Halo Reach: A T@RD Review pt.5

Everything Else:

So now we come down to all the other parts of the Beta, which I have yet to address in any detail. Things such as armor abilities, graphics, lobby system, etc. Where all the things I have addressed have been about playing the game itself, they would be pointless if it wasn’t for many of the aspects that I will be addressing in this final part of my review. So, for one final time, let us begin…

Armor Abilities – Armor abilities bring a whole new level of tactics into play that, at first, made things awkward. The only thing that helps is that almost everybody is in the same situation. The five armor abilities are Sprint, Evade, Cloak, Armor Lock, and Jetpack. Sprint and Armor Lock are only available to Spartans while Evade, is only used by Elites. Each ability comes with it’s own pros and cons with one aspect being common to all of them. The commonality is the limited usability of each. There is a meter on your HUD that let’s you know how much energy you have left for your armor ability. Thankfully it recharges when not in use.

As I said before, there are pros and cons to each ability. Starting with the Jetpack, it’s really only usable in open areas so if your in a hallway or a room with a normal height ceiling the jetpack is basically useless. However, in an open environment it allows you to get places that you can’t access otherwise or just get places faster than by any other means. I don’t really use it much as I always feel like too much of a target when I do but I have seen some people use it quite effectively.

Now with Armor Lock, the downside is being stuck in one place. If there’s no one around to back you up chances are, no amount of locking will save you. However, with the EMP blast that is released when you come out of lock it can be quite effective at stopping vehicles or taking an opponent’s shield down. Since it does make you invulnerable while active, it becomes incredibly useful at preventing death by plasma grenades, rockets, or vehicle splattering. There are times when this was useful for me but mostly I could never react fast enough to make it truly effective.

Cloak definitely presented a somewhat familiar yet new tactic to game play. The ability to cloak nearly at will (so long as you have the energy available) takes being a sneaky player to a whole new level. Using it to sneak over to an enemy base or hold an important defensive position made this quite useful in the right hands. Unfortunately, while active, it comes with the downside of not being able to hear anything coming your way (or even your teammates). You have to totally rely on your radar and your gaming instincts. I was able to use this effectively from time to time but I hated the way it muffled my environment so I didn’t use it much.

With Sprint it’s simple. You run faster. This is great for getting someplace, or getting away from danger, very quickly. It also allows you to make long distance jumps that would otherwise be impossible. The downside of course is ALL you can really do is run fast. You can’t shoot while sprinting. There’s no damage increase when you melee while sprinting (although it does allow your lunge to come from a seemingly further distance). There’s just running. Even so, this is ability I used the most. The ability to run for cover when being shot at is huge. The ability to run to your teammates aid and maybe keep them from dying (or at least killing the person who killed them) is huge. This is definitely one of my preferred abilities.

Evade is the best one of them all. Like sprint, evade is quite simple. You dodge. Not that you can’t dodge already by strafing and/or jumping, it’s just that evade allows you to make a sudden horizontal move in any direction you desire. When coupled with a melee weapon, it potentially allows you to kill an opponent at a distance you would normally have to shoot them from. When someone’s got the jump on you, you can almost instantly break their line of site and allow yourself a better chance to win. The only downside is that only Elites get this ability. Bogus. This is absolutely my favorite ability. I would have used it more if Spartans could use it.

Armor Permutations – Now I’m okay with the fact that these have absolutely no effect on gameplay. I know some people think it would be cool if they did but I’m not one of them. There’s already enough going on with this game without having to adjust tactics for what kind of armor you or your fellow teammates are wearing. I do think it’s cool that you get to customize your character and tailor it to your tastes. I also like how access to these permutations requires you to really put some time in to playing MM (the better your performance in a game, the more credits you earn). I am really curious to see what’s in store for the retail game, as I know they limited the selection for the beta.

Medals and Commendations – Every gamer enjoys that sense of instant gratification that comes when seeing medals flash across the bottom of their screen. The beta does not disappoint. With the introduction of a few new medals there are even more opportunities to satisfy our needs.

The commendations are interesting. Although they’re not explained at all in the beta they do add another element to how a gamer can play and what they may choose to focus on in any given game. They seem to be based on earning a cumulative total of certain medals over the course of you MM career. This could be both a positive and a negative. If a player becomes too focused on trying to achieve commendations, that may make them a less than effective teammate. Of course it might also make them more effective.

One aspect of the medals and commendations that makes them even more interesting is the effect they have on the credits you earn at the end of a game. It seems that the more medals you get the better your credit totals (although I’m not really sure how it works). Also if you happen to earn a commendation during a game it adds a significant number of credits to your final total.

In the end the medals are an expected element that doesn’t disappoint and the commendations bring another level of challenge that could be quite fun.

Graphics – While the beta isn’t a huge step forward, the graphics are better. The fact that they made everything a little grittier definitely adds an element to the game that may make it more palatable for some gamers. The best thing is how this style isn’t just apparent while playing but it’s carried through to other aspects of the beta (i.e., the look of medals). Even though it’s not a huge leap forward I can definitely see an improvement. Given that it’s already been announced that the graphics have been “turned down” for the beta, I can’t wait to see what the final design is going to look like.

