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[Falagard]

That one Grunt screen DOES look bad though. Surely you can admit that.

The others to me look hot, and a genuine step above Halo 3. But that grunt pic to me looks like a Halo 3 pic was put in there by mistake.

I don't agree or admit to that at all. The grunts look better than the Halo 3 grunts, the grass looks better than the Halo 3 grass, the contrast seems higher (darker darks), the dead Jackal looks cool, etc.

I'm seeing what looks like screen space ambient occlusion, particularly noticeable on the stairs in the background through the window.

The lighting on both the player and the enemies seems a bit dull, but perhaps that's part of the environment of this particular shot.

To me it looks better than Halo 3 in every way. Though, I'm not one to get caught up in hype - I'm a game programmer and have realistic expectations.

 

[BladedExpert]

Un-cancels pre-order

:lol

 

[Thermite]

May 3rd!? FUCK YEAH.

 

[GhaleonEB]

• The definitive multiplayer experience. “Halo: Reach” builds on the success of its predecessors, setting a new standard for competitive gameplay, customization, variety and community integration.
• Unparalleled feature suite. “Halo: Reach” expands on the industry-leading suite of features found in “Halo 3,” including four-player cooperative campaign play, split-screen support, saved films, screenshots and exciting new surprises that have yet to be revealed.

Very careful wording in there.

Stuff not mentioned: Forge, Firefight. Can't wait to see what's up with them. Not to mention how Saved Films feature has improved. Easily my favorite feature in Halo 3. Just checked, and I have 1,296 pictures in my Halo 3 screens folder. :lol

 

[Popeck]

IGN says this in their preview:

"One of the maps that will be included in the beta is called Powerhouse, and Bungie closed the demo with a quick run-through of the map. It's a large, asymmetrical space centered on a hydroelectric power station. This, like all of the Halo: Reach multiplayer maps, is pulled from a campaign area. The twist, it seems, is that the campaign section will likely take place during the night while the multiplayer map is set during the day.

During the fly-through I got to see the interior of the power station, filled with corridors and lit walls (which can be shot and destroyed). The exterior is fairly wide open, with a brown, shrub covered ring encircling the large cement structure. I would venture a guess and say that standing around out in the open wouldn't be a very good idea, though there were plenty of structures to duck behind.

Oh my.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1068741p2.html

 

[RebornYeti]

Gamespot: Halo Reach -- First Look

 

[Arnie]

The other pics DO look a step above, but that grunt one, urgh.

I'm sure it looks better in motion. But I think Bungie needs to consider some filters, and more blur. There's nothign wrong with a bit of blur in games. It gives things a softer, more natural or 'real' look.

Trying to go super sharp and super high res sometimes gives off a weird look. Even Halo 3 would have benefitted a lot from a simple overall blur.

No I "surely" don't think it looks the same as Halo 3 and if you can't agree then that is your problem.

There is no doubting the level of detail shits all over Halo 3's character model wise, not to mention the improved lighting on plasma projectiles, the improved decorators such as grass and not including the new animation system that "really pops". Visually Reach will look substantially better than Halo 3, and once you play the beta I'm sure you will agree.

If when we get are hands on the beta you still feel the same then we'll talk. But currently there is no disputing that these screens look better than Halo 3.

I'm not saying the screenshots blew my dick into a million shards, just that they represented a needed visual leap over Halo 3.

 

[The Librarian]

IGN says this in their preview:

"One of the maps that will be included in the beta is called Powerhouse, and Bungie closed the demo with a quick run-through of the map. It's a large, asymmetrical space centered on a hydroelectric power station. This, like all of the Halo: Reach multiplayer maps, is pulled from a campaign area. The twist, it seems, is that the campaign section will likely take place during the night while the multiplayer map is set during the day.

During the fly-through I got to see the interior of the power station, filled with corridors and lit walls (which can be shot and destroyed). The exterior is fairly wide open, with a brown, shrub covered ring encircling the large cement structure. I would venture a guess and say that standing around out in the open wouldn't be a very good idea, though there were plenty of structures to duck behind.

Oh my.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1068741p2.html

What? Why? Hopefully they're wrong because that's something I REALLY do not want because of what happened with Firefight and ODST. Pulling the maps from campaign for Firefight cheapened the campaign for me.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Other noteworthy tidbits from the IGN article:

The beta will include a couple of maps and a couple of game modes, including one that is brand new.

