Halo Reach Gameplay Review

"Remember Reach." This is the tag line for Halo: Reach, the direct prequel to the Halo trilogy about a team of Spartans and their presumed fate -- a last stand against the Covenant invasion of the human-colonized Planet Reach. Did I say, "Halo trilogy?"

Elites Are Back And Dangerous

Here's a better tag line: "Forget ODST." Last year's Halo game, Halo 3: ODST, was conceived as an expansion but clumsily formed into a full-priced retail release. It was not a bad game, but it was a lesser Halo game -- by design. Worst case scenario: You started to think Halo, and Bungie's interest in the franchise, was on the decline.



So, forget ODST. Reach is Bungie's final Halo game. Let's not sour this seriously sweet farewell.



Halo: Reach (Campaign)

So, hello! And welcome to Halo: Reach.

Titular Planet Reach

You are Noble Six. You are not -- anti-spoiler alert! -- Master Chief in disguise. Release those fears of a terrible plot twist right now. Aren't you ready to be your own Spartan? The customization options are limited to start (gender, paint job and some starting credits for a small accessory), but when Noble Six, your Noble Six, enters the opening cinematic, you're invited to drop the observer role and become a character in the Halo universe. And once you're finished with the Campaign, you keep on being your Noble Six across all game modes. It's a simple, but effective touch.



Campaign



The Campaign is easily the series' best. The classic "against all odds" survival mission works to keep the pace mostly racing and brings you closer to the other Noble Team members, a cast of conventional heroes that fight alongside you: the Captain America leader, his badass right-hand woman, the "thoughtful" sniper (Asian, of course), the skull-faced cool guy (voiced by Jamie Hector; Marlo in HBO's The Wire) and the heavy weapons jock. Reach, being Bungie's last Halo game, is a setup for heavy-handed melodrama, but the plot is never that distracting. It's not much more sophisticated than a decent Saturday morning cartoon, but it fills out the framework of an excellent game and satisfies the broader franchise story arc. If you've been following closely, you're definitely in for some "Aha!" and "Haha" moments.

Jetpacking Is Awesome In Campaign

I actually zoned out for several of the cutscenes, simply because I needed a rest. The gameplay is that engaging. Bungie has built downright nasty AI that will, on the Heroic and Legendary difficulty settings, challenge and surprise in constant dances to the death. When a half-dozen jet-pack Elites descended onto my position, I ran! This was not "skipping" past the game -- it's no glitch -- it was surviving. The fact that this "fight-or-flight response" is a working game mechanic is an exceptional design achievement. And how about Bungie sticking with the throwback health pack? If you thought this was a mechanic that never should have been pulled out of the has-bin, Reach seriously challenges that notion. The necessity of health packs and their sparing placement keeps you exploring and moving through the game areas -- and not camping behind decent cover.







Bungie has overcome the pacing flaws of past Halo games by not dragging out the familiar on-foot and vehicle shootouts. You never crawl through corridors; you fight through battles, and when you come out on the other side, there's often a rewarding "mini-event" to play. About two-thirds through the Campaign, strapped with a jet pack, I came up on one side of a cargo port -- a man-made chasm with precariously placed platforms suspended across it. "Really," I thought, "Bungie's trying to do jet-pack platforming?" Yes, yes they are. And, as just a segment, it's a brief, exhilarating departure from the core gameplay.





The Campaign is easily the series' best.

Where the campaign does fall short is in its effort to portray ambient life on Planet Reach. The sporadic signs of wildlife are hardly indicative of a "living" gameworld and consistently come off as randomly placed objects -- like the forklifts you happen across or a duffle bag left in the streets of New Alexandria. Encounters with small bands of civilians (some of them militarized) are equally detached from any sense that Reach is (was?) populated by millions of people. In one part, you've been waiting forever for a cursed elevator, pushed together, backs against the wall, with a handful of Marines and civilians. Cue a pack of Brutes rushing the lobby. It's a little chaotic, sure, but multiply those civilians by fourfold, turn up the screaming and Bungie might have convinced me there's something worth saving more than my own damn hide.



