Halo Reach

[bash]

Have to say this is not clicking for me at the moment, Im up to the bit where you first encounter the hammer of dawn ripoff gun. For those of you who've progressed quite far or even clocked this already, can I expect this to get better? Thinking of selling this already.

[Papa Lazarou]

Had a quick blast on this last night. Finished the first two missions and it does remind me quite a lot of Halo:CE. Large expansive environments, plenty of vehicles littered about and superb vistas. The backdrops really are quite stunning at times. I have noticed a couple of issues with some of the cutscenes though. Sometimes its almost like the image has gone out of focus and it stutters occasionally too.

So far so good though. Looking forward to the sniper mission tonight.

[Charlie]

Yeah, the vistas are eye candy. I think the cutscenes are decent enough and probably the best in the series not that that's saying anything. Question to those who've completed it, do any of the levels have you landing on a planet with a Halo ring system like in the original Halo?

[englishbob]

Framerate in this can be, at time, horrendous.

I was disappointed to find its still jerky in MP too. Played a Lone Wolf match last night it what appeared to look like a level from Rainbow Six Vegas (inside a very orange looking building) and it was skipping frames all over the place.

Is it just me?

[mr_sockochris]

The first 3-4 days of past Halo games online have always been a bit hit and miss in terms of online performance. I'm sure by the end of the week things will be running smoothly

[MJ]

I'm only a few missions in and the slow down at times takes you out of the moment. I'm playing on Legendary and the friendly AI is really dumb sometimes. I'm not getting that excited feeling I've had when playing other big releases in the past; maybe I'm Halo'd out.

[jimtendo]

... Question to those who've completed it, do any of the levels have you landing on a planet with a Halo ring system like in the original Halo?

*drumroll*

->Open Spoiler<-

no.

[Wools]

I played through to Level 3 last night and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

->Open Spoiler<-

The opening was brilliant and there was no explosions, fireworks, occult ceremonies or chest bumping marines. Instead there was some beautiful matte vistas of space followed by a muted opening about colonists going missing and Noble Team investigating. The proceeding walk through the forest in the rain with no action and abandoned buildings was tense and beautifully executed.

I also loved the moment where a woman crawled out of the air vents and after a bit of commotion, elites jumped your squad. The cut scene which played out through your vision, the standoff with the elites and the following chase after them as the soundtrack throws bass guitar chords at you was a hair raising set piece.

Finally the combat and AI is still the leader in any Videogame and surpasses Bungie's previous efforts due in no small part to the re-introduction of the Elites as enemies. I found myself feeling genuine unease when I crested a hill and an Elite spotted me. They're faster than they've ever been with ferocious tactics and like Halo, they can be distinguished easily because of their colour schemes. I hate the White Elites!

I'm a big fan of Halo Combat Evolved, with some of the magic ingredients being the AI, Co-Op possibilities, sense of adventure and the endless combat possibilities because of the open environments. Subsequent games in the series have lost this, changed direction and the basic rule set because of the story taking prominence. Although it's still too early to call it, they've recaptured the original qualities of Combat Evolved and have allowed the story to take a back seat to the game narrative.

If the rest of the game lives up to the opening, it could be a classic.

[stevie vip 99]

I'd like to say I'm enjoying playing this but I can't as my copy hasn't turned up today.

Thanks Tesco!!!

[MJ]

I'm disappointed to say that this is not holding my attention. I booked today off to play through the campaign and keep finding myself wandering away from the 360.

[Uli]

does difficulty now adjust according to the number of players in co-op campaign?

Several Reviews have mentioned it does, it must of been something that was pointed out to them by Bungie as opposed to experienced though, ad they all say it in the same way.

well, i would love to believe this but i have read conflicting reviews, that's because i asked. can someone already comment on this from first hand experience?

maybe i have to wait for a proper co-op testing, something like this: http://www.co-optimus.com/event/564/...-op-night.html

[nonny]

To those still on the fence in the early levels. Give it a few more missions before you take it back. I'm playing on normal and currently at the beginning of level 9. Yes I know.. Heroic blah blah. I like to play through once on normal, then jump up to legendary.

So... From what I've seen it gets better from missions 3-9. Not all of them are great but they are varied and there are some classics amongst them. The music is interesting in this one. It's parts rock, orchestral and down right weird in places but it kinda works and has grown on me. There's also some great audio work later on for effect.

All up I never expect the campaign to amaze me but it's definitely above par and seems to be steadily climbing as it moves to conclusion. The only thing that let's to campaign down for me is the framerate stuttering in cutscenes and particularly fly-bys. I've installed to the HDD but it's no better.

Aside from campaign the MP and firefight are absolutely off the hook. MP with no dual wielding is a joy. The matchmaking seems faster/better than the beta for me. I've only had a few laggy matches on big team battle to spoil it a little.

[daddyorchips]

I'm definitely experiencing choppiness/slowdown in this game, during the first couple of levels in single player. At times it really interferes with play. I'm wondering whether if it's because I'm running it in 1080P.

I have a slim 360 btw, not that I'm sure that has anything to do with it.

[Orgun]

Anyone want to team up for some Firefight this evening?

Gamertag: OrgunUk

[Uli]

Hey Uli,
Actually - that's one of the features that Bungie has added. The number of AI enemies and dififculty will increase based on the number of players in co-op.

Nick Puleo
Owner and Managing Editor

https://www.co-optimus.com

"Your Prime Source for Co-Op Gaming"

i am confident.