Halo Reach: A T@RD Review

Note to readers

The next few posts are, for the most part, a review of my experience with the Halo Reach Beta. In it I will be discussing all aspects of the beta in detail. I may from time to time also speak of my experience with various people I played with during the beta. No one will be mentioned by name (or GT) and I will do my utmost to not reveal any details that could potentially reveal the identity of anyone I played with. I’m not trying to “out” anyone, but game-related discussions will likely color some of my review. I may offend some people with some of the things I say. If I do, then that’s too damn bad. Suck it up ya’ candy-ass. This review isn’t about trying to help you feel good about yourself. It’s about what I think of the beta and how I see it relating to the retail release. If you don’t like something I say or you disagree with my assessment try to keep it constructive and civil. Do that and I will respond in kind. Fail to do that and I will verbally rip you a new one that you could drive a whole fleet of fully loaded Mack trucks through. Capiche?

Now it should be understood that I consider myself to be an average to below average FPS player. I have no real interest in competitive play (MLG is wasted on me) even though I do try to play enough ranked to set mine at a level which best represents my ability relative to the Halo community at large (that way I am hopefully matched against people who will make playing a challenge rather than a slaughter-fest). Mostly I’m just a social gamer. I play because I have friends who play. The only person I truly compete with is myself. So with all that in mind, please remember that this is where I’m coming from with this review.

As I stated at the beginning, there will be a few posts. I discovered while writing this that the overall length of my review would lend itself better to multiple posts rather than one cumbersomely long one. I will be posting a new section every few days so that people have time to thoroughly read, digest, and comment on each one before the next one rolls out. Anyway, on with the show. First up…

Maps

As there were only 4 maps offered in the beta I felt that this would be the shortest review and therefore, given the length of my intro, would be best to start me off. I will be reviewing these maps mostly from the perspective of slayer type games. So here we go.

Swordbase: Swordbase is a decidedly vertical map, which seems best suited for 6 to 10 players. It’s all about top control. Holding the Attic and High Hall/Break Room (the areas at the top of red lift and yellow lift, respectively) is the best way to achieve victory on this map. It is possible to break this set-up but it’s difficult if you have good players with good communication. I did notice that the spawns could be a little wonky. I once started a SWAT game where I spawned in Reception while 2 people from the other team spawned above me in the Break Room. I consequently got owned before I even had a chance to get to cover. Given that this is a beta, such things are not unexpected. As for objective games, well… they could be hit or miss on this map (I flag = epic fail). All in all I liked this map. I found the vertical nature of it to be challenging without being problematic. I look forward to seeing it in the final game.

Powerhouse: Powerhouse seems not unlike most of the maps we’ve come to expect from Bungie. It provides a nice mix of indoor and outdoor environments. There’s almost always someplace where a person can seek cover if necessary. While it is a fairly large map I think it really plays more like something between a big team and arena style map. I could see it being used for groups of 8 to 12 players. Less than 8 and it becomes too large. More than 12 and it becomes crowded. Now map control for me seemed to be easiest around one of two locations. Either holding Powerhouse and Ridge or Office and Rock Garden. I did notice that towards the end of the beta there seemed to be a move toward battles on Cliffside. This never made sense to me as there’s little cover and it then just comes down to who can strafe and jump while shooting, rather than use the map and their skills to the greatest benefit. Now objective games on this map were a little better overall, still a bit hit or miss but definitely better than on Swordbase. Powerhouse is my favorite map. Different enough from previous Halo maps to be interesting but similar enough to be comforting. As far as I’m concerned, the only problem with this map is the flag placement in 1 flag.

Boneyard: I don’t like this map. It’s too damn big. Even if you ran a full room of 16 people it would still be too damned big. The amount of wasted space on this map is ridiculous. This map is worse than Sandtrap. Now don’t get me wrong, I had fun playing on this map, but that was more about the game I was playing and the people I was playing with. I had the opportunity at one point to take a tour of the map in a Banshee (most of the other team had quit so it became a 6v2 slayer game) and jeebus. Even when playing standard invasion there’s still a fair amount of map that never gets used. Graphically this map is amazing but for MM this map is all wrong. If this is in campaign than it should stay there. If they do intend on putting this in MM then I hope they make some MAJOR changes to it. Any game on Boneyard = Fail.

Overlook: This to me was the most visually stunning map of the 4. I love the look of it. Not sure how much I’ll like it for MM though. It plays a lot like High Ground in H3. With a base on one end and fairly open space on the other, it seems to me that one team starts at a decided disadvantage. Not that it can’t be overcome I just don’t like the idea of starting from a blatantly weaker position. If it does make it into MM hopefully they can tweak it so that it’s more balanced (probably through weapon placement). If they do manage to balance it than I could possibly see this working for groups of 8 to 12. As with Powerhouse, I think it would be too large for anything less than 8 and too crowded for anything more than 12. Unlike powerhouse though, I see this as being problematic for some objective games. 1 flag and 1 bomb to be specific. Inevitably the bomb plant or the flag will be inside the base at which point it then becomes High Ground all over again. We’ll see what they do in the final game though.

Summation: I do like what I see. While I’m not a fan of Boneyard or Overlook, I don’t hate them. I just don’t think they’re right for MM in the condition in which they were presented to us. With Swordbase, I think adjusting the flag placement and shutting off the grav lift in 1 flag, as well as tweaking with the spawns a little, will make this map just right for MM. Now Powerhouse just needs the one adjustment I mentioned and it’ll be perfect. All in all though, for a beta I thought the maps were great. Graphically pleasing and well constructed with no noticeable glitches that I could see. It definitely gives me hope for what we will be given in the final game.