Reach review

Games Other Halo
1

Well with 4 almost upon us and Reach’s controversial time in the sun likely over - I don’t see reach enduring the same way as 2 did and 3 still is, having split the fanbase so much - people’ll either be won over by 4 or remain on 3 I think - I thought why not take a look back at the game.

Personally I enjoyed the game though mainly because of the overall combination of features, but with more exposure to 3 and now CE:A it’s starting to lose some ground.

I thought the campaign story was solid, if predictable (well let’s face it, we all KNEW before the game that Reach would fall and scores of people - including Spartans - would die). Long Night of Solace, Nightfall, and Tip of the Spear stand out the most in my memory, especially LNoS actually with the Sabre and Low Gravity fights - however I must say I felt they, like most if not all of the missions dragged on a bit too long for their own good.

And while I did like the feel of Reach I must admit something in the maps and such just feels a little off from the other entries in the series - perhaps a bit too much open space too often.

I had no complaints with the weaponary, aside from the grenade launcher (which I’ve never really gotten the hang of). Bloom, I definitely didn’t appreciate though - recoil is fine but why the heck should my reticle expand out of focus when I’m firing?

AAs were an interesting addition but I think they really did affect gameplay a bit too much - as seen when some had to be watered down, shame Bungie couldn’t get them a bit more balanced.

To be honest while I initially rather liked Fire Fight 2.0, as a way to blow off steam and just practise my gameplay I’ve come to feel that my time in the mode isn’t rewarded properly by the ranking/xp system to bother with it compared to Campaign.

I’ve loved all the Multi-Player I’ve been able to play - my Live connection cuts out frequently in my preferred play hours. But the maps really do let the mode down as they’re not balanced or even very imaginative, indeed I prefer the Forge made maps (at least there’s some design work that’s gone into those even if they’re still not balanced).

Theatre 2.0, heh what else can I say but thanks for letting us save those moments of glory, ignominity and out right hilarity.

Anyhow what are you thoughts looking back at Reach as 4 rolls on towards us?

2

reach was certainly a bumpy halo game with the fans and community. It was also the first game to take place before the halo wars. but it was also a time for bungie to try new things and add in aspects that would not have been in other halo games. not to mention it was the first time halo had faded itself away from the halo 3/2 feeling. reach was basically a game of firsts but it was also a last. it is very questionable that we will ever see a halo game like reach. the game was heavily attacked by its community and defended by those who cared. you could say this was the time the community had literally split into controversy and here we are 2 years later and its still going on. this has truly been an amazing game because of what was implemented and how old ideas came to be hated

3

You’re right.

Reach will not keep being played once the new one comes out, like Halo 3. That is probably because the developers changed during the middle of it’s life. But, Halo 3 will always be played.

Since they made a CE Anniversary, they should really make a Halo 3 anniversary in 2017(and yes, to all of you know it alls, I know that CE:A was made as an anniverary for the Halo Franchise, not the actual game). But Halo 3 was just that good.

But anyway, I thought Reach was pretty good. I think the campaign was a 8/10. It had a good storyline, it was pretty original, and I liked the fights. But I think the best part was the fact that on the Lone Wolf mission, it says “Spartans never die, they are just missing in action”. I like that because on Lone Wolf, when it goes to the cutscene, you never actually see him die. An elite gets in the way of you.

Multiplayer. 8/10. I liked the playlists and the weekend jackpots and the daily challenges. I would give it a higher rank, but the August update… don’t even get me started. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good.

Firefight was very good. 9/10. I liked how they had different game modes, but also the classic one from ODST. Although, I won’t miss it that much in Halo 4.

Forge was a HUGE improvement. 10/10. I just thought that it was absolutely perfect. Everything about it was as good as it could be.

Custom games. Refer to Forge.

And Theater, of course is a 10/10.

So overall, Halo: Reach gets a 54/60. Nothing compared to Halo 3, but pretty good.

4

> It was also the first game to take place before the halo wars.

It took place before Halo: CE, not Halo Wars. Halo Wars took place a LONG time before either Reach or Halo: CE.

Anyway, Reach was good. Its campaign was a bit underwhelming (no large battles like the 2 Scarab Battle in Halo 3 was a letdown), but overall it was a solid story.

The Matchmaking was good too, it just took some tweaking. The TU 343 did was awesome and I feel if Bungie hadn’t been in the process of switching developers, they could have done that themselves.

5

> > It was also the first game to take place before the halo wars.
>
> It took place before Halo: CE, not Halo Wars. Halo Wars took place a LONG time before either Reach or Halo: CE.
>
> Anyway, Reach was good. Its campaign was a bit underwhelming (no large battles like the 2 Scarab Battle in Halo 3 was a letdown), but overall it was a solid story.
>
> The Matchmaking was good too, it just took some tweaking. The TU 343 did was awesome and I feel if Bungie hadn’t been in the process of switching developers, they could have done that themselves.

No you didnt read it clearly I said it took place before THE HALO WARS