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This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo: Reach - 3D Art Evolved
  • Subject: Halo: Reach - 3D Art Evolved
Subject: Halo: Reach - 3D Art Evolved
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

To play or not to play....

Wow what an update. This was exactly the kind of stuff I have been waiting for. Nice, hot, awesome and oh did I say coooooollll. It would be interesting to see how Bungie packs all that in the game and creates a game engine capable of handling all thoxe extra details.

I know Halo 3 had a few troubles when you put lots of things on the map at once you could easily overload the game engine (not on purpose just becaue the game was too full of stuff).

If Reach looks like those pictures and plays a treat then we as are gunna have or shiny shoes and socks blown right off. Bungie if you do a good job I will buy the game twice :)

I n short...

Reach sounds awesome. I can not wait to have my hands on a copy. (counting pennies right now, one, two, three :P)

  • 01.27.2010 2:00 PM PDT
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To play or not to play....

Posted by: Rince Art
Am I the only one who does not like these shots? I mean I do appreciate the technical improvement, but all screenshots and models looks like as if they had been soaking in bleach until all color were lost in them. Everything is grey! Gears of War 2 had more colors than Halo: Reach so far. It is very (VERY) disappointing as colors were long associated with the Halo franchise.


As much as it pains me to critic such a wonderful update I have to agree with the lack of colours. Bungie bring back more dynamic colours. Colour actually makes the enemies seem more frightening. I tell you now there is nothing more terrifying then having a bright red, blue or gold Elite running at you with an energy sword. The colour actually brings a level of fear as you see it coming more intensely, if that makes sense. The colour actually makes more impact on the wow factor as well, which in combat adds to the "Uh Oh" factor.

I hope I made sense there :)

  • 01.27.2010 2:05 PM PDT

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Damn. Halo looks ancient compared to it.

  • 01.27.2010 2:22 PM PDT

Amazing, fantastic, beautiful, astonishing, shocking article.

Glad to see you posting key news articles once again, Sketch.

  • 01.27.2010 7:14 PM PDT

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As great of quality as the models are, I can't help but feel that Halo is losing a large piece of something. It appears that the old colorful Halo is being replaced by a grim, dismal, textured Halo. The green accents on the AR were replaced by an industrial yellow stripe. The warthog lost it's old green hue to a deep gray. The grunt has lost all form of color and the elite has been wiped to a washout snow-like form.

On the technical sides of things everything is a huge step up. The polygon's, textures, vast amount of detail, complex models, etc; however artistically it has become dull. I hope that the campaign levels bring back the grassy beachfronts that Halo CE had, and boasts more levels like Halo 3's "The Covenant".

Great models, but missing something huge.

  • 01.27.2010 7:16 PM PDT
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Is I can?

  • 01.27.2010 10:53 PM PDT
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WOW

  • 01.28.2010 5:16 AM PDT

Wow, grunts are cool, new weapons are cool. I am so looking forward to this game!

[Edited on 01.28.2010 6:37 AM PST]

  • 01.28.2010 6:36 AM PDT
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looks realy great, can't wait for the beta :D:D

@ heynate
but the only thing what disapoints me is the change of the AR, it is a real icon of the halo games.

  • 01.28.2010 8:54 AM PDT
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No.

The AR hanges are called or.

I mean, it looks functional now. The books always discribed it as being HIGHLY modifiable, and now it actually looks the part. I mean, it looks like you can repace that ammo counter with a scope and a plethora of othe things. The Foregrip could easily be replaed with a grenade launcher/ shotty attatchment.
I'm not saying that it WILL, I'm just saying it looks FAR more practical than it ever has.

It looks like it could actually be an assaunt rifle, while still looking like an MA5...whatever this version is.

Overdesigning something is impossible. You can't design something too much. That doesn't make sense.

[Edited on 01.28.2010 11:24 AM PST]

  • 01.28.2010 11:07 AM PDT

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One comment on the AR, I don't care what it looks like as long as it sounds and feels like it did in Halo: CE. Ultimate satisfaction firing that thing.

As far as the new Grunt model goes, while I do think it looks kinda cool, it just feels like change for change's sake. I don't really get why you would want to differentiate the design of the Halo: CE Grunt from the Halo: Reach Grunt as the events of the two games can take place at max only weeks apart according to the canon, and this change would serve only to confuse establish fans, while not adding much for new fans. I can't recall who I'm quoting, but a very wise quote I remember from the Halo 2 development cycle was something to the effect of "we aren't going to fix what isn't broken."

Man, looking back on the evolution of the Warthog, I have to say I think the Halo: CE Warthog looks the best. It's the cleanest and most realistic looking military vehicle of the group, and as Scott said, "good design can really be timeless." That said, the progression since Halo 3, and specifically the Reach Warthog, looks to be heading in the right direction to me.

"The new Elites got significantly larger, with a greater sense of weight and are much more 'animalistic'," explains Scott.
Am I the only one that's face-palming every time they try to make enemies "more animalistic?" One of my favorite things about Elites from Halo: CE and the early novels was that they were noble, cunning warriors with a rich background, not mindless animals. Please Bungie, don't turn my Elites into Brutes...they're all I have left.

Now, why the Gears of Halo look to the Marines? The higher poly models are beautiful graphically, don't get me wrong, it's the art direction that I take issue with. Considering the exsisting Halo canon, to me it makes sense for the UNSC troops to look like realistic, vulnerable human beings, not juiced super soldiers. For this, I would take the Marine and Captain Keyes (a UNSC Naval Officer, not a Marine!) models from the previous three games over the model for Reach. All Bungie's art department needs to do here is tone down the muscle mass/fluffing. Granted, that could be difficult depending on how the model was built, but I can hope can't I? Unfortunately, if they're releasing screens then it's probably too late.

