Halo 3: Reach - Video Game Pregame Thoughts (Xbox 360)

[Naked Crook]

Halo 3: Reach - Pre-release Game Thoughts By Naked Crook The New Order Administrator Halo 3: Reach...once again, Bungie has dished out another title. Another game based on the Halo 3 game play style. Another game where the people, equipment, and the overall world, once again changes without explanation. Once again, the universe has made a shift in the way things are done...and nobody even bats an eye. What am I talking about? Well...if you are asking this question, then lucky you, you get to sit here for the next 5 to 10 minutes, reading my answer. Halo 3: Reach takes place on a planet by the name of Reach. Where have we heard the name Reach before? Think 2001, think SPARTAN 117, think about the first time when the olive green super soldier stepped out of his refrigerator. Yes, the first time we saw Reach was in Halo 1. The Pillar of Autumn, fleeing the doomed planet of Reach, a planet that is doomed to being glassed, a planet doomed to Covenant occupation. Whoops...I just spoiled the end of Halo 3: Reach. Sorry. However, I digress, Halo 3: Reach takes place on the world known as Reach, home world of the SPARTAN super soldier. This sounds fun right? This sounds exciting right? No...this is not fun or exciting. We are looking at the destruction of the Halo franchise. Why did people like SPARTAN 117? Why did people like John? Why did people like the olive green super soldier? People like SPARTAN 117 because he is unique. He was the only one of his kind ever seen. He was special. Fighting among mere humans, he was humanities last hope, our greatest hope. Halo 3: Reach kills that wonder, it kills that sense of uniqueness, it kills that awe, that wonder, the glory of The Last SPARTAN. Halo 3: Reach has effectively turned the SPARTAN from an awe inspiring symbol of hope, to a replicated, common as plastic, soldier. All I saw in the Halo 3: Reach previews was SPARTANS. SPARTANS on my left, SPARTANS on my right, SPARTANS in front of me, behind me, in my garden, hiding in my tree, raiding the trash bags in my garage. There is nothing special about the SPARTANS anymore. They are just another classification of soldier now. So, Bungie has destroyed the wonder of the SPARTAN super soldier. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of the SPARTANS. I personally think they are overrated. However, they do serve one purpose; ammunition for me to beat Bungie over the head. Enough of this though, I believe my point has been made. Is that it? Is that my only problem with Halo 3: Reach? Oh no, I have only just begun. Lets look at our arsenal. So, we have a few new guns. Nicely designed guns. Very effective guns. Here is a question, if this is a prequel, why don't these guns appear in Halo 1, 2, 3, or ODST? Halo 3: Reach introduces some rather impressive, advanced weaponry, and we don't even see a glimpse of them in any of the other games. Bungie has perfected the art of inventing guns out of thin air. They don't even bother using any of the established weapons from the Halo franchise. The Carbine, the Battle Rifle, the Plasma weapons, even the Brute weapons could and should be used. However, Bungie decided to introduce a whole slew of new weapons for no apparent reason. No doubt there will be some contrived reason for them not being available after Reach, or only being available at Reach. This makes about as much sense as a man with a Time Machine saying he has "no time!" There is no way to excuse, or explain these new weapons. There is no reason to create them, and there is no reason why the currently established weapons cannot be used. However, Halo 3: Reach only gets more contrived, and more idiotic. I saw the most egregious thing ever to grace a Halo game. Jetpacks! When I saw this, my jaw hit the floor. I was so enraged by this! What was I looking at? Halo, or the next James Bond movie? What use could jetpacks possibly be? Pfft, forget the grav lift, lets introduce jet packs. yet again, another contrived, useless addition to Halo 3: Reach. I see no practical value for this device. Knowing Bungie, this "device" will be as common and as useful in the Reach campaign as the Incendiary grenade was Halo 3 matchmaking (the Incendiary Grenade never appeared in Halo 3 matchmaking). So why is the jetpack in the game? Have we ever needed a jet pack? Ask yourself this. The answer is no. I see no way to have this device in the game that could be useful in any way. Is it a multiplayer only device? That seems kind of pointless if you ask me. The point is, Bungie has introduced a whole new arsenal into Halo 3: Reach for no reason. Half the weapons will be under-utilized, the other half will be contrived versions of already established weapons. There is a phrase for this; out of ideas. Bungie has run out of ideas, so they have resorted to force feeding us fan services and shiny new objects. Bungie has done nothing but capitalize on the mass stupidity of the general public. They have effectively dangled a pair of keys in your face, and you have all fallen on your backs and begun to giggle like little babies. I am going back to talk about the COGS...I mean SPARTANS. When I first saw the reveal trailer at E3, and I saw Marcus Phoenix...I mean a SPARTAN stepped off that King Raven Attack Helicopter...I mean that UH-144 Falcon, I could have sworn I have seen this scene from somewhere. Did you see what I did there? If not, read the above sentence again. That's right, I just compared Halo 3: Reach to Gears of War. I'm serious, when I first saw these SPARTANS, I thought I was looking at COG Soldiers. I saw no difference. The armor was super bulky, bulkier then usual in fact. The helicopter looked exactly like a King Raven. Bungie just dipped into the RIP-OFF pot (again) and stole the design concept, and style of Gears of War. Shame on you Bungie. Everyone at Bungie should be arrested. Arrested for impersonating creative people. Arrested for impersonating people with vision. Arrested for collectively impersonating a good design studio. Shame on you Bungie. Shame on your COG look-alikes. Shame on your terrible weapons. Shame on you! Shame on you! All I can do is shake my head. All I can do is watch as Bungie decimates the Halo franchise even farther. It saddens me to think that Bungie created Halo 1. It saddens me to think Bungie created Halo 2. Am I done? No. Certainly not. Lets talk about the character development. Wait, I meant to say lets talk about more contrived additions to the game. That's right, lets talk about the needless tactical system. I have witnessed Elites rolling around, SPARTANS hopping around and breaking necks, punching people in the stomach in the slowest possible fashion possible. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Did we ever need rolling, or neck breaking in the previous four games? I don't think we did. Why are these features in the game? This is not Gears of War, this is not Call of Duty, this is not a tactical shooter. Halo is a sci-fi shooter, nothing more nothing less. Have you ever heard the KISS Principle? Keep it simple stupid. Bungie certainly meets the classification of stupid. While we are busy stealing content from other games, why don't we include meat shields, weapon attachments, RPG stat building, VATS, sprinting, wall jumping, an Indiana Jones whip, or the USS Enterprise. Better send an away team Number 1! As I see it, Halo 3: Reach is a desperate grasp at an exhausted idea. ODST had the right idea; play as someone other then the Master chief. Build off that idea. Here are a few, in case those so called designers at the Bungie studios are reading this: Play as an Elite or a Brute and fight SPARTANS Play as an ODST or Marine and fight along side SPARTANS Play as a Naval officer, fight the Covenant in Space, and fight along SPARTANS Play as the Flood, and kill SPARTANS and Covenant. None of this has to be done on Reach. You can do it on Reach, but you can do it anywhere! Any time! Bungie is out of ideas. The franchise has taken a step in the wrong direction. A sad end to a long story if you ask me. Before I finish, there is something you should see: This is my Wallet This is 70 Canadian Dollars, found inside my wallet. This is what I will NOT spend my $70 on.

