I Played Halo 2 Before the Rest of the World and Almost Reported the Abrupt Ending as a Bug
Halo 2's ending is so abrupt that, back in 2004, I thought it was a game-breaking bug and almost reported it to Bungie.
In 2004, Halo 2 was the most anticipated video game of all time. The author, Ryan McCaffrey, was one of the first people outside of Bungie's walls to play the sequel. He played Halo 2 behind closed doors at Microsoft's booth at E3 and returned to play the entire campaign with Rob Smith, the OXM editor-in-chief. They were both given private Xboxes inside a storage closet, with headphones to prevent any spoilers.
When they reached the final level, the credits rolled unexpectedly, leading McCaffrey to believe it was a bug. He kept quiet about it, not wanting to spoil the surprise for Rob, who was also playing the game. Later, they discussed the issue with a Bungie employee, who said that it was meant to be a "final Earth mission," hinting at the game's surprising conclusion.
Written by urgent.news from IGN's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
