I'm not a Halo guy. 
When Reach came out, I had to go to the Company Store to wait in line for 2 hours to get a Limited Edition for my nephews. Ironically, it was at the same time my free copy was being handed out at the office.
I decided to pick up the Limited Edition for myself. I'm not a Halo guy, but the production values of this Limited Edition - the journal really - piqued my interest.
I liked Halo Wars and that kind of introduced me to the universe. Then I downloaded the original Halo from Xbox Originals on Live and that was pretty enjoyable.
I'd briefly played Halo 2, Halo 3, and ODST, but the combination of in-game language and a story that didn't grab me failed to hook me.
I was blown away by Reach.
First of all, the graphics are much better - especially on the characters.
Second, it is very "open". You feel like you can wander anywhere and you can drive ANYTHING - Warthog? Of course. Mongoose? Sure. Forklift? Utility truck? YES! Hop on in. It may not be useful, but it is really fun.
Finally, the story was great. The ending and post credit ending were awesome. I actually felt some emotion for the story at the end.
It seemed a little brief for such a long awaited game, but the trend seems to be to focus on the quality of experience rather than the duration of it. I’ll now pause while you insert your own jokes here.
All in all, well played Bungie. Well played.
Holy crap! I can't believe I didn't mention the jet packs and the space fighters.
ReplyDeleteThe jet packs are an amazing part of the game. It is soooo sweet to make a kill in mid-flight or toss grenades atop scrambling hoards of Grunts.
The space fighter portion is pretty contained in the game and it doesn't make it too difficult to do well.
And I totally love how the sound is absent or very muffled when you are in space in the fighter or in fighting during EVA on the Covenant ship.