Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo's greatest hits and best new bits
  • Subject: Halo's greatest hits and best new bits
Subject: Halo's greatest hits and best new bits

Quick as a razor, sharp as a bullet.

People still post in here? I'm surprised.

Anyway, I remember Bungie saying that Reach was basically going to be all the best bits of the trilogy(.5) thrown into one awesome game with the technical firepower to pull off some stuff we'd never seen before.

I'm aware of a lot of iconic scenes in Reach that refer to older ones, but I want to do a runthrough and see if there are any of which I'm unaware:

Winter Contingency = Halo (CE's 2nd level)

ONI Sword Base = ?

Nightfall = Truth and Reccy

Tip of the Spear = The Ark

Long Night of Solace = The Silent Cartographer (beach landing) and Truth and Reccy (onboard the Covie ship)

Exodus = The closest I can think of is a civilian setting with Brutes committing atrocities, and that's The Storm, but they aren't too similar in terms of gameplay.

New Alexandria = Kikowani Station

The Package = The Ark (trundling around a wasteland in a Scorpion and blowing the -blam!- out of everything)

The Pillar of Autumn = ?



And what about the big new features? Obviously space flight is a big one. But that's about it. The level of Scarab-driving was cut, that would have been one. And the opening cutscene for TotS obviously promised a lot but the level didn't deliver that scale of combat.

  • 05.17.2012 8:28 AM PDT

Ohai, I'm Loscocco (pronounced Loss-cocoa). I'm a college student (computer science major), 3D animator, and long-time Halo player.

I never thought of the entire campaign like that, but I guess Exodus would resemble Halo 2 Outskirts, ONI Sword Base would be something like Delta Halo (since you travel around small outposts until you get to a big temple), and The Pillar of Autumn would resemble The Great Journey (last mission of H2).

  • 05.17.2012 8:34 AM PDT

Quick as a razor, sharp as a bullet.

Any explanation for those comparisons?

I think a lot of the exploratory missions with a final objective could be compared with Sword Base in that respect. The Ark, for example. Uprising. AotCR.

And I'm not sure how similar The Great Journey and PoA are, given that one is fairly vehicle-heavy and the other has a vehicle setpiece with no vehicular combat at all.

  • 05.17.2012 8:45 AM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

This is one of the many problems with this game, it relies way too heavily on the originals to bring about that nostalgic feeling to keep the players involved. But, like the Star Wars prequels, this attempt just falls flat on its face.

Compare 'Nightfall' to 'The Truth and Reconciliation'. The former can be finished SLASO in less than 5 minutes because you can just run past everyone; it's almost insulting that they used T&R as the basis for this level because T&R is a mission I consider to be perfect, or at least somewhere close to perfect. You get to assault the Covenant at your own pace in your own way, you can actually get to the ship without being spotted at all but you still have to kill all the enemies. There's a lot of enjoyment in seeing Grunts panic and run for their lives when you headshot their commanding Elite while in active camouflage, the dsorderly nature of the Covenant's underlings adds a lot of entertainment value when you can feel like you're in control of the situation.

But Nightfall? You're discovered about a second after you fire a shot, then you've got Jun shooting enemies when you don't want him to and even shooting you. There's absolutely no enjoyment in Nightfall other than a few assassinations you can make, frankly I don't see why anyone would want to play through the whole level and not skip through it in 5 minutes.

And what ultimate effect does this mission even have on the story as a whole? There's nothing at risk in this mission other than revealing your position to the Covenant... great, I feel so pumped about this already. In T&R, you're assaulting the ship for a purpose - there is something extremely valuable at risk in this mission, Captain Keyes. He's the leader, without him you're just a scattered and disorganised force. And upon releasing him from Covenant captivity, you then progress further into the story because you learn that Halo is some kind of weapon and the Covenant plan to use it against humanity. There's the tone of danger as a result of all the build-up throughout the mission, this is totally absent in Nightfall, and indeed about 85% of Reach's campaign.

/rant

  • 05.17.2012 8:50 AM PDT

Posted by: Tom T
Prolonged exposure to this forum is bad for your health.


Posted by: aBIueBooksheIf
because I like pen­is.

source

lol

Reach tried to jump in on the success of previous games and managed to not only fail at it, it literally insults everything it tried to imitate.

  • 05.17.2012 8:56 AM PDT

Ohai, I'm Loscocco (pronounced Loss-cocoa). I'm a college student (computer science major), 3D animator, and long-time Halo player.


Posted by: Tartan 118
Any explanation for those comparisons?

I think a lot of the exploratory missions with a final objective could be compared with Sword Base in that respect. The Ark, for example. Uprising. AotCR.

And I'm not sure how similar The Great Journey and PoA are, given that one is fairly vehicle-heavy and the other has a vehicle setpiece with no vehicular combat at all.


Exodus -> Outskirts: start the mission with your limbs barely attached to your body as you explore the urban area.

ONI Sword Base -> Delta Halo: start the mission defending a base, move on into a Warthog to go find and empty small outposts. And yes, many missions can be compared to this because many missions in the series are the same.

Pillar of Autumn -> Great Journey: the thing that stands out here is that you spend most of your time travelling an insanely large distance to an objective of great importance that is looking over you the entire time while the story is telling you to get there as fast as you can. Once you get there, you hold out and defend the area. While there are differences in combat, the setup of the level is very similar.



However, a person cannot really argue mine or your points; most resemblances are solely interpretive and Reach didn't derive all of its campaign by taking notes from older games.

  • 05.17.2012 9:08 AM PDT

Quick as a razor, sharp as a bullet.

