I have spent the last couple of weeks putting myself into a framework of readiness for the avalanche of titles that are to be released in the immediate future. Indeed I'm somewhere along this path and have had little time to stop and recollect because something new has demanded my attention.
The games that I have so far lay my devotions at, like some twisted shrine to sleeplessness and responsibility avoidance, have invoked respect and both disappointment in nearly equal measure and I'm going to spend a bit of time on why;
So going from the freshest experience to the not so most recent.
Halo: Reach
There is so much hype around Halo it's sometimes hard to not be sucked into it. In fact being sucked in and surrounded by it all is something that can be enjoyed in and of itself outside of the actual game. I've talked about my feelings on the Halo universe before and they remain consistent here. My hope for Reach was that, as working in a team of Spartans, there would be an opportunity for Bungie to explore the characters in a setting that could make you really connect to them. Halo: ODST I felt was bettered by it's quirky narrative and it's noir detective style than it ever was in it's shallow attempt at exploring the character relationships.
Reach tries in some parts to make you relate to the characters, but ultimately it feels forced with only one part with Jorge, the heavy weapons guy, really connecting with me. What really irks me is when 'professional' reviewers pass this off as being ok for a Halo title, what a crock.
I also felt that this was a chance for some really epic scenes in the game. And in the cut scenes in delivers, these are the best cinematics in the Halo series. No overwrought emotive pap, no wannabe space opera. I just wish that the epic cinematics translated into some of the gameplay. I felt that some of the bits that could have been truly innovative for a Halo game, space combat, MAC Turret point and shoot; they all felt tacked on.
I feel that I've more than griped about the (minor) negatives, onto the positives.
The Gameplay is solid, it's a marginal evolution and improvement on the gaming styles of previous Halo games. Armour abilities I feel need tweaking but work much better than pickups.
The Elites are a great adversary, moving about with aggression and being pretty hard to take down singly let alone in packs. The placement of enemies and the pacing of combat remains fantastic. The pacing of the campaign in general is really good, never do you feel like you've hit a wall or a dead patch and there is only one instance of tunnel crawling in the whole game (which Halo has never really done well).
Multiplayer is as strong as the gameplay, Invasion is a nice tweak but Firefight is a great addition. The choice to allow people to kick after one teamkill (accidental or not) needs to be reversed, simple as that.
Forge is also a great addition with a strong suite of tools and options with a pretty good learning curve. Bungie have also continued with implementing tools that allows as many people as possible to feel like they are participating in the Halo community which is a great plus to their effort.
The one thing I was most impressed with however, was the redesigned sound. Plasma weapons come across as violent and not lifted off a kids Saturday morning cartoon. I felt it was one of the greatest improvements over the previous Halo games.
Overall the depth of the gameplay and the multiplayer options available makes up for the shortcomings in true innovation within the campaign and the (lack of a) story and missed opportunities. Still over rated as hell, but worth the ride.
8.5/10
