Bungie ranks themselves in the top 10 developers out there - no question!
To start off, i want to say that i've never been a big fan of the series, but always managed my way through each game, going all the way back to Combat Evolved on the old Xbox system.
I remember playing the first game at a friends house - buying my own xbox including the second game, and going for the third as soon as it released. ODST didn't say much, but it's only a month ago or so, that i found it for 10 bucks in a store, and thought i'd pick it up. Being very sceptic around Reach (for some odd matter, i am usually that when it comes to big titles that seem to be "only for the money") i soon grow interrested due to all the hype.
And though i didn't believe it, i went to buy it as soon as it released here in Denmark, and just finished it 10 minutes ago! And i gotta say, this is probably one of the better 360 games i've played for a while.
THE REVIEW
Halo: Reach starts out pretty quickly, there isn't much jabbering or story in the beginning, you are thrown to battle in all it's glory! I never felt a Halo game should be played by myself alone - so i had one of my best game buddies to help me so we could co-up. I'm so happy Bungie kept the split screen co-up which so many developers seem to throw away these days. Now notice it was split screen, meaning the resolution actually is abit bad in some ways. Lowering the - the potentially better - graphics. This was one of the first things i noticed about Reach. Bungie had been talking an aweful lot about their "improved graphics" and what not, but honostly, it wasn't too impressing, seem like so many other games.
Now don't get me wrong, Halo is a beautiful game, and the cutscenes are probably some of the finest i've seen in a while, with it's cinematic scale and beautiful camera angles, Bungie sure has put alot of effort into making the cut scenes seem epic and huge!
The sound of the game is astounding! With it's beautiful music as we know from any other Halo game, and it's extremely well done voice acting! Halo: Reach is nothing but a masterpiece sound wise!
Combat has changed abit with the new "armor abilities". You have Sprint, Shield, Camouflage, some extra form of shield and a mechanic that can make you copy yourself to distract enemies - and of course my favorite: the beautifully done Jetpack!
This adds a whole lot to the gameplay, as you in various sitations find it important to shift these mechanics, not only cause you might need to, but also because you through the game, has found the armor ability that suits you best!
The weapons are as usual a great deal, and i found most of them to be fun to play around with, but always being attracted to sniper rifles, i simple couldn't stand not having one with me all the time through the game! But that's the way i feel most comfortable playing, you might think otherwise!
Of course we have the ghosts, banshees, warthogs, etc. etc. in the game, and even the new addition of levels based only on you flying in different spacecrafts! These were a great addition to the series and were really fun to play!
Another noticeable change in Reach was the AI being vastly improved! The enemies didn't hesitate to shoot and are definetely not easy! Since we were two guys playing the difficulty got raised even more, but it was great cause it gave us a challenge and we did die several times, which made it even more fun in the long run!
Controls are Halo controls! If you play Call of Duty or Battlefield this are for one NOT the same controls! I found myself throwing grenades so many times, when all i wanted was to get a close aim!... but hey that's how it is - get used to it!
Reach delievers some great characters, and great story that takes a little while to get started, but tangles up nicely in the end and makes sense! It's not my favourite Halo game, as i did like the 3rd abit more, but i definetely would say it's my second favourite! I have yet to go online, so don't take my word for that, but i'm sure it's a great experience - and i think alot of the Beta testers would agree! Halo: Reach shouldn't be missed!