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362 lines
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technology
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video-games
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# Halo Reach video game review
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## Halo Reach is Bungie's last entry in the groundbreaking Halo shooter
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series, and the developer is going out with a bang writes Tom Hoggins.
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400
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TelegraphPlayer-7995334
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[Link to this video][1]
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[![Tom Hoggins][2]][3]
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By [Tom Hoggins][4] 5:01AM BST 12 Sep 2010
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[Follow Tom Hoggins on Twitter][5]
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[Comments][6]
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**Format:** Xbox 360
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**Developer:** Bungie
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**Publisher:** Microsoft Game Studios
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**Released:** 14 September 2010
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**Score:** 10/10
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It was always going to be special. This is Bungie's last hurrah in the
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universe it created; a universe it has lived, breathed and loved for the last
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decade. Was there ever any doubt that the developer would go out in a blaze of
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glory? Whoever Microsoft drafts in to continue the Halo franchise from here on
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won't just have to remember Reach, they'll have to live up to it.
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So, yes, it was always going to be good. But the question is: how good? A lot
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has changed since 2007 and Halo 3. The FPS landscape has shifted. Realism
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rules the roost. Time was, Bungie's science-fiction goliath was untouchable, a
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shining beacon for the console shooter. But now heads have been turned by
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modern warfare and bad company, fizzing purple laser fire traded for hot lead
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and AC-130s.
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So how? How does Bungie reclaim its crown in the over saturated genre it
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pioneered on consoles? Simple. By making people remember. Remember stepping
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out onto that ring for the first time, the cerulean blue sky carved in two by
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a gigantic structure. Remember the wide open spaces, flanking Elites and
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rushing Grunts. Remember outsmarting the giant, monstrous Hunter and tagging
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it with a sticky plasma grenade. Remember late nights in multiplayer, sniping
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across the abyss on Blood Gulch, or winning a match in a hail of plasma fire
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and a double kill. Remember Halo.
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It's unlikely to convert non-believers. Reach's magnificence comes from an
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acute understanding of what makes Halo and its players tick. Bungie have often
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said of Reach that they wanted to recapture the feeling from Combat Evolved,
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going back to the series' roots in order to deliver the best Halo yet. The
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truth stretches further than that. Bungie have plundered each and every Halo
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game --from CE to ODST-- taking the best bits and crafting them into something
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remarkable. This is Halo's Greatest Hits. A blistering, breathless crescendo
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to a decade's worth of work.
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## Related Articles
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* [Metroid: Other M video game review][7]
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17 Sep 2010
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* [Microsoft investigates Halo: Reach leak][8]
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26 Aug 2010
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* [Halo Reach: Thousands expected to queue for midnight release][9]
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13 Sep 2010
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* [Halo: Reach multiplayer preview][10]
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23 Apr 2010
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* [Halo 3 ODST video game review][11]
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08 Oct 2009
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* [Halo Wars review][12]
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25 Feb 2009
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It's the end, then, but also the beginning. Reach stands as a prequel to the
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Halo trilogy, the starting point for the Master Chief's story. The Chief is
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nowhere to be seen here, however. Instead, you step into the a Mjolnir armour
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of a new recruit to Noble Team, a crack squad of Spartans (7-feet-tall
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cybernetically enhanced superhumans) assigned to Reach to stave off a Covenant
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attack.
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Your character, Noble Six, is a deliberate cipher, with customisable armour
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that you carry with you through singleplayer, co-op and online. The rest of
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Noble Team dutifully fulfil their cliches: the stoic leader, the gentle giant,
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the tough chick with a foreign accent. The dialogue between the team during
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the few moments they take a breather is flat and overwrought, desperately
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missing the B-movie bark of a Sergeant Johnson or wry observation of Cortana.
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A shame, but it matters little. Bungie has never really been a master of
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narrative detail, preferring to focus on the big picture. Reach takes place at
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the height of humanity's war with the covenant, and we are losing. Compared to
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the bright, verdant colours of the original Halo, Reach has a far more subdued
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palette. Scorched earth, dusty landscapes and abandoned, pockmarked buildings
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betray a planet under siege. Few areas are the same in Reach, but even in the
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brightest of places, such as the lush city of Alexandria, Reach's inhabitants
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scramble for shelter as the Covenant hordes lay the city to waste.
