It has been one week now since the release of Halo: Reach, and to say that myself and Kill-Tacular-Tron have put in our fair share of hours playing the game at this point is reasonable to say. It may seem that perhaps this review is a week late, but we both wanted to beat the game and get in some hours of multiplayer play to form a solid opinion about this final entry in the Halo franchise from Bungie. So without further adeau, here is our review!
Arse-Bot:
Campaign: I have always been a fan of the Halo campaigns. For me, they are some of the most epic story lines ever portrayed in a FPS video game and Halo: Reach continues this tradition beautifully. In fact, I am going to be as bold as to say it’s the best narrative of all the Halo games thus far. I really don’t want to ruin the story for any of you out there yet to finish the campaign, but the story is epic and dramatic as all hell – and be sure to play the mission after the end credits! It’s what truly completes the story!
As far as actually playing the campaign goes, it was tough. Bungie has made it very clear that this is the most difficult campaign to date for any Halo game, going as far to state that trying to beat it on Legendary mode solo is almost impossible (though, there are many who have claimed to have done so already). I personally went through the campaign on Heroic – and it was a bitch. What makes this campaign so different from other Halo games is that the planet Reach is under an all-out invasion, so you are constantly massively out-numbered by hoards of Covenant. And this Covenant seems different, the Elites are more brutal, they all work in formation, they can evade you weapons, and they have a lot of fire power. Luckily though, you are usually with at least one of your Noble team mates, and they can actually be pretty helpful as far as AI go. The game took me about 11 hours to complete on this difficulty, and it was a hard-fought battle. It’s been a long time since I was this challenged by a FPS game, but a welcome challenge. Far and away my favorite mission is one in which you and your entire Noble Team (there are 6 of you) are storming up a hillside to storm a Covenant strong hold. It was something else being one of six Spartan’s running up a hill kicking ass and taking names.
I think overall, the main thing that makes this campaign so different from the other previous Halo games is the grand scale of things. Previously, you were a one-man army with Master Chief and were spending your time infiltrating ships, bases, etc. This time around, it is all out war. There are other Spartans helping out, more UNSC troops, more vehicles; everything is on a bigger scale. I noticed that before I felt like a super-soldier going it on my own in previous Halo games, now with this game, the scale feels way too big for it to be up to just one man. It’s chaotic, loud, and fast – and a hell of a lot of fun.
Multiplayer: In the interest of full disclosure, I “quit” playing Halo 3 about a year ago. I was growing tired of the multiplayer strategy of “charge, empty clip, melee, repeat” over and over again in every match. Once CoD Modern Warfare came out it offered me something new, so I have spent my online gaming hours playing that up until this point. I was anxious for this new Halo multiplayer after hearing about all it offered in the Beta – and I must say, it has reignited my love for this game’s multiplayer aspect.
Gone is the same old strategy of rush, shoot, hit; in its place is the need for adaptability and actual strategy. The melee has been adjusted in two ways to prevent this old style of play: 1. It takes two hits to take a guy down if he has even the smallest amount of shield left, 2. You no longer “lunge” when you melee. Some people may complain about this, but I think it adds a lot better game play value and puts more reliance on the use of weapons. The weapons have been adjusted as well, with the introduction of some new weapons along side old favorites. The new DMR, which is a mid to long-range rifle is a new trusty go-to weapon and the much-loved magnum pistol -with zoom- is back from the original Halo. There is also the introduction of new “Load-out” options, which gives you different abilities to choose from depending on your style of play; if you want to fly around like Boba Fett, the jetpack is for you – but if you want to be more sneaky, you can equip yourself with some active camo; there is also the ability to sprint, armor lock, deploy a bubble shield, and produce a hologram of your self to fool your enemy. All of these loadouts have great purpose and I personally find myself switching between a lot of them depending on the game type, situation, and how the match is being played. Between the new weapons and these load-out options there is an incredibly diverse way the game is being played in any given match, creating the need for adapting to new strategies and learning to use these new tools Bungie has given you.