Now, why include Captain Keyes in the screen with the Marine models? Is it just a coincidence, or is Bungie trying to say something? The return of Captain Keyes as a game character? :D

  • 01.28.2010 12:50 PM PDT

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The article talks alot about Spartan and Elite models together. I wonder if this might be a hint towards elites returning for MP? I doubt it though.

  • 01.28.2010 2:36 PM PDT
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No.

Posted by: RedMonkey999

As far as the new Grunt model goes, while I do think it looks kinda cool, it just feels like change for change's sake. I don't really get why you would want to differentiate the design of the Halo: CE Grunt from the Halo: Reach Grunt as the events of the two games can take place at max only weeks apart according to the canon, and this change would serve only to confuse establish fans, while not adding much for new fans. :D


You DO realize that this is only ONE of MANY different armor permutations of the grunt?
There were two different variations in Halo 1 (the alternate shown in the reach comparison) this is a third version.

[Edited on 01.28.2010 3:02 PM PST]

  • 01.28.2010 3:02 PM PDT

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Posted by: master piraka

You DO realize that this is only ONE of MANY different armor permutations of the grunt?
There were two different variations in Halo 1 (the alternate shown in the reach comparison) this is a third version.


I do not recall more than one armor permutation for the Grunts in Halo: CE. I know for a fact that there were at least three individual textures for the Grunts (standard, red, and spec ops), but I'm fairly certain they all shared the same player model. If you believe otherwise, I'd love to see a screenshot or hear a way that I could confirm this independently.

  • 01.28.2010 4:14 PM PDT
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No.

Eh... Dude... The alternate variant is the exact one they used in the comparison pick. The curveback grunt.

Can you tell the difference beteen this and this?

  • 01.28.2010 5:01 PM PDT

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Pretty awesome entry. It's cool to see how far the Halo series has gone graphically over the ages.

What I'm curious about is audio, in particular, those of the Elites. It's my understanding that the only reason humans were able to understand the Elites was due to progression in translation software. Seeing as how Reach takes place chronologically before CE, will that mean that Elites will be growling and screaming like manbearpigs again, as opposed to conversing with their subordinates?

  • 01.28.2010 8:29 PM PDT

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BRING BACK TEAM SNIPERS!

very impressive stuff, looking forward to it :)

  • 01.29.2010 12:41 PM PDT

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Posted by: Guilty Trace
What I'm curious about is audio, in particular, those of the Elites. It's my understanding that the only reason humans were able to understand the Elites was due to progression in translation software. Seeing as how Reach takes place chronologically before CE, will that mean that Elites will be growling and screaming like manbearpigs again, as opposed to conversing with their subordinates?

LAWL manbearpigs XD

And by growling and screaming, I asume you mean communicating in their native language of Wortish? Bungie has already confirmed the races will be speaking their own languages and not English so...

BRING ON THE WORT WORTS!

  • 01.29.2010 3:51 PM PDT

Notice the evolution of the plasma pistol? The new one looks really neat...

  • 01.29.2010 4:41 PM PDT
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Bring Back Blood Gulch
This is my original acc, but I changed my GT email, so its not linked to this acc anymore.

Ok now thank god that the marines look more tougher!!!

  • 01.29.2010 11:30 PM PDT

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Posted by: master piraka
Eh... Dude... The alternate variant is the exact one they used in the comparison pick. The curveback grunt.

Can you tell the difference beteen this and this?


Lawl...that's the same character model yo, just from diff angles. The back looks strange on the dead grunt due to the death anim.

  • 01.30.2010 1:25 AM PDT

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Didn't you guys show similar comparison in the Halo 3: ODST special Gameinformer Holiday issue?

  • 01.30.2010 2:12 AM PDT
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I don't know, it's like you guys have lost it somewhere in the between. I mean, don't get me wrong, visually reach is incredibly detailed and amazingly rendered. A true testament not only to the power of the Xbox, but pretty much video games entirely. The trailer is approaching the level where I'm beginning to have trouble telling the difference.

But in terms of design, I think. You know... The original Halo just nailed it. Everything that was made back then was nailed with a 10 cm rivet. Each design, subtlely perfect.
And Halo 2 seemed to follow in it's footsteps, changing nearly nothing in existing objects visual expression and designing new ones to the same high standard.
Changes since then, though, seem to have been only detrimental to the overall feel. Halo 3, while an achievement in realtime rendering rivalling on some points that of Crysis, just felt less well designed, more messy and unnecesarily greebly and stylised, with too much artistic license taken to the detriment of a recognizable world. :/ ODST looked pretty much like Halo 3 and Reach is taking this new uncomfortable direction to it's extreme.

Just my feelings.

  • 02.02.2010 6:46 AM PDT

RIP Halo 2 Multiplayer

"The new Elites got significantly larger, with a greater sense of weight and are much more 'animalistic'," explains Scott. "A lot of this was driven by the animation team and their vision for how the Elite should move."
Thank you... Halo 3 Elites were a joke compared to before, and it looks like Reach is taking the Elite to a whole new level - awesome!

[Edited on 02.04.2010 4:26 AM PST]

  • 02.04.2010 4:26 AM PDT

the name Combat evolved would suit this game as it looks so advanced. Im a big fan of the new designs but would like the Marines to look more vulnerable and small compared to you and the Elites :)

[Edited on 02.05.2010 3:51 PM PST]

  • 02.05.2010 3:48 PM PDT