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The ferocious broad strokes of Reach's space opera are what invest you most in
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humanity's plight. It's all rendered in a brand new engine, with Halo 3's
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mechanics gutted and replaced with a bespoke formula for Reach's expansive
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skirmishing. It's still absolutely Halo --fast and frenzied-- but it's a
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little heavier. The lead bullets of the human weaponry punch through Covenant
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flesh with more visceral force, while the belching plasma of an alien rifle
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fizzes and crackles as it engulfs your prey.
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Reach distils what made Halo such a trailblazer in the first place: the combat
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is _extraordinarily_ good fun. At a time when shooters are preoccupied with
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the idea of clattering their audience with a sledgehammer, sending them
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hurtling down a scripted path of corridors and jack-in-the-box opponents in a
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relentless war of attrition, Halo remembers that, above all else, the art of
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battle is what counts the most. And the developers at Bungie are masters of
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their craft.
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The theatres of war are huge, wide-open sandboxes crawling with the Covenant.
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While direct objectives are hardly the stuff of wild invention each skirmish
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is different to the last, with remarkable freedom of expression for your
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gunplay. You choose the tactics to engage the enemy, but Bungie guide your way
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with eclectic scattered weaponry, vantage points from which to take the high
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ground, and rocks to dive behind to catch your breath and recharge your
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shield. Wide open and free-form, but meticulously designed to offer the most
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enjoyment.
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The new armour abilities play to this ethos. Mapped to the left bumper, these
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are rechargeable actions from shields to jetpacks replacing Halo's one shot
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equipment packs. You can only carry one armour augmentation at a time and your
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default loadout is a simple sprint. The sprint is so useful in battle that you
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will be inclined to stick with such a flexible ability throughout most of the
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game. It's not something Bungie are oblivious to, however, with some set
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pieces offering up a selection of armour abilities that demand to be tried
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out.
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While the trajectory of the campaign is set to ferocious, relentless
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escalation throughout, Bungie has learned when to take a timeout or mix things
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up a little. The beauty of the combat is that few battles are the same, but
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whenever the sensory overload of Reach's combat cacophony becomes too much,
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Bungie switches the focus or slams on the brakes. Vehicle sections hardly
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lower the pulse, but thrashing a Warthog around Reach's shores, admiring the
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glistening scenery as it thunders by is a different kind of exciting.
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Throughout the ebb and flow of the campaign there is always one constant: The
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Covenant. Halo's alien invaders have always been the unsung star of the
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series. Here they are at their best; feral but organised packs of zealots
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dedicated to their cause of wiping humanity from the universe. The enemy AI in
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Combat Evolved was groundbreaking at the time, it arguably hasn't been
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bettered in an FPS, and here it's still as devastatingly effective. Bungie
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professes the behavioural routines of the Covenant are simplistic. It's
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probably true, but the skill comes in blending the traits of each Covenant
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species into tactical hit squads. The monkey-esque Grunts are cannon fodder,
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prepared to charge headlong at you just so the more elegant Elites can flank
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to gain the advantage. Giant Brutes provide the muscle, while the Jackals and
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new foe Skirmishers hunt in razor-sharp packs. And best of all, in Reach, the
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Hunters are terrifying again.
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The thing with the Covenant is simple: they are just a joy to fight. It's
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exciting, emergent stuff, fuelled by the decisions you make over your tactics.
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The dispersion of weaponry demands you mix up which guns you use and the game
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is better for it. Ammo isn't infinite, so you think carefully about whether to
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take your favourite gun with little ammo, or trade it for a fully loaded
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alternative.
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In fact, Reach is undoubtedly the toughest Halo in quite some time. Heroic is
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still the best way to play, but even Normal will test your mettle across at
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least 10 hours, more if you are tackling it on Legendary. However, frustration
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can rear its ugly head at times, usually down to the dynamic checkpointing.
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Its fabulous for 90% of the time, saving your progress after you clear out
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another barricade of Covenant but on some occasions it will either not kick in
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when it should, sending you back more than you would like, or it saves in the
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heat of battle, leaving you in an impossible situation. It's not a pervasive
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issue, but erratic enough that it can't be ignored.
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By the time you've fought your way to the bitter end, exhausted and broken
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after a final siege, you'll probably want to jump straight into multiplayer.
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Reach's online component is, frankly, an embarrassment of riches, putting even
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the biggest and best shooters out there to shame. There's the greatly expanded
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Firefight, where you must fend off hordes of Covenant with a bunch of pals.
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There is the new and improved Forge mode that, while strictly speaking still
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not a full map editor, will allow industrious types to build some spectacular
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user-generated content.
