Halo: Reach

[LongHairStu]

Whilst I can't wait to play this - more Halo is never a bad thing in my opinion - it is going to fracture the storyline to the point of "Ah, fuck it, I'll just kill some stuff". And that trailer does look in-engine, but so did the first Halo 3 trailer, and that didn't end up delivering. Not that Halo 3 or ODST look bad - the amount going on is a worthy trade off for it not looking as good as it perhaps could.

[Empty]

Underwhelming trailer. Visually it is very impressive, but the music was cheesy rubbish, the dialogue horrible and the skull helmet guy along with the 'gritty' aesthetic makes it come off like army of two/modern warfare in space, which is not what halo is about at all. Nowhere near as exciting as the Halo 2 or Halo 3 reveal trailers, either.

[LongHairStu]

And seemingly scarily close to the format/structure of ODST.

[footle]

These trolls are missing a trick with their substandard trollage: it'd be a whole lot better if it could use the Power Of Cell.

[Isaac]

These trolls are missing a trick with their substandard trollage: it'd be a whole lot better if it could use the Power Of Cell.

It looks shit.

[footle]

There was that line about leaving that lone wolf stuff behind.

R6: Halo?

that's pretty much what I'm expecting: the focus to be much more on four player co-op in any campaign, because it fits the setting rather than just being shoehorned in as in halo 3.

Also, it's the change in game mechanic bungie have been angling for.

I'm hoping for them to go out on a limb with some kind of properly persistant mmfps world for the multiplayer - because there's no point copying call of duty, and such a setup in the halo universe would get sufficient players to show if it'll work or not. Probably a gamble too far for Microsoft with their star IP though.

[The Sarge]

Where's the trailer?

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/halo-reach-spike-tv/59813

[Podge]

Well the trailer did it for me. Joining a team of battle hardened Spartans as they fly off into a massive explosion... sign me up!

[footle]

It looks shit.

killzone 2 threw fancy effects around all over the place in different shades of brown, and had ok multiplayer, but the choice of delayed rendering scheme or perhaps the choice of "use head bob" in single player gave me motion sickness.

"it looks shit" is a relative term - I'm expecting a halo game to throw fewer fancy effects around, in different shades of grey and blue, without confusing my inner ear to the point where I want to throw up: at least I'll get past the first level.

This is, of course, an entirely personal opinion!

[Uncle Nasty]

Another year, another new Halo game with an overblown trailer that reveals nothing. Just show us the fucking Elites, Bungie. Fuck's sake.

[Gambit]

Another year, another new Halo game with an overblown trailer that reveals nothing. Just show us the fucking Elites, Bungie. Fuck's sake.

They did. Right at the end.

[Sigourney Beaver]

Well the trailer did it for me. Joining a team of battle hardened Spartans as they fly off into a massive explosion... sign me up!

Me too! It looks fantasticly gung-ho, which is all I really want from a Halo game.

[Lothar Hex]

Well I'm looking forward to this. Was hoping we'd at least see Chief again, since this is set before Halo 1, but initially looks like we're not playing as him. Probably turn up at some point.

[Ferine]

Was hoping we'd at least see Chief again, since this is set before Halo 1, but initially looks like we're not playing as him. Probably turn up at some point.

I'm pretty sure the lore doesn't allow him to, although I haven't read any of the books myself.

[Mr. Gerbik]

I haven't read the books either, but wasn't the reason that the Chief is alive in the first place - unlike all those Spartans you see in the trailer - that he wasn't on Reach but on that spaceship from Halo1?

[Lothar Hex]

Ah yes, I'm actually re-reading Fall of Reach, and you're right. At the time he went from the Pillar of Autumn, to a space station orbiting it to destroy navigation data leading to Earth, and back to the Pillar.

Nice if he got a cameo or something though.

Tip on the Halo Books, get the ones by Eric Nyuld, ignore the rest.

[mackemansj1]

I think im a bit haloed out, me of 2008 wouldve been woooping and shouting bring it on but after halo 3 halo 3 odst and halo wars i think im getting a bit too much halo and that trailer isnt doing anything at all for me.

[Troublegum]

I just hope they can make a game this time where the last few levels don't completely suck.

DISCLAIMER: This opinion is based on having not played ODST yet.

[The Sarge]

In what way, specifically? To my untrained eye it just looks like more of the same.