It's a shame too, because Reach's improved technology and detail introduce a new high for Halo's typically okay looks. It's still no "10" in the graphics department, but if that's where you're looking to rate Reach, you're looking in the wrong place. There's a point where you're high atop a needle-shaped Covenant tower. You're on an outer, ringed platform near the tip of this structure. You could look out, evaluate the draw distance, note the quality of light bloom, but you're being charged by an Elite with his Energy Sword aimed at your gut. This is your dance with death. Me? I activated my jet pack and shot right up over him. Him? He went toppling over the edge in an entirely unscripted event. This was a top-ten highlight from my Campaign.







Multiplayer / Forge / Firefight



Call it a ballpark estimate, but I'm gonna say that of the total amount of time the average Reach player spends with the game, less than a quarter of it's going to be with the superb campaign. And for many of you, that percentage is going to shrink to a figure around, what, 5 percent? 1 percent?



"Halo," as in the basic multiplayer game, is a well established pastime, and Bungie hasn't messed with it much. Simple Red Team vs. Blue has been refreshed with new maps, weapons, vehicles and the Armor Abilities, in addition to the tiered objective-based Invasion mode. What will stand out, even during your playthrough of the Campaign, is the bank of credits you steadily accumulate as you play more Halo. Like the build-a-Spartan creation element, the credit system isn't novel, but it is instinctively addictive. So what if you can only spend it on your looks? It just feels good to earn credits.



If your Noble Six is the needle, the credit system is the thread stringing together the disparate modes of play. You earn credits for anything, seriously. I popped into the Forge World (an intimidating, ginormous empty map in which you create your own variations of the game) and lay down a Falcon with ease -- the editing controls are straightforward, despite the toolbox being a bit overwhelming. I switched to "play" mode and hopped into the helicopter, flew around the still empty map for a minute, and then quit out. To my surprise, I earned a little pocket change. Awesome!



The credit system is what's going to encourage you to explore and even contribute to this exceptionally deep game. From standard multiplayer playlists (my vote's for SWAT -- love that Designated Marksman Rifle!) to absurd custom game-types; to the sandbox imaginarium of Forge; to Firefight, there's so much to play with, and it's all rewarding, literally, on a very base level. And oh that Firefight! I urged you to forget ODST, but I never meant to imply that you let go of Firefight.







The Firefight you know was a demo. The Firefight you're going to know is a fully blossomed mode -- with complete customization options and Matchmaking support -- which reminds us how much fun Halo can be when played together against the best AI in the business (though you can play against other humans now, too). I've never enjoyed chaotic "all rocket launchers" multiplayer matches -- in any game. But add a jet pack to that format and waves of Covenant? Say it with me this time: Awesome.



Bungie has left us with a shit-ton to enjoy; not to mention the developer's planned, ongoing daily and weekly challenges to earn extra credit. There's more than enough content on the disc and tools to tweak that content in subtle and unexpected ways for the community to thrive without its maker. Rest assured, with this fourth [wink] Halo game now ours, we should let Bungie leave the franchise in peace.



There's an art to iteration. ODST could have been a clever little shimmy, but it came out a misstep. Reach brings us right back into the dance that hooked us nine years ago, introduces some cool new steps, and leaves us twirling in enchantment as Bungie graciously bows out. Just keep twirling, Spartan.























