In an interview with Edge magazine, Bungie's Halo 2 technical lead slams the game, complaining that multiplayer was so bad it's unplayable now. Various other complaints about Halo 2 have surfaced, from game design to its notoriously unsatisfying cliffhanger ending. Bungie's brass tries to put the comments in context by talking with 1UP.com.

I think Bungie's rightfully acknowledged that the H2 campaign ended badly, and while the cliffhanger may eventually be forgotten when the gaming goodness that is Halo 3 is released, at the time it was as jarring as it was frustrating.

As for multiplayer, well regardless of what its designers may think, Halo 2 set the gold standard for multiplayer on Xbox (and perhaps every other platform as well). Matchmaking took a little getting used to, but it was consistently better than the tired old game server approach that 99% of games take. It's lobby was excellent, and was perhaps the single biggest reason for the rise of the Geezer Gamer community. It's ability to host 16 players consistently, change rules on the fly, easy clan management, and seamless integration with Xbox Live made it not just a place to play games, but also to hang out, talk and generally do the sort of slow-paced chat-and-play that fits the Geezer mindset.

I have high hopes for Halo 3 multiplayer, but I sincerely hope that these aspects of the game remain -- Halo online is as much about community as it is fragfests.