Contrarian Corner is a feature meant to take a critical look at some recently-released games, a place for a more holistic discussion of titles which have been the recipient of either an abundance of single-minded praise, or an undue amount of criticism. Our intent is not to contradict or undercut our own reviews, but rather to expand the spectrum of discussion on some of the most important games of each year. If you're interested in joining that discussion, keep reading.
Make sure to read Erik Brudvig's Halo: Reach review for IGN's official thoughts on the game. And be forewarned -- if you haven't finished the game, massive spoilers will be discussed below.
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I didn't play Halo in full until 2006. I'd just come back to Los Angeles after two years in Madagascar. I'd moved into a spare bedroom a friend from college had at his apartment in Hollywood. I'd just quit a job at a small movie company after three days because I realized my boss was full of shit, though well-intentioned shit. I was out of money and totally unsure of what I was supposed to do next. I had slowly depleted my savings with the occasional relief of working as an extra and reading scripts for IFC. I had downloaded the Halo demo on the used iMac I'd bought to send resumes and search for job listings. After playing through the demo three times I finally decided to get a full version to catch up with the game that had so dramatically moved shooters forward.
Halo reminded me of the The Wizard of Oz. I'd shot through the feco-viscera of Quake, DOOM, Hexen, and Heretic in college, but I wasn't expecting to start a first person shooter whose main enemy was a furry midget with a conch on it's head. I thought a musical sequence might be about to come to life the first time I heard one of these grunts put his hands up and wobble away from me screaming, "He's a monster!" It was a lovely compliment to the snortling baritone of the Elites' surprised exclamations, "What, what, whaaaaat?!" With a few coordinated pirouettes the game could just as naturally become The Wiz in Space. The sense of exaggeration extended to the gameplay, requiring a literal hosing of bullets to short an enemy's shield before you could do any bodily damage. Levels were built around arenas in which you'd go from hosing to hosing rather than headshot to headshot.
It's been nine years since Bungie released the first game, and in the interim they've worked on nothing else, refining this absurd world of munchkins, purple armor, and elastic bullet streams. Halo: Reach is the end of all that. The neon theatricality has become a memento mori set against a perpetual sunset lowering itself over hardscrabble mountains. There are still moments of wonder, like the sense of scale in the launch sequence preceding the space combat mission, or the moments of jet pack platforming around the white towers of New Alexandria. But the pleasures are put in the uncomfortably tight spaces between the colony's collapsing architecture. Most of the story missions pivot on a point of failure. The fighting in New Alexandria isn't to turn back the invaders, but stall them long enough to evacuate the innocents. Likewise, the extreme gamble of going into space and docking on a Covenant ship is a strategic hail mary that succeeds but the scale of its success is quickly put into minuscule context when a new armada of Covenant ships subsequently come into orbit.
Reach likewise plays a game of Six Little Spartans with Noble Team, fingering each squad member for death as the story sinks downward. You don't play as Master Chief, but you might as well be. Noble Six isn't quite as dexterous as Johnny Halo, but the differences are marginal. You might be able to absorb one less bullet or not jump quite as high, but you've still basically wearing a super hero armor suit. Six isn't outspoken either, which is a vapid choice for the story being told. Gordon Freeman can get away with not talking because he's surrounded with spastics who react to him in such identifiable ways that you can at least begin to read personality traits into him. When Master Chief played the strong and quiet type it felt like a tactical dodge, not wanting to tempt audience disbelief by giving him the wrong voice.
Reach is specifically focused on squad personality, and appropriately so. Killing off six main characters is an utter waste if there aren't any personality traits through which their losses can be measured. Lose the funny guy and suddenly the group doesn't laugh so much any more. Lose the fearless leader and everyone squabbles about what to do next. The gang in Noble Team isn't as dramatically fanned out as that, they're more variations on the self-assured alpha gunner. And at their center is another mute. In the real world stoicism is a bad sign. Sociability is a sign of self-confidence and recognition of how vital close friendships can be. The quiet ones are, we fear, the sociopaths. The brooding poops who one day snap and go on a stabbing spree when someone says "margarine" one time too many. I suppose it's apt that you play a silent lurker given the volume of killing you'll have to do, but it still feels unnecessarily dull. Bungie had the courage to introduce lustrous purples and greens into the video game color palate, I don't understand why giving a character a powerful voice both in and out of combat remains such a risk.
