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Halo Reach Game Review
By Naked Crook
The New Order Administrator
Halo Reach is the fifth installment in the Halo franchise. Without a doubt, I think it is the worst of all the games. How could this be so? How could the most intuitive, groundbreaking Halo be so bad? Well...simply put, Halo Reach added a slew of new features but it was implemented incorrectly. The entire atmosphere of the Halo scheme was pointlessly redesigned, serving only to confuse veterans, and to toss moderate gamers to the wolves. The Balance of the game leaves much to be desired. From AI intelligence, to enemy competency in contrast to the player can be best described as broken. Now, all three of these categories fall into one major collection: Game Mechanics. The major flaw of this game is broken game mechanics. This is what bothered me the most about this game...the broken mechanics. I am going to say those two words a lot, so get used to it.
To help the readers evaluate how I feel about this game during the course of this review, I will use the star system. We will start at 5 stars. After each paragraph, you will see whether the game loses or gains stars based on how much I praise or trash the game. We will start with 5 stars. How I feel about the game is unrelated to the final score it is given at the end of the review.
* * * * *
So...I will focus on 7 major areas of the game. Now, as opposed to the list I gave earlier (Atmosphere, Balance, and AI) I will break these down into smaller subsets so I can really focus my rage!
- Game Pallet (How ugly the game looks)
- Weapons and Equipment
- Vehicles
- Enemy AI and Difficulty
- Characters
- Music
- Story
Those are the 7 major subsets of the three categories I listed. Let's begin. FOR THE RECORD: I will be reviewing this game based on my impressions of the legendary difficulty.
The Game Pallet, or in simple terms, the colors the game uses, is dynamic to say the least. Sometimes you will be in a bland environment, other times to will be in a vibrant environment. Now, I will admit, Bungie knows how to make scenery, but with Reach, they really dropped the ball on some of the textures...I stress SOME. It makes me think the game was unfinished. Let's take the Pelican for example. Let's compare the Halo 3 and the Reach Pelican. (Click the hotlinks to call up the pictures). Notice on the Halo 3 Pelican we have things like bump maps (the process of giving a 2D image a 3D look on a flat mesh), transparent windows, dynamic lighting, and a larger contrast gradient. Needless to say, this problem exists with all the human vehicles, but the Covenant vehicles seem to reflect their previous counterparts (When I say previous, I am of course referring to Halo 3 and ODST). This makes me wonder...did the designers get lazy, or is this their way of showing that all of humanities technology sucks? You Decide.
Scenery is pretty impressive. I must admit, in this category, Reach beats out all of its predecessors, but calls a close tie to ODST. ODST didn't hurt my eyes as much as Reach did. Reach really took it to the extreme on the saturation of scenery. When I say extreme, I mean either too bland or too colorful. You CAN be too colorful or too bland and there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle that Halo Reach missed by a country mile. Some people like bland, others like vibrant colors and you cannot really argue this one way or the other. What you can argue about is the inconsistency of the saturation. It was the inconsistency that pissed me off.
All in all...atmosphere gets a passable grade, but only passable.
* * * * *
The weapons and equipment. I am going to Hell for sure after all the times I cursed the weapons in this game. I made up some PRETTY fancy words. There are two categories of weapons in this game: familiars and new comers. I am not going to list them all, but I will point out the ones that pissed me off...so like...50% of them. You can already tell this section is going to fail.
I will say this right now...against the AI, all the human weapons fail. Humans might as well be firing blanks because to be honest, humans weapons have no kick to them.
First up - The Assault Rifle. Everything about this gun sucks. It is horribly inaccurate, does close to no damage, its ugly looking, and I hate the yellow stripe on it! Against an Elite, you have two ways to use this gun, both result in death within 3 seconds. You can use burst fire and chip away at enemy shields as if a child was trying to breach the hull of a 747 airliner with pebbles, assuming you are lucky enough to actually hit the Elite, as most Elites move 3x faster then you do, or you can go in guns-a-blazing and hit the 0% accuracy margin before exhausting 1/4 of you clip. This gun is the definition of terrible. It takes a full 32 bullets, point blank range, to drop a grunt...IF YOU ARE LUCKY. If not, prepare to revert to checkpoint and hope you don't have the Iron skull on.
