I just put the Reach disc back in the tray after a solid 10+ months playing Halo 4. I think I’ll leave it in a while, and then maybe revisit Halo 3 for a time. I want to see for myself what worked well in past Halo games and hopefully make some recommendations for anyone at 343 who will listen.
One of the first things that stood out to me in Reach was the armory. This was, on the whole, better than Halo 4’s because it was more polished. The Halo 4 armory offers more goodies, sure. But I liked some things about the Reach version better, and I hope they carry through to Halo 5. Namely, the big character models. They’re colossi compared to Halo 4’s. You see so much more detail. That same level of detail (sunlight/cloud reflections in visors, battle damage/scuffing/paint chipping on armor) might be there in Halo 4 but I need to squint to see it! Also, the color palettes… so much bolder and realistic. Halo 4’s are too hot (literally, on the color scale, they’re too hot, bordering neon). Oh, and armor effects. C’mon, they’re just cool! Not everything needs to be canonically sound… sometimes it just needs to be fun! Whereas Reach offered maybe 6 different armor effects, I think halo 5 should over 3x times that… get creative!
Maps were another. They were big, but unlike Halo 4, they didn’t feel cluttered. You had room to maneuver. You felt the map was there to be taken advantage of; not to get in your way. You could climb mountains, and almost nothing was out of bounds. Spire and that Paradise map were especially good at giving you free roam. If you wanted a good sniper perch, you could have a good sniper perch. In Halo 4, the maps are cluttered with obvious line-of-site obstructions, impediments in the pathways, and I’m not sure why. Maybe to provide more cover? Or to make things more tactical?
Another thing that stood out was the way medals were presented. They feel like bigger icons - you can see them in-game and understand what each one is at a glance. In Halo 4, if it’s not voiced over, I need to look at the post-game to see them all. Also, the sprees! How I missed getting 3 kinds of sword, hammer, sniper, vehicle spree medals.
Last thing I want to mention from my game last night: Firefight + voices. Preferable to SpOps. And more entertaining. Listening to Nathan Fillion says “big green radiation gun up and running right next to my face”… I howled because I had forgotten all about it.
In closing, Reach had a touch of humor, a slight sense of irreverence, and a type of scale and detail that just didn’t carry over to Halo 4. When I get a chance I’m going to reply here and talk about the things Reach got wrong. Thanks for reading.