1. Halo 2 (duh)
(2004)
What’s being discontinued: Playing as a Spartan or Elite in up to 10 different matchmaking game types across over 20 different maps.
What we’ll miss: If you have to ask, Halo 2 was the most popular original Xbox Live game, and still is. With over 8 million copies sold worldwide, there was always easily a match to join. Even if you picked up your controller now, you’d still be able to find a good number of people playing, unlike most other original Xbox Live games that have no activity whatsoever. Halo 2 was extremely accessible. People could learn the game really quickly, but it still wouldn’t be so easy that it got boring.
We’re definitely going to miss how creative people got with the custom game types. Some were so good that Bungie added them to Halo 3 (Infection, for example). And while we still got Halo 3 to hold us over until Reach, contrary to what others may think, Halo 2 was just a different game and had such a vast, close-knit community at nearly an MMO-like capacity. People ended up meeting others who would then become close friends either through regular matchmaking or joining clans. Some even end upgetting married.
Even though many Halos have been released since 2, those weren’t at the same caliber either. Halo Wars was a short-lived RTS while ODST’s multiplayer was mainly recycled from Halo 3. At least while we still have Halo 3, we can always reminisce on Zanzibar – er, Last Resort.
Apr 12, 2010
Xbox boss Phil Spencer says there are "no red lines" preventing Microsoft games releasing on PlayStation, but it's too early to make decisions about Halo on PS5
Halo Infinite update rewinds time for Halo 2's birthday, throwing the FPS back 20 years with a nostalgic mode that deletes sprint and adds classic maps