The grenade launcher is pretty useless. I loath this weapon. I drop it ASAP as it is unable to make direct contact with an enemy. The grenade actually bounces as if it were a tennis ball. If you plant the grenade at the enemies feet, it will bounce a good 4 feet past them, inflicting no damage. This gun actually punishes accuracy and proper depth perception.
The Spartan Laser took a turn for the worse in this game. No only is the battery power diminished, but how much damage it inflicts is also savagely curtailed. This gun is unable to kill an Elite with a single shot. It requires the use of two direct shots, totaling a good 10 seconds to kill an Elite...assuming the Elite does not use his omnipotent mind powers to sense the impending laser blast, or run for cover after the first shot and full recharge his shields. In fact, I think the focus rifle was supposed to replace this gun, but they simply forgot to remove the Spartan laser from the final game. That must be it because...simply put...its a giant laser pointer.
The Plasma Launcher is possibly good if used against Wraith tanks. Everything else, its pretty useless. As just about everything will dive or leap out of the way of the plasma charges. It is kinda like a a flak cannon, but the projectiles move a bit faster. It would be a better gun if it didn't take longer then a Spartan laser to fully power up! I guess it's good in the sense that it lets you choose how many shots you can fire, but the indicator should be a little more intuitive then a little flap raising up, as a poorly times release will result in 1 less desired projectile.
The shotgun sucks. This does not deserve to be called a shotgun. Period. Shitty range and damage. I hate this gun and I never touch it. It takes two point blank shots to stop a grunt...that's pretty shitty.
The Focus rifle is not as much terrible as it is annoying. When you see this gun in the campaign, you see them used in packs of 4 or more. And there is nothing...NOTHING more annoying then 4 focus rifle beams, coming from all directions, killing you. Sometimes Elite rangers will have this gun and they will surround you in the sky and rip you to shreds.Other times, Skirmishers will be bouncing off the walls firing this gun and hitting them is even harder then killing the rangers. Good gun, but VERY annoying.
The Concussion Rifle. I hate this gun. In the hands of an Elite, this gun can frustrate you to the point of turning off the console. Not only can Elites fire it twice as fast as you can, it is at least 50 times more deadly to you then it is to any other species. It is actually useless against other species as it causes enemies top bounce around to the safety of range and cover. In the campaign, give it a big fuck you and walk away from it.
Any gun I did not mention either is decent or has not changed, or not terrible ENOUGH to warrant any special attention. If the above guns are the "new additions" to the Halo franchise, then you can put them back into the mind of whatever concept artist designed them and leave them there. I was very disappointed with the weapons in this game. Avoid at all costs.
Quick rundown of the equipment. Most of it is pretty useless. The Bubble shield serves little to no value in a heated firefight as the Covenant could break it seconds after deployment. The Shield Lock down allows your enemies to simply crowd around you are ambush you the second that power up fades away. Jetpack makes you a flying target as opposed o a walking one and to be frank, there are very few places you could use the Jetpack to actually gain a tactical advantage. I think there are Jetpacks in a Nightclub. Enemies can spot you through cloak so that's pretty useless.
Hologram is possibly the only useful power up in the game as it confuses the hell out of the AI. Ideal for EVERY situation. If you have a hologram...KEEP IT! Sprint is okay...I guess...
* * *
The Vehicles in Halo Reach are divided into two categories: Shitty and Good, or Human and Covenant respectively. Every human vehicle in this game drove me fucking nuts! If stability is not a problem, then firepower is! Let's take two examples.m Lets put the Rocket Warthog vs A Covenant Revenant. With the AI in the gunner seat, I counted 18 direct Rockets blasts to destroy a Revenant. However, for basis of comparison...one Revenant shot was enough to kill Nobel 6...but amazingly...the Marine riding shotgun survived. Spartan SUPER SOLDIER my ass.