It's especially conspicuous after ODST so effectively used its colorful characterizations and coupled with subtle links to gameplay. Gone is the labored wheeze that signaled damage in ODST. I'd think a subtle reinforcement of genuine pain running beneath the gunfights would enhance the power of the story and its myriad sacrifices. After a decade working on the same essential game concept, Bungie might have done more to intensify its themes in gameplay, rather than leaving them marooned to the cutscenes and the smoky orange sadness of the skybox.
There are a lot of fantastically dramatic moments in the story. Scenes of someone realizing hope is lost but deciding to stay behind and die so the group can continue a little further occur again and again. The ending scene after the credits is great as far as it goes, the game finally leaves players in an arena they won't be able to get out of. The Pillar of Autumn has Cortana's AI kernel safely cruising towards Halo and Noble Six is now officially expendable. You get control of her for another few minutes as waves of Covenant come for you. There's only enough ammo and health to prolong death, but not prevent it. Before you're completely overrun the game shows your visor cracked permanently, giving you a literally shattered view of the world as you scramble for just another few minutes.
A few missions earlier, one of your squadmates dies in a nearly identical scenario on a covenant ship. Later another character takes a plane on a suicide run into a Scarab to create a small opening. One teammate is sniped just at the moment where everything seemed like it might have been okay. If you're interested in emotional gameplay these scenarios are over-ripe. And in Reach they're all cutscenes. The lone example of theme and feeling trumping competitive interest happens after the end credits have finished. The only way this could have been a bigger cop out is if they'd reserved that five minute section for DLC. If a game is supposed to be about tragedy and loss, it ought to be about that in the moment to moment gameplay. Reach should have been built around 30 seconds of failure and pain instead of 30 seconds of fun. It's still the same 30 seconds of fun but the art team has been given a huskier color palate, which is somehow intended to transform the system into something it's not.
Reach is the most feature-rich and varied Halo game, but it's hard not to wonder if the difference between it and the original is enough to merit a decade of tinkering. There's Forge, Firefight, 4 person co-op, a leveling system that ties to character customization, and a big array of multiplayer maps and options. It makes the small list of bullet points from the first game seem tragically incomplete. Reach is as much a perpetual environment as it is an individual experience. It's not an escapist story, but an escapist world that aims to be habitable in perpetuity. It's a magical fishbowl that's always rearranging itself, rewarding loyal players with a simultaneous sense of familiarity and newness.
I finished Reach in two sittings, led from one compulsive pleasure-puzzle to the next. There were no easy places to step away, each lull put some suggestive variation of shooting just over the next ridge. When I thought about starting the game again the next day, trying a harder difficulty of dipping into one of the other modes I couldn't imagine what else there would be to get from the game. I've circle-straffed, tossed grenades and rushed enemies for a finishing melee attack, hidden nervously behind boxes waiting for my shields to regenerate. Thinking of doing it all again, in a slightly different order, and with slightly different objectives and rewards didn't seem like much of an escape. It was starting to feel constrictive, discovery was becoming repetition. Experimentation with new ideas was instead becoming confirmation that most of the old ideas still work.
More Halo: Reach Opinions
Optimism is at the heart of escapism. All great works of escapism are about self-affirmation, which is central to Halo and the idea of Master Chief. It's a big, gaudy, interactive "Yes we can." This was hypnotic when I was broke, out of work, and had no idea what I would do next in my life. It was an irresistible experience, being cut off on a strange planet, with its indifferent sprawl and inscrutable alien architecture, fighting against enemies who seemed genuinely alive and unpredictable. I knew I'd win in the end, but I didn't know how. So I kept coming back, chipping away at the story, learning a new tactic with each arena and its different arrangement of enemies, weapons, and vehicles.
