I have a confession to make. Yes, yes I do. You see, I haven't been completely honest with you. In my previous entry I said: "It's a challenge that I like, so yes, I might just try and go the distance on this one". Indeed... The thing is, I wrote that sentence knowing full well that I wasn't going to play any more Spider-Man any time soon because... well, can't you guess?
Halo: Reach! That's why! It was waiting in my bag, as I was writing!
Ah, but you see, the entry was written in two evenings. And on the first evening, I didn't know I was going to have Halo yet. At least, not this soon. Usually, I'm completely up to speed when it comes to the release dates of big games, but somehow, this wasn't the case with Reach. I hadn't even pre-ordered it or anything. But then, through Twitter, it came to my attention that it would be available the next day! So yeah, that next day I gave my local toystore a call, asking whether they still had a copy left. I was fully expecting the answer to be 'no', what with the immense popularity of this particular title. But no, they still had a few! Better yet, they still had a Limited Edition! So I bought that, went to work, and finished the blog I started the evening before. I decided to simply finish it as I would have, and have my next entry be about Reach. So there, now you know.
So! Halo Reach! Well, well, well... It's been a while, since the last real Halo game. Of course there was ODST, but guess what, I totally missed that. I mean, I knew it was around, but somehow I wasn't interested in it, at all. I'm not sure why actually. From what I read about it, it was a pretty decent game. And well, let's just forget about that RTS thing, shall we? I forgot what it's called, and I'm not going to Google it either. Not, interested, at all.
So yeah, the last one for me was Halo 3, and the last time I actually played that was, ooh, I don't know, two years ago? Something like that. And now there's Reach which, story-wise, is a prequel to the very first Halo. Effectively, this means, no Master Chief. Instead, your character is just a soldier working in a squad. No one special, at any rate. Having said that, you do wear the same type of armour making you look quite similar to the Master Chief. But you're not. Apparently. Honestly though, had I not known anything at all about Reach, I would have totally believed anyone saying that guy was the Master Chief. Which I suppose says it all, when it comes to my knowledge of the Halo universe. Or indeed, when it comes to the quality of this game! Or... no, not the quality. There's nothing wrong with that, so far. The originality then? Yes, I think that's where the problem lies. There's nothing wrong so far, but I feel they haven't changed all that much either.
But, I think I'm being too harsh here. Of course they changed stuff, and I'll get to that in a moment, but my first impression was simply: well, it's Halo, innit?
Again though, I must be honest; a first impression really is all I have, at this moment. I played the first two missions in the singleplayer campaign, and then I checked out the multiplayer for about three hours. I actually wanted to dive straight into the multiplayer, but... uhm, I was stupid. That is to say, I couldn't find it in the game's menu system. And then somehow, I reasoned that I maybe had to first play the singleplayer to unlock the multiplayer. Yeah... I don't know either. I'm weird like that, sometimes. As I discovered later, all I had to do was choose the Main Menu option, instead of the Singleplayer Campaign one. Yeah...
So anyway, besides the fact that I think the game is very similar to Halo 3, what are my first impressions? Well, first off, I like it, I really do. And then... hmm... Indeed, and then what? I'm thinking about what else I can say about it here. I mean, like I said, I only played the first two campaign missions, so I'm not sure what it's actually about yet.
All I really know is that this squad of soldiers are dropped on the planet Reach because something is wrong, and then they discover that the trouble is caused by the series' main baddies, the Covenant. Something they didn't expect to be the case, as I understand it. Which, I'll admit, isn't saying all that much.
Okay! The time is now half past eight in the morning, which means that my night shift is almost over. What it also means, is that I need to stop writing now. Furthermore, it means that I'll continue this entry tomorrow night. And finally, it means that since I will have played more Reach by then, I'll have more to say about it than I do now. And that is a good thing, I think...
It's tomorrow night! What? Yes. Time to see if I can complete this entry before my shift is once again over. It is already half past four in the morning, so...