During the fly-through I got to see the interior of the power station, filled with corridors and lit walls (which can be shot and destroyed).

What? Why? Hopefully they're wrong because that's something I REALLY do not want because of what happened with Firefight and ODST. Pulling the maps from campaign for Firefight cheapened the campaign for me.

Depends how literal that is. Nearly every Halo map is based on a campaign environment. It's not clear if they meant that, or if they meant it was literally yanked geometry, ODST-style. I doubt the latter very much. Just yanking campaign geometry wouldn't suit MP well.

 

[Thermite]

All multiplayer maps are pulled from Campaign?.....Really?

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

I don't agree or admit to that at all. The grunts look better than the Halo 3 grunts, the grass looks better than the Halo 3 grass, the contrast seems higher (darker darks), the dead Jackal looks cool, etc.

I agree, the grunts look way better. In Halo 3 their limbs were just poorly textured, amorphous blobs of... stuff. Here they finally look the way they're supposed to.

 

[Flipyap]

- Really don't like the new Grunt design. The shape of their tanks is weird, makes them look really bulky. Wide torsos don't help.
- The AR looks tiny now, kind of wimpy. The simple ammo display is very nice, though.
- If that's the final cover, then holy crap! A Halo game with a regular-edition cover I like? Don't know if I can handle this. Somebody hold me.
- Oh, the eyes are just too silly!

 

[Zeouterlimits]

What? Why? Hopefully they're wrong because that's something I REALLY do not want because of what happened with Firefight and ODST. Pulling the maps from campaign for Firefight cheapened the campaign for me.

Gamespot article says the same thing... :-/

Weird, to say the least.

 

[The Librarian]

Depends how literal that is. Nearly every Halo map is based on a campaign environment. It's not clear if they meant that, or if they meant it was literally yanked geometry, ODST-style. I doubt the latter very much. Just yanking campaign geometry wouldn't suit MP well.

I don't have a problem with them basing a MP map on a campaign environment (I love Valhalla so much), just as long as it's not ripped. Though, they did mention "twist," not plural.

 

[feel]

Ah, I see. I agree, that is clearly 90°.
The radar is divided into 8 equal sectors, two of which make up the FOV indicator.

I meant that I do not understand the "70° FOV sucks, why can't it go back to the way CE did it?" arguement when CE was also 70°.
Maybe they all get confused because they've got a 4:3 game being stretched on their lovely wide screens.
For me, CE feels like I have only the front half of my helmet and there's a guy behind me trying to force my face through it.

I dunno, I've been jumping between all the Halo games lately for a variety of reasons, and Halo 2 and 3 FOVs feel jarring after playing CE (unstretched) or ODST. Maybe it's the zoom. 2 and 3 FOVs are zoomed in and that's very annoying to me.

 

[Trasher]

All multiplayer maps are pulled from Campaign?.....Really?

Blood Gulch was my favorite map in campaign mode. Hated it in multiplayer.

 

[RebornYeti]

All multiplayer maps are pulled from Campaign?.....Really?

I'm hoping that they mean just the general style of the level, not a copy/paste version. That would totally suck!

 

[Kibbles]

^ Agreed.

Man I hope Ghaleon is right, but GameSpot's preview says the same thing. Ripped from the campaign. Ugh...

Not much on the ViDoc either... will it even contain anything besides talk? GameSpot previewer briefly mentioned it but then went to talking about the MP demonstration.

 

[Trasher]

I'm hoping that they mean just the general style of the level, not a copy/paste version. That would totally suck!

Remakes of previous Halo maps ruled out then?

Who knows though. Maybe this new equipment stuff would just break those older maps. More and more of me keeps thinking that this game's multiplayer could be very different from the multiplayer in the previous Halos...which is getting me quite excited tbh.

 

[Sai-kun]

If Bungie pulls an Infinity Ward and makes all their MP maps campaign maps, I will be very upset actually. :/

 

[Ramirez]

There is no way that the MP maps will be direct rips of campaign areas with no changes at all, c'mon.

 

[AwesomeSyrup]

MP maps taken from campaign, seriously?

 

[enzo_gt]

Article about demo up on Joystiq!

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

No I "surely" don't think it looks the same as Halo 3 and if you can't agree then that is your problem.