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Description

Halo: Reach, developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, is the blockbuster prequel to the best-selling Xbox franchise of all time. It represents the culmination of Bungie's 10 years of experience crafting groundbreaking Halo games that have raised expectations for what can be achieved in a video game. In Halo: Reach, players experience the fateful moments that forged the Halo legend. It's the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers, and their final stand on planet Reach, humanity's last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. This darker story is echoed by grittier visuals amid a backdrop of massive, awe-inspiring environments. Characters, enemies and environments are rendered in amazing detail by an all-new engine designed to deliver epic-scale encounters against the cunning and ruthless Covenant. Once the campaign is over, the battle continues online with an unparalleled multiplayer experience that expands on the award-winning suite of features that helped define the Xbox LIVE
module of Halo Reach. Matchmaking is nothing short of awesome, in my opinion, because there is so much versatility and new and exciting gametypes. Slayer has become a lot more fast-paced and explosive, due to the loadouts] and has become one of my earliest favorites. It's early in the game, but I predict that Bungie's Halo Reach will outsell Halo 3 in total sales and be relevant for the next five years in the Gaming community.As for the gametypes that Bungie came up with, nice job. Firefight is so fun to play and earns you dome nice credit while you're bashing Elites and racking up the BMR kills. This is going ot be a fan favorite in the Halo universe.because every gamer likes offense defense and having the opportunity to be an elite with an energy sword and camo, then a spartan with armor lock and a DMR. This gametype has great acoustics as well that really enhances the gameplay and intensity. Overall, Firefight will always be  fun gametype to play. As For Team Arena and solo arena this is a great sector of gaming that Bungie added to Halo Reach for CTF and slayer to display your true skill, while the other gametypes are more like special gametypes where the pressure is off. Another great gametype is headhunter which is the most strategically enhanced gametype which requires you to go big or go home. The people that have the largest bounty often do get headhunted but a loadout can change all of that in a hurry. Just turn on your power guard and keep a shotgun, energy sword, or some other kick-ass weapon handy and you got yourself a walking convoy. This gametype takes a while to truly start to get good at but once you get your gamer hyper focus zoned in, you'll do just fine.Finally, as for stockpile , invasion, and team attack [assault gameplay].Stockpile a bit too jumpy for me and the loadouts don't help the overall experience but it is so action-packed and you have to split up into offense defense groups to truly be successful. Your loadouts are your best weapon in this gametype where you're either trying to sneak stealthily into an enemies flag base with stalker, or sprint to try and intercept the opposing flag carrier from scoring, or deploying a drop shield for your teammate with their flag to make it back to your base safely. Invasion definitely is a favorite of mine because of the awards that you receive when you do start to get on a killing spree or near the end when the opposing team has the objective close to their base and you get handed a sniper rifle.Invasion definitely is the most enjoyable objective gametype because of all of the weapons and vehicles that are available. Team  attack is pretty cool as well and definitely is fun to experiment with all of the different loadouts and playing as An Elite Then Spartan. So far, I do believe that Spartans have the advantage in battle because of their superior health and better player control. When  I played as an Elite, it didn't seem right except if I had a energy sword. I had trouble finishing off enemies and I died more often. Overall, the gametypes in Halo Reach has it all and if  haven't tried firefight yet, please do so now.Halo Reach The Best Game Of All-Time And Definitely The Icon For hardcore gamers everywhere.





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The Top Ten Features Of Halo Reach

 1. Armor Abilities And Classifications:

 Spartan Armor Classifications:
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<!-- END BANNER1 1) Air Assault: Assault Rifle (Primary), Pistol (Secondary); 2 frags, Jetpack. 2) Expert Marksman: DMR (Primary), Pistol (Secondary); 3 frags, Sprint. 3) Operator: Shotgun (Primary), Pistol (Secondary); 3 frags, Armor Lock. 4) Grenadier: "Pro-Pipe" Grenade Launcher (Primary), Assault Rifle (Secondary), 3 frags, Sprint. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elite Armor Classifications:

1) Ranger: Plasma Repeater (Primary), Plasma Pistol (Secondary), 2 plasmas, Jetpack.
2) Royal Zealot: Needle Rifle (Primary), Plasma Repeater (Secondary), 3 plasmas, Evade.
3) Gladiator: Energy Sword (Primary), Plasma Repeater (Secondary), 2 plasmas, Evade.
4) Champion Assassin: Needler (Primary), Plasma Repeater (Secondary), 3 plasmas, Active Camo.

In essence, the Spartan has far superior armor abilities over the Elites abilities. Look at the shotgun [Operator] Vs the Energy Sword [Gladiator] . Who's going to win every time, [unless the Elite creeps up camo] the Spartan. Most surprisingly of all though, is the grenade launcher [Grenadier] Vs.  The Needler [Champion Assassin] . That's like a stick against a bat, the difference is that the bat can kill. The needler has been revised in Halo Reach to be Less Accurate and deadly while the grenade launcher, a stud, is the most powerful weapon in the game besides the rocket launcher. Despite all of the Spartan armor abilities advantages the Elites come equipped with Sprint Speed [They have the loadout ability sprint speed as a default skill] and they are much more agile and  stealthy. So, this may be the place where you have to decide, do I want the superior weapons [Spartan Armor Abilities] or do I want the Speed, Stealth, And Maneuverability of the Elites. Of course, these can be switched over but you still have to decide whether to play as an Elite or Spartan in Matchmaking.  Personally, think the Spartans are the better choice as you move up in the armor classifications, and Elites are the best choice for when you just begin the game.




