The Heretic / Armory / Cairo Station

Yesterday, the Covenant fleet seemed so far away
Now it looks as if they'd like to play
Oh, Earth was safer yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm twice the SPARTAN that I used to be,
With an AI hanging out with me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say.
I shot something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, Halo 1 was such an easy game to play.
Now from the Flood I need to hide away
I should've stood in bed yesterday.

Mm mm mm mm mm.

The part of a Halo 2 level that was shown at E3 in 2003 morphed into what eventually became two levels, Outskirts and Metropolis, roughly divided into Old and New Mombassa, respectively, the city being divided into two parts by a river and connected by a bridge.

The Sword Flying trick was first extensively demonstrated on Metropolis. The procedure for executing it is somewhat complicated; it involves parking a Warthog in an area where a Phantom attacks, targeting the plasma sword on one of the Phantom's turrets, and then waiting until the Phantom has withdrawn before exiting the vehicle. You will be propelled in whatever direction you face; this method can be used to extensively explore the level, including otherwise unreachable areas and is a way to retrieve the Scarab Gun without a Banshee (although you can't get back down with it...)

In multiplayer a variation of the Sword Flying technique exists, but it requires split-second timing and performing it consistently is difficult.

With the sword as your reserve weapon, take another weapon and find a target; a scoped weapon with a reticle that turns red when locked on a target in range, such as the rocket launcher, is preferable.

Then, switch to the sword and pull the trigger. If the switch and pull are timed correctly, you'll perform a lunge attack regardless of the distance between you and the target.