10 Years in the Making
Firefight makes a welcome return from ODST, but now adds a vast array of user-configured options and a new versus mode, where two players assume the roles of Covenant Elites, blending in with the horde to inject unpredictable human intelligence to proceedings.
Great balls of fur
And lastly, the Forge editor returns, this time more powerful and adaptable than ever. While still not a full level editor, the amount of customisation, especially in building blocks, should lead to a level of user-generated content unseen in previous Halos, and increase the longevity of online play.
Verdict
As a crescendo 10-years in the making, Reach meets and defies all the right expectations. The campaign may ultimately prove a little too nostalgic for some, but for those who have patiently awaited the true successor to Combat Evolved, Reach delivers where all the other sequels failed. And in its multiplayer, Bungie masterfully balances old with new to again prove itself without equal in understanding its product and fans.
Light me up, here I glow
Set amid the bombarded ruins of Reach's capital city New Alexandria, one level near the end of the campaign asks 'can the last person to leave please turn off the lights.' It's a poignant reference to Bungie's conclusion of ten years' development. But, so perfect is Reach, and so dedicated are Halo's fans, it will surely be a long time before that light finally goes out. ®
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Halo: Reach
COMMENTS
I'm Sorry?
"Genre-defining"?
What genre is that? THe one QUake and Doom started, and was then revolutionised by Half-Life?
Or the sperate one that Halo: Combat Evolved resides in? H:CE beginning life as an open ended world with wildlife and interaction and ended up as a console-ised copy-pasted, generic, bland shoot-hide-repeat-fest.
Seriously, the codex level.. how did everyone not feel like they had been utterly ripped off? It was teh SAME LEVEL REPEATED 5 TIMES.
I had to make my own pleasure in it by, in a level where you open a door and the enemies run and jump on the flying bike things, reloading about a squillion times until I managed to headshot each enemy and steal their bike. Skipping a whole section of the level. Great fun. Completely unintended by the developers. For obvious reasons never played 2 or3, and yet my definition of "FPS" is still perfectly intact.
Anyone that's interested in a really enjoyable game check out Star Wars: Republic Commando on Steam. Cheap and fun.
Over to you fanbois (i won't be reading this thread again anyway)
I've never played a good console FPS
..and of course it all boils down to the control system. No matter how good the graphics, story and gameplay, the frustration of getting shot in the back while i'm slowly panning around to do a 180 makes me rage. No console controller is as fast or precise as a keyboard and mouse.
But don't listen to me, I'm just a grey haired old bastard that still plays Q2 over 12 years since it came out. I seriously doubt that people will be playing Halo in 12 years' time.
True successor to Combat Evolved?
I won't be playing that, then. I'm one of those supposedly "resentful" PC FPS gamers, and when the original Halo came to PC I gave it a shot. It was one of the most depressingly disappointing games I have ever played. Dull, repetitive, derivative crap, and from what I've played of the others when I've been drunk enough, they're no better.
And pointing out a large number of flaws in a mediocre FPS series right before giving the game 95%? Riiiight...
Huge halo fanbois
See I am a big halo fan, family life means I don't really get to play like I used to, but still a big fan.
Wasn't impressed with ODST, the lack of anything new multiplayer wise, meant it wasn't really a halo game.
See the thing with comparing console games and pc games is that the campain is never going to be as accurate in term of a control system, and it's designed to accomodate that.
Online everyone has the same controller, so alls fair, you don't like getting shot in the back whilst trying to turn, then try facing the person that's shooting you!!!
That said COD multiplayer has taken over as my fav fps, and I am not sure I can go back.
Absolutely.
The other Halo games were OK but like you say if you've played FPS games on the PC over the years it's very much a case of 'uh ... so what'. Massive hitboxes, tuned for console pads, all the rest of it. Yawn. Not to mention aliens stolen from MDK.