Finally, there is armor customization. This isn’t the same customization from Halo 3, you have a LOT more control over the appearance of your Spartan. As you rank up, more armor becomes available to you and you can use your credits earned during gameplay to buy them. This is a great model. Prior to this, in Halo 3, when you ranked up your only reward was the “privelage” to play bigger assholes – now, there is an actual “reward” system that keeps you coming back to play the game to unlock new armor permutations.
Now, this game isn’t perfect. There seems to be some one-sidedness on some of the multiplayer maps that gives one team the advantage over the other, and it’s hard to recover from that advantage if you are the other team. Also, it seems there needs to be some better stability in the multiplayer matches; I would say that in about 50% of the games I play at at least one point during the match the game stopped, had to find a new host, and restarted – in fact, this happened four times in one game. It’s infuriating since it can take up to a minute or two for the server to find a new host and get the game going again.
Summary: It’s safe to say that up until about a week before Halo: Reach was released, I was skeptical. I hated the interim game between Halo 3 and this –Halo 3: ODST– and was thinking my days of enjoying Halo were over. This game has reignited my love for the franchise and has introduced enough change to keep the game interesting and prevent n00bs from just deploying the same tactics over and over. While I’m sure I will still grave the more “life-like” carnage from Call of Duty, Halo: Reach has definitely stepped up Halo’s multiplayer game and will be in regular rotation for my online gaming.
Kill-Tacular-Tron:
Campaign: I honestly can’t say I have a whole lot more to add to what Arse spoke about. The campaign is gripping and epic. For the entire time you feel you are fighting a nasty uphill battle and you aren’t sure how to win it. The only thing I’ll add… be sure to stay after the credits.
Multiplayer: Alright, this is the meat and potatoes of Halo for me. I’ve always been a big fan of big team slayers with friends. Halo 3 was always a lot of fun for me, but it certainly felt uneven. Especially with the BR’s. Nothing was more frustrating then some asshole pinning you down in a corner and spawn-killing you.
With Halo: Reach’s multiplayer, it is so much more varied. Getting stuck a lot or run over? Grab the Guardian over shield. Want to cut some corners and surprise attack the other team? How about the jetpack?. So awesome.
And on the subject of the old Battle Rifle, its replacement the DMR is awesome. Its powerful enough that you can get away with having it for an entire game. But its weak enough that you can’t dominate an entire team without some serious skill.
The maps on this game are epic as well. All of them having been incorporated into the campaign. So if you play through it before hopping online, even the new maps will seem familiar. Really great touch.
The vehicles have always been my favorite part of any Halo battle. And being the “wheelman” that I am, they’ve done a good job of crippling some of the things I would take advantage of, as well as beefing up some of the weak points. I can still drive a Warthog around and tear it up, but I have to be more cautious of the path I take so I don’t bounce out of control. And my gunner has to burst shoot as to not overheat the gun.
Summary: I can’t stop raving about this game. If you have liked Halo games in the past, you’ll love this one. If you hate Halo and are a die hard CoD fan. You won’t like it. So STFU and GTFO.
From the BSR Forum:
Vivalalance: “I have already sank about 20 hours into this game online and I can tell you its well worth its 60 dollar price point. I know I have been hearing this a lot lately, but it really is the best halo to date. I have ONE gripe with the multi player being that the level design colors are very bland. And Zombietron was quick to point out that with the vast universe that halo could be all we ever seem to see is: the interior of a ship, desert, and mountain escapes. That aside the load outs are a great addition along with the armor unlocks seem to be a much more rewarding part of the game. The balance within the game is probably the best I’ve seen out of all the halo’s. And did I mention they brought back 3 of my favorite halo 2 maps? ivory tower, blood gulch (technically from one) and ascension. On a note for the campaign, I RARELY play a campaign…..it has to be arkham asylum amazing or I won’t touch it. And I am ACTUALLY into this campaign and its REALLY good.”