X’10
Chapter 8 – Reaching the End
By Jorge Figueiredo - August 26th, 2010
Xbox and Halo are two words that go together like bacon and bacon. Since the beginning of the lifespan of Microsoft’s console series, gamers have been enjoying Halo (and abusing in-game chatting). The game has been the subject of many a comic, and is even the driving force behind a hilarious webisodic show. Halo: Reach is the end of a successful line of games, and Bungie is making sure they go out with a bang…
Sitting in the room with the developer, we were told that everything was going into this game; being a last hurrah, it deserved nothing but the very best poured into the mold (with the express purpose of breaking it, of course). A group of us sat and watched the first mission, and I have to say I was blown away with the sheer quality of production. It is pretty obvious that Bungie is pulling out all the stops for this epic first-person-shooter.
Reach takes place before the events in Halo: Combat Evolved; Reach is actually the name of a planet that serves as the United Nations Space Command main military hub in a war against an alien collective (known as the Covenant). Reach is also home to a very large number of civilians. The game follows Noble Team, a SpecOps unit composed of Spartans (super-soldiers); you play as an unnamed soldier (callsign: Noble 6), who is new to the team. The mission that we watched in the behind-closed-doors demo is essentially the introduction of your character to Noble Team. The fun begins from there.
Reach employs a vast number of awesome persistent armour abilities that function until they are replaced by new options; jetpacks, hologram generators, active camoflauge and more are available for Noble 6 in the quest against the covenant. The level of customization for your character is also very high; small details (right down to the helmet type and gender) are not overlooked, allowing you to carry your personalized character through the campain and into the multiplayer mode; even the sound of the voice changes in the campaign, depending on your sex.
For the multiplayer portion, a new “loadout” system is implemented, allowing you quick access to pre-configured, customized weapons selections for your character. Multiplayer rewards include “credits” which you can spend on customizations and enhancements (some of the selections for your soldier are not necessarily just Spartans); the hope for this is to create a more enjoyable experience. A bevy of game modes are available: “Slayer” and “King of the Hill” are modes that are familiar to most Halo players already; “Headhunter” is a mode in which terminated players drop skulls which can be deposited in special areas for points; “Stockpile” is a capture-and-hold scenario; “Generator Defense” is just like it sounds, pitting Elite offense against Spartan defense; “Invasion” is a six vs. six scenario with elements of capture-and-hold and capture-the-flag; finally, “Firefight” is variant of some of the previous modes in which the waves of enemies increases with every round.
Forge returns to the Halo series with a far richer palette than has been seen in previous modes; the creation system is fantastically robust. The building area is simply massive, allowing you to create a huge number of customized areas around reach. The tools are much easier to use this time around, allowing you to flip between an active physics mode and an inactive one. As with other aesthetic aspects of the game, credits won during matches will allow you greater access to creative elements in the world builder.
Stellar graphics and sound are only the beginning in Halo: Reach. I took the liberty of trying out some multiplayer goodness, and I really had a great time (considering I hate FPS on consoles). With a release date that’s fast approaching (Sept 14), it won’t be long before fans of the franchise can revel in the grand finale of Halo games.
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