Character models & animation have been improved, textures seem to have been improved from ODST, the lighting looks better as well, I'm sure there are many more improvements but those are the ones that stand out the most.

[Floex]

Just took some HD grabs;

[Eighthours]

It looks a lot better than Halo 3 and ODST, as far as I'm concerned. (As long it's all in-engine as claimed, of course...)

[Snowman]

Underwhelming trailer. Visually it is very impressive, but the music was cheesy rubbish, the dialogue horrible and the skull helmet guy along with the 'gritty' aesthetic makes it come off like army of two/modern warfare in space, which is not what halo is about at all. Nowhere near as exciting as the Halo 2 or Halo 3 reveal trailers, either.

I don't mind the added grit at all but I agree with everything else. I think that Bungie are great at writing all the lore that crops up here and there but they are terrible at writing dialogue. With regards to the music, that's the first time I've ever disliked something that Marty O'Donnell has composed, particularly because it manages to accentuate every cheesy line that comes out of the commander's mouth.

It all looks nice though. I can easily believe that the trailer will be representative of the finished product and I'm glad to see that the facial models and animation are more in line with the current standard.

If I just put on my gigantic Halo nerd hat for a second, I'm not really sure about the idea of this lone wolf Spartan who's new to the team. Surely the whole idea of the Spartans is that they all grew up together. They are, for all intents and purposes, brothers and sisters.

[Lucky Gonk]

"One does not simply fly in to Mordor!"

[Uzi]

All we saw was pretty much a cutscene from early in the game. It did look a lot nicer than 3/ODST- which is good because those look pretty dated now to be frank in a few areas. But with an elite reveal at the end, that's enough fo rme.

If the leaked screenshots in this thread are real (they seem to match the slightly chunkier look of the trailer) then the thought of Halo + new engine + new weapons + spartans + elites is enough to get me REALLY excited. Can't wait for the beta

[Harsin]

I just hope the Elites go back to only speaking alien jibber-jabber again and are not Star Trek: The Next Generation rejects like in the later games.

[Ferine]

I just hope the Elites go back to only speaking alien jibber-jabber again...

At the risk of ruining the magic, their speech is made up of Sergeant Johnson's voice samples played in reverse and deepened. For instance "Wort, wort, wort!" is actually "Go, go, go!"

[Mr. Gerbik]

the thought of Halo + new engine + new weapons + spartans + elites is enough to get me REALLY excited

When you put it like this, yes it's enough to get me excited too! It's easy to get cynical and dismissive in regards to Halo with MS milking it extremely dry lately (3, ODST, Wars, Waypoint, Legends - urgh overdose!) but this is the first Halo since Halo 1 (still the best Halo and fps ever, folks!) that features Elites AND NO STINKING BRUTES as the enemy!

At the risk of ruining the magic

Yeah cheers for ruining the magic

[A Hen]

If I just put on my gigantic Halo nerd hat for a second, I'm not really sure about the idea of this lone wolf Spartan who's new to the team. Surely the whole idea of the Spartans is that they all grew up together. They are, for all intents and purposes, brothers and sisters.

Yeah, and they were meant to be genetically and cybernetically modified as they grew up - that's what made them "superhuman". Hence the Marines in the first game expecting you to be a giant, etc. They're not just meant to be very tough soldiers who just join up - that's also why the loss of the Spartans is a big deal - Earth can't just recruit a few hard men and put them in fancy suits.

[A Hen]

At the risk of ruining the magic, their speech is made up of Sergeant Johnson's voice samples played in reverse and deepened. For instance "Wort, wort, wort!" is actually "Go, go, go!"

That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that they were ace in the first game, and over-explained to the point of being awful in the second one. They really became second-rate Star Trek villains (where being a first-rate one wouldn't be anything to boast about). I'm not sure, now we've had all the stuff in Halo 2, that they can regain their alien-ness from the first game. But as long as their AI is at least as good as the first game, things will be great.*

*And yes, I know the AI routines were very similar in Halo 2, but there was something about how they operated within the environments/rule sets of that game that made them nowhere nearly as satisfying to fight.

[Naysonymous]

It looks a lot better than Halo 3 and ODST, as far as I'm concerned. (As long it's all in-engine as claimed, of course...)

Eurogamer's Digital Foundry just said on Twitter it might not be: (link)