The Beta is over - but was it as game-changing as we first thought?
The doors have finally swung shut on Halo’s latest multiplayer bash, and the results are in; over 2.7 million players participated in Reach’s two-week long beta, and they managed to top up 16 million hours of play testing between them. The verdict? Well, everyone is going Halo crazy once again so that’s probably answer enough, and it’s fair to say that the results speak for themselves. But does Bungie’s cutting-edge title deserve the praise it’s been getting, or have the rose-tinted glasses come out to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes?
Firstly, I’d like to point out that this is the definitive - and by far and away best - Halo multiplayer experience out there, no matter your angle; the gameplay is solid, the controls are tight, there are a load of great new weapons to take for a spin and you’ve got a good, solid selection of varied and interesting levels to test them out on. Secondly, there are also some brilliant additions to the formula that well and truly welcome the franchise back into the next generation, with added special abilities (such as the superb jet-pack and inspired invisibility cloak) and new match-types bringing a whole new depth to the already hefty gameplay. However, I can’t throw off the feeling it’s still a bit too Halo, though; while the campaign appears to be taking the franchise in a bold new direction, the multiplayer still doggedly adheres to the same tired and mechanical formula lain down a good half a decade ago, blinkers on and eyes to the floor.
You see, Halo Reach feels an awful lot like Halo 3, just with added bells and whistles; in other words, it makes a lot of noise but doesn’t actually get much done. The level design, the look of the creatures, enemies, players and weapons… they all feel like they were pulled directly from the previous instalments. It’s the same story with the visuals and animations to go with them (with the exception of the wonderfully inventive Executions, of course), to the point that if you’d told me I’d stumbled upon an updated version of the 2007 entry, I would honestly believe you. Seeing as we are now apparently playing with an entirely new engine built from the ground up for Reach, this is sincerely worrying; it’s not nearly as advanced, pretty or state-of-the-art as a 2010 blockbuster should be, and doesn’t quite hit the levels of quality we’re used to these days.
Well, at least, not yet, anyway; naturally, I will admit at this point that this is only the Beta - an early build - and will happily concede that there is still a lot of work to be done before the final cut of the game goes gold for the September 14th release date. Still, it would appear that Bungie are even now playing it safe, though, and because of this I really, really can’t shake the feeling that we’ll pull off the shrink wrap to find the same routine all over again come fall. I understand the whole, “if it ‘aint broke then don’t fix it” mantra, but by the same measure they shouldn’t keep repeating themselves; if they that do too often then soon they’ll become a one-trick pony and nobody will want to listen. With any luck the team can pull something impressive out of the hat for launch - and going by the clutch of quality titles on their CV, they certainly have the talent to - but personally I won’t hold out any particular hope for anything beyond Halo 3.5 come the end of summer.
E3 Update: It would appear - after seeing visuals from the conference in LA during June - that Bungie have stepped up to the mark. After some time with the new Firefight trailers, it’s clear that the whole project has been given a much prettier, hugely advanced build with vastly redesigned enemies and some newer, greatly original stages to sink our teeth into. Thank goodness! With any luck, we’ll be seeing the true blinder of a multiplayer system we’ve been promised for some months now come September, and though we’re not out of the woods yet by any means, I’m far more hopeful. The single-player, on the other hand, was strangely reminiscent of the ODST live action trailer - hell, I’m not complaining - but with in-space ship battles and dogfights added for good measure. Bungie, did I ever tell you that I love you?
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