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2.Loadouts:  Unlike any other first person shooters, Halo Reach takes a page out of an RPG and features load-out abilities. Thus, Reach features abilities like Airborne[jet-pack], Scout [Spartans only; a sprint], Stalker [Elites Only ; ability to turn camo but not completely], and My favorite, Power guard[the ability to make yourself invincible to all damage for a short period of time while not being able to move, but likely to get the 1st hit once your ability is done.Halo Reach will never get boring for any period of time as long as you can jetpack around from above with the rockets launching an airborne attack, or hide at weapon spawns then turn camo once your enemy is on your radar, leaving them helpless, or stop the flag buy a sprint assassination, or better yet absorbing a sword melee only to unleash a melee attack of your own or grenade your bewildered opponent. Loadouts can bring you duration of life, get you first to the power weapons to take an early lead, be your back-up stategy in Slayer when all of your Elite comrades turn camo to cease some cheap kills, or to get you to an unreachable sniper position where you pick off anybody in sight. The possibilities are endless with these loadout abilities [also to announce three not so powerful ones: Evade [Elites], Drop Shield[ combination of a regenerator and bubble shield], and Hologram[ A stream of fake yous proceeding in from to f you].As Far as the Loadout Abilities are concerned,

3. FireFight The Firefight multiplayer mode Bungie introduced in Halo 3: ODST is back in Halo: Reach, and it's looking to be even crazier (and more flexible) than its predecessor. At a special preview event at E3 2010, Microsoft and Bungie gave us a look at the new and improved Firefight. Here's what's new.

First off, you'll get the full matchmaking experience here, unlike in ODST. You'll be able to customize your matches to your heart's content – weapons, maps, game durations and enemy behavior will all be tweakable.

There are multiple game types this time around, too. Default is the most general of the lot. It's a one-set match that's designed to be shorter and more casual. Pop in, pop out, go eat a steak. Classic mode is just what you played in ODST. You know, because it's already classic. Generator Defense is also a mode in Firefight now (you remember this gametype from the Reach beta that ran last month), and a newcomer called Rocket Fight sounds like it could become a new favorite. This mode is just you, your buddies, armor abilities, and an infinite supply of rockets. Yeah, that just happened.


You'll also have some new weapons to play with. The Target Locator may not have a sexy name, but it makes up for that by destroying the hell out of things. Use it to paint targets, and you'll be rewarded by a bombardment by an orbiting fleet. Think Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War mixed with the world's scariest airstrike. And remember the Concussion Rifle from the latest campaign demo? It fires explosive plasma rounds, and it's in Firefight, too. Deadly combination. And you can stop wondering – the Fuel Rod gun is back in Halo: Reach (and in Firefight).

Our look at Firefight unveiled a brand-new armor ability called Drop Shield. This one's sort of a mix between the bubble shield and regenerator from Halo 3. Power it up, and it'll give you and your friends some space to chill and heal for a bit.

Just like the overall Reach multiplayer, Firefight will come with game-specific rewards and challenges, available on a weekly and daily basis. Meeting challenges will net you special armor permutations. And the only way to get them is by playing Firefight.

From what we're being told, Firefight in Reach will be far more customizable than ever before. For example, you'll be able to create your own skulls that can totally change the pace and feel of your Firefight matches. You can make up to three, altering the traits of your Spartans, armor abilities and waves. Want to bump your health up to 200% and boost weapon damage? Feel free (wimp). This is basically Firefight any way you want it.Bungie was also showing off two new maps, Waterfront and Beachhead, neither of which were in the Reach beta. This is all just the tip of the Firefight spear.

