Halo: Reach

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Not the best quality of scans:

http://www.allgamesbeta.info/2010/01/halo-reach.html

...

• We play as Spartan IIIs. Jorge is the only Spartan II on the team.
  
• Carter 259 and Kat 320 are the only members of their original squad.
  
• Jorge is a heavy weapons specialist.
  
• "Skully" now has a name, Emile 239. He's the silent type of the game.
  
• The sniper is called Jun 266. He's thoughtful and taciturn.
• Spartans fighting as a team make for quite the sight to behold.
  
• We can customise the appearance of the Lone Wolf by a small degree.
  
• Reach is darker than any of the other Halo games.
  
• Human Insurrectionists are possibly in the game
  
• Covenant are more dangerous and frightening.
  
• Covenant soldiers no longer speak English, they speak in their own languages.
  
• A new enemy like a Jackal has been introduced, named a "Skirmisher." They are deadly and cunning enemies that attack in packs, and flank secure positions.
  
• Graphics have been improved drastically, as proven by in-magazine comparisons.
• First Halo game to use mo-cap.
• In terms of animation it says they use something called gait blending, which enables the characters animations to blend seamlessly between walking and running for example.
• New weather effects system.
• 20-40 dynamic lights in a single scene, compared to only 4 in Halo 3.
• Bungie enlisted the help of Image Metrics in order to improve quality of the characters faces and performances.
  
  
• Elites are back, and are more ferocious than ever.
  
• Larger scale combat will be in Reach. Where only 20 AI at a time could be on screen in Halo 3, now over 40 AI and 20 vehicles can be present at a time.
  
• Scenes are more cinematic.
  
• Noble Team splits up at a point in the story.
  
• Health Bar is back along with energy shield.
  
• Single shot rifle like the Halo 2 E3 demo is in the game, named the Designated Marksman Rifle (DRM)
  
• Sniper, AR and Magnum make a return. Gun sounds are more realistic.
  
• Needler Rifle is in the game, a mid-range headshot capable weapon.
  
• Spike Grenades and Flame Grenades are out. Only frags and plasma remain.
  
• Helicopter Transport is called the Falcon.
  
• Civilian vehicles are now drivable.
  
• Fully stealthy gameplay is now possible.
  
• Assassinations are possible with a knife by holding down the melee button.
  
• Sprinting is now possible through an equipment like mechanic.
  
• Spirits, the Covenant drop ship in CE, return in Reach, alongside Phantoms.
  
• Grunts look a lot more menacing.
  
• Motion Tracker seems compressed, like an oval rather than the Halo 3 circle.
  
• Hud is yellow rather than blue.
  
• Marines look vaguely like Halo 1 marines.
  
• Phantoms now have a searchlight, like the one seen in the ODST announcement trailer.
  
• Elites seem taller, and are no longer hunched.
  
• All features from Halo 3 (Forge, Theatre, Co-op) make a comeback along with several new ones.
  
• We will be shown what Reach looks like before it is destroyed. We will see the levels of destruction progress as we get further through the game, implying the game takes place over a longish period of time.

Only details about multiplayer:

• 16 players
• Armor abilities play into the multiplayer experience.
• Lots of customization.

[sportsdude]

Re: Halo: Reach

lots of stuff

good ****ing god, if they pull this off I don't see how any current shooter can compete with it, at least from a technical standpoint.

[Miles_Yuhas]

Re: Halo: Reach

The screens look sweet. Can't wait to here about multiplayer.

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

• Cinematic tone of up close war journalism in camera movements.
• Reach is a more serious approach to the Halo franchise.
• Rather than the skybox being a huge painted dome like in a lot of games, Reach's are actual true spaces in the world, which means that as a ship descends from orbit and towards the player, you can watch it come in all the way as a real object descending toward you.

I can't make out what it says about the new LOD system. Allows them to build *something, something* and larger spaces for exploration.

...

EDGE will have cover story.

Halo Reach revealed in Edge

In issue 211 of Edge, the team visits Bungie to find out how Reach will fall, and exactly why the studio's last Halo will go out with a bang.

Readers should expect eight pages of details and insight direct from the Bungie studio, as well as the first ever images of the massive Halo prequel (see the cover tease on this very page).

Further more, readers should expect the usual run of reviews, features and opinion columns amongst the mag's smooth and shiny pages.

Edge Issue 211 is on sale from Jan 21.

