Halo: Reach drops in two weeks. Are you ready to join Noble Team?
I can’t stop playing Starcraft 2. It’s an addiction. There were all these games for Xbox that I wanted to try out, but I haven’t turned my Xbox on for almost a month. Limbo is still in limbo, Death Spank has no life, and Final Fantasy is a fantasy. There’s only one game that has a chance to get me away from my mouse and keyboard, and that’s Halo: Reach, so I figured I’d take a look at why.
For those who have been living under a rock, Halo is basically the reason that the Xbox brand still exists today. It was a revolution in first person shooters on the FPS, but the series has been showing signs of age in recent years. Halo: ODST sold a ton of copies but didn’t achieve the staying power of previous entries. I’m cautiously optimistic that Halo: Reach can buck the trend (or at least take me away from Starcraft 2 for a little while) – here’s why.
Epic Story
Spoiler alert: Everybody dies.
At least I’m pretty sure they do. If I have my Halo lore correct, Reach is the planet on which Spartans were trained and it fell to the Covenant in the big war – leading to the death of many Spartans (and the reason why Master Chief is the only Spartan left during the events of Halo). It seems Reach is going to be similar to ODST in the sense that you are following a squad throughout the game. The difference is, instead of ODSTs, you are following Spartans – Noble Team. Amongst the team you have your standard characters – heavy guy, sniper, etc. You assume the rule of a new member of the team (another rookie), but who knows, maybe you’ll get to play as the other guys as well.
I am pretty excited at the stories Reach could present. It’s kind of like 300 – you know the good guys eventually lose, but there is tons of room for EPICNESS along the way. Maybe Reach falls, but I’m looking forward to taking down hordes of Covenant along the way. There is ample opportunity for tie ins to the other Halo games as well which fans of the forwards can look forward to. The nice thing about knowing the end of a story is that the joy is finding out how you get there – I am hoping that Reach can deliver that.
Reworked Multiplayer
I’m not sure if Bungie is going to do a complete working of the multiplayer, but it’s definitely going to be different as players of the beta can attest. Although I thought the new classes added didn’t seem as deep as I’d like, it still provides an interesting twist on the gameplay that I think can revitalize the series. I also wrote during the beta about my disappointment with some of the new gametypes, but I still think they can be a lot of fun.
Classes will be a good way to customize gameplay as well – I’m definitely looking forward to using the different items. Overall, Reach’s multiplayer is definitely going to feel like Halo, but with a new twist. I think it’ll be good for the series and the community.
Swan Song
Last but not least, I’m looking forward to Halo: Reach because it’s Bungie’s Halo swan song. Like the Spartans, Halo: Reach is Bungie’s last stand – they are ending their partnership with Microsoft after this and will be working on new IPs. Although I have no evidence to support this, this leads me to believe that Bungie is going to pull out all the stops. They’ve always been great to the fans and I think with this being the last Bungie entry in the Halo series they are going to make it awesome. EPIC.
So on September 14th, I will be taking at least one day off from Starcraft 2. It’ll be interesting to figure out how to split time after Reach comes out, I’m sure espion4ge and I will be torn. We’ll find out in two weeks!
i don’t think i’ve turned on my 360 or ps3 since sc2 came out! it’s funny – starcraft 2 has single-handedly killed off my desire to buy all games now and in the immediate future. i looked at the games being released for the rest of the year and perhaps the only two games i may pick up are halo reach and the new call of duty – mostly because Amazon is giving $20 credit with those purchases. will i even play them? i don’t know! but, i’m happy to hear that at least halo: reach’s firefight mode will have matchmaking this time around, so i may end up spending more time with that than the actual adversarial modes.
i like the new class system from trying out the beta, but it’s not enough for me to be too excited since i was never a big fan of the halo gameplay to begin with. of course, i never got a chance to check out the objective based multiplayer mode(s) in the beta, so maybe i will have fun with it after all.
it’s funny – we’re definitely not getting any younger and time for video games seems so little nowadays. it’s like each night do i feel like playing a couple games of sc2 or cod or halo? and that’s it! i was even interested in wow cataclysm, but decided that it would be a terrible idea to consider getting back into wow at this point in my life. how sad it is to grow up…
I’ve only turned on my xbox to watch arrested development. I’m in the same boat…
good to see you guys still enjoy starcraft 2
was afraid espion4ge would stop playing after briefly reaching the top of his diamond division in 3v3 RT
the problem for me is how can i get myself to actually play less. i hit platinum in 4v4 this weekend, so part of me wants to just continue to get diamond in that, and i’m replaying the campaign on brutal now. and of course, i’ll still keep returning to 3v3 diamond since i want to make use of the bonus pool. so yeah…i kind of wish i didn’t enjoy the game so much because i feel like if i’m not at work, i’m just playing this game (much to my wife’s chagrin). if i were to step back a little, i think i have somewhat of a slight addiction to starcraft 2.
will i even open halo reach when it arrives next week?! help!
Hey, thanks a lot for that one-line spoiler alert to the plot of Reach, jackass. I’ll be sure to not re-visit your site.
Sorry Danorro. It was a joke btw, I hadn’t even played the game when I wrote that.
lol you’re the jackass who’s thinks that was even a spoiler. it’s a prequel for god sakes.
were you equally surprised when all the soldiers died in 300?
or when hannibal lecter got caught in red dragon?
or when anakin turned into darth vader?
lol