4.  New And Exiting Game-types: Finally, no more choosing whether you play ranked or social or whether you play Slayer and MLG or Squad Battle And Big Team Battle. Halo Reach Introduced :

• Generator_Defense - A Twist of CTF One-Flag only you have two genrators to guard called Bravo and Charley. Your objective on offense is too clear destroy the generators when they are unlocked and kill the defending team so they don't stop you. On Defense, your objective is to defend these two generators and secure them by continuously  locking them  down [duration 30 seconds]  keeping enemies from destroying them. The objective switches every five minutes – for three rounds – so that each side can experience both the defensive and offensive roles.  The game-type features 3 vs 3 Spartans Vs. Elites.
• Invasion -Players on either team must complete varying objects in what are called “Tiers”. As these tiered battles unlock new vehicles and loudouts will become available for each side. One of the objective types showed in the GameTrailers footage included the control of points, however, it is speculated that these objectives will change over the course of the game. When players die in Invasion they will spawn close to their “battle buddie” similar to the respawn system in Multiplayer Co-op.Very intense near the end when rewards for the offensive team get steeper [receive ghosts, rocket launchers, snipers, and banshees].
• Headhunter- Headhunter is a brand new multiplayer mode being introduced in Halo_Reach. In this multiplayer mode players drop a “skull” upon death. The objective of this free for all mode is simple: collect skulls and return them to a pre-defined point on the map. The first player to cash in 10 points at once or a total of 25 skulls total wins the round. If a player dies while carrying multiple skulls they will drop them all for their adversaries to fight over.This game-type may be the true testament of your knowledge and skill in Halo Reach because of your need to defend yourself, kill others, and know the map.
• Stockpile: Stockpile is a variant of Capture the Flag that is being introduced by Bungie in Halo_Reach. Unlike Capture the Flag both teams do not have their own flags. Instead they will be racing to capture randomly spawning flags throughout the map and then successfully return them to their respective bases. Unlike traditional Capture the Flag, Stockpile requires players to fold the flag in the capture spot for sixty seconds. Even if an enemy player captures the flag, as long as they’re in the opposing capture spot the point will go to the opposing side. This game-type will prove to be all about knowledge, speed, experience, and wiles. 

• Also returning are Slayer [classic] and CTF both one-flag and two-flag  respectively played on Swordbase a lot. 

5.The Ranking System: 
Whilst Halo 3 adopted a Trueskill ranking system that saw you level across all matchmaking playlist’s, allowing you to then further ascend an overall central rank, Halo: Reach is set to adopt a more RPG influenced level based system that will also incorporate progress from single player.
“Whatever your preferred flavour of Halo is, we’re gonna find a way to reward you,” said Luke Smith, Bungie “Player Investment” designer. “Whatever you enjoy doing in multiplayer, we’re gonna find a way to reward you. Through the Player Investment system, you’re going to be building an identity for the first time in a Halo game.”