I often think about what I get in return for my time with video games. I've found the most compulsively playable games are also the ones that leave me feeling the most used and hollow afterward. When I think back on what I did in Reach, it's hard to know why I did any of it. Nothing connects, the patterns that emerge from one arena to the next don't build towards a grand confrontation. Nor do they truthfully connect to an emotional idea other than the laughing gas giggle of winning at something for 30 seconds and then repeating it again in a slightly different context. The alien wonder and elastic heroism of the original have become rote, a formula of Greek symbols without a hypothesis to prove.
I hate playing games with other people. Board games, card games, word games--they all seem like a waste of time, an exploitation of our competitive distractibility. It's built into the names we have for them, they're pastimes categorized by their efficiency in distracting us. When this ethos comes in video game form, built as a persistent playroom that continually refreshes itself, it feels uncomfortably like jumping into oblivion. There's something sinister about Reach and its repetition of the now wheezing theme of heroism and self-sacrifice. It's become an elaborate delusion that makes it possible for an excitable and creative group of millions to yoke themselves into a virtual community for the primary purpose of accelerating the passage of time. It's a neon prison so perfectly constructed its prisoners come to their cells with pleasure and don't need to be locked in. And make no mistake, this prison is getting hungrier. It wants you too. One more round. One more mission. One more imperative to play the hero in a fishbowl, so you won't think about how much oxygen is left in the water. They might change the water and add a castle, but you'll eventually notice you're still swimming in circles.
Showing posts with label halo 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label halo 4. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Halo Reach Out-Sells COD Modern Warfare
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| Halo Reach Surpasses Sales Of COD In Fist Two Weeks |
The Halo series has seen a lot of ups and downs.
The original "Halo" was a bland first-person-shooter that was saved by its multiplayer mode.
"Halo 2" was given a fantastic redesign and was one of the most beautiful games to come out on the original Xbox, and, even though the ending was non-existent, the story until that point was top notch, especially with the introduction of the alien Brutes.
Its online playability brought opponents together online in a way that had been unheard of on consoles at the time.
While "Halo 3" didn't lose any of the excellence from its predecessor, it didn't really add anything to the series, and things started to go downhill there, with the less than stellar reception of "Halo Wars" and the criticism aimed at "Halo 3: ODST's" short story mode and lack of real multiplayer update.
I am proud to say that "Halo: Reach" is the best entry in the series yet.
The game tells the story of Reach, the colony previously featured in the book "Halo: Fall of Reach," a bastion of humanity in a universe where the religious Covenant have wiped out almost all Earth colonies.
Anyone who has read the book knows it doesn't end too well for humanity, and the events of Reach will lead directly into the tail-whooping that the Covenant will receive from Master Chief in the original "Halo."
Unlike the book though, "Halo: Reach" follows the story of six new characters, Noble Team, a group of super-soldiers who, when sent to quell what is thought to be a rebellion, instead first encounter the alien enemy.
Each member of Noble Team is an unique individual with a fully fleshed-out personality, which is interesting in a FPS where typically all characters are pretty gung ho about shooting things in the face.
My personal favorite is the tranquil giant Jorge, but there are also skull-emblazoned, tough guy Emile, leader Carter, tech-savy tough girl Kat, talkative sniper Jun and the player's character.
What's nice is that the player can fully design their in-game avatar, choosing from sets of various armors, emblems and colors.
As players earn points in multiplayer and go up in rank, more armor types become available to them to create a truly unique character.
Unique character voices can also be purchased using the collectibles points, featuring the game's original characters and series favorites like Sgt. Johnson, Gunnery Sergeant Buck and Master Chief himself.
It is the little things that make the game go a long way.
While the story mode is fantastic, and by the end you will care for your teammates, it is the multiplayer that makes this game worth it.
It allows players to play just about any mode featured in a previous Halo.
For those who didn't care for the new abilities granted in "Halo: Reach's" beta earlier this year, more classic game modes are accessible as well.
