Meh

quarryman

Health again? Boo...

Stupid space shooting level. Boo...

Meh.

Retr0gamer

Uh oh. I'm getting my flame proof boots.

quarryman

Retro, should have known you'd be first on the scene.

Don't get me wrong, I love the franchise. But this installment leaves me cold

I'll see it out on Legendary, but it won't be framed beside my copy of copy of Halo 3. (replace H3 with Panzer Dragoon in your case, obviously).

BlitzKrieg

after finishing it on legendary in co-op I have to say its better then halo 3 personnally though I have nitpicks with it and I aint halo's biggest fan to begin with, but they are fun co-op and good crack with friends in matchmaking.

What stands out most for me is Halo 3, 2 and 1 all had levels that I would despise at the highest level of hatred. And always its was those levels that always marred bungie in my mind that they were not among the elite of elite of elite of level designers as these were the lazy cheap annoying maps that had me gnawing my controller.

The most famous is high charity in Halo 3 followed by the library in Halo 1. ODST has the sort of irritating tunnel level near the end.


Reach


Reach does not have such a map which is a godsend. Playing through Reach their was a nice enough variety and levels of unique strengths that I could probably only think of one level where it was wearing thin with the reliance on hold out fights that lift very much from the popularity of firefight mode. And that was it wearing thin. Not me despising it with every fibre of my body.

So excellent levels simply are what make it the better game.

The story is the same so so standard. Some nice touches some confusing shakes on the continuity that I'll need to wiki and the final level is quite nice and atmospheric.

I'm somewhat disapointed with the

shoehorned in cortana forerunner save the future plot as I much perferred the more war film like tragedy of the battle of reach and would have perfered if the spartans saved the piller of autumn without knowing that it would have significent beyond saving lives

I was expecting the plot to be more like any war film that ends with defeat for protaganist, that sentimental tragedy.

I will admit I perfer the pick up system of halo 3 over the armour system somewhat because it was more organic in its use. But the weapons look and feel better in reach. The enemies also get a welcome fill out with while usual baddies are reapeted as all halo titles, they have been visually and tactically updated and more variety has been thrown into their loadouts and abilities.

My biggest nitpick is probably

the lack of proper scarab battle...I think even ODST fitted more of them in then Reach which has one brief encounter which you dont even need to take down I really liked the scarab battles in halo 3

Overall probably the best halo game but wont change the minds of anyone who didnt think much of them before hand. And that is down to simply it has the best level design and pacing of all the halo titles.

Phobious

Probably one of the most truly objective and honest reviews I have read of Halo: Reach...
http://www.glimpsedog.com/content/453-halo-reach-review.html

yimrsg

It's hard to disagree with you for some things I felt they didn't go all out and try make the game as could as it have been:

• the campaign is too short
  9 missions and you're told how many there are
• your teammates backstories and personalities aren't as developed as those in odst, I know you're thrown into the team but they're meant to have some character,
• there is health again (kinda like it as it has a halo CE feel to it),
• there is no key standout moment in the game that makes your jaw hit the floor (
  sabre battle was the highlight for me
  ) which in a series which always had those moments is a bit unforgivable,
• there is precious little multiplayer levels included so we all clamour for the future DLC and there is very little rotation when playing online from my experience,
• they missed a beat by not combining forge and firefight into a gametype, a firefight mission you design on forgeworld would be a huge positive and add years to re-playability
• the story was predictable (we knew how it ended) but there wasn't a driving force behind all the missions in the campaign, instead going from one area to another without a over-arcing storyline
• can't join a mulitplayer game in progress so you have unbalanced teams if a few players quit

But in spite of the above, it's hard to criticise when Bungie have gotten so much right, not just over a single game but over a series. Ultimately it's a great game with flaws that most will overlook as the undoubtable enjoyment shines through (mostly in multiplayer) for all to experience.

DirkVoodoo

Just picked it up and got a few minutes in before the United game. Ok, so I'm feeling a little rough at the moment but the motion blur is bordering on nauseating for me. I would happily reduce the number of alpha textures used in the game for a frame rate boost and no motion blur.

Turtyturd

A.I driving....wtf?

It can look a lot better but if the A.I spends over a minute trying to turn a warthog around it's gonna lose some marks.

Blowfish

One pretty big flaw with the campaign is that the other Spartans can't actually die. This means that the path of least resistance on Legendary is to let them charge in and do the grunt work while you sit back and snipe or just avoid the enemies by running to the next checkpoint while they are distracted.

Turtyturd

Blowfish wrote: »

One pretty big flaw with the campaign is that the other Spartans can't actually die. This means that the path of least resistance on Legendary is to let them charge in and do the grunt work while you sit back and snipe or just avoid the enemies by running to the next checkpoint while they are distracted.

But do they actually kill anything other than grunts?

Blowfish

Turtyturd wrote: »

But do they actually kill anything other than grunts?

Yep, if there are 1/2 elites, they'll take them out. It'll take them a while, but they'll get there in the end.

If there are 3 or more elites, they tend to switch targets too often, giving the elites the chance to hide and recharge their shield.

muppetkiller

Have to say I wouldn't be the biggest Halo fan but enjoyed the first 2, Halo 3 I didn’t bother to Finish and I’m not sure I’ll bother with this one either.
It’s just really dull as a Single player Game. The motion Blur is terrible, I could believe even the very first scene when you jump into the Choppers, I looked at the chopper across from my own and it was just a blur. It would come in and out of focus with the slightest movement of my controller.

The biggest problem with the game for me is the feeling that I’ve already done it all before in the previous games. There’s nothing new here. I tried to join a match last night but could get into one so can’t speak for the multiplayer. I’ll give it another go tonight and see how I get on.