The Vehicles seem to have an added feature of self destruction. It seems, you don't need to run out of health for a vehicle to explode. I have observed an exponential growth in the amount of damage you take fun successive hits on your vehicle. It can get to the point, that by the time your shields drop, the next shot is instant kill! This is one of those features you can live with...but in a daring escape, with your shields going down, the instant kill shot...can really be stupid. There are times a shot can completely bypass a small degree of shields and just instantly kill you. I guess what it boils down to is enough successive shots, and you are toast, irregardless of shields or health remaining. I didn't like this about the game, I thought it was rather dumb in fact.
* *
The enemies in this game drove me nuts! They evade everything. They could have their backs turned and they will dodge that sticky, or dodge that splatter attempt, only to turn around and kill you. I have even met some Elites who were immune to assassination. Yes...you get point blank and melee, only to have that Elite casually turn around and smack you 20 feet away and kill you. It's not just their intelligence or their convenient invulnerability, its the fact that close range weapons are useless, and long range explosives are dodged or countered with a perfectly timed split second shield lock down. Sometimes Chieftains will bat rockets right back at you, and somehow, it must be something the gravity hammer does, but the rocket homes in on you perfectly, even if you are moving, it will be deflected at an angle so as to impact you 100% in you continue on your present trajectory. A little much no?
Lets sweep aside the intelligence, the omnipotence, and the clairvoyance of the enemies and look at how much damage they can sustain. Earlier, I pointed out that a Reavent can survive up to 18 rocket warthog shots. I can tell you right now...close quarter weapons are useless in this game. By basis of comparison, a point blank shot is about 2 feet away from the target. The least amount of shotgun blasts it takes to kill an enemy, is two. Yes...2 shots to kill a Drone, 2 shots to kill an unshielded Grunt, 4-6 shots on an Elite based on class, hunters are a good 15-20 based on the fact that you can NEVER get a clear shot on the back as hunter outpaces you in every category. But Hunters are a category on their own. Needless to say, unless you have a long range weapon, do not expect to meet with very much success, as enemies are too fast and too powerful to be taken with a close range weapon.
There is actually one part in the game, if you are playing single player, and you fail to capture a banshee earlier in the mission, you will be unable to beat the level, as there is a small 4x4 room, with a single entrance leading to an outside balcony where you must fight a Zealot Elite, wielding a sword. This Elite guards this small passageway so you cannot get by. To make matters worse, the way you enter this room is by the use of a grav lift, which exposes you, totally defenseless to this Elite for a good 2 seconds. That Elite runs 3x faster then you can, and boy can he lunge. Unless you steal a banshee, this part is actually unbeatable as the AI kills you before you even have control of your character. If by chance God shines fortune down upon you and you happen to kill this Elite, 3 grunts with flak cannons turn the corner and WASTE your ass!
Hunters...the mighty Hunters. One would expect them to be tough but in this game, they are quite possibly the most difficult opponent you will ever face. Not only can they out run you, they outgun you and out class you. If you are spotted, you might as well revert to checkpoint because that Hunter WILL run after you and it WILL catch you and club to death with one shot, that is assuming it doesn't shoot heat seeking flak bolts at you. As a Spartan Laser, Flak Cannon, or Rocket Launcher independently do not have enough firepower in their default state to stop a single Hunter, your best chance is to score direct shots and focus all your effort on one Hunter and pray you can beat the second before it chases you down in a fit of rage and clubs you to death.
Hunters are immune to splattering from all vehicles except a Wraith, attempting a splatter will stop you dead in your tracks...and then you will be dead.
*
I can finish here as this game has reached the lowest low...but I still have 3 sections to go through. Lets continue. The Characters in this game all fall under the banner of a Spartan team called Nobel Team. This is how it breaks down:
- Nobel 1 - Commander Carter
- Nobel 2 - Lieutenant Commander Catherine
- Nobel 3 - Warrant Officer Jun
- Nobel 4 - Warrant Officer Emile
- Nobel 5 - Chief Warrant Officer Jorge
- Nobel 6 - Replaceable, supposedly hyper-lethal Dipshit
I hate every single one of these people. With exception to Jun (as he was the only one who didn't die), I enjoyed watching these characters die. They were dysfunctional, annoying, bitchy, whiny, they didn't know how to share, they made stupid remarks, they made stupid decisions, and they all suck. Let me elaborate.