The matchmaking is great too, with players offered a vote before each match as to what level they will be fighting on, using what game mode and what kind of abilities players will have access to.
My personal favorite is Swat Mode on Team Slayer, where players are only given a rifle and a pistol and they have no shields.
Every head shot is an instant kill and it is glorious.
However, my favorite addition to the game comes in the form of a so called "psychiatric analysis."
It is the online settings the player would like to use, whether or not they want to play for fun or to win or with a mature or childish crowd.
It is this addition that may diminish the stigma with playing video games on Xbox Live.
Those with an Xbox 360 should already have this game, but, for those who think they're too cool or don't want to be disappointed again, trust me on this and go out and buy it.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Halo Reach Leaves Some Fans Hanging
Halo had a great series, but is Halo Reach the end to the series? Many people say no, that some other game studio will pick up the Halo series again. Bungie has set up for a game studio to make Halo 4, the end cut scene for Halo 3 (Only Legendary ending) showed the ship Master Chief and Cortana on, flew though another Halo ring. One question is, will the game be good, if Bungie is not making it? That is a good question, but Ensemble Studios made Halo Wars, and that was an OK game. There are rumors going around already about another Halo game being in production. Some rumors are that the next Halo game will be called Halo Forerunner. Those rumors are just rumors so anything can happen. This is the last game for Bungie, but is it the last game for the Halo Series?
And so it comes to this. Bungie has left the Microsoft stable and joined up with Activision to start an entirely new franchise. After the success of Halo, you can bet on Bungie coming up with a formidable title for Activision to add to its stable. However, before then we need to finish the Halo story.
Halo: Reach is a love letter from Bungie to the fans; this much is clear. It takes everything learned over the past 10 years since Halo 1 and puts it into one of the most value packed games around. Halo was getting a bit old and stale, especially with ODST, but Reach reminds us of just why Halo is as big as it is.
In what is becoming a popular trend with video game sequels, Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original game. That’s right, no master chief and no guilty spark to tear your hair out over. Instead, the game feels like a reboot of the franchise. By doing this, Bungie has been able to experiment with the series and it has paid off in spades. Halo: Reach includes some of the best gameplay you are likely to encounter this year and takes the series to the next level.
Reach is the home planet of the UNSC. Reach must be defended. With that in mind, you begin the campaign in a squadron tasked with defending Reach from the rapidly advancing enemy. The defence of Reach is where the game revolves, but as you would expect, the storyline contains many twists and turns before the absolute epic conclusion that is fitting for such a popular series. Halo: Reach will have you begging Bungie for more. They say that going out on top is the best way to go when you are popular, and this is exactly what Bungie has managed with this title.
The Halo gameplay itself remains much the same, so if you haven’t liked Halo in the past, it is unlikely that you will warm to Reach. It still remains a case of moving from A to B while taking down a few enemies. There are no puzzles in the game with the action purely focused on the combat. Considering the advancements in technology and gameplay we have seen in the past decade, it is somewhat surprising that Halo can remain so compelling, but it does and you will find it very hard to put the controller down before finishing the game.
One thing that is clear during the campaign, however, is that the war in Halo has changed. No longer are you in small battles; sometimes lots of enemies are present on screen which brings home the epic nature of each battle. The cut scenes have also taken this to the next level with five or ten pelicans being displayed rather than just one. This goes hand in hand with Bungies new engine that has allowed them to make the biggest maps ever seen in a Halo game, and just increases the vast feel of the campaign mode.
If we had to offer one knock against the campaign, it would have to be the length. It is quite short and sweet, but from minute one to the end you are enthralled. ‘Just one more mission’ you will be uttering as the clock strikes three in the morning. The campaign also wraps up the series properly. Many times we see franchises end with lots of cliffhangers that are never solved and people argue on internet forums for no good reason about them. Halo: Reach does not do this.
