Halo 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Released for the Xbox, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved. The game features a new game engine, added weapons and vehicles, and new multiplayer maps. The game shipped with global multiplayer matchmaking via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In Halo 2's campaign story, the player assumes the roles of both the human Master Chief and the alien Arbiter in a 26th-century conflict between the human United Nations Space Command, the genocidal Covenant, and the parasitic Flood.