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Forge is indicative of Bungie's community driven pride. As with Halo 3, Bungie
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have seen how Halo players have tailored game-types into "Gentlemen's
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Agreement" games, where the rules are enforced by the players rather than the
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game itself. Bungie, never one to miss a trick, has further bolstered the
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playlist by adding even more variants, all of which are fantastic additions
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simply because they are enormous fun.
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The teamwork and community vibe is what Reach's multiplayer thrives on. It has
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resisted the temptation to include Modern Warfare-style player progression,
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instead relying on fun, balance and skill. Players can choose a loadout with
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different default weapons and armour abilities, but everyone gets the same
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choice to keep matches on an even footing. Points are assigned for good
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performance, but for cosmetic purposes only, allowing you to personalise your
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Spartan's armour in great detail.
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With the inventive match-types and eclectic weaponry, Reach's multiplayer
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places its premium squarely on fun. The kinetic gunplay from the campaign
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makes the transition beautifully, although it's a bit of a disappointment to
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discover the melee attack is still overpowered. But Reach's action still lends
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itself to grander tales than a few naff boxing matches. It's storming the
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opponents base on a Mongoose with a mate, its a fluke sticky grenade that
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wipes out three of the opposing team; it's crowning some poor fellow who's
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trying to gun down your cunningly deployed hologram; its lobbing a grenade
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into a wall and taking out you and a couple of companions, where luckily the
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biggest explosion is one of laughter. It is multiplayer told in stories,
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rather than numbers and score-sheets.
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Bungie wouldn't have it any other way. Halo is their story, and with Reach you
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feel they have just closed the book. It may not have the lasting impact of
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Combat Evolved, but as a refinement of the idea --the _essence_-- of Halo, it
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is their finest work yet. And maybe, just maybe, they want Halo to end right
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here and now, as they finally close this glorious circle that they have
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created. When you touch down on Reach as Noble Six, your leader, Carter, takes
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you aside and says: "You are stepping into shoes we would rather were left
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unfilled." Sounds like a message. And on the evidence of this spectacular
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send-off, filling Bungie's size 12s might just be impossible.
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[**Buy from Amazon.co.uk (UK)![][13] **][14]
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**![][15] [Buy from Amazon.com (US)![][13]][16]![][17]**
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[X][18] Share & bookmark
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][19]
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* Share: [Share][18] [ ][20] [ ][21]
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[Tweet][22]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/7994988/Halo-Reach-video-
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game-review.html
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Telegraph
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## [Video Games][23]
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* ### [Technology »][24]
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* ### [Microsoft »][25]
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* ### [Tom Hoggins »][3]
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* ### [Technology Reviews »][26]
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In technology
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[![Brink hands-on preview][27] ][28]
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### [UK video game chart 16 May 2011][28]
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[X][18] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][19]
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Share:
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* [ ][18]
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* [ ][20]
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* [ ][21]
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* [Tweet][22]
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* Advertisement
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![][29]
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telegraphuk
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Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][30] [blog
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comments powered by Disqus][31]
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[![Follow The Telegraph on social media][32]][33]
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Advertisement
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sponsored features
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## [VIDEO GAME TRAILERS »][34]
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[![Renegade ops game][36] ][35]
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Renegade Ops puts players in a mobile commando unit sent behind enemy lines to
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defeat Inferno, a madman intent on global domination.
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### [Exclusive: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean - official trailer][37]
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### [Call Of Duty: Black Ops - Escalation DLC Trailer][38]
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### [LA Noire - new trailer][39]
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### [FEAR 3 - 'Ides Of March' Trailer][40]
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### [Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Reverie DLC Trailer][41]
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### [Forsaken World - launch trailer][42]
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### [Star Wars: The Old Republic - Fate Of The Galaxy trailer][43]
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### [Spanking video game pulled from UK][44]
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### [LA Noire Gameplay: Investigation and Interrogation][45]
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### [Call Of Duty: Black Ops - 'Berlin Wall' DLC trailer][46]
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TECHNOLOGY ADVICE AND REVIEWS
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### [Samsung Galaxy Tab: Review][47]
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[![Samsung Galaxy Tab][48] ][47]
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Slick, well-designed and highly usable - it's clear that Samsung's new Galaxy
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Tab tablet computer represents a real challenge to Apple's iPad
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### [Photoshop Elements 9 review][49]
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### [Just Dance 2 video game review][50]
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