Whilst Trueskill is still set to be implemented within Halo: Reach, the new Player Investment aspect now allows a more reflective account of the amount of time a player has dedicated to playing the title rather than being entirely dependent on their tea-bagging skills. Halo: Reach and not necessarily their skillset. As an example, someone may have spent a considerable amount of time playing the game and achieved a high Player Investment ranking, yet they could still not be an incredibly strong online player. This is where Trueskill will still be utilised to match them with opposing players that will match them against players best suited to them. If you aren’t a very good player, you’ll still find yourself against people that shoot ceilings, jump off the map and progressively run into walls at corners.
You’ll find that the Player Investment portion is entirely focussed by a credit system, or “cR” for short, which are awarded for simply playing Halo: Reach – which fans are sure to be doing in plentiful quantities. This involves either playing rounds within multiplayer, or by playing through the single-player campaign, and will be awarded depending on the actions of the player. As can be expected, actions will provide you with varying quantities of credits although Bungie is being incredibly careful to ensure that they don’t encourage players to perform things that would damage the overall game play experience. Whilst currently being continually balanced, players could be expected to perform five headshots in under a minute for example. Needless to say though, the credit system is vital to drive the Player Investment experience, both in increasing your Military Rank – which replaces Halo 3’s Ranking system – and to purchase new customisation items within the games “Armory.”
In direct comparison to Modern Warfare 2, wherein as a player levels up they unlock new abilities, new weapons and other features that fundamentally change the gameplay, it has become easily apparent that someone who is just booting the Multiplayer up for the first time isn’t able to fairly play against someone who has progressed to the highest rank. Bungie are being incredibly mindful of such issues with player inequality in Halo: Reach, which means that you can expect to find that credits are used to solely buy helmets, shoulder pads, chests and other accessories that allow you to create your own unique Spartan. Such changes are solely visual, and do not affect gameplay in any way.
“There are no in-game benefits to Spartan armor,” said Smith. “It would definitely make Halo something different than what Halo is.” Such a unique appearance will be utilised in both single-player and multiplayer portions of the game – your customized Spartan receiving a teabag to the face in multiplayer is exactly the same Spartan that you’ll be controlling whilst fighting the Covenant for control of Reach in the prequel’s storyline. It is clearly evident then that Bungie wanted the story of Halo: Reach to be more about your personal role in the battle, rather than simply placing you once again in control of Master Chief. Your customised Spartan is even included in the cut-scenes.
“When the cut-scene comes up in campaign, we want you to see you,” said Smith. “For instance, that trailer that we showed with the helmet and soldier picking it up, the Noble 6 trailer, that helmet is going to be your helmet. If you’re pink and adorned with unicorns, that’s how you’re going to look. With Reach, this is your story, this is your identity, this is your version of a story that we want you to be a part of.”

The title is also set to incorporate a new feature entitled “Challenges,” which are split into being either daily or weekly. These are set to be to extend the overall experience in providing short to medium-length goals, that are able to be accomplished either on your own or in groups – you can expect the difficulty curve to sharply rise with these in comparison to other aspects too.
During his conversation with G4TV, Smith continues “Some of [simpler daily challenges] are aggregate actions, like kill X dudes, help kill X dudes today. Sometimes those dudes we want you to kill are gonna be in multiplayer, [or] they’re going to be in another mode. Sometimes it’s going to say just kill anyone anywhere, we don’t care what you do, just kill people and we’ll reward you for that.”

The team are also implementing “Commendations,” which will allow you to gain more of an impression regarding a player from their user profile in terms of their play style. These have been described as persistent medals that will reflect player actions over an extended period of time. The game will essentially track what you spend the majority of time doing in-game, such as mainly using a sniper rifle, and will represent this through your Commendations. Eventually, through continual play time, this profile will evolve into a direct snapshot of how you play, and therefore show both friends and random opponents where you strengths lie. Whilst also earning these medals, you’ll of course be earning credits too.
Smith explains, “There are guys [who] just want to drive people around. We haven’t done a great job of reinforcing that kind of behavior in the past. I can look at your service record and see that you have a ton of assists and a ton of progress in your wheelman Commendation, so I know that you like to be a support player, you like to drive vehicles. That’s your preferred style. One of the things that we really want to do a better job with Reach is [highlighting] the guys out there who do like their Halo maybe differently than, for instance, I like mine. I like head shots, I like killing people with a sniper rifle, I like all that stuff. But there are guys that we’ve encountered along the way who just love to drive; they just want to drive people around. We haven’t really done a great job of reinforcing that kind of behavior in the past and the Commendation system is one way we’re doing that.”
Bungie hopes that the new Player Investment feature will allow for a more efficient, persistent player experience that extends over both a users’ single and multiplayer playtime. Whilst some may have been hoping for customisation above and beyond that of just the visual appearance of their Spartan, you won’t find that here.

6. The Weapons:

BR55 Battle Rifle [BMR] Carbine  Combat Shotgun Designated Marksman Rifle Energy Sword Fuel Rod Gun Gravity Hammer 7. The  Maps : boardwalk boneyard (beta map) countdown forgeworld(multiple nerdgasms) powerhouse(beta map) reflection spire swordbase (beta map) zealot Boneyard Overlook Sword Base Powerhouse Reflection Spire

M319 Grenade Launcher M6 Sidearm M7 Submachine Gun MA5 Assault Rifle Needle Rifle Needler Plasma Grenade Plasma Launcher Plasma Pistol Plasma Repeater Plasma Rifle

SRS99 Sniper Rifle Spartan Laser UNSC Rocket Launcher

8.) Battle Rifle gets a Halo: CE treatment, 

                                                                                               

DMR

welcome the DMR.

