"Halo 2" expands the Master Chief's already substantial arsenal with powerful new weapons, many pried from the twitching claws of his defeated enemies. This sequel also increases Halo's number of drivable vehicles giving players many more ways to speed into battle or explore the game's vast landscapes.

"Halo 2" is powered by a completely new graphics engine designed specifically for the Xbox hardware. "Our code squeezes every drop of power out of the Xbox," said Chris Butcher, one of "Halo 2's" engineering leads. "We're doing dynamic lighting and shadows, per-pixel everything, rendering gigantic, lush environments. The graphical features we're using are so advanced we don't even have buzzwords for them yet."

In addition to an epic single-player campaign, "Halo 2" has support for multiplayer action via split-screen, Xbox "System-Link" and online through Xbox Live.