Halo: Reach – what’s hot, what’s not and what’s in between

What we like and what we don’t like about Bungie’s recent info blowout.

By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell, January 22, 2010 (7) comments


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Halo: Reach factoids have been popping up all over the place like decloaking Elites, thanks chiefly to the chaps at Edge and Game Informer but also, somewhat less officially, to EB Games, who let slip a few gameplay screenshots on Wednesday morning. You know what this means, readers? It means Whining Season has officially commenced.


We’ve had a good old gander at the material, and we’re ready to throw down a gauntlet or two. Brace yourselves for some serious subheadings.


What’s hot…

Six Spartans is a bit ridiculous now, isn't it. The Covenant really should have called in sick.

Six Spartans is a bit ridiculous now, isn't it. The Covenant really should have called in sick.

The return of the Elites


We got on well with the Brutes in Halo 3. Which is to say, we enjoyed blowing their shields away with our battle rifles and grenade-tagging the suckers to screaming submission. But for all their secondhand camo cloaks and jet packs the Brutes never quite lost the status of thuggish Covenant middle-management – glorified bully boys, giddy with excitement at their newfound prominence within the caste structure. For a game as solemn, as elegaic as Reach, we need an enemy we can respect. And with the Elites, it’s all about respect.


Crysis-style power-ups


Bungie is good with gizmos: slightly ludicrous though they appeared in concept and execution, the Bubble Shield and Grav Lift proved to be fantastic, highly tactical additions to Halo 3’s campaign and multiplayer. Reach tips its hat to Crysis in the form of recharging, one-at-a-time “armor abilities”, transforming your Spartan into a speed freak or a tank at the touch of a button. We like it. We also like what it implies for the game’s environments, which will probably need to be both larger and more abundant in secondary routes and landmarks to accommodate the greater range of run-gun possibilities.


Reach can handle up to 40 on-screen light sources, in contrast to Halo 3's two or three.

Reach can handle up to 40 on-screen light sources, in contrast to Halo 3's two or three.

Bigger but not too big


Numbers are a much-abused weapon in the fanboy arsenal. Right now, for instance, there’s a lot of ballyhoo among the PS3 faithful about how the 256-player MAG is da biggermost online FPS everer, and so forth. While Halo has always gone heavy on modes and auxillary content, Bungie has never been in the business of feature overkill, and nothing’s changed with Reach. Online matches are still limited to 16 players – cosy affairs in which a man can be reasonably sure of walking two feet from a spawn point without taking a bullet through each of his major organs.


Which is not to say the game won’t offer more: Reach can handle double the AIs per area that Halo 3 can, we’re told. But the onus, as in past Spartan sequels, seems to be on providing more stuff to do within existing parameters, rather than piling on the bullet points.


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7 Responses to “Halo: Reach – what’s hot, what’s not and what’s in between”

  1. David Bates says:
    January 22, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    Well i have to say, this has been interesting, i too am going to miss the chatter we hear from the grunts when we kick their asses or the bellows of the brutes when we’ve been spotted. However everything else seems interesting so i will definately have to give this a go

    Reply
  2. Mikey says:
    January 22, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    I believe they spoke their own language in Halo 1.

    Reply
  3. Edwin says:
    January 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    They said a lot more than that :p

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TByzq6O51-M

    Reply

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