More on Halo: Reach

[ReiverCorrupter]

I couldn't agree more with Yahtzee about the Halo Reach storyline. The story was completely atrocious. There was no character development so you didn't care when any of them died, and there was very little explanation for what you were doing. It's obvious that the game was built for multiplayer and the single player was tacked on as an afterthought. Furthermore