Posted by: ajw34307
This is one of the many problems with this game, it relies way too heavily on the originals to bring about that nostalgic feeling to keep the players involved. But, like the Star Wars prequels, this attempt just falls flat on its face.

Compare 'Nightfall' to 'The Truth and Reconciliation'. The former can be finished SLASO in less than 5 minutes because you can just run past everyone; it's almost insulting that they used T&R as the basis for this level because T&R is a mission I consider to be perfect, or at least somewhere close to perfect. You get to assault the Covenant at your own pace in your own way, you can actually get to the ship without being spotted at all but you still have to kill all the enemies. There's a lot of enjoyment in seeing Grunts panic and run for their lives when you headshot their commanding Elite while in active camouflage, the dsorderly nature of the Covenant's underlings adds a lot of entertainment value when you can feel like you're in control of the situation.

But Nightfall? You're discovered about a second after you fire a shot, then you've got Jun shooting enemies when you don't want him to and even shooting you. There's absolutely no enjoyment in Nightfall other than a few assassinations you can make, frankly I don't see why anyone would want to play through the whole level and not skip through it in 5 minutes.

And what ultimate effect does this mission even have on the story as a whole? There's nothing at risk in this mission other than revealing your position to the Covenant... great, I feel so pumped about this already. In T&R, you're assaulting the ship for a purpose - there is something extremely valuable at risk in this mission, Captain Keyes. He's the leader, without him you're just a scattered and disorganised force. And upon releasing him from Covenant captivity, you then progress further into the story because you learn that Halo is some kind of weapon and the Covenant plan to use it against humanity. There's the tone of danger as a result of all the build-up throughout the mission, this is totally absent in Nightfall, and indeed about 85% of Reach's campaign.

/rant

I just remembered to look at this thread again. And well put. For me, actually boarding the ship was half of the fun of Truth and Reccy, ploughing through this beautifully designed architecture with any amount of danger potentially lurking around the corner in the heart of the enemy behemoth.

  • 05.28.2012 3:47 PM PDT
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Reach is g.ay but I play it all day.

  • 05.28.2012 3:51 PM PDT

Join Halo Haven for all things related to Halo 4


Tell her that If you jingle my bells, Ill promise you a white Christmas - Call Me Venom
The world can't end next month. My yogurt expires in 2013 - Princess Cadence
If Apple invented a car, would it have windows? - Xxembers

How dare you compare the monstrosity known as Tip of the Spear to the masterpiece known as The Ark?

  • 05.28.2012 4:12 PM PDT
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Posted by: A 3 Legged Goat
How dare you compare the monstrosity known as Tip of the Spear to the masterpiece known as The Ark?


The Ark is "meh" and you know it.

  • 05.28.2012 4:18 PM PDT

Join Halo Haven for all things related to Halo 4


Tell her that If you jingle my bells, Ill promise you a white Christmas - Call Me Venom
The world can't end next month. My yogurt expires in 2013 - Princess Cadence
If Apple invented a car, would it have windows? - Xxembers

compared to ToTS it's much better

  • 05.28.2012 4:27 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.


Posted by: Tartan 118
Posted by: ajw34307
This is one of the many problems with this game, it relies way too heavily on the originals to bring about that nostalgic feeling to keep the players involved. But, like the Star Wars prequels, this attempt just falls flat on its face.

Compare 'Nightfall' to 'The Truth and Reconciliation'. The former can be finished SLASO in less than 5 minutes because you can just run past everyone; it's almost insulting that they used T&R as the basis for this level because T&R is a mission I consider to be perfect, or at least somewhere close to perfect. You get to assault the Covenant at your own pace in your own way, you can actually get to the ship without being spotted at all but you still have to kill all the enemies. There's a lot of enjoyment in seeing Grunts panic and run for their lives when you headshot their commanding Elite while in active camouflage, the dsorderly nature of the Covenant's underlings adds a lot of entertainment value when you can feel like you're in control of the situation.

But Nightfall? You're discovered about a second after you fire a shot, then you've got Jun shooting enemies when you don't want him to and even shooting you. There's absolutely no enjoyment in Nightfall other than a few assassinations you can make, frankly I don't see why anyone would want to play through the whole level and not skip through it in 5 minutes.

And what ultimate effect does this mission even have on the story as a whole? There's nothing at risk in this mission other than revealing your position to the Covenant... great, I feel so pumped about this already. In T&R, you're assaulting the ship for a purpose - there is something extremely valuable at risk in this mission, Captain Keyes. He's the leader, without him you're just a scattered and disorganised force. And upon releasing him from Covenant captivity, you then progress further into the story because you learn that Halo is some kind of weapon and the Covenant plan to use it against humanity. There's the tone of danger as a result of all the build-up throughout the mission, this is totally absent in Nightfall, and indeed about 85% of Reach's campaign.

/rant

I just remembered to look at this thread again. And well put. For me, actually boarding the ship was half of the fun of Truth and Reccy, ploughing through this beautifully designed architecture with any amount of danger potentially lurking around the corner in the heart of the enemy behemoth.


Indeed. Another point I'd like to raise that your post has reminded me of is the sounds of Halo CE, specifically the Ambient Wonder track that plays when you enter the T&R. This kind of ethereal music creates an atmosphere of mystery and makes you realise that you are in a completely ALIEN environment with no understanding of the curved purple corridors and strange holographic panels.

Reach never did this sort of thing, it was way too focused on the action instead of the ambience and wonder (pun 100% intended). The action itself was pretty boring since you were stuck in small corridors and had a grand total of 3 rooms to walk around (the first room, the hangar and the bridge) whereas in T&R there were over a dozen places you could visit.

Just more fuel for the fire. :/

  • 05.28.2012 4:30 PM PDT