The way each of them die, reflects how expendable and useless they were. None of them died heroically. Jorge got sucked into a space vortex and vanished and it was totally for nothing. He could have lived, and actually helped more then killing himself.
There was one part where Kat needed to borrow Emile's knife and he yanked the knife away as if he was a 3 year old child, only giving it away after Kat explained that she needed it to explain a war-altering plan. This doesn't seem like a team to me.
All the Spartans are rude, insubordinate, out of line. Carter even threatens to arrest Dr. Halsey after she calls Carter on a boneheaded move he made. That's like me threatening to have my mother arrested because she punished me for making a stupid decision. That's fucking childish!
Nobel 6...I hate his guts. He must have cheated on the hyper-lethal test, or played on Easy or something because he sucks ass! He, along with the rest of his team, are terrified of Scarabs, they shy away from firefights, constantly retreating. Even Lord Hood, an old man, or Commander Keyes, a WOMAN...a normal WOMAN did less retreating then these assholes did! Nobel Team is afraid of EVERYTHING. New Alexandria was getting glassed, Nobel Team hides in a bunker. New Mombasa was getting glassed, and Buck, Dare, and Rookie were driving TOWARDS the glassing!
Look at Sgt Johnson's plan in Halo 1. His plan to board a Covenant ship is as follows:
- Fight your way from the LZ to the Gravity Elevator. Estimated Distance: 200 yards. Resistance: moderate. send a whole task force and a Spartan
- Save Captain Keyes
- Escape.
Here is Masterchief's plan to destroy High Charity.
- Shoot the reactor
- Escape
Now...here is Kat's plan to board a Covenant Assault Carrier and destroy it.
- Fight your way to the Launch Facility. Estimate Distance: 1 miles. Resistance: Very heavy, lots of infantry. Send 4 people.
- Get in an Experiment space jet with minimal shields.
- Have a space dog fight for no reason
- Disassemble a frigate to salvage its slip space core and turn it into a subspace bomb.
- Fly the slipspace core....in a Pelican...at a Covenant Destroyer
- Board the destroyer
- Capture the bridge? (FYI...this Destroyer didn't need to be captured to make it fly into the Assault Carrier as this is what it was already going to do in the first place. so this entire step is redundant. You wasted your time reading it.)
- Fly the Destroyer (or wait for it to fly) inside an Assault Carrier. Its not like a Collision course would do any less damage then a bomb inside a destroyer, inside an Assault Carrier (yes a bomb inside a destroyer, inside an Assault carrier. A bomb, inside a ship, that's inside a ship. Might as well save the slip space core and just crash the ship).
- Blow up the bomb.
Which plan seems easier? You decide. The point of all this...the characters are stupid!
*
The Music is terrible in this game. This has the worst soundtrack of the entire franchise! I think one song is just tuba and bongos. I had to mute my TV because I was getting a headache! The song "Skyline" makes a reappearance when you help Buck...fly a Falcon around a destroyed city for some "classified op" but then it quickly ends.
*
The story in this game is pretty average. We all know how it ends so REACH GETS GLASSED...big shocker there! But on a side note...This game does contradict Halo 1's story. In Halo 1, Cortana said that they found Installation 04 because of a random slip space Jump from Reach. However, in this game...Cortana is...for some reason hanging out in an ice cavern a few miles deep, and she supposedly finds Halo...in computers that are naturally in this ice cavern?
WHAT THE FUCK!?
This goes no further! This game is now corrupting a LEGENDARY game with its stupidity! I will have no part in this shit show! Fuck you Bungie! I hope your entire design team rots in hell! I hope you all lose your jobs! You guys can suck it!
I Hate this game...I won't even break down the score...figure it out yourselves.
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Halo Reach - Video Game Review (360)
09-13-2010
Linear Mode
