- spurkis
- |
- Honorable Member
I can't decide if I love or hate Reach, but is definitely not the BEST Halo game.
I like only excerpts of the game, like certain pieces of music, levels, weapons, environments etc. The entirety just can't compete with the other titles. The characters are dull, even for Spartans. Bungie got too keen on making it realistic in terms of things like military talk, and I felt it got in the way of the lovely mythic atmosphere I love. The characters never gazed at the wonders and horrors of the galaxy. All we got was Emile's reaction to the Forerunner artifact: a grunted "what is this stuff?".
I don't like how the Covenant is portrayed. I felt it was wrong to alienate them (lol) so much after getting to know them so well in Halo 2 and 3. They are introduced terribly on the first level, and especially the Elites. They are huge, agile and intimidating, but the fact that they didn't get a proper introduction sucked. They could've atleast used the Zealot encounter as the first Elite appearance in general to give a better impression. I hate that there were absolutely no dialogue with the Covenant. Not even a Prophet talking smack.
Music is okay. Certain parts are extremely freaking great, while others are boring and generic. It just feels like the iconic Reach chant is a primitive version of the classic Halo chants.
I hate how the levels are built up. The majority of missions are so damn independent from each other, if you know what I mean. One moment you're on Sword Base, the next it's three in the morning and you're hunting with Jun. I wanted to progress on my own, manually. There's not even cutscenes showing what Noble Team does in between missons. And I'm not counting the two-three cutscenes filled with static military talk and no character development.
The missons were too objective-based. Activate AA-gun, destroy AA-gun. Save civilians, disable enemy Corvette. Too little story and too little substance. Main plot actually kicking in at the end of the second last mission. Not good. If we died for Cortana, then the campaign should've been more dedicated to that. It certainly wasn't the fall of Reach that was the actual plot of the game, as that was merely shown in one cutscene, two whole missions, and later as background noise. Five independent missions for a build-up to this was silly.
Matchmaking and Firefight is pretty good. I play Reach about every day. A major con is how all maps are taken from the Campaign. Firefight lacks the fight for survival-feeling that ODST established. It's just about 1) Massacre Grunts and Jackals, brief moment of strategy when stacking Needle ammo for Brutes, kill Skirmishers, and murder Elite Generals, or 2) Ridiculous FRG-massacres that completely destroy the FF concept and warps it into a platform for farming.
Gameplay is extremely good. It feels smooth and hectic, while AAs make the battlefield more varied. However, most of them needs to be tweaked in some way. Especially the ludicrous Armor Lock.
I can't lie that the impression it left was very good. But the thing that really sold me was of course the revisiting of the first second of Halo. A smart trick by Bungie, in other words. Lone Wolf was brilliant, though, and was the first time I actually felt all hope was lost. But after replaying and reflecting on the entirety of the game is somehow not reaching up.
As a shooter, Reach is top notch. As a Halo game, it's decent.
Probably ridden with typos.
[Edited on 05.13.2011 11:35 AM PDT]