Some Complaints and criticism has been planted on Bungies New Launch Of Halo Reach because of the dramatic changes that we ere made form Halo 3. These changes were made to acclimate the mass of gamers, taking out the opinions and wishes of some hardcore Halo 3 fans. In my opinion, Halo Reach was mass- marketed for all gamers not just the Halo fans which has left some legends in Halo 3 relinquished form playing Halo Reach. I talked to Social BTB great Crazycrackhead, and he told me, "This game is now for nubs, the game has become too strategic and not enough about skill." I agree on his behalf in part, because the sprint and sword combination is mega cheap and the maps don't have a surplus of mid-range and long-range weapons making close-combat the norm. So, this leaves me to say, did Bungie go too far in creating Halo Reach? Or Is The new versatility and flexibility for other gamers good for the franchise? In all honest, I believe that the fundamentals of Halo Was too recklessly stripped and not enough to allow for Halo Reach to be better Than Halo 3 or 2. When we see that a new game in a series is coming out we are expecting better game play but with the same basic components only ostracized to acclimate a better game. In Halo Reach' case, the game was changed too dramatically causing Halo 3 Fans to fall of the bandwagon for the Halo series. So, sorry those of you who feel that Halo Reach pails in comparison to the previous halos but until Halo 4 [expected in 2011] than you have to play Halo Reach or venture off into RPG's/ COD. Halo Reach has drastically changed the main components but have added in many new elements that make the game a whole lot fairer, intense, fast-paced, and attractive to all gamers.
Many things within the actual gameplay have been improved. There are new weapons on offer and not being Master Chief means that you are more vulnerable on the battlefield. Recharging health is gone with health packs littered throughout the world, and the shields are not as powerful as the green Spartans. You still can just run up to enemies and shoot them rather than take cover and hide, but nowhere near as much as you would with Chief.
Some of the new weapons are not used enough in our opinion, such as the option to call in airstrikes. It is clear that Bungie has looked at another of the most popular franchises around; Modern Warfare, and built what makes that game so good into its own megastar engine. Epic cut scenes, huge explosions, emotional stories and fast, quick gunplay is the order of the day in Halo: Reach and you will definitely want more than one helping.
However, perhaps the biggest improvement you will notice to Halo straight up is the graphics engine. Rebuilt from scratch, the engine allows the battles to seem more epic and a lot more graphic fidelity. In a word for Halo players, Reach is gorgeous. Gone are the blocky style textures that have no place in today's High Definition world. They have been replaced with crisp, improved textures and weapons models. The world just feels bigger and better and the graphics engine has a lot to do with this. Another key point is that Bungie has mixed up the gameplay this time around with space combat and flying levels. To take a risk with the last game they will produce in a series is a risk, especially with so many fans, but this risk has paid off.
Once you move past the campaign mode, the rest of the game is also just as jam packed. Firefight returns from ODST with more weapons and maps than ever before. Firefight is a survival mode where wave after wave of enemies are thrown at you individually or in a group and until you succumb to the forces, you fight for survival. This is one of the more popular game modes on Xbox Live due to the fast paced nature of the format.
Aside from Firefight, the game modes previously seen in Halo 3 make a welcome return. Bungies award winning party system has been retained as well, allowing you to pair up quickly for games, and it still remains the standard in the industry for how multiplayer gaming on Xbox Live should be done. You can play capture the flag, death match, slayer etc. just like the previous games and of course with modifiers that allow you to customise the games even further.
Halo has always been known for its multiplayer and this is no exception. Reach also heralds the return of the Forge game mode. Forge for those who didn’t play Halo 3, allows you to build your own levels and then play those maps amongst friends. The feature has been refined even further allowing you to build bigger and better maps in Bungies new Halo engine.
Halo: Reach is a game that any Xbox 360 owner really needs to own. It represents one of the best value titles to be released in 2010 with the content available and takes Halo to a status where as a gaming franchise it will probably not be forgotten. Bungie has managed something that few entertainment artists manage to do. They have gone out on a high and delivered what amounts to be the best game in the franchise to date. There will be more Halo games no doubt, but it won’t be the same. Bungie had the magic touch on this franchise and like Call of Duty, when built by someone else it most likely won’t feel the same. Goodbye (Bungie) Halo, we’ll miss you, but at least you went out on top.