[jmood88]

Re: Halo: Reach

It's looking like this will be the first Halo game I'll buy on day 1,

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

A better summary of the Game Informer article:


Settings/Locations

• "Darker tone overall" - "Things aren't as bright. But we're not going for that desaturated modern war movie vibe either."
• Huge scale combat, new push on big battles.
• We will also see not just the localized battles like previous Halo games, but battles that are taking place around us as well to really give you that sense that Reach is under siege.
• New perspective. removed sweeping camera shots replaced by cinematic tone, which evokes up close and personal war journalism.
  ie, airborne, shot - a ship is filming it from above, ground shots bump and jar like being held in the hands of a runner.
• Grittier cinematic sensibility extends to encompass wider character and plot development.
• Rugged and harsh wilderness filled with towering mountains and weather beaten forests.
• Not a retelling of Fall of Reach
• "We definitely want to take a more serious approach to the franchise."
• "We wanted to delve a little deeper into our characters themselves ... That they're not perfect - they're susceptible to damage."
• "We're bringing some of those things back that encouraged a little more exploration, like wondering where that health pack is."
• Set days before invasion of Reach with an advance invasion force and continues up to full blown invasion.
• Noble team investigates trouble on Reach, rebel human Insurrectionists suspected.
• Reach features various natural and artificial environments, ambient life and cultures.
• Reach transforms from living planet through stages of it's death throes and ultimate fall.
• Secret ONI hard sites, early colonist homes, gritty industrial locations, sprawling vistas featured.

Lone Wolf/Main Character

• Impressive list of combat record accomplishments.
• Strikes out more often than his superiors might like.
• "Background shrouded in some pretty dark secrets"

Noble Team

• Spartan III's, except Jorge-052 (II).
• Keep surviving suicide missions.
• When one members goes MIA, another is brought in.
• Carter-259 leader, Kat-320 second in command, both original team veterans and share a bond (ie they have never been replaced in Noble Team).
• Jorge-052 is the only Spartan II on the team. the bigger, bulkier heavy weapons specialist and has survived countless battles.
• Emile-239, skull helmet wearing silent type, let's his actions speak for him
  Jun-266, thoughtful, taciturn sniping soldier.

Enemies

• "We're taking a meaner approach to the Covenant overall."
• Covenant enemies now speak their own languages, in low guttural voices.
• New enemy, Skirmishers, cunning enemies that hunt in packs, visually related to Jackals.
• Elites are back in command of Covenant forces.

Gameplay

• Health system more similar to Halo:CE than Halo 3:ODST
• Assassinations, melee executions on unaware enemies from behind
• Armour abilities, seeming replace equipment, each Spartan can only carry one at a time, governed by a recharging meter. Sprint and Active Camo confirmed.

Weapons/Vehicles

• New DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle), single shot, fits between Sniper and BR, medium to long range, but still deadly at short.
• New Needler Rifle, mid range headshot weapon, combining needler (following) mechanics with more accuracy and flexibility, three hits combine and explode.
• Returning weapons include AR, Plasma Pistol, Sword, Needler, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle.
• Spike and Flame grenades removed.
• New air vehicle, the Falcon (featured in trailer)
• Warthogs return
• Civilian vehicles usable
• Spirits, Covenant dropships featured in Halo:CE return.
• Phantoms have search lights.

Multiplayer

• Feature parity with Halo 3, but several new features are under wraps.
• Armor abilities play into the multiplayer.
• Lots of customization.

Engine Tech

• LOD/Imposter system - "allows for a dramtically expanded number of enemies, light sources, and other details."
• 20-40 dynamic lights at any time, compared to only 3 or 4 in Halo 3.
• New weather system
• Increased amount of AI on screen from Halo 3, from 20 to 40 and 20 vehicles at the same time.
• New facial animation and modelling thanks to co-operating with company Image Metrics.
• Motion capture used throughout thanks to new motion capture facilities within the studio.
• Skybox not a painted illusion like in many games, and the previous Halo games. In Reach their actual true spaces - ie. as a ship descends from orbit and towards the player, you can watch it come in all the way as a real object.

[Miles_Yuhas]

Re: Halo: Reach

Weapons/Vehicles

• New DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle), single shot, fits between Sniper and BR, medium to long range, but still deadly at short.
• New Needler Rifle, mid range headshot weapon, combining needler (following) mechanics with more accuracy and flexibility, three hits combine and explode.
• Returning weapons include BR, AR, Plasma Pistol, Sword, Needler, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle.
• Spike and Flame grenades removed.
• New air vehicle, the Falcon (featured in trailer)
• Warthogs return
• Civilian vehicles usable
• Spirits, Covenant dropships featured in Halo:CE return.
• Phantoms have search lights.

