This vehicle seems similar in shape, size and design to cruisers referred to as "CCS" class by Cortana in Halo 1, such as the Truth and Reconciliation, which crashed on the surface of the ringworld in Halo 1 and was temporarily a prison for Captain Keyes before his rescue by the Master Chief and Cortana.

The Wraith is a Covenant hover tank. In Halo 1 it had only one form of armament, a powerful, long-range plasma mortar that was just as, if not more, effective against Covenant units as against humans and the Master Chief. These tanks also had a habit of running over their support ground troops. Wraiths were not pilotable by the Master Chief in Halo 1. Once their pilots were killed, the vehicle was useless, as with Banshees and Ghosts. Sniping a Wraith pilot before he entered the vehicle left the Ghost intact and harmless, but still useless. The most effective weapons against Wraiths were rocket launchers and the Warthog's LAAG cannon. In addition to the mortar, in Halo 2 it appears as if the Wraith also has two automatic plasma cannons, probably similar to those on the Banshee and Ghost. This will probably mean slightly different strategies when facing them than in the first game. The Wraith vehicle, while slow, does have a Boost mode.

The Phantom appears to be a rapid attack unit that also carries ground troops, and may end up functioning as a replacement to the original game's unnamed dropships, which have not yet been seen in any Halo 2 footage. Two Brutes drop out of the back of one during the E3 2003 realtime demo, to board a Warthog and kill the driver and passenger.

While only slightly different in appearance from its Halo 1 forebear, the Ghost in Halo 2 is also actually quite different. Like other vehicles, it is now partially destructible. Rather than a single explosion that renders the vehicle unusuable and the driver dead, like other vehicles, the Ghost can be wrecked in stages.

It also has the boost feature, activated by using the left trigger; this causes the Ghost to accelerate faster, but the twin plasma cannons cannot be fired in this mode.

The ghost can also be "boarded", allowing other players to approach it at a low enough speed, eject the driver and take over the vehicle, TJ-Hooker style.

The Pelican dropship, so famously piloted in the first installment by Foe Hammer, can carry troops, weaponry, as well as a single Warthog jeep. Once rumored to be pilotable in-game, although that is currently unconfirmed and now unlikely. In the first game, all the human vehicles were indestructible, as were Covenant dropships. Vehicle destructibility has been added into Halo 2, but it is still unknown whether or not dropships are included.

The Warthog is a four-wheel drive combat vehicle. It holds at least one driver and two passengers, one who mans a rear-mounted gun, which can be a rocket launcher, a chain gun, or a Gauss gun.

In the first game, the Warthog was indestructible, as were all human vehicles, both in the single-player campaign and in multiplayer. In Halo 2, it can be destroyed in stages, killing or wounding the occupants and other nearby units.

Other configurations (not shown) forego the rear-mounted gun and instead carry extra passengers.

The Scorpion tank made difficult sections of the first game seem like shooting fish in a barrel, with only Wraith tanks and Banshee flyers posing any serious danger. In multiplayer, using it was more of a tradeoff, as the tank could be slowed by the effects of plasma weapons, and the driver was vulnerable to being sniped, as are Warthog drivers.

In Halo 2, that trend continues; although the Scorpion cannot be simply boarded like the other vehicles, it is possible to jump on the tank and melee the driver.

The image appeared on Halo2.com; at the time, it was speculated that this was an orbiting space station of human, rather than Covenant or Forerunner design.

In the released game, the Malta is a station similar to the Cairo that has a MAC gun and is part of Earth's orbital defenses.