Halo: Reach

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Bungie on Halo Reach's graphics: "we realised that we needed to compete against quite a number of other titles"

Marcus Lehto, Creative Directer behind Halo Reach has admitted that Halo 3 wasn’t the visual jump the series needed to be - but aims to fix that with Halo Reach.

In a new interview with Eurogamer, Lehto talks up how Reach will raise the bar for the Halo franchise like it needs to be. With all the talk about Bungie’s new tech, they admitted they know they have some stiff competition out there.

“Well… we realised that we needed to compete against quite a number of other titles,” admits Lehto, the subtext being that Halo hasn’t been a visual powerhouse for some years now. “It really did require us to rebuild nearly everything across the board.”

It’s nice to hear that Bungie knows that fans have been expecting more from the series and is putting all of their hearts into making Reach the best Halo yet.

Galaxy Next Door : Bungie on Halo Reach's graphics: "we realised that we needed to compete against quite a number of other titles"

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Halo Reach Proves Killzone 2’s Worth To The Xbox 360

Last year, around about the time that Killzone 2 hit the world, I posted an article titled Killzone 2: The Best Thing To Happen To The Xbox 360 . While the title confused people at first, it made sense once you read it and my point was made. Many people agreed with me and I even had the honour of having my article discussed on the great 1UP podcast.

I have always believed that Halo 3 was never what it should have been for the Xbox 360. It was the next-gen Halo, the first ever of its kind to grace the HD era of gaming. While the addition of forge mode as well as the replay theatre definitely added a great deal of depth to an already popular formula, the game really felt like it was lacking in the technical wizardry department.

The marketing slogan for Halo 3 was “Believe”, and I believed that it could have been so much better. I was right.


I just want to make it clear that this article really is only pointing towards the technical side of things. Great controls, stories and so on can make a game legendary, but I am looking at it directly in terms of the “wow” factor used to show off your consoles power.

To summarize the original article, I basically said that Killzone 2 was such a heavy hitter in terms of console power and such a technical masterpiece that the ball was now in Microsoft’s court to fight back and bring something special to the plate. I also said that this would eventually work in Xbox 360 owners’ favour because we all know that competition breeds innovation and advancements.

One look at Halo Reach and you can see it all falling into place. Halo 3 was good, it looked ok and played well but Microsoft needed something better, something to make people say “wow, look what the Xbox 360 can do!”. I don’t know about you, but one look at the new footage and screenshots from Halo Reach and it’s easy to see that Bungie are really trying to push for something special now, something better than just another Halo game.

More at Halo Reach Proves Killzone 2’s Worth To The Xbox 360 | LazyGamer .:: Console and PC Gaming News ::.

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Bad news!

Halo: Reach won't feature dual-wielding

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Halo: Reach is the final title Bungie will add to the wildly popular franchise, the swan song of the series that will bring to a close one of the most... er, never mind. According to Brian Jarrard, the community lead at Bungie.net, Bungie is having second thoughts about labeling Reach its last Halo game.

Like Sean Connery ate his words to reprise his role as 007 in "Never Say Never Again," Bungie may one day make another Halo game. In an interview with CVG, Jarrard said:

You know, it might be premature to say we'll never ever, ever make a Halo game again. We sort of have a little special place for Halo in our hearts. But for the foreseeable future, this [Halo Reach] is it.

The developer is still treating Reach like its last Halo game, Jarrard added, and if it is the last, it will be the best. Halo: Reach is scheduled to launch in September, and the game's multiplayer beta opens on May 3.

Source - GameSpy: Bungie Leaves Room to Revisit Halo - Page 1

[obemon]

Bad news!

Halo: Reach won't feature dual-wielding

A good thing for me really. Halo's combat has always been bout weapons, grenades, and melee. Dual-wielding kinda messes up the flow.

[sharkey360]

Top 10 Features Halo: Reach Needs to Be Amazing

As the blockbuster prequel to the best-selling Xbox franchise of all time, developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, Halo: Reach puts you front and center in the fateful moments that forged the Halo legend. As recently as last week’s Microsoft X10 conference, there have been a slew of new details coming out about Halo: Reach. While this is in no way a bad thing, it definitely makes the days between now and the release of the game this fall seem all the more longer. But, in the meantime, we thankfully have the time to sit and wonder just what there is to be so excited about this new Halo game and why we’ll all eventually be a bit sad that this is supposedly Bungie’s last outing in the franchise. Check out our top 10 features Halo: Reach needs to be amazing.

Top 10 Features Halo: Reach Needs to Be Amazing

Top 10 Features Halo: Reach Needs to Be Amazing

Top 10 Features Halo: Reach Needs to Be Amazing

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Must-watch video

Halo Reach Multiplayer

With the launch of the Halo: Reach multiplayer trailer the hype wagon has truly stepped into a new gear. I think many will agree that the trailer gave us what we were looking for and heaps more. So, Halo’s biggest rival is without doubt Modern Warfare 2. Here are five reasons why MW2 players may see their lobbies a little depleted upon the beta and release date.