There is no doubting the level of detail shits all over Halo 3's character model wise, not to mention the improved lighting on plasma projectiles, the improved decorators such as grass and not including the new animation system that "really pops". Visually Reach will look substantially better than Halo 3, and once you play the beta I'm sure you will agree.

If when we get are hands on the beta you still feel the same then we'll talk. But currently there is no disputing that these screens look better than Halo 3.

I'm not saying the screenshots blew my dick into a million shards, just that they represented a needed visual leap over Halo 3.

I already think Halo Reach looks a leap above Halo 3.

I was referring to ONE screen that was released. Don't misinterpret. That ONE screen looks like Halo 3. I'm sure its just a bad shot.

As I said, the other screens look awesome.

 

[MirageDwarf]

If Bungie pulls an Infinity Ward and makes all their MP maps campaign maps, I will be very upset actually. :/

May be MS/Bungie doesn't want game on 2 discs.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

- Really don't like the new Grunt design. The shape of their tanks is weird, makes them look really bulky. Wide torsos don't help.

Ah, but it's obvious that their pre-Halo1 tanks were built in the 60 nm process. Later on they transitioned to the 45 nm process which made the tanks smaller and cooler to boot

 

[Kibbles]

They keep talking about the Halo 3 feature parity. That's great, really, but I hope it's not just that. I really hope everything has been vastly improved, more-so Forge. Some of these articles make it just sound like it'll be the same as Halo 3.

And, we'll say it again, the game looks amazing in motion.

Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow morning.

 

[minasodaboy]

hay bales are totally the new spools of wire.

 

[Arnie]

I'm hoping that they mean just the general style of the level, not a copy/paste version. That would totally suck!

Agreed. If it is a literal rip from the campaign I will be oh so annoyed. But that would seem strange, consider all the effort Bungie puts into designing multiplayer maps as seen with the Guardian expose, then for their final swan song they decide to fuck it off and just rip multiplayer maps straight from the campaign environment. Something doesn't add up.

Also, the brief word about the ViDoc has me worried, I am expecting 70% chat 30% campaign snippets.

 

[Trasher]

MP maps taken from campaign, seriously?

Someone from Bungie probably said something like "the multiplayer maps have been inspired by some of our campaign environments" and then some retarded journalists were like "OMG ALL THE MP MAPS WILL BE FROM CAMPAIGN." I would take this comment with a grain of salt.

hay bales are totally the new spools of wire.

I was excited when I saw those haha. They better be destructible!

 

[Zeouterlimits]

There is no way that the MP maps will be direct rips of campaign areas with no changes at all, c'mon.

Agreed, we should wait for BWU clarification/Urk before flipping out.

 

[RebornYeti]

Remakes of previous Halo maps ruled out then?

Who knows though. Maybe this new equipment stuff would just break those older maps. More and more of me keeps thinking that this game's multiplayer could be very different from the multiplayer in the previous Halos...which is getting me quite excited tbh.

I don't think they should be ruled out entirely. They could be coming back with a new style that fits Reach, or maybe just as DLC.

All I really want is for Blood Gulch to come back. I'm pretty sure they can recreate it with Reach's style in mind.

Agreed. If it is a literal rip from the campaign I will be oh so annoyed. But that would seem strange, consider all the effort Bungie puts into designing multiplayer maps as seen with the Guardian expose, then for their final swan song they decide to fuck it off and just rip multiplayer maps straight from the campaign environment. Something doesn't add up.

Yeah, I don't think Bungie would do that to us. I'm not worried.

EDIT: I like how Reach is being called the "Definitive Halo". Reminds me of Forza 3 being the "Definitive Racing Game".

 

[The Librarian]

This is probably Bungie's last game for the Halo franchise, at least for awhile. That means they should end it with a bang

Spoiler

not a whimper

. If the campaign is being gimped for the MP, then I'd rather have Bungie drop MP altogether and focus on the campaign. That's where the most important aspect of Halo lies, I feel.

Edit - However, until I see some solid evidence that this is going to be happening, I'm not going to worry.

 

[Magni]

Gamespot: Halo Reach -- First Look

You play as a member of Noble Six

OONSK PLAYABLE CHARACTER CONFIRMED!

 

[Trasher]

I don't think they should be ruled out entirely. They could be coming back with a new style that fits Reach, or maybe just as DLC.

All I really want is for Blood Gulch to come back. I'm pretty sure they can recreate it with Reach's style in mind.

Yeah dude. Just throw some hay bales out in the middle of the map and it's golden.