[the noble e]

Hey we all have our own opinions and im glad you shared.

[Naked Crook]

I am glad you enjoyed it.

[xstarbrite4evr]

I share your thoughts about this game. Here are some things I think will improve this game: -Remove the Spartan aspect A better approach to Reach is to play as a Marine, or an ODST etc. The Spartan thing has been overdone. They can play off-stage roles in the game, such as being a reinforcement when your battle group needs the extra help. Maybe they can take part in defending a key location. But for the most part, kill the Spartan aspect in the game. Maybe keep it in multiplayer, but that's the very least. -Switch up the P.O.V. Halo 2,COD 4,5 and MW2 had this done right. They switched up the perspective of the war so that things didn't get too boring. What Bungie should have done was have a P.O.V. from the UNSC soldiers and a P.O.V. for the Covenant soldiers. -Leave out the new crap What the hell is a DMR I believe its called. What the hell is that Falcon thing. What the hell is is this shitty Needle Rifle. Bungie needed to keep the chronological aspect of the story intact; they failed... miserably. The MA5K is alright. It's an MA5 series weapon and it was in the book Ghost of Onyx. But the DMR, Bungie, you're high, and don't deny it. In Contact Harvest, Jenkins, Johnson, Bryne, and Forsell were wielding BH55's, not DMR's. And they were using militia weapons too, it doesn't make sense that the organized and regimented UNSC had to use downgraded weapons that not even a freaking militia uses. The Falcon flying thing-In contact harvest, we already had Pelicans and Hornets. Stupid, plain stupid. And the Needle Rifle, if I recall correctly, which I'm pretty sure I did, the last upgrade to the Jackels in Halo Wars were BEAM RIFLES. Yes, we had Beam Rifles already. I think Naked Crook also mention the disappearance of all of the original Covenant weapons. Um well, in Contact Harvest, we had plenty of spikers, and plasma pistols. Many shots from these weapons were actually used to kill Covenant! There were also plenty of Plasma Rifles and Plasma Pistols in Fall of Reach. THE FREAKING BOOK HAS WEAPONS THE GAME DOESN'T HAVE!!! BUNGIE I WILL KILL YOU!!!! And that's my input for Halo:Reach

[Naked Crook]

Good input Starbrite. I agree with everything you just said. I plan to review this game again. I am going to borrow the game from a friend when it comes out, I am not buying this crap game. There is also the BETA...

[Millennial Antagonist]

hehehe u actually wasted time to take a pic of ur wallet :) thts funny lol heres my input [MARQUEE]FUCK MY UNCLES HARY BALLS BUNGIE U R A MOCKERY OF SAID EXISTENCE TODAY [/MARQUEE]