Reason 1: Community

We all know how well Modern Warfare 2 sold, and some of us will wonder, how come nobody plays this game using tactics or their headset? Well, the answer is to do with both consoles: Xbox’s Party Chat and Playstation’s general anti-social behaviour, one thing I noticed when playing Halo 3 was the ability to talk to people and the amount of people who were actually willing to spark a decent conversation with you. Seeing as COD now has its own fanbase, I believe Halo will keep its own as it was. Bungie also have a great reputation for playing with regular people, often staff will drop into a game or host their own open matches, this always adds to the sense that the developer cares. Last reason for the community section is that it is very, very unlikely that Halo fans will boycott this game. It’s more than evident that Bungie provides a much better community for its users, so rather than pretending to boycott this game, you won’t have to at all.


Reason 2: Jetpacks
Upon the announcement of the ultra impressive multiplayer trailer that Halo Reach will feature jetpacks. Not only will this totally transform combat into a vertical space, it will also mean gunplay will reach the skies like never seen before. Capture the Flag becomes a whole new ball game, will future multiplayer maps rocket into the sky hundreds of feet? It’s early to tell, but the last time I checked Modern Warfare 2 didn’t have anything interesting like that. Oh and before you MW2 bitches start saying how unrealistic Halo is. How the hell do you believe Modern Warfare 2 is realistic, it’s one of the most unrealistic shooters and that cannot be argued.

Reason 3: SPARTANS!
Battlefield Bad Company 2 got it right when it said ‘they will probably just send pussy ass spec ops with heartbeat monitors.’ Sure, the SAS are cool, but I would much rather have a big ass suit of Mjolnir armour and a Plasma Sword than a skimpy black cat suit and a silenced MP5. We also feel that if you’re not going to play a realistic game (CODMW2 is not realistic) then why pretend to be realistic? Some will argue that the armour replenishing system of Halo deteriorates the gameplay, we disagree heavily. In fact if anything the self-replenishing shield not only makes you use the best weapons at your disposal, it also adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. For instance the plasma gun to battle rifle combo (shield down & kill.) My final point for this reason is the armour customization, not many generic terrorists in Halo are there?

Reason 4: Flips & Assasinations
New to Halo Reach is the introduction of flips and assasinations. Not only can you flip your Spartans off high mounts to avoid that sniper fire, you can also take down your enemies in the way doesn’t involve a standard pussy arsed melee attack. Though hardly original, Bungie has added to the enjoyment of taking that stealth kill, with its assassination feature anyone for a blade through the gut? Yes please!

Reason 5: Fun Factor
After a little while, Modern Warfare 2 got boring for me, I’m not too sure if this was because I was using the same five or six guns for every game, or because of it’s repetitive gameplay and the lack of fun modes that were included in Call of Duty 4. With vehicles to smash into each other (better than the used and abused tanks of CoD: WaW) and the ‘forge’ game mode, the sheer fun factor that I had with Halo 3 is something I am expecting to get from Reach. As I previously mentioned, Bungie playing with regular people was also a laugh, especially if they got their asses handed to them…

We could go on and on about how many more reasons why this game is looking to completely pwn MW2 when it comes to multi-player but we wouldn’t want ardent Infinity Ward fans to get all butt-hurt now would we? If your a big COD fan feel free to go ballistic in the comments section and tell us how we should go suck huge amounts of dick, we couldn’t care less. Anyone for a ROFL-Copter?

Source - http://wedonetwork.co.uk/wedotech/20...ag-mw2-online/

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Be sure to watch this video preview!

Halo: Reach Preview in High Definition ? G4tv.com

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The Halo franchise is arguably the biggest right now. It’s become part of the American culture; and anything that the Halo brand is slapped on becomes gold. Yes, it’s indeed huge.

The Official Xbox Magazine had some time with the game, (a lot actually, we’ll give you more details later) and after previewing Bungie’s last effort, the mag concluded it’s the biggest Halo game the studio has even undertaken.

“The screenshots look unmistakably like the game we’ve all been playing for the past nine years running” the mag wrote. “But with all of the smart refinements Bungie has so far revealed for it’s Halo swan song.”

It added: “Reach may be the best game it’s ever released.”

According to Bungie, Reach is also the most powerful in the Halo franchise.

“Reach is probably the most powerful title we’ve built to date with regards to story, character, new gameplay features we’re throwing at the player, and new experiences overall,” the game’s creative director, Marcus Lehto said.

It’s out later this year exclusively for the Xbox 360.

Source - Halo: Reach: Is The “Most Powerful” Says Bungie, The Studio’s “Best Halo Game” Games Thirst

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Watch this video preview of Halo: Reach on Youtube

YouTube - Halo: Reach Preview