We’ve all heard the story a thousand times over.

An unstoppable force hell-bent on destroying humanity is heading toward Earth, and nothing can get in its way except for one man with a never-ending supply of bullets and no past.

Take this story line, apply some body armor, creative weapons, a handful of vehicles and a ton of nasty-looking alien creatures, and you have the recipe for Microsoft’s upcoming juggernaut “Halo 2.”

“As far as video games go, there is a lot of anticipation,” says Nick Zabeli, freshman in mechanical engineering. “This is the biggest release of all time.”

Zabeli makes up one-fourth of one of Iowa State’s best “Halo” teams and has been playing the game since high school. Between him and his teammates Matt Dunsmore, sophomore in pre-business; Mike Schmitz, sophomore in animal ecology; and Eric Oster, sophomore in aerospace engineering, they have racked up a considerable amount of time saving the world from the vicious onslaught of the Covenant, the game’s blood-lusting alien baddies.

“If you add up the time from every video game I’ve ever played and multiplied it by three, it won’t add up to the amount of time I’ve played ‘Halo,'” Zabeli says.

“We’d play from six at night until four in the morning,” Oster says.

Although a 10-hour “Halo” binge may seem excessive to the lay person, to the battle-hardened “Halo” veteran, it’s almost common.

“Halo,” developed by Bungie Studios, is one of the few games that has been able to keep gamers’ attention for years after its original release, spawning a diehard fan base and even bringing life to two “Halo” clubs in Ames, the Uber-Elite (or UB3r-L33t) and the ISU Halo Club.

“I started it last October,” says Mike Boxleiter, sophomore in computer engineering and ISU Halo club president. “A lot of us on my floor played ‘Halo,’ and I wanted to find good players who wanted to play, too.”

Although there are hundreds of first-person shooter games on the market, Boxleiter says what has helped “Halo” rise to dominance was its introduction of player-controlled vehicles into the first-person shooter format and its attention to details in the tactical aspect of the game.

“It’s not a run-and-gun game,” Oster says. “If you don’t want to die you don’t have to, you can duck or hide. In ‘Bond’, you could get the AK and run into a room and kill everybody. You can’t do that in ‘Halo.'”

The attention to weapon balancing in the game has enticed gamers, preventing players from winning solely based on the weapons they use.

“Most first-person shooters have a weapon that will dominate,” Zabeli says. “In ‘Halo,’ a good player with a plasma pistol could beat a good player with an assault rifle.”

Intense multiplayer options in “Halo” offer gamers plenty of opportunities to test their might in elegantly crafted multiplayer maps that can pit up to 16 people against each other in a merciless bloodbath, Zabeli says. The fan-approved multiplayer has kept people coming back to “Halo,” but Zabeli says its engaging story line also sets it apart from the rest.

“Halo” fans who crave more of the saga of the game’s lone hero, known only as the Master Chief, will certainly appreciate Bungie’s attempt to immerse the player into the story through the lush visual effects and the addition of new weapons, vehicles and enemies added to the already successful “Halo” format.

The story in “Halo 2” finds the Master Chief returning to Earth to find his bitter enemies, the Covenant, still alive and ready for a second round of sci-fi carnage that promises to make their first encounter seem like a schoolyard shoving match.

This time however, Master Chief is joined by a small group of marines and a few new toys, including submachine guns, energy swords and carbines to help eliminate the hoards of invading aliens.

“It’s not going to revolutionize games; it’s just more ‘Halo,’ and that’s what I’m after,” Boxleiter says. “Keep the gameplay dynamics the same.”

“Halo 2,” which will be officially released Tuesday, comes at a time when the first-person shooter market is saturated with highly anticipated sequels. Among the game’s competitors are “Doom 3” and the upcoming “Half-Life 2” — each eagerly awaited by gaming fans worldwide. Zabeli says “Half-Life 2” is an especially big threat to “Halo’s” success because it might divide the holiday shoppers.

“They’re both fucking huge,” Zabeli says. “As far as graphics are concerned, ‘Halo’ is probably better.”

Although it remains to be seen if “Halo 2” can duplicate the success of its predecessor, which sold 5 million copies, it’s safe to say retailers are expecting the game to sell well.

Several stores, including Gamestop in North Grand Mall and Hastings, 620 Lincoln Way, are having midnight releases as well as pre-ordering that guarantee a copy to fans who are not willing to leave their gaming fate to chance.

“We’ll probably go down there about 11, get it, and play all night,” Oster says.

The following stores are offering midnight releases of “Halo 2:”

Hastings,

620 Lincoln Way

Gamestop,

North Grand Mall

Pre-ordering

Gamestop: Last day is Nov. 8

Pre-ordering

Best Buy, 1220 S. Duff Ave.: Last day is Nov. 8