If your like me then there is nothing more frustrating than inconsistencies in a game that is supposedly takes skill. The Battle Rifle from Halo 2 / 3 has screwed me over with it’s terrible 3 shot burst system so many damn times I could puke. This time around Bungie went back to their roots and made the new DMR a single shot weapon. Though I am not a big fan of the visual bloom, it is a good trade for the Battle Rifle.

Forge

9. Forge:

If you ever had the patience to forge in Halo 3 my hat goes off to you. Halo 3 had a good building system but a lot of minor things made it very hard to enjoy map building. Halo Reach has polished version of the forge seen in Halo 3 and I know many people are going to have a blast with the new features, I know much of my time will be spent forging.

10.) No more dual wielding.

Ever since Halo 2, Bungie decided to test new “fun” ways to play Halo. In other words the game became noobified with Spay N’ Pray mechanics. Since then Halo has been severely broken and shameful when compared to Halo: Combat Evolved. Finally Bungie said, “Dude bro, we have got to fix this.” – Noobified version of what was said about Halo: Reach

 

Forge World

The Bungie Team  revealed what's behind the hill in the Blood Gulch remake: "The rest of the map." Turns out this version of Blood Gulch, which will be known as "Hemorrhage" in Halo: Reach, is actually one part of a gigantic five-part map called "Forge World" -- there's an island in the back bay, an outcropping called "The Rock," a hangar built into the cliff overlooking the bay dubbed "The Colisseum," and an open field area up above. The entire map starts out blank, and players will be invited to build their own levels in it using Reach's revamped Forge editor mode.

"Forge World is the evolution of what we've been through with Forge," Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrard told Joystiq at a Microsoft event following the panel. "How do we expand on it even further, and give people even more flexibility, and more toys to work with?" The answer: by combining very detailed and customizable tools with a variety of variables used in whatever ways players see fit, according to Jarrard. The Forge editor can now apply different physical models to pieces inserted on the map, leaving them fixed in mid-air or even half-embedded in other pieces. Additionally, spawn points can now be easily colored according to team, teleporters can be dropped at will and even customized for vehicles, and gigantic structures (like a multi-level tower) can be summoned and placed just about anywhere.

And remember, this is all going on in one giant map, Forge World. "There was a lot of contention on the team" about that, said Jarrard. "Initially, early on, the concept was sort of five separate maps." But Bungie knows its way around the Xbox 360 hardware at this point, and with a lot of tweaking and a new technology called "impostering," which turns down the visual resolution on objects extremely far away from the in-game camera, Bungie engineers answered doubters by simply building the Forge World map on the back of Blood Gulch. "It looked sweet," said Jarrard, recalling the first time he saw an engineer demo the mega-level, "and all of a sudden he's flying kilometers away, seamlessly, and I guess everybody shut up at that point. 'Okay, this works.'"

Combining the Forge World possibilities with Reach's new multiplayer game types should equal some crazy variations. Bungie has already come up with quite a few custom game variants, including some that will ship on the game disc. There's a full Warthog racing level, complete with lap times, respawn checkpoints and a speedometer; a mode called "Score Attack" that turns Firefight into a game focused on getting high scores (and for which Bungie plans to release an actual in-game leaderboard); and my personal favorite, a mode called "Gruntocalypse," which consists of a Firefight game with "all Grunts, all the time." Bungie's Lars Bakken came up with that one -- "I just wanted to kill Grunts," he said of the mode's inception.


One of these game type experiments has grown up into something special, which Bungie also revealed during the panel: Firefight Versus. This mode takes Halo 3: ODST's popular co-op Firefight multiplayer and adds some human opponents in the mix as Covenant Elites. Firefight Versus features two rounds, as each side gets a chance to play as Spartans and Elites. I played a bit of the new mode during the Microsoft event, and while fun, even Bungie seemed to agree that the variants that players will come up with will be even more interesting.