Re: Halo: Reach Impressions

On Sep 22, 7:58 am, "Tom" <no...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Hank the Rapper" <xflopg...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:1a44fdda-4ce9-44d9-837d-001e17da84b0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





On Sep 21, 4:41 am, Tom <jimver...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sep 20, 10:47 pm, Hank the Rapper <xflopg...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sep 19, 6:57 am, "Tom" <no...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Trevor Smithson" <trevor_smith...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:snkb9652vcha8pncujp9ssljth3b4ivc2b@xxxxxxxxxx

On Sat, 18 Sep 2010 00:11:54 -0400, "Tom" <no...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

After having played more than half of the game, I have to say that
this
game
isn't what it is made out to be. It in no way touches Halo CE in
the story
nor does it lend much leading up to the Halo CE storyline. It is
simply
combat and tactical talk in the cut scenes with some relevance
touching on
the Halo storyline. In honesty though, that doesn't bother me, but
these
issues do.

Graphics:  While they do look good and there are some nice
textures, the
stuttering and framerate issues are not a few and far in-between as
noted
in
many online reviews, they are there and they are noticeable. In the
cut
scenes (which should be the best looking parts), there is motion
blur on
the
character movements. Now, motion blur in gaming is supposed to be
an
effect
that improves the look of the game for realism. This looks more
like the
scenes of the Six Million Dollar Man when he is running fast with
image
trails going behind him as he speeds forth. I am not exaggerating
here
either. The textures for the most part are definitely nicer, but
the
character model are about the same with the same ugly faces, not
much
improvement there, although the armors have very nice textures and
detail
with that worn look to them.  In a few of the cut scenes, the Noble
Team
characters can look pretty ugly and very cartoonish. The
environments look
a
little more realistic compared to Halo 3, but the overall detail
isn't
much
better than 3. Having made the comparison, I would rather have Halo
3's
looks for smoother playability than what I am experiencing with
Reach as
the
difference is not enough of an upgrade in graphics to really be a
game
killer for most had they used Halo 3's engine.

Game play is very near same as the first Halo, no dual wielding
weapons (I
do like that), you'll pay dearly if you think you can melee the
enemy to
death right off. The melee speed is really toned down, I like that
as
well.
The weapons are great (Hammer of Dawn type weapon add-on is a
copy-cat
feature from Gears). The armor upgrade choices you have during the
course
of
the campaign is cool. MY problem with this is, a lot of this stuff
didn't
exist in Halo CE, so somehow Halo took a step back in weapons and
gadgets
when the storyline advanced??? Also, the enemy weapons from Halo 3
existed
almost in their entirety in Reach, but they didn't Halo CE ???.  I
won't
get
into weapons details as it may spoil it for some, they are cool,
but
nonetheless perplexing to the story for me. I do like the vehicles
in the
game as well, more realistic to drive, tricky at first but very
nice.
Again,
a few vehicles in the game, whatever side they are from, were not
in Halo
CE, nor 2, nor 3.

In all honesty, this game doesn't deserve a 9 as didn't Halo 3.
There's
isn't much of a story to it. I guess I may be unfair at this point
since
this is supposed to be a 'lead-up' to the Halo stroyline. I'll just
admit
that it is anti-climatic so far as I already know the story, so
this may
be
the issue for me and most here know I am a storyline buff when it
comes to
games. Like doing Star Wars they way they did, I love the movies
(except
Phantom Menace was a joke), but I truly wish they had done them in
order.
I'll also admit the game doesn't feel right without the MC or
Cortana in
it,
they were the main two in Halo and I don't see whythe  MC could not
have
been part of this since he was obviously right at the beginning of
Halo CE
when you rev him up for service on the Pillar of Autumn. I guess I
haven't
gotten over romanticizing with the first Halo and the bias is
coming
through. My opinion may inflame some, but this is what I see and
experience
with Reach. It is a "reach" to say this is the definitive Halo, it
is for
the combat aspect when comparing CE to Reach, but not much else. Of
all
the
sequels (prequel in this case) , it certainly plays closest to the
first,
but it still doesn't compare.

I like the game, but one negative is that campaign matchmaking
along with
the rocket race gametype are unavailable at launch.  There's some
BS about
not wanting
to spoil the campaign, however it seems likely that they decided to
launch
the game when
it was not quite finished.

Some other observations:

--Getting booted in Rocketfight can happen after a single
accidental team
kill; it's so easy to
accidentally kill teammates in this mode, needs to be adjusted.
I've
forgiven dozens of betrayals,
yet have been booted myself four or five times now.

--Unlike Halo 3, when you enable mute-all the setting sticks
between
sessions.  I really appreciate
this change.

--I wish there were a way to disable the credit system.  It's a
time
waster having to dismiss the
credit screen after every session.  I do not give one good goddamn
what
kind of wrist armor
my character is wearing.  Totally superfluous dolly dress up.

--Don't like the active camo changes, it's been changed and nerfed
down
too much.  Hologram's too
weak, everyone's figured out that there's no name above them.

--Not enough maps.  I'm sure this is intentional and we'll be
paying out
the ass for DLC ones.

--AI campaign teammates still can't drive worth a damn.

--Some multiplayer spawn points are godawful.

I finished the game and I didn't think much of it. It was way
overblown for
the storyline and the sites that gave it this awesome review were
obviously
fronted ofr the kudos of the game. The friendly AI is not just awful
in
vehicle when they operate them, they are plain awful in fight period.
Most
of the time during fight, they just stand there, weapons aimed doing
nothing
while I have to take on really good AI wasting ammo.

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm playing on Heroic and have
never witness that.

Well, I played the whole campaign on normal, which was pretty easy.
the ending gave me a little trouble though. Now I am playing on
Legendary. if you're asking about the friendly AI, it is as I
described. I am unsure what you are referencing of my critique and
what you haven't witnessed.

I take back what I said. I witnessed the AI doing nothing after
continuing a game. They all stood there on the extraction level until
I progressed to the checkpoint.

It would have been nice since they (Bungie) refuse to evolve how the combat
can pan out, if they allowed, at least, that the friendly AI would do
flanking like the enemy does. What really would have made this game good in
campaign, is if the squad could be directed to different areas to counter
the flanking or simply for combat tactics. $ halos and the same tctics and
shit friendly AI. Combat "evolved" stopped at the first release of Halo now
that I think about it.

Yes!

I wondered how come the Covenant were using all these sweet tactics
whereas my red shirts were just running straight into ambushes over
and over again.

Share the love around!
.

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