I read the article and I don't remember reading anything about the same BR returning as well as the confirmed return of the AR and the new DMR. Doesn't seem to make sense to have all three.

[Sandman42]

Re: Halo: Reach

So the Magnum/Pistol isn't back?

[Miles_Yuhas]

Re: Halo: Reach

So the Magnum/Pistol isn't back?

They didn't say anything in the preview that I remember but in the art one of the spartans is using a pistol (i think its a magnum) and they had pistols on there leg's in the vga trailer so I think its safe to assume the pistol is back.

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Game Informer put up a 5 minute video meeting some of the Reach team.

Bungie's studio in Kirkland, Washington is home to a wide variety of gaming industry talent. Some have been around since the first Halo game, while others will feature Reach as the first title on their resume. Creative director Marcus Lehto has been around long enough to remember when it was an RTS game, while executive producer Joseph Tung joined the team after sending the company a screenshot of his Halo 2 beta stats. Take a look at the video below to learn more about the team behind Halo: Reach.

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[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Very awesome of Bungie.

Be a Hero! - buy a T-shirt, other Bungie apparel, or play Halo to help Haiti.

...

[Candyman5]

Re: Halo: Reach

Very awesome of Bungie.

Be a Hero!

...

I may just have to throw halo in for this reason alone.

[sportsdude]

Re: Halo: Reach

I'll be on Wednesday and Thursday for some multiplayer or firefight for the cause.

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Some info from EDGE magazine:

• Now players will look the same throughout multiplayer, co-op and singleplayer (and the way they look will be customizable). Which confirms only Spartans in multiplayer.
• On the pause screen it mentions "grades and credits" but Bungie wont discuss them yet.
• There is a 3D radar (shows elevation) and the HUD can now highlight various environmental features and overlay information about them.
• Night vision is in.
• Longer interval between sniper shots.
• New AR sounds markedly more powerful, and leaves smoke and sparks when it fires.
• Explosions have been completely redone for Reach. They are apparently, huge, dirty and lingering.
• 3rd-person assassinations (by holding down melee) will feature in multiplayer and the instant assassination of past Halo games may not be featured at all. Bungie is using the Beta to decide.
• Huge landscapes, but you can visit each area. In co-op you may see your buddies fighting a long way off in the distance. Teleportation is far less strict.
• Flavor of the Halo 1 marines being brought back.
• Reach is the first Bungie game to use Motion Capture. Bungie will also be motion capturing voice actors facial movements as they're reading their lines.
• Gone are Grunts "squealing jokes and making pratfalls", Pink Needler Fire and the Halo theme song.

Halo: Reach - Tales Of The Fall

So do players actually like being faced with such adversity?

ML: Reach is like Titanic - we know the end from the beginning. Reach is going to fall and 700 million people are going to perish as a result. It’s a very dark story to tell, and our goal is to allow the player to experience Noble Team’s efforts and get satisfaction from them continuing to fight forward and achieve the final acts of what we can’t talk about today. That success is what’s so gratifying at the end.

The approach we took to the campaign is a major turnaround from how we did it before. Earlier on we came up with a modular story, a wrapper, and instead of trying to write a linear narrative for the story that missions have to adhere to, we lived with the wrapper for a while and came up with a bunch of crazy ideas for missions and then fit them into the wrapper. Ultimately, the story can’t stay modular for ever, it’s got to solidify. We’ve ended up with a very different feeling to story and game as a result.

With the events of Reach taking place before those of any other Halo, how are you explaining why we’ve never seen some of its enemies and weapons before?

ML: One of the justifications is - and this is one of the things we had to play with - during Reach we have both military forces, the Covenant and UNSC - at the height of their powers. They are coming to Reach with everything they have and the assumption is that some of these things never made it off the planet. They were rendered extinct by the end of it. That’s one of the fictional wrappers we’re using.

JT: You’ll see some objects which are like the prototype version of those in the earlier games, and they’ll feel like an earlier version - the DMR [Reach's new Marine rifle] is certainly in that vein.

Reach allowed us to start afresh. We came up with a number of campaign experiences which engaged the player – brand new and exciting, and different from the usual 'I walk into a space and fight a number of AI'. That’s the foundation of what we've been spending so much time building, but we're adding brand new experiences throughout the campaign, and we continue to give players something new around the corner.

[Miles_Yuhas]

Re: Halo: Reach

Night Vision. Sweet!