Halo Reach

[rmoxon]

On the penultimate level now and have no idea what's going on.

Every Halo game the same thing happens: from the offset I try my damndest to follow the series of events but the characters/narrative/story want so badly to be cool and try so hard to make you care that the whole thing comes off as contrived, cheesy and ultimately dull, to the point that when the cutscenes come on my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders to more interesting things. Seriously, it's like my brain refuses to even entertain paying attention to such immature drivel.

I wonder if developers will ever understand that coolness isn't something you can press. Either something is intrinsically cool or it isn't, and trying to force something to be cool renders it immediately rubbish.

Started this earlier but so far the cut scenes dont seem like the writers are trying to be cool to me. In fact they dont seem to be trying to do much of anything. As has been the case with every other Halo game its an unengaging mess storywise that seems to have no thought put into it what so ever.

Having said that the gameplay is awesome, it plays so much better than any other Halo game, every single element is just that liitle bit improved that it feels so much more fun to polay than anything else in the series.

So yeah, I'm really liking it.

[FelixofMars]

My copy arrive tomorrow now, cannot wait to do some firefight or coop.

[Orgun]

Had to some good Firefight, Gen Defense and Sniperfest games today chaps, thanks for the games It got keeerazy chaotic on Heroic with the grenade spam skull.

[Lebowski]

Played this on my own for a bit then restarted it with a friend who came online and it dose scale up the enemies in co-op i have witnessed it first hand.

its a great game played quite a bit of the campaign in co op. It's a strange thing to say but I love the forklift trucks! They are completely useless but funny as hell to drive. My friend and I tried to see how far we could take one through a level, I laughed my arse off as he was sent spinning through the air like Catherine wheel by a punch from a giant beasty.

And they beep when you reverse them Top game loving it.

[Spatial]

It's really odd to describe...it's almost like a slow motion scene but one that is quite blurry on the screen.

I don't get that slow motion / juddering, but I do find the game is quite blurry in general.

I think it's an effect that's there to mask things like texture pop-in and jaggies as much as they possibly could.

Gives me a bit of a headache.

[nonny]

Yeh Ive seen the slow motion juddering but only in the cutscenes. I saw it in the first cutscene and stopped the game, installed to the HDD and retried... still juddery.

About the multiplayer maps. Yes they're all taken from the campaign locations and therefore if you play MP first you're going to recognise them in the story missions. I dont think they spoil anything so to speak but it's something to be aware of. I cant remember if previous halo games did this? I know it's familiar stuff in games like COD though.

[PeteJ]

Just found in the menus that it took me just over 6 and a half hours to complete (Heroic\coop), roughly an hour longer than Halo3 on first play through. Don't think that includes deaths or cutscenes though.

You know you've played too much Reach in one day when there are no more Daily or Weekly challenges left to complete
edit

I cant remember if previous halo games did this? I know it's familiar stuff in games like COD though

I'm used to seeing this kind of thing in all sorts of shooters, but it seems more obvious with Reach. One map in particular is strangely squeezed into one of the missions. Not a big issue by any means but it took away some of the enjoyment of going through the campaign as I already knew my way around some of the levels due to the beta!

[kingmobster]

I've played through six chapters now and the Halo magic is certainly here Some set pieces are simply phenomenal. I was really disappointed with ODST, but pretty much everything so far in Reach is up there with the best bits from Halo 1 & 3.

[Neon Ignition]

Done a few hours of this now and... it's alright. I'm sure this will go against the grain of many as usual but here's my current thoughts.

Good:
The individual levels are of a satisfying length and are infinitely better paced than anything from ODST. Though not without its issues, the combat has been tightened up a little and firefights are fun affairs. The levels pocket areas are well designed for a range of approaches with a much stronger art direction than H3 or ODST had, plus the lack of Flood can never be a bad thing.

Bad:
I'm getting a lot of ghosting and stuttering in cutscenes and sometimes in the gameplay but even without this it's a pretty weak title visuals wise. Graphics range from functional to almost Xbox 1 level and the need for a new engine is becoming heavily pronounced now. I'm on Heroic so have yet to try out Legendary but as yet it's easy as sin with no sign whatsoever of any AI, every enemy is clearly running off scripted routines and they're often sitting out in the open or running against the corner of a wall for easy pickings. I think everyone's on the same page with the story/cutscenes

Overall:
This reminds me of Halo 3 which was an improvement for the series but largely a remake of H:CE. I've still got some ways to go as I'm taking my time with it but first impressions are that it's solid, decent fun though based off current experience I'd take any review above an 8/10 as a joke.

[TheForce]

Finished it (co-op Heroic) and loved it !

played a few matches of Firefight with some friends and that was really fun as well !

Great game, for sure up there with Halo:ce and Halo3

[Charlie]

Completed it last night and thought the last couple of levels the best of the bunch and thankfully the music followed suit. Playing through on Legendary now which, despite often overstepping the line between fun and frustrating (it's much harder than Heroic), really provides a sense of how the firefighting has been tightened up, refined and polished. So much so that despite the game's shortcomings, which are many, I'd say in terms of gameplay it's the best in the series.

But I'm hating the Elites on Legendary. They move too quickly, have too much health and do too much damage. Whenever I come across them my heart sinks and I can't remember feeling like that in the previous games. Bloody things.

[rmoxon]

While I wouldnt call it too easy, this certainly seems to be alot easier than previous games (which contradicts what I read in most reviews before playing it).

It wasnt that long ago that i played through ODSt and that was a heck of alot harder on Heroic than this.

It does seem alot more balanced now though and also seems to get harder as it goes on (unlike Halo 3 where the first level was strangley the hardest, or ODST where they throw about 4 Elites at you at once near the start of the game and never let up).

The balancing is just yet another reason why it is a big improvment for the series.

It really is a fantastic game.

[plopboy]

Just not feeling this one. The single player for me has no spark and is just a dull trudge.

[Welrain]

I've never been a huge fan of Halo (although I have played through all of them) but I utterly adore this to the point where I finished it lastnight. Everything just seems to click for me at least. Now to dip my toes in online and see where that takes me.

[Brats]

I only played the first level of the campaign on Heroic, but so far I love it. I'm trying to really savour it, so I watched the level I just played in the theatre mode straight after. Some of the battles were really intense, so it's interesting to see what's going on from the Covenant's perspective.

My only criticism is that sometimes it's hard to see stuff. The art direction is first class, but there is a slight fuzz to the graphics - they aren't blurry but the textures and do sometimes make things hard to see, particuarly when all hell is breaking loose. I hoping it won't get frsutrating later on.

I love the feeling of being in a Spartan squad and the music so far is incredible. When I read it had gone rock, my heart sank thinking about Steve Vai playing the Halo theme, but the single guitar on the bit where just you and the big dude are fighting through the warehouse is superb.

Can't wait to play more tonight. The only other problem is getting a million invites to play matchmaking, firefight or co-op when I want to play the campaign first .