Halo: Reach

[Ack]

Well, I suppose you're right. In fact I actually apologized to darthmunkey via PM last night in response to his post. I still feel my criticism of Halo is justifiable, as is the criticism of its fan base. As MrPopo recently said to me, "Halo is the FPS equivalent of Final Fantasy 7," meaning to criticize it seems an almost heretical notion, one that I'm frankly sick of.

If you disagree with me, fair enough, and if you feel my response is childish, I am forced to concede I agree with you, even though it injures one's pride. I do feel somewhat vindicated in my response however, as I received thanks from several other members for vocalizing a position they personally agreed with but would not proclaim.

And while I realize they're in the same thread, I still feel my criticism of Microsoft furnishing large bundles of equipment to reviewers about to review their products is a shady practice regardless of the game, and I feel it should be judged separately from the Halo discussion as it was in response to jfrost's post about Triple A titles not receiving poor scores this generation.

Either way, I assume you'll be purchasing Halo: Reach. I won't be, but I wish you the best with your experience with it.

[dsheinem]

So I picked up Halo:Reach last night and got around to playing the first mission of the campaign this morning. So far it does indeed feel and look like the best entry in the series, and hopefully that persists through all the missions. It has that familiar (and semi-floaty) Halo feel, but there seems to be just enough tweaking to a few of the mechanics that it also feels improved. Already much better than ODST. The trademark horrible driving of the series has returned, though.

[darthmunky]

Well now I know I'll never pre-order something online again. The game still has not arrived. They should at least make it so the item arrives on release day.

[AwesomeMonstar]

I beat it two days ago. Midnight launch was around a block away from my house, so i figured I might as well get the jump on it.

While I really don't get where your criticisms about the driving come from (i love those parts.) on the whole I thought it was pretty darn good.

The game starts off pretty weak though in my opinion, the levels seem small and lack the scale I expect from halo. The pacing was alright though, and the halo "sit in this one spot and kill off countless drop ships of dudes" wasn't as miserable as it had been in the past. I thought I'd be disappointed... until the longsword mission stepped in.

Wow. Halfway through the game EVERYTHING picks up. This seems like war, and you'll have to fight tooth and nail to succeed. There's a lot of surprises and cameos, so I won't go into great detail, suffice to say, this is why halo is great times 5.

Finally, the last sequence in the game, I mean the very last, is one if the greatest ending sequences I've seen in a game. I won't go into it, but look forward to it. It's such a brilliantly presented level that this should not be ruined.

Already started some legendary, that's quite a hike up in difficulty, but I still find myself enjoying the game even more on this setting. I wouldn't recommend it on the first play through, but it certainly feels fun on a second. Bungie always does a good job of ramping difficulty, I always loved how they don't just rely on making enemies' attacks hurt more, but instead ramp up the AI and enemy classes. There's a real challenge here, and a fair one too.

The multiplayer, well, I haven't played enough yet, but I'll get back to you on that. Got some 'research' to do.

So yeah, if anyones curious about any details, I'd be glad to answer any questions for those on the fence.

[AwesomeMonstar]

Well, I suppose you're right. In fact I actually apologized to darthmunkey via PM last night in response to his post. I still feel my criticism of Halo is justifiable, as is the criticism of its fan base. As MrPopo recently said to me, "Halo is the FPS equivalent of Final Fantasy 7," meaning to criticize it seems an almost heretical notion, one that I'm frankly sick of.

Although it may seem out of character, I'm inclined to agree with you. I like halo, I think it's a great game franchise, maybe one of the best, but no one of those games are the greatest of all time in their genre.

I can't tell you how many games I've had to mute some incessant 12 year old yelling into his mic, but for every 2 of them, there is one person who is actually enjoyable to play with. All i can say is thank god bungie made it so easy to mute people in matchmaking.

Then there's the jocks and the barrage of your mom jokes and racial epithets. I'm fairly certain I've been gay so many time on halo that if it had any merit, I'd be Liberace.

unfortunately, the people I'd actually enjoy to play with are about 1 per every 2 of the previously mentioned. Once you get a good group going though you can avoid the other types all together. Still, I suppose these are the faults with being a massively popular game.

[MrPopo]

Still, I suppose these are the faults with being a massively popular game.

A massively popular game with idiot-proof voice chat. The second part is key.

[emwearz]

I finished the first three (Painfully) the Flood is the single cheapest thing a dev has put in games, its like they repeat every level, but this time you have to run from the flood. Shit.

Hopefully Reach will be flood less.

[Niode]

I finished the first three (Painfully) the Flood is the single cheapest thing a dev has put in games, its like they repeat every level, but this time you have to run from the flood. Shit.

Hopefully Reach will be flood less.

This is my biggest complaint over the halo series. The flood is just complete bullshit. The same 4 enemies over and over again. In fact come to think of it the halo series is the same enemies over and over and over and over again. It's just boring. When I did my little coop playthroigh with my friend we were just inventing different ways of killing those little shit heads that run around screaming. Like meleeing them all or sticking a plasma grenade on one and watch it run into a pack of them and blow them all up.

Was it so hard to mix the combat up Bungie? There's only really 4 types of enemy in Halo. The generic small weak guy, the medium sized grunt, those annoying flying shits and the big hulks. That's it. Same four enemies over and over again. Then you get to the flood which is a slightly different set of four enemies and you get to see them nonstop until the end of the game. Yayz :/

[yomomma1]

^ it is weird, the generic small weak guy IS the grunt.

[bladerunner]

Just finished level 5, the cool spaceship level. Hate to say, but I love this game! I also loved Halo 1 more than any other in the series, and Reach is closest in terms of controls and feel, at least to me.

I will chime in on the "Halo as the FPS Game EVAR" topic. Like I said, I like Halo, but am not really a big fan of 2, 3 or ODST, though I have played my fair share of those games. I love Halo: CE. Is it the greatest FPS? In my opinion, no. Is it great? Absolutely. Is it repetitive? Very. Yet I (WARNING: personal opinion) still enjoy it.

I would be hard pressed to name the best FPS. I have loved so many: Doom, Dark Forces, Outlaws, Quake, Half-Life, Wolfenstein, Marathon. FPS is overall a great genre, and Halo has contributed its fair share of value to it. I would love to see die-hard Halo fans play other FPSs, just as much as I would love to see CoD fans try out another game. But frankly, we all play games to have fun. So have fun!

PS - Ack, I totally respect your point of view. Its cool that you don't like Halo. Like some fanboys, that does not offend me in the least. Why? Because you put me onto "The King of Dragons". And for that, I thank you sir.