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| Halo Reach Disappoints Some Halo Fans |
And so it comes to this. Bungie has left the Microsoft stable and joined up with Activision to start an entirely new franchise. After the success of Halo, you can bet on Bungie coming up with a formidable title for Activision to add to its stable. However, before then we need to finish the Halo story.
Halo: Reach is a love letter from Bungie to the fans; this much is clear. It takes everything learned over the past 10 years since Halo 1 and puts it into one of the most value packed games around. Halo was getting a bit old and stale, especially with ODST, but Reach reminds us of just why Halo is as big as it is.
In what is becoming a popular trend with video game sequels, Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original game. That’s right, no master chief and no guilty spark to tear your hair out over. Instead, the game feels like a reboot of the franchise. By doing this, Bungie has been able to experiment with the series and it has paid off in spades. Halo: Reach includes some of the best gameplay you are likely to encounter this year and takes the series to the next level.
Reach is the home planet of the UNSC. Reach must be defended. With that in mind, you begin the campaign in a squadron tasked with defending Reach from the rapidly advancing enemy. The defence of Reach is where the game revolves, but as you would expect, the storyline contains many twists and turns before the absolute epic conclusion that is fitting for such a popular series. Halo: Reach will have you begging Bungie for more. They say that going out on top is the best way to go when you are popular, and this is exactly what Bungie has managed with this title.
The Halo gameplay itself remains much the same, so if you haven’t liked Halo in the past, it is unlikely that you will warm to Reach. It still remains a case of moving from A to B while taking down a few enemies. There are no puzzles in the game with the action purely focused on the combat. Considering the advancements in technology and gameplay we have seen in the past decade, it is somewhat surprising that Halo can remain so compelling, but it does and you will find it very hard to put the controller down before finishing the game.
One thing that is clear during the campaign, however, is that the war in Halo has changed. No longer are you in small battles; sometimes lots of enemies are present on screen which brings home the epic nature of each battle. The cut scenes have also taken this to the next level with five or ten pelicans being displayed rather than just one. This goes hand in hand with Bungies new engine that has allowed them to make the biggest maps ever seen in a Halo game, and just increases the vast feel of the campaign mode.
If we had to offer one knock against the campaign, it would have to be the length. It is quite short and sweet, but from minute one to the end you are enthralled. ‘Just one more mission’ you will be uttering as the clock strikes three in the morning. The campaign also wraps up the series properly. Many times we see franchises end with lots of cliffhangers that are never solved and people argue on internet forums for no good reason about them. Halo: Reach does not do this.
Some Complaints and criticism has been planted on Bungies New Launch Of Halo Reach because of the dramatic changes that we ere made form Halo 3. These changes were made to acclimate the mass of gamers, taking out the opinions and wishes of some hardcore Halo 3 fans. In my opinion, Halo Reach was mass- marketed for all gamers not just the Halo fans which has left some legends in Halo 3 relinquished form playing Halo Reach. I talked to Social BTB great Crazycrackhead, and he told me, "This game is now for nubs, the game has become too strategic and not enough about skill." I agree on his behalf in part, because the sprint and sword combination is mega cheap and the maps don't have a surplus of mid-range and long-range weapons making close-combat the norm. So, this leaves me to say, did Bungie go too far in creating Halo Reach? Or Is The new versatility and flexibility for other gamers good for the franchise? In all honest, I believe that the fundamentals of Halo Was too recklessly stripped and not enough to allow for Halo Reach to be better Than Halo 3 or 2. When we see that a new game in a series is coming out we are expecting better game play but with the same basic components only ostracized to acclimate a better game. In Halo Reach' case, the game was changed too dramatically causing Halo 3 Fans to fall of the bandwagon for the Halo series. So, sorry those of you who feel that Halo Reach pails in comparison to the previous halos but until Halo 4 [expected in 2011] than you have to play Halo Reach or venture off into RPG's/ COD. Halo Reach has drastically changed the main components but have added in many new elements that make the game a whole lot fairer, intense, fast-paced, and attractive to all gamers.