Patsy fyre

Multiplayer is brilliant. Played halo 3 for a few weeks before this came out. Halo 3 was excellent in multiplayer but this game brings the franchise to a completly new level. They have really upped the ante here. Theathe and forge have been improved. Havnt played the campaign, might try that ina few weeks but this game was bought for multiplayer.

Sod'o swords

I'm not a huge Halo Fan, but I enjoy the single player.

Much like people rating Modern Warefare 2's single player lower than COD4's is mainly to do with we're spoiled with what we have these days. Look at the gap between COD2 and COD4, where as COD4 and MW2 were closer and MW2 was basically COD4 with fancy skins. Look at the gap between Halo 2 and Halo 3 compared to Reach and 3/ODST. Now i haven't played Halo 2 personally but from what i've seen Halo 3 is pretty different to 2 where as Reach and 3/ODST fairly similar. So there's less of the whole 'OMGz New' appeal.

In fairness to them there's not much they can come up with at this stage, well there is but if they change too much they'll have half the boards on the internet complaining that they sold out and conformed or some rubbish like that.

I enjoyed Reach I'd rate it the same if not better than Halo 3. Though they say improved AI but i think the AI has gotten far, far sillier. Standing beside vehicles and not getting in and other such sillies.

Though the Multiplayer is a bit improvment.

Halo 3 was basically just shoot, shoot, shoot, hit. repeat.
Now there's a bit more to it, I haven't played it with since release just the beta.

The game's worth the money, oh and what i enjoyed a lot was being able to fly and take out the phantoms. I always loved being able to take them out before, but now that I'm the bigger fish in the sky it's great.

johnny_ultimate

As someone who has always criticised Halo, I admit the single-player in Reach is a big improvement. For the first three or so missions, it was same old Halo: simply moving from one battle to the next. Then the variety kicks in though. You're no longer on dull alien plains,

instead fighting through war-torn cities, space battles and - in the most fun of all - moving between the top stories of skyscrapers

. They aren't the repetitive corridors that always frustrated in Halo, instead feeling like more dynamic and interesting environments. Variety within gameplay itself also breaks up the monotony,

like the scorpion and turret defense sections

in mission 8.

I still don't think it's an amazing game, and still holds onto many of the flaws of previous Halo games. It's a damn shame it takes so long to get going too. But when it gets good, this is a very exciting and well made action game: when the epic music starts, sometimes you do get sucked in. It's the best Halo game I've played, and while that isn't saying much, I'd definitely say it's worth playing.

muppetkiller

Thanks johnny_ultimate i might stick with it so and see if things improve.

Copied from my other post on a somewhat related boards.ie thread, but seems more apt here. ***SPOILERS THROUGHOUT***

I just finished the campaign last night for the first time, due to there being a MENTAL amount of other stuff to do on the disc. Played through it on Heroic as i usually do for my first run. Overall i thought it was an excellent game, and really enjoyable, but not as polished overall as Halo3. Very good overall, but I have a few niggly criticisms of it:

Firstly, graphics-wise there seemed to be framerate problems the whole way through the campaign, which detracted from the overall experience.

Secondly. It was a more difficult game overall than H3 i thought, which is fine, but there was a fair amount of cheapness to the stuff that made it difficult in parts rather than just clever game design and AI. I thought there were a few unnecessary annoying difficulty spikes throughout due to a combination of some dubious checkpoint locations, and also because the weapons available always seemed to be the wrong ones for the situation at hand, unlike other halo games where you were usually spoiled for choice.

The first time i fought some elites, i thought bungie was on crack with the difficulty settings for them compared to H3. Their speed and how they evade almost everything seemed way over the top, but then i figured out how they work, and that the "noob combo" (overcharged plasma pistol shot+magnum or DMR headshot) made them like shooting fish in a barrel, so that was fine. Apart from the elites, and maybe the hunters, every other enemy in the game was about the same as before, except for the new, faster breed of jackals, which were a real pain in the ass sometimes but succumbed to headshots very easily.

Throughout the game, the NPC teammate AI was particularly thick, and that's saying something for Halo teammate AI, which is dreadful at the best of times. Normally i avoid relying on my NPC teammates wherever possible, but on sections like taking down anti air guns where you have to rely on a teammate to shoot tanks and footsoldiers while you drive a warthog or whatever, when you get in the driver's seat and they stand there for 15 seconds doing nothing while you're getting shot at, it's hard to avoid screaming at your TV.

Easily the most thrilling and enjoyable part of the game was the firefight outside halsey's lab at the underground artefact. Easily the worst was the space combat sections, which were slow, easy, and generally a big interruption to the fun of the rest of the game.

Also I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit let down by the last section and the ending. I thought the MAC gun sequence was a pretty weak way to finish it, and i thought bungie relied on the whole firefight "hold this area" mechanic too much throughout the game. During the whole sequence there didn't seem to be any definite narrative in the back of my head going "this is it, one last big push and it's done".

When it was over, i got somewhat of the same letdown feeling as i got on H2, the kind of "oh....that's it.....aw?" feeling. I had kind of suspected that noble team would end up getting picked off or giving their lives one by one throughout the course of events, and i didn't really expect to survive the fall of reach, but i thought i would go out with more of a decisive climax than that. The lone wolf mission after the credits was a nice touch, but a grander death would have been better. An end something like in the "deliver hope" trailer would have been nice, taking thousands of the covenant out as a last op, instead of just a handful of elites.

Overall i thought the game was excellent with the exception of a few niggly technical bugs, and some uneven pacing, especially towards the end. It's a fitting swansong for a great set of games by bungie, and you'd be hard pressed to find more value on a disc, but i think as genre defining FPS single player games go, Halo 3's campaign just pips it at the post. The multiplayer, co-op, and forge modes on the other hand, well that's a different story.....