 

[Slightly Live]

If the campaign is being gimped for the MP, then I'd rather have Bungie drop MP altogether and focus on the campaign. That's where the most important aspect of Halo lies, I feel.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Thermite]

Blood Gulch was my favorite map in campaign mode. Hated it in multiplayer.

God, it's been so long since I've played through Halo CE. Which Campaign piece was Blood Gulch based on, again? I can't even remember. lol :/

I'm hoping that they mean just the general style of the level, not a copy/paste version. That would totally suck!

Yeah. If they meant they're just taking environment set pieces and then transforming it into a multiplayer map, I'm all for it. Reach's environments thus far have been gorgeous. If it's just a straight up carbon copy for every single multiplayer map, though.....not sure if want.

 

[Trasher]

:lol :lol :lol

Boggles the mind doesn't it?

God, it's been so long since I've played through Halo CE. Which Campaign piece was Blood Gulch based on, again? I can't even remember. lol :/

lol that was a joke. It isn't in campaign.

 

[EazyB]

1) May 4th. Awesome, a week into spring quarter so I shouldn't be bogged down too much.
2) Screens look awesome.
3) The AR in the new screen looks more fitting to its function (dumb and hilariously useless)

Many sad faces at the lack of MP info.

If the campaign is being gimped for the MP, then I'd rather have Bungie drop MP altogether and focus on the campaign. That's where the most important aspect of Halo lies, I feel.

Jesus Christ. You are a retard.

 

[The Librarian]

:lol :lol :lol

What's there to laugh at? I've always valued campaign over multiplayer. I realize that, probably the main draw of Halo is the multiplayer, but I still value the campaign more. I was just saying what I'd rather have Bungie do, not what I think they're going to do or not do. I realize that they won't drop MP.

 

[MirageDwarf]

This is probably Bungie's last game for the Halo franchise, at least for awhile. That means they should end it with a bang

Spoiler

not a whimper

. If the campaign is being gimped for the MP, then I'd rather have Bungie drop MP altogether and focus on the campaign. That's where the most important aspect of Halo lies, I feel.

And lose millions. You know there is no way that is happening. Even if Bungie is crazy and go for it, MS would not allow it. Period.

 

[enzo_gt]

New Info I gathered
-Beta will have a few maps and a few match types (gametypes?) and one is brand new
-New equipment are called "Armor Abilities" (sprint lasts several seconds)
-Maps pulled from campaign (possibly Firefight/CoD style?)
-Some destructible architecture (Destroying 'lit' walls on Power House)
-Pushing approx 4 million more polygons than Halo 3
-Power House will be in the Reach Beta
-Animation systems completely re-written, all sound effects re-recorded

HYPE

 

[minasodaboy]

I was excited when I saw those haha. They better be destructible!

i'm picturing the flamethrower, several hay bales and a man cannon...

the new multiplayer mode has me really intrigued. i think it was joe tung that mentioned there would be some surprising ways to add replayability to campaign. maybe these two things intersect somehow?

 

[wwm0nkey]

I think it will be similar to Halo 2, with the maps being based off of areas in the game, even if that's not the case im sure not all the maps will be ripped from SP...at least I hope not.

 

[Ramirez]

This is probably Bungie's last game for the Halo franchise, at least for awhile. That means they should end it with a bang

Spoiler

not a whimper

. If the campaign is being gimped for the MP, then I'd rather have Bungie drop MP altogether and focus on the campaign. That's where the most important aspect of Halo lies, I feel.

Edit - However, until I see some solid evidence that this is going to be happening, I'm not going to worry.

Man, you are a complete idiot. You sit there and argue about split screen support, then turn around and tell them to axe the only aspect of Halo that probably over half of the people who buy Halo care about.

smh

 

[RebornYeti]

Yeah dude. Just throw some hay bales out in the middle of the map and it's golden.

Yes! And don't forget rain.

 

[Kuroyume]

nvm... Didn't even see that Dax post so I don't want to start a stupid argument.

 

[The Librarian]

I think they should get rid of the campaign and make a game with a lot of maps. Campaign is something you play once or twice during the first week then don't touch again.

Speak for yourself please.

 

[Thermite]

lol that was a joke.

:lol Ah, okay. Gotcha. Didn't think it was in Campaign, but I wasn't sure if I just forgot about it or something.

 

[Kuroyume]

Damn, he saw it.