[General Battuta]

My problem isn't as much with the canon breaks from the books as it was that I thought the writing and level design were inferior to any previous Bungie game.

I mean compare the set pieces battles to Halo 3. Reach is a step down.

You mean such as the battle against the two Scarabs when you're taking out the Prophet?

It probably is, there aren't too many large battles. Replaying it on Legendary the one thing I do like is when aiding Sword base you see enemy Serephims or whatever streaking in and hitting the base (or at least I think they are, never looked too hard).

But the "big battle" such as it was, the bit with the charge of the light brigade was pretty friggin stupid. I think I actually saw a few scorpions at the starting over head shot, but by the end it's a bunch of friggin dune buggies charging across an open field towards fortified positions. Each buggy with only like three friggin guys in it. Who does that?

The whole game for me was pretty much "why am I getting my ass killed in this vehicle? Doesn't this stupid army know about closed crew compartments?" Even the friggin Rail Gun doesn't have an armoured operator's compartment. The closest you can really get to big battles in Halo is in Halo Wars I think. Especially when it's like 3 vs 3 multi team battle. Get some huge crap goin on.

Yeah, I liked Halo Wars (and yes I play Starcraft and SupCom and whatnot!)

But Halo 3 at least had levels where you worked with friendly vehicles. You know, three tanks, a couple railgun hogs, you vs. Wraiths and Ghosts and Scarabs. Reach doesn't have that. 

[Akalabeth Angel]

Yeah, I liked Halo Wars (and yes I play Starcraft and SupCom and whatnot!)

But Halo 3 at least had levels where you worked with friendly vehicles. You know, three tanks, a couple railgun hogs, you vs. Wraiths and Ghosts and Scarabs. Reach doesn't have that. 

Don't forget the battle where you fart around on a Mongoose while some guy with a rocket launcher hangs on the back.

Maybe in Reach they were trying to showcase the armour abilties a bit more, which of course they can't when you're in a vehicle. The one time they had the frigate take out the AA gun (well, finish it off) it was pretty cool. Wasn't really enough of that though I agree.


Is it just me or is the Concussion rifle not at all as effective in the hands of the player as it is in the hand of the elites? Even that friggin vehicle with the little mortar on it. I hit some little turd with that thing he doesn't die, but get hit direct and you do. Concussion rifle never seens as effective when I'm nailing people with it either.

[General Battuta]

Yeah, I liked Halo Wars (and yes I play Starcraft and SupCom and whatnot!)

But Halo 3 at least had levels where you worked with friendly vehicles. You know, three tanks, a couple railgun hogs, you vs. Wraiths and Ghosts and Scarabs. Reach doesn't have that. 

Don't forget the battle where you fart around on a Mongoose while some guy with a rocket launcher hangs on the back.

Maybe in Reach they were trying to showcase the armour abilties a bit more, which of course they can't when you're in a vehicle. The one time they had the frigate take out the AA gun (well, finish it off) it was pretty cool. Wasn't really enough of that though I agree.

Yeah. I didn't notice until my third time through that level that there's a huge (but ugly) battle going on in the distance, and when you kill the AA gun, some bombers come in and blow up three Scarabs.

Is it just me or is the Concussion rifle not at all as effective in the hands of the player as it is in the hand of the elites? Even that friggin vehicle with the little mortar on it. I hit some little turd with that thing he doesn't die, but get hit direct and you do. Concussion rifle never seens as effective when I'm nailing people with it either.

That's because your character in the game has less health than pretty much any enemy and even less than your own side's Marines. Whereas the Elites have about as much health as three or four multiplayer characters, maybe more.

Conc rifle's pretty good in multi though, at least if you're above them.

[Akalabeth Angel]

That's because your character in the game has less health than pretty much any enemy and even less than your own side's Marines. Whereas the Elites have about as much health as three or four multiplayer characters, maybe more.

Conc rifle's pretty good in multi though, at least if you're above them.

I'm not even talking elites, it seems a bit hard to kill even basic grunts and jackals with those things. So I just stick with the direct-fire guns instead.

[MR_T3D]

conc rifle is a good anti-light-vehicle gun.
and good in multi, it's a lot like the old brute shot.

[StarSlayer]

conc rifle is a good anti-light-vehicle gun.
and good in multi, it's a lot like the old brute shot.

I basically ignored the little break action Halo version of the M79 for a while but decided to force myself to use it on Firefight once and it was actually a lot of fun.  Great crowd control on minor enemies, can still take out armor/hunters and softens up the Elites and Brutes.  Plus you can corner shot them.

[General Battuta]

conc rifle is a good anti-light-vehicle gun.
and good in multi, it's a lot like the old brute shot.

I basically ignored the little break action Halo version of the M79 for a while but decided to force myself to use it on Firefight once and it was actually a lot of fun.  Great crowd control on minor enemies, can still take out armor/hunters and softens up the Elites and Brutes.  Plus you can corner shot them.

The grenade launcher is pro. It's one of the most skill-sensitive, rewarding weapons in Reach. That's what a power weapon should be like.

