Hey guys, Im another long time lurker thats just been recently approved! Im looking forward to becoming an active member of HaloGaf also, being Scottish boost the EU numbers around here -and hopefully down the line being able to run some games with you all.
Seeing as Ive been snooping around these parts for a few years Ive come to gain a fairly good grasp on where most people stand with the ever evolving halo debates, so for my first post it only seems fair that I give you a brief insight into my Halo history and my opinions on Reach.
In short:
H2 BR
50 MLG
Midship
Im about to hit my mid twenties, so you can understand Ive been gaming for a while. I was a day one purchaser of the original Xbox and with it Halo CE and ever since then Ive pretty much been hooked with the universe (halfway through Cryptum at the moment) and the games. I regularly attend local social LANs and a few competitions from time to time but nothing too serious.
After getting Xbox Live in 2006 I would say Im more a multiplayer type of person that enjoys the more competitive settings, but Ill always finish the campaign first before delving into matchmaking. My fondest memories probably lie with Halo 2 and do believe its multiplayer experience (post patch) has been the best in the series due to the really solid base player traits, the maps, melee system, Battle Rifle and dare I say it the button glitches! So its probably no surprise I quickly became interested in MLG.
With the release of Halo 3 I was initially pretty disappointed, feeling the game was one step forward and one step back, but in the end I came to love/hate it and clocked thousands of games on it. I really was a little miffed why Bungie changed things that clearly werent broken like the melee system and was saddened that they didnt turn the Halo 2 button glitches into actual mechanics like for instance a GOW fast reload. Even though Halo 3s map pool was not as strong as Halo 2s there were definitely some greats like Narrows, The Pit and Construct were some of my favourites. I usually hung out in the MLG playlist and loved the theatre mode, where after gaming straight for a few hours with friends it wasnt uncommon to take a break; eat, hydrate and watch a few games back together. Good times.
I was extremely optimistic for Halo: Reach
maybe too optimistic. However, I was definitely pleased when I got my hands on the Beta even with all its bugs and glitches, the most visible improvement over Halo 3 for me being the net-code.
Forward onto release - the Reach campaign is easily the most consistent in quality out of all the Halos in my eyes, its of a decent length, well rounded with a good mix of infantry and vehicle based fighting and there is no real filler mission or act. I would also say the story telling was much better compare to previous games (not like that was hard) and I really liked the whole on the ground approach/in the action to the filming the of the cut-scenes. My only real distaste with it was the jarring frame-rate issues.
The game was never going to topple Halo CE but it at least gave it a shot.
Did someone even play-test this!? is my first thought when I think if Reachs multiplayer. Maybe Im being a little harsh. But seriously, I wouldnt be surprised if we read in a years time that Bungie had a few setbacks during their development which resulted in the abysmal map selection and many chopped and tweaked features, which ultimately will never see the light of day.
I had high hopes for Armour Abilities when they were first announced, I thought they would have brought a whole new depth to the game and increased they skill gap - I probably got sucked in with all the talk about people comparing Reach to Shadowrun. But, after playing with them solid now for the best part of six months I feel they do not enhance Halos game-play in any way, and as it stands how they currently work in multiplayer I would go as far as saying they are a worse edition than Halo 3s equipment. Without going into any great detail and specifics on each of the abilities, I believe they totally slow the game down, destroy map flow and give bad players a get-out-of-jail card. Armour Abilities should have been extensions to player movement and their skill and I feel they should have been built for much more specific uses for use on specific maps.
And onto Bloom
Spamming wasn't nearly as effective in the Beta due to guns like the DMR and Pistol having recoil attached to them, and because of the existing head-shot bug. Since Bungie fixed that bug and removed recoil from the shipping game, you would think they would have tweaked the bloom to balance/counter the effectiveness of spamming. Bungie's original plan after all was to make it so that the DMR would be harder to use at close range, which makes sense and goes with their statement "defining weapons by range". What actually happened with current bloom system is the DMR becomes more effective at close range but for all the wrong reasons.
Bungie has always been about giving us options to play our desired Halo, but I would say it was a complete oversight not giving us greater options with Armour Abilities, Bloom and stuff like tweaking individual weapon damage considering how many people would benefit from these options. The Firefight fans got a wealth of upgraded options over ODST, why didnt the traditional multiplayer side of things get the same treatment.
Its not all doom and gloom, really! Reach has given me Active Roster, Firefight and Forge World even with all its negatives, people are beginning to work round it and create some extremely unique competitive maps which is great for us avid MLG followers. Im hoping for a Covenant themed Forge pallet in the future that isnt as straight up and down as the Forerunner themed pieces weve got at the moment. I was a little disappointed with the lack of forge-able items on the premade maps but Bungie have made a few keepers like Countdown, Zealot and Tempest.
In summary, I do think Reach is an exceedingly good game you dont get to a General rank by not enjoying playing it - Im critical because I care and feel that if the game just got a few of its humps ironed out it would be better for everyone.