Halo 2 Auto Update version 1.1
- April 18, 2005 17:01 PM PST
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Today, Xbox Live Halo 2 players should receive an Auto Update. Halo 2 version 1.1 includes some enormous enhancements to anti-cheating technology and gameplay balance. It's mostly good news.
Lucky Halo 2 fans are finally getting their wish: Bungie's releasing a bunch of new multiplayer maps for Halo 2. But in an added bonus, Bungie is releasing Halo 2 1.1, the game's first major Auto-Update. The patch focuses on fixing Xbox Live cheating, but there will be some significant gameplay adjustments designed to make Halo 2's gameplay feel a bit more like Halo 1. And to commemorate the occasion, they'll be resetting the Xbox Live leader boards. The enhancements should kick in tonight. Huzzah!First and foremost, Bungie's 1.1 Auto Update strikes a major blow against growing Xbox Live cheating. All the major hacks, cheats and exploits were addressed. Most notably:
- Players can no longer teleport around levels by disconnecting their modems
- Energy Sword users can no longer fly over long distances
- CTF players can no longer bounce flags, or steal flags through walls
Bungie has also upgraded their software to automatically detect and ban cheating players. Furthermore, Bungie will enforce even stiffer punishment against cheaters, including Xbox Live bans and even Bungie.net bans. Cheaters will be thrust out of the Bungie community; from the forums to the leader boards. Hopefully, these new steps will significantly affect Xbox Live cheating, which has ramped up in recent months.
For the sake of gameplay balancing, Bungie also made some subtle weapon tweaks. Unfortunately, they're not as extensive as you might have hoped. There were some big disappointments, most notably the fact that the Needler is still weak and nerfy. The designers experimented with boosting the Needler's damage, but felt that its dual-wield mode made it overpowering, so they ultimately left it alone. Don't expect any noticeable improvements with the Plasma Rifle, either--it's still strictly a support-class weapon.
The biggest gameplay news is that Bungie boosted the effectiveness of grenades. Frag grenades now inflict a bit more damage, and explode a few milliseconds faster. Plasma grenades received an ever larger damage boost, and can now wipe out an armored Spartan with one blast. This greatly enhanced the game's tactical feel, and brought grenades back to the forefront as a major offensive (and defensive) tool. They once again dictate the pace and movement of a firefight.
Melee combat also received a massive upgrade. Previously, you needed to smack a shielded enemy three or four times to kill him. Now, as in the first Halo, two melee hits will almost always crush a fully-shielded opponent. This melee boost made close-range fights much more fun. The damage adjustment was quite noticeable--if your enemy had a partially-drained shield, you could often even kill him with just one blow. As before, melee blows from behind still kill with one hit. But now, jumping melee blows also kill with just one hit. That's right, folks--jumping melee attacks are now officially devastating!
In a nice surprise, the Brute Shot received a big damage boost, making it one of the better weapons in the game for medium-range butchery. The Brute Shot's deadly grenades now kill in just two shots, making the gun almost twice as powerful as it was in the last version. And the Brute Shot's massive blade makes it a melee killing machine; one slice will usually do the job.
Other, subtler gameplay tweaks were discussed. Dual-wield combos received some slight adjustments to damage, primarily to frontal assault-style combos. The SMG/Plasma Rifle combo and the SMG/Plasma Pistol overcharge combo saw slight damage reductions. Don't freak--the changes were barely noticeable. Dual Magnums also received a small but noticeable fix regarding headshot damage, so they're no longer as overwhelmingly powerful. In general, one got the feeling that the overall goal of the gameplay tweaking seemed to be to reduce everyone's reliance on dual-wield combos. This made finesse-oriented guns like the Battle Rifle stand out more than ever (and it helped that Battle Rifles were placed prominently in most of the new maps).
Don't expect any noticeable tweaks to any of the other weapons. Aside from a few adjustments, the grenade and melee enhancement make up the most dramatic changes in version 1.1. The adjustments give Halo 2 the feeling of the first Halo, and are likely to please fans. When asked about future Halo 2 updates, Bungie seemed to suggest that there would likely not be any future weapon balancing changes, unless new exploits popped up. Future updates will probably focus on more anti-cheating measures.