So indeed! It seems I might have the same problem I had yesterday: what to write about a game like this? In the morning, I did play some more, but it was multiplayer only. And well, what can one say about that? You run around, and you shoot whatever weapon you're carrying at your opponents. Still, I think I can come up with a thing or two. Or three. Maybe even four.
One thing's for sure though: Halo is not Call of Duty! Well, obviously it isn't, but I think it's a valid point. Apart from the setting, you could argue that these two games are the same, as they basically share the same gameplay: run, shoot, kill. And yet, they are utterly, totally and completely different. It's the feel of it, you know? Halo is a lot more arcadey and a lot less tactical than CoD, for starters. I mean, I've played quite a bit of CoD, and I have never had a situation where I was standing face to face with my enemy, exchanging fire until one of us died. No cover or anything, just standing out in the open, blasting each other and basically hoping for the best. There are certain tactics involved, of course there are, but nothing too complicated. One tactic, or trick, is to use your gun to take out your opponent's shield, and then rush in for a melee kill. I've found that this actually works pretty well for me. And I guess that shield is one of the things that makes Halo so different from CoD; because of it, a headshot is not immediately lethal. Well, maybe with a sniper rifle it is, but with a regular assault rifle, definitely not.
Another noticeable difference is that there's much less opportunity for camping. Or at least, that's what it seems like to me. I haven't played too much yet, so maybe I just haven't discovered any good spots, I don't know. Still, I feel that the CoD maps have much more sneaky hiding spots in them. Of course this can be seen as a good thing, as camping is mostly frowned upon. On the other hand I say, what about the sniper rifles? I mean, when you're using one, wouldn't you like a good hiding spot to snipe from? As opposed to being completely exposed, hoping you're not going to get assraped from all directions? There are some game modes where all you get is a sniper rifle and most of the times I'm shooting it without zooming in, so go figure. Having said that, I must admit that I've never actually been any good at sniping anyway, but never mind that, for now.
Now, the reason why I'm maybe stating the obvious here, by comparing Halo to CoD, is that it really sort of hit me when I started playing. I was really like, wow, this game is so totally different from CoD! Like... like a splash of cold water to the face, is what it felt like. And so, I feel like you can't really say which game is better; they're just different. As such, I'm wondering about how many people like both games? I mean, I do, but seeing as they're so completely different, I can easily imagine there being two sides here, you know? Kind of like with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles; you either like one or the other, never both. Which is silly as well, but that's besides the point. I'm just saying that I think this might very well be the case here. And why not eh? Different people, different tastes, it's all good. If only this wouldn't lead to childish fanboyism, which it probably will. If I went back to CoD now and let the people I played with know I like Halo, I'm pretty sure some of them would freak out and call me a fag, at the very least.
Which, in some convoluted way, brings me to the last thing I want to say about Halo as far as this entry is concerned. People calling you a fag, or, sadly, the only way ninety percent of the gaming community that is Xbox Live seems to be able to communicate. Halo has a solution to this problem! You see, in the menus, there are some options that allow you to set your preferences when it comes to online gaming. One of these is about what kind of people you'd like to play with. Are you okay with all-out trash talking, or would you rather have an adult crowd, that actually wants to enjoy the game in a sporting way? And well, I must admit, so far this seems to be working. There's another option though, that I'm less positive about. It let's you choose between being silent or chatty. I chose the latter, and I'm amazed at how many games I get into where I'm the only one who actually has a headset. Oh well, I'll kill them, regardless.
Anyway! I do think I can safely say that I like Halo Reach. I was sort of worried that I had, I don't know, outgrown Halo or something. And yes, it does take some adjusting when you're used to playing CoD all the time, but in the end it's just a lot of fun. If only the matchmaking could work a bit faster than it does, but I'm sure that will be fixed through some patch. I hope it will be, anyways.
And with that, I'm calling it a day! I'll be sure to play more Reach when I get home in about two hours, I can tell you that much.
Until the next entry, stay safe and game on!
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