I started the Halo Series quite late, having been gifted the Chief collection on Steam. I played Halo 1 and 2, and frankly... they were ok. Felt like action movies, had a really good soundtrack and the most important in my opinion: They did what they aimed to do, to offer a new style of FPS, slower, more tactical and with recharging shields and were fun.
Then, after my friends insisted me to do it, I went for Reach.
If 1 and 2 are simple 80-90's action movies full of awesome explosions in an interestingly detailed setting, Reach feels like an oscar-bait rehash. The story feels like a lazy bundle of tropes rather than something Bungie normally does (simple, fun and not taking themselves overly seriously), with the overly beaten story of the tragic group of heroes that are jaded but warm up to the main character over the course of an even more tragic battle.
Except that nothing in the story works. Everyone is a brash jerk with a heart of gold, (except Jorge, who feels more like the 'token good mate'), which makes hard to sympathize with anyone. The plot skips and bounds everywhere, one second you're on farms, then you're in the forest, then you're in space, so there is no sense of attachment to a single locale nor its people. You barely interact with your team before they start to die so it feels less like a cohesive story, and more like Bungie tossed things at my lap and said 'feel bad about this'. To make matters worse, the story is full of holes How can the taken covenant ship approach the superdestroyer when the main character blew their engines? Your team basically dies out of incompetence than anything else. Kat? Dies because the Jun didn't check for spots. Emile? Dies because he stops to gloat, Twice. The main character? Dies because of Emile's gloating. The leader? Is mortally wounded because they didn't close the door of the plane they were in and tried to pick fighters with assault rifles and a grenade launcher. The only active ship of the quadrant is destroyed because they refuse to disengage without reason, thus nobody can help Jorge. Also WHY THE WHOLE PILLAR OF AUTUMN WAS PARKED IN THE PLANET!? How did the superdestroyer didn't turn everything into tapioca when it inevitable crashed into the planet!?
It felt short, hasty and frankly, even ugly for a 2010 game, less of an inexorable battle against insurmountable odds and more going through motions against a force of unseen size to check drama boxes. The gameplay itself doesn't fare much better due to the unbalanced weapons, making most players stick to the DMR. And seriously, keep 'sprint' as a power mutually exclusive with others like shields or jetpacks? Even the soundtrack was forgettable. I honestly can't see why people praise this game as something deep and engaging and dramatic, and frankly, all the problems were an insanely easy fix: Just use the city as a hub, even if just in cutscenes or small walking sessions while you interact with your team more, and tone down everyone's jerkiness and take more time to explain the whole war scenario. But then, I saw how Bungie was cutting ties with Microsoft, and how this game was a huge 'Torch the franchise and run'. So that's what happens when you make a game out of spite.
VideoGame "Pearl Harbor", if it had been done out of spite.
I started the Halo Series quite late, having been gifted the Chief collection on Steam. I played Halo 1 and 2, and frankly... they were ok. Felt like action movies, had a really good soundtrack and the most important in my opinion: They did what they aimed to do, to offer a new style of FPS, slower, more tactical and with recharging shields and were fun.
Then, after my friends insisted me to do it, I went for Reach.
If 1 and 2 are simple 80-90's action movies full of awesome explosions in an interestingly detailed setting, Reach feels like an oscar-bait rehash. The story feels like a lazy bundle of tropes rather than something Bungie normally does (simple, fun and not taking themselves overly seriously), with the overly beaten story of the tragic group of heroes that are jaded but warm up to the main character over the course of an even more tragic battle.
Except that nothing in the story works. Everyone is a brash jerk with a heart of gold, (except Jorge, who feels more like the 'token good mate'), which makes hard to sympathize with anyone. The plot skips and bounds everywhere, one second you're on farms, then you're in the forest, then you're in space, so there is no sense of attachment to a single locale nor its people. You barely interact with your team before they start to die so it feels less like a cohesive story, and more like Bungie tossed things at my lap and said 'feel bad about this'. To make matters worse, the story is full of holes How can the taken covenant ship approach the superdestroyer when the main character blew their engines? Your team basically dies out of incompetence than anything else. Kat? Dies because the Jun didn't check for spots. Emile? Dies because he stops to gloat, Twice. The main character? Dies because of Emile's gloating. The leader? Is mortally wounded because they didn't close the door of the plane they were in and tried to pick fighters with assault rifles and a grenade launcher. The only active ship of the quadrant is destroyed because they refuse to disengage without reason, thus nobody can help Jorge. Also WHY THE WHOLE PILLAR OF AUTUMN WAS PARKED IN THE PLANET!? How did the superdestroyer didn't turn everything into tapioca when it inevitable crashed into the planet!?
It felt short, hasty and frankly, even ugly for a 2010 game, less of an inexorable battle against insurmountable odds and more going through motions against a force of unseen size to check drama boxes. The gameplay itself doesn't fare much better due to the unbalanced weapons, making most players stick to the DMR. And seriously, keep 'sprint' as a power mutually exclusive with others like shields or jetpacks? Even the soundtrack was forgettable. I honestly can't see why people praise this game as something deep and engaging and dramatic, and frankly, all the problems were an insanely easy fix: Just use the city as a hub, even if just in cutscenes or small walking sessions while you interact with your team more, and tone down everyone's jerkiness and take more time to explain the whole war scenario. But then, I saw how Bungie was cutting ties with Microsoft, and how this game was a huge 'Torch the franchise and run'. So that's what happens when you make a game out of spite.