Many things within the actual gameplay have been improved. There are new weapons on offer and not being Master Chief means that you are more vulnerable on the battlefield. Recharging health is gone with health packs littered throughout the world, and the shields are not as powerful as the green Spartans. You still can just run up to enemies and shoot them rather than take cover and hide, but nowhere near as much as you would with Chief.
Some of the new weapons are not used enough in our opinion, such as the option to call in airstrikes. It is clear that Bungie has looked at another of the most popular franchises around; Modern Warfare, and built what makes that game so good into its own megastar engine. Epic cut scenes, huge explosions, emotional stories and fast, quick gunplay is the order of the day in Halo: Reach and you will definitely want more than one helping.
However, perhaps the biggest improvement you will notice to Halo straight up is the graphics engine. Rebuilt from scratch, the engine allows the battles to seem more epic and a lot more graphic fidelity. In a word for Halo players, Reach is gorgeous. Gone are the blocky style textures that have no place in today's High Definition world. They have been replaced with crisp, improved textures and weapons models. The world just feels bigger and better and the graphics engine has a lot to do with this. Another key point is that Bungie has mixed up the gameplay this time around with space combat and flying levels. To take a risk with the last game they will produce in a series is a risk, especially with so many fans, but this risk has paid off.
Once you move past the campaign mode, the rest of the game is also just as jam packed. Firefight returns from ODST with more weapons and maps than ever before. Firefight is a survival mode where wave after wave of enemies are thrown at you individually or in a group and until you succumb to the forces, you fight for survival. This is one of the more popular game modes on Xbox Live due to the fast paced nature of the format.
Aside from Firefight, the game modes previously seen in Halo 3 make a welcome return. Bungies award winning party system has been retained as well, allowing you to pair up quickly for games, and it still remains the standard in the industry for how multiplayer gaming on Xbox Live should be done. You can play capture the flag, death match, slayer etc. just like the previous games and of course with modifiers that allow you to customise the games even further.
Halo has always been known for its multiplayer and this is no exception. Reach also heralds the return of the Forge game mode. Forge for those who didn’t play Halo 3, allows you to build your own levels and then play those maps amongst friends. The feature has been refined even further allowing you to build bigger and better maps in Bungies new Halo engine.
Halo: Reach is a game that any Xbox 360 owner really needs to own. It represents one of the best value titles to be released in 2010 with the content available and takes Halo to a status where as a gaming franchise it will probably not be forgotten. Bungie has managed something that few entertainment artists manage to do. They have gone out on a high and delivered what amounts to be the best game in the franchise to date. There will be more Halo games no doubt, but it won’t be the same. Bungie had the magic touch on this franchise and like Call of Duty, when built by someone else it most likely won’t feel the same. Goodbye (Bungie) Halo, we’ll miss you, but at least you went out on top.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Second Opinions On Halo Reach
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| Remember Reach |
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| Halo Reach ?Has The Best Gametypes Of Any Online Game |
It's the ending that won me over. Oh, I had some great fun with Halo: Reach, which builds to its finish better than any previous Halo game, but it wasn't the conclusion that put this over the top. This is my favorite Halo campaign.
The bonus level that comes after the lengthy credits perfectly closes out Reach and emphasizes the hopelessness of the situation. Coming into this, Bungie's last Halo title, it was already known that Reach was doomed. Being witness to the planet's demise is a bittersweet reward for nearly a decade of loyalty to the franchise. I've got to admit, the minute Reach ended, I popped in the original Halo and started playing it again. I couldn't help myself.
Multiplayer maps
Some of my favorite Halo missions are in Reach. Including a mission, "Long Night of Solace," which introduces space combat into the series. And while battling above Reach is awesome, the best part comes afterwards, when you board a Covenant Corvette and experience some low-G combat. The sound alone makes this level worth playing.