[Dilmah G]

Just finished Reach a few hours ago. I'll give the story a 6.9/10.

Spoiler:

The one thing I found most annoying about Reach was the poorly placed checkpoints. It isn't fun having to run through a ten-fifteen minute segment of a mission with no checkpoints and having to repeat it a million times.

Apart from a few quibbles here and there, things like the ground formation of mongeese and hogs traveling so bloody close together and then things like the Covenant incorrectly being referred to as tangos impacted on immersion, but otherwise I found the story to be decent. Although the night infiltration level wasn't a favourite of mine and the poorly placed checkpoints made levels that should've been fun a bit of a pain.

The level of atmosphere/story cohesion I thought was a bit inconsistent. In my opinion, it started acceptably, dipped a little during the middle (with various spikes upwards) and got phenomenally better towards the end.

In fact, the ending level raised my opinion of the entire game. The post credits level however could've been done a wee bit better, the music perhaps a bit more poignant with a touch of decisiveness like Belisarius' latest piece, but that's alright.  

Halo multi isn't something I play just whenever to have fun and feel driven by the multi objectives like I do in MW:2, the style just doesn't get me. But for playing with friends and such, I think it's fairly unbeatable.

And Forge is in a world of its own. I love it.

Overall I give it a 7.5/10.

[General Battuta]

I just finished it again on Legendary and found myself giggling at some of the dialogue.

"We have hostile tangos in pursuit!"

Gee really. Well we'll send some friendly buddies to help out.

That line is also delivered by a patrol 'returning to base', yet the Hog in question is driving AWAY from the base.

What really weirds me out about Reach is how it dances around showing any of the actually important stuff. The Covenant fleet that arrives to take the planet? Never shown (bar a few seconds of jump-ins.) The actual glassing? Not shown, even though it takes places between two levels!

Narrative decisions were so bizarre.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I just finished it again on Legendary and found myself giggling at some of the dialogue.

"We have hostile tangos in pursuit!"

Gee really. Well we'll send some friendly buddies to help out.

That line is also delivered by a patrol 'returning to base', yet the Hog in question is driving AWAY from the base.

What really weirds me out about Reach is how it dances around showing any of the actually important stuff. The Covenant fleet that arrives to take the planet? Never shown (bar a few seconds of jump-ins.) The actual glassing? Not shown, even though it takes places between two levels!

Don't forget the huge friggin space battle, which was apparently the largest of the war from what I understand. Don't even SEE the terran fleet, save from a couple poor frigates and the pillar of autumn.

[StarSlayer]

Firefight voices seem to be severely lacking in both quantity and quality of quips compared to ODST.  I mean you want to kill Covenant just to here the next Jayne Cobbism in ODST, here it takes forever for a gibe and its generally lame like "Welcome to Reach"... really?

[Colonol Dekker]

After a bit of a cock-up spending a few hundred quid on a telly last month, I didn't have enough for my pre-order. So I re-ordered it after pay-day, it turned up yesterday. I finished it at half three this morning.
 
It's a pretty game, it looks nice. I got the black box option.
 
I expected to see the repair platform scene from the novel  during the Sabre section.
 
I also expected the carrier kill to be more in line with the book.
On that note, Reach is THE UNSCDF stronghold and fleet base. How'd they run out of nukes?
 
 
I also liked the fact that Kat died unspectacularly.
 
Daft one-armed bandit. Never did find out how that happened ;s

[Akalabeth Angel]

Has this been posted? If not, here it is. If yes, here it is again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXasCjUTNpE

[Liberator]

OMG...ROFLMAO!!!!!

[Dilmah G]

That reminds me very much of a friend of mine...

[carbine7]

I also expected the carrier kill to be more in line with the book.
On that note, Reach is THE UNSCDF stronghold and fleet base. How'd they run out of nukes?

The UNSC had been using nukes for the entire war, as they're practically the only thing that scratch Covenant ships. They were running low everywhere even before Reach.

[T-LoW]

Has this been posted? If not, here it is. If yes, here it is again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXasCjUTNpE

I laughed so hard at that.

[NGTM-1R]

The UNSC had been using nukes for the entire war, as they're practically the only thing that scratch Covenant ships. They were running low everywhere even before Reach.

The UNSC even at the height of the war doesn't issue nukes in large numbers. (If they had, it might have helped.) A destroyer or cruiser typically only has three to five Shivas aboard.

When you compare that to the figures for maximum warhead production now (Did you know we build over 1000 a year? Warheads are planned obselence and have to be replaced.), never mind what we could do (the United States has the capacity to build over 100,000 warheads a year if it ever feels like it, and Russia something like twice that, nevermind if you get the rest of the world in on the Deus Ex Nukina defense.), it frankly seems the UNSC is just really stupid.

[Liberator]

Probably some peacenik who wants the planets to be livable after all the humans are dead.

[General Battuta]

Probably some peacenik who wants the planets to be livable after all the humans are dead.

Doesn't work because the UNSC knows that lost planets will be glassed.