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Bang-bang! Down-down!
OVR: 28
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Pensacola, FL
Posts: 16,781
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Re: Halo: Reach
Some impressions after 20 games:
Halo was in need of some changes. It needed to be somewhat modernized, and so far I think Reach strikes a nice balance of being familiar, yet very fresh.
The "Golden Tripod" of Halo (guns, grenades, and melee) has been broken. Melee is no longer a great option, unless you got the drop on somebody. I'm so glad that shields need to be popped before a melee is a one-hit kill, except from behind, which is still an assassination. This will be very devisive amongst the longtime fans, because it's always been a staple in the Halo series. I personaly love the change, because it encourages people to actually aim their weapons, instead of blindly running in for the beat down. I have barely seen people running at each other full-tilt blasting their weapons, then trying to melee each other. If you're doing this, eventually you're going to learn, that there's no point to, but maybe you like simultaneous beat downs? I have a grand total of 4 melee kills, and have only been killed 8 times by a melee. These numbers would be much higher in previous Halo games.
There's definitely a more weighty feel overall. You feel much more grounded, and the floaty jumping is gone, although playing as an Elite feels kind of similar to previous Halo games in that regard. There's a nice sense of weight distribution when you take fall damage, as you can actually feel the knees buckling a little.
Animation is good. There's some fairly nice blending. This is one area where Halo never truly made a jump, but with Reach, it's finally what you would expect from a big shooter, especially these days. Still some over-the-top death animations, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Sound is really good. Everything just sounds more deadly. Really like the drowned out sound and ringing, when a grenade goes off close to you.
Speaking of grenades, they are deadly. The splash damage radius is much larger and stronger. The slight trail effect is a nice touch to be able to read them better, and they behave more realistically (less bounce). And since there's no more dual-wielding, grenades are back to being more of an integral part of the gameplay like in Halo 1. They don't exactly seem to be scarce though, so I would like to see a few less on the map, or people not dropping them when they die.
Still early, and will need to be played much more, but so far the weapon sandbox seems to be the most balanced ever. There's not one king weapon like the BR in Halo 2 and 3. A lot peoples preferences will likely be skewed more toward the DMR and Pistol, but every weapon is useful and viable. Once you get the timing down (which won't take long at all) the pistol is so satisfying to use. It's not anywhere close to the uber Halo 1 pistol, but it beats the crap out of the Halo 2 and 3 one. I usually immediately switch from the AR to it when a match starts. Love it. DMR is well balanced and dare I say more fun to use than the BR? Reach shotgun might just be the best yet, because of it's consistency. The spread is tighter and the range has very slightly been increased. Bloom reticule needs to be tweaked. It can be hard to see the reticule at times, because of the bloom with certain weapons, particularly on Sword Base.
Armor abilities are so much better than equipment from Halo 3. They change the flow of the game for the better, and add a nice layer of strategy. Cooldowns balance their use out. I've probably used Sprint the most so far. It's great for getting into and out of combat quickly, or catching up to a teammate/opponent carrying a flag. All of them have their use though.
Stockpile might be my favorite CTF variant ever. It creates a really cool dynamic of whether to go for neutral flags scattered across the map, defend the flags you have at your capture point, or try to steal one directly out of the opposing team capture point. Once you have them in your capture point, there's a certain amount of time they have to stay there before the flags are captured. There's the chance for griefers with this new gametype, so a small tweak of not being able to take the flags out of the capture point, unless it's an opposing player may be a good idea. SWAT is back. It caught me of guard how much more skill is involved than in Halo 3. No more randomness with the DMR, and you don't have an advantage just because you use a higher control sensitivity. Covie Slayer is a nice change of pace. Playing as Elite really feels drastically different. Love their Evade Armor Ability.
I like Sword Base, I've been reading a lot hate, but it reminds of a classic Halo 1 map (a bit like Boarding Action). Epic 1 flag CTF matches to be had. Powerhouse is High Ground on steroids, more open and better designed. Team Oddball is broken on this map. If you get the ball, and camp in the showers, while teammates hold down the entrances, it's over.
Matchmaking is so much faster. Both getting into a match, and levels loading. The netcode is amazing. If this is a sign of things to come, and it will be interesting to see how the performance is with the bigger gametypes, but I will be extremely happy. It's PDZ good, and no that's not a joke, that game has the best netcode I've ever experienced.
I'm expecting some disappointment from a lot people with the graphics again. It's a definite improvement over Halo 3 though. Character models and gun models are much more detailed, particle effects look great, better texturing and most importantly, better texturing filtering. Aliasing is reduced somewhat with the increase to full 720 vertical resolution from 640 in Halo 3 (horizontal resolution is still the same at 1152), and motion blur. The game just doesn't pop off the screen, it's not immediately visually striking. The art style is still Halo, it's very clean and colorful, there's not a bazillion post filters going on to hide flaws. Detail is pulled away as you get further from things like has always been the case in Halo multiplayer, so characters silhouettes stand out. In Reach it's bit more noticeable this is happening, and there's a slight hazy look to the environments.
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Go Noles!!! >>----->
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05-01-2010, 01:14 PM