Then, of course, there's the multiplayer, which is the real bread and butter of Halo. Bungie has been tweaking Halo multiplayer over the years and this seems like the best balance to appease the broadest number of fans. Firefight, for me, is where it's at, and the ability to fully customize this mode is going to have me playing Halo: Reach for months.
I'm a Halo fan. I've loved every game. So it's probably not a shock that I love Halo: Reach. I won't apologize for digging another Halo game. Bungie knows how to make a great first-person shooter. It's a fitting finale for Bungie and hopefully the start of something new and exciting as the series continues under 343 Industries' stewardship.
I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Halo franchise. The universe is extensive and the storytelling is fantastic, but the gameplay is also extremely linear and the graphics always seem behind the curve. Still, I've picked up every Halo game on launch day and played the hell out of it in the months to follow. For me, it's about the experience Bungie works so diligently to create, the epic nature of the story, and the hype and fan culture surrounding Halo games. Halo games are an event, and Halo: Reach has been the greatest thus far.
As I write this, I'm sitting at my desk, and at the back of my mind I'm thinking about how I want to get home as quickly as possible to finish the campaign and see how the story ends. I spent hour after hour last night trying to fight my way to the finish, but before I knew it, it was 1 a.m. and I realized my eyes could no longer bear to gaze upon the screen. So, I reluctantly retired despite being right on the cusp of the crescendo of the story.
Halo in Five Minutes
Few games ever have this type of effect. Usually it's because I can't get invested in the story, but I'm rarely up into all hours of the night playing a game feverishly. But for me, Halo: Reach is all about the story. I love how references and characters of the previous games are interwoven, and how well Bungie has created the drama of a planet under attack. In the Halo universe, the fall of Reach is huge, and Bungie has told the story exceptionally well.
Still, I also found plenty of issues with Halo: Reach. The updated engine looks good, but I wouldn't say it is a staggering improvement over Halo 3, nor does it really hold up against other recent titles, like Uncharted 2. The frame rate drops are also an issue, and they took me out of the experience at times. I also appreciate that Bungie wanted to make Reach a bit more challenging than the previous games, but the relentless waves of foes can be a bit of an annoyance.
But at the end of the day, I'm loving Halo: Reach. Bungie is sending themselves out in style, and there is no question that this is their greatest effort yet. I'm sad to see the end of Bungie's Halo, but I'm sure Microsoft will leave the universe in able hands.
While I could probably gush about Halo: Reach for a few pages, I'd like to instead focus on one of its missions, "Long Night of Solace," which is my favorite mission in the Halo series. This is the space dogfight mission that was revealed at E3 2010, but it doesn't start in space. You begin this mission pushing through waves of Covenant forces on a beach with a full complement of Spartans that can essentially clear the way for you if you just sit back -- although I prefer to sprint ahead and jack a Wraith to flank the enemy. All standard Halo fare. But at the end of the beach, a launch pad awaits, and, as you hop into the Sabre and launch into space, the battlefields of Reach fade as you slip silently into the upper atmosphere.
In space you assume control of the agile Sabre fighter. As different Covenant ships jump into view, the gun batteries of Anchor 9 space station begin to blaze and sounds of radio chatter and dull explosions fill the cockpit, you realize you aren't really playing Halo anymore, but the best Battlestar Galactica episode ever. Few games have tackled space combat as well as Bungie in this brief interlude in Reach -- although Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II for Gamecube immediately springs to mind. It's a game-within-a-game, but it's executed so well that a standalone space shooter from Bungie is now higher than an HD Zelda on my fantasy game list.
Eventually you must disable a large Covenant ship by swooping in and taking shots at its massive engines. This concludes the dogfight, but not the mission. You then land on the disabled ship where you are tasked with clearing out the Covenant forces in low gravity. Space jumps and dull, zero atmosphere sound effects make this battle unique -- and difficult. Halo: Reach has a few more surprises in store after this mission, but I feel like this campaign is both the height of the game and of the series since it highlights many of the series best qualities: scale, variety and, of course, combat (evolved).
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