mostly outdoor locale (if an enclosed underground cavern can be considered outdoors) there are actually a lot of tunnels, buildings and structures to explore. Even a simple structure like a bridge can make the level seem multi-layered and much more complex.

The flags, when playing CTF on this map, are located inside bunkers and are impervious to aerial attacks, but a back door and a rooftop ramp make each bunker vulnerable to sneak attacks. Of course, Waterworks as it stands, is a great map for Banshee flying and the new Banshee boost feature means that it's often the fastest way from base to base. There are however teleports to add to its complexity. But a long flag run across open ground with Blue Elites in pursuit can be a lonely and terrifying experience.

Burial Mounds is another big outdoor map, and famous for spawning the expression, "He's goin' ribs", says Bungie, "for reasons that will become clear to you on November 9th." It takes place in a narrow red canyon - and that's where the similarities with Blood Gulch end. This one is strewn with wreckage from Covenant attack and makes a great place for vehicle assaults, although the terrain is challenging in places.

"This level too has cool sound effects. Creaking metal, the whoosh of sand blowing through a desert landscape and of course the crunch of boots on the sandy slope above you. The open level is especially good for excellent grenade throwers, since there's plenty of cover and unlimited ways to arc well-placed pineapples, and get bad guys to flee their hidey-holes."

If you missed our extensive Halo 2 multiplayer video coverage, take a look here, and stay tuned for much more as we slowly approach November 9...

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com