Lobby System – This, above all else, is where Bungie shines. H3 has largely been lauded as having the best lobby system in the business. Not that there aren’t aspects of other lobby systems that are also cool, but all around, no other game comes close to the quality of the H3 system. Except for this one. Now this isn’t perfect, and there aspects that definitely need tweaking, but this is definitely a step forward in some ways. The ability to see whom among your friends is already on and playing is great. No more having to access a non-game menu to see that. I also like that it automatically shows you who amongst your friends are already teamed up. There are a couple of things though that I don’t like about it. I don’t like having to opt to join a party in order to see how far along in a game they are. There should be an easier way. I also don’t like that you can’t see who else may be in your friends party if they are not on your FL. Sometimes they may be running with someone you don’t like playing with. It should let you see whom everybody is in a party so you can decide whether you want to join or not.

My favorite aspect of the new lobby system is the voting system. Being able to vote on a selection of gametype and map combinations (rather than only being able to veto or not veto a single combination) or choose to get a new set of combinations is great. It definitely allows a team to tailor their MM experience to their tastes. However, there are certain things that I wish were done a little better. I don’t like the default selection aspect of the voting process. What I mean is that the games seem to be weighted according to how they are listed in the selection menu. Whatever the first choice is will be the game you play even if another selection has just as many votes. What I’d really like would be the ability to vote on each aspect separately. In other words, everyone votes on the map or gametype first and then votes on the other second (kind of like Gears of War).

Even with the issues I have, I think Bungie continues to be the best at this. I really like what they have done here and I definitely consider this to be another step forward.

Miscellany – There are a few things that I feel should be addressed before I give my final analysis. Overall the beta was great and hats off to Bungie for the public beta. There are some companies out there that should definitely take a lesson from this. However, there are a few things that, as I said before, I wish to address. Starting with the attendant physics of the character models. While graphically they are quite well executed I have to take issue with some of the basic physical abilities that have been given to them. They can’t jump. Okay that’s not entirely true. They can’t jump as high as a non-augmented human. There were a number of times that this fact has made for some very frustrating scenarios. While I realize that Spartan-III’s are not supposed to be quite the uber-soldiers that the Spartan-II’s (like Master Chief) are, they should be able to exceed the abilities of even a highly trained, non-augmented human. Not really sure how I feel about the unbalanced nature of the Elites vs. Spartans but I can appreciate that making them functionally different forces players to adjust their tactics accordingly.

Now, about the return of the med-pack. This is a huge game changer for oh so many who may not have had the opportunity to play Halo CE online or even at a LAN. What this does tactically presents some interesting challenges. The idea that you don’t simply heal over time, but that you have to find a med-pack to keep from dying is… nostalgic. Since this was how it used to be in so many FPS’s it’s like a visit from my past every time I play. However, since this concept had been mostly abandoned by game developers, it takes some time to get reacquainted with this as an aspect of my play style. For me, the jury’s still out on this one. I think I’ll have to experience this in the final game to really come to a conclusion one way or the other.

Finally, there’s the sound of the game. While most may not place the sound of a game high on their list of aspects that are important to the quality of a game, I am not most people. I am an aurally oriented person. Sound has much to do with how I experience my world. Music is my sanity and I hear music in everything (yes, even in the staccato rhythms of a DMR). In no FPS franchise has the sound been such an integral part of the experience as it has for Halo. Yes other developers work to make their games sound real and immersive, but none of them have done it as well as Bungie. The beta is no exception. The game sounds in the beta are stunning. The weapons sound powerful without being overdone. The music is, as always, a huge part of creating the feel of the game. Even the ambient sounds that are largely drowned out by the sounds of battle, give a depth to the feel of the beta that, without them, it would feel flat. As I’ve come to expect, Bungie has once again shown their ability to take a game and elevate it to another level through the use of aural manipulation. Kudos gentlemen.

Final Analysis:

I really like the Beta. Having done some beta testing in the past, this is the most polished one that I have ever had the pleasure of testing. As expected, there are some issues, but nothing major. The quality of this beta was far superior to that of some retail release games (*cough* MW2 *cough*) not to mention some other programs that I have had the misfortune to test.

What Bungie has put together here is nothing short of spectacular. No it’s not some huge leap forward in gaming, but it is a very well crafted and polished game that is very much in keeping with what I have come to expect from them. That this is the beta for their swan song of the Halo franchise makes it a truly special experience. That this is just a beta makes the experience spectacular. Time and time again, I have been moved by the level of detail that they put into it. The scope of it all is a testament to how much Bungie wants it to work. The fact that they conducted a public beta shows how much they want gamers to be a part of making it work. Yes, in the end they will weigh what they can against what they feel makes for a stellar gaming experience, but at least they have given us an opportunity to have our voices heard.

All in all, if I were to rate the beta, I would give a 9.1 out of 10. As a beta I would give it a 9.9 but for the sake of the issues I have with it I had to knock it down some. To give a sense of perspective to what that number really means I’ll list a few other games (all retail releases) and what I would rate them on a scale of 1-10.

H3 – 9.4

Halo Wars – 8.5

Borderlands – 9.3

Transformers – 2.5

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600) – (-5)

COD: MW2 – 7.3

Gears of War 2 – 8.8

Halo CE – 9.6

God of War 1,2,3 – 9.9

I fully expect my rating of Reach will be much different for the final game but should these issues remain unchanged, or if things are nerfed too far, I could see this rating drop below 9. As of now though I stand by my 9.1.

I would like to thank all those who have taken the time to read any part, if not the entirety, of my review of the Halo Reach beta. I know it was a lot of information but I wanted to be thorough. I hope you were able to find some insight into this game that you may not have otherwise considered, but if not, then I hope you found something worth appreciating. Thank you again, and who knows, I may even write a review of the actual game when it comes out (although I doubt it will be quite as expansive).