A few closing thoughts for today. First, the problems. There are many.
I've said before that a lot of the combat doesn't feel right. To be more specific:
Melee combat lacks impact. Most of the time, I can't tell when my melee attack lands, and I don't know that it was a melee blow that killed me without looking at the text down in the left corner. It just feels floating and disconnected from the events on screen. This was never a problem in the previous Halo games.
Many weapons are simply not fun to use. The new pistol is the least enjoyable iteration in the entire series; the Halo 2 version sucked balls, but it was satisfying to shoot. The feedback loop on the Reach version is extremely weak from top to bottom. Since it's also hard to use, I find myself ditching it at all opportunities. I put the DMR and Nerfle in the same category; they're more useful, but the difference in feedback between shooting them and not shooting them is minimal.
The Needler likewise has a poor feedback loop; it was way more fun to use in Halo 3. It's still useful, but the act of filling someone full of pink love is no longer a joyful experience. This saddens me greatly.
One part of the combat that does work well are the grenades. They actually work too well: Eazy mentioned it, but grenades could use some nerfing. As much as I like throwing mini-nukes, they're just absurdly potent. Halo 3's frags were about right, these feel powered up a good 25-30%. Take'm back down. Or, make it so killed players do not drop their grenades.
Player movement feels too stiff. Someone said it felt like the player had some sandbags tied around their waist, which is exactly right. From reversing direction to the stun upon falling to the feeling of hitting a soft ceiling when jumping (you don't so much fall to earth as you are jerked back down to it), the player feels weighted down and cumbersome. This has as much as anything to do with why I say the game does not feel like a Halo game.
In Stockpile, if I'm on the red team it is a a blue waypoint marker that tells me to take my (currently) red flag to the red stockpile. So when the stockpile is out of view, the red team has to follow a blue way point. Remember the Giant Bomb video when the guy kept taking the flag to the wrong place? That's why. When it comes to the way points, it's opposite day. Why?
Sword Base isn't as bad as I first thought, but it's not a good map. It's needlessly convoluted and the overall design feels arbitrary. But it's a TERRIBLE one-flag CTF map. Rather than place the flag somewhere where there are several ways in, the flag is in the bottom corner. Worse, the map has been modified to block off several routes; there's only two ways to the flag: from the front, and a side tunnel. On such an intricate map, this strikes me as both absurd and boring. A great CTF map has many ways through it and to the flag; this has two.
In every previous Halo game, the simple act of running around, jumping and firing the guns was fun. I've spent countless hours just tooling around doing those things, solo and with other players. In Reach, doing those things are not fun. There is no joy in the feeling of movement in Reach, and it's a crushing disappointment to me. Someone took the core of what made Halo feel like Halo and gutted it.
Onto the good:
The interface and menus are the best I've seen, period. There's a huge amount of information displayed elegantly, the animations are slick, the maps load fast as hell, and the entire matchmaking experience is just streamlined and smooth as butter. And the netcode feels rock solid, much better than Halo 3. I don't recall a single laggy game, period.
The Active Roster is the new "why didn't they think of that before?" and "every game needs this" all rolled into one. It's got some quirks, such as not being able to see the game details until you queue join. But it achieves it's core function magnificently.
Powerhouse is a great map. Visually gorgeous (though I get a HUGE deja vu feeling of High Ground), intricately designed without being confusing, full of great jumps and a long series of ones made just for guys Sprinting. Great 1-Flag CTF, Three Plots (oh gosh), Slayer and Stockpile. Love it.
Stockpile is a glorious gametype, the aforementioned UI issue aside. The way it unfolds in a series of mini-rounds, with no break between, the pace slowly shifting depending on whether a team is ahead or behind, is just masterful. I'm in love.
The animation is a revelation. Detailed, nuanced, expressive, just wonderful to watch.
Some random details:
When you pick up the Oddball, your radar disappears. This is a surprisingly effective tweak to the game and makes it much harder for a team to hog the ball.
Drawing the pistol makes a sound like it's coming out of a holster, which is neat.
Sprint is awesome. Jumping over large spaces while sprinting is even more awesomer.
Everything in the game is detailed to an almost absurd degree. It looks great. (A touch too much motion blur, but I'm getting used to it.)
Overall, a more mixed bag than I was expecting. Reach loses a LOT of what made Halo stand out to me, but I'm learning to adjust and it's still fun to play; just not as fun. The two maps are a perfect split, the new and returning gametypes great, the weapon feedback weak. It's going to be an incredible package of a game, that feels like it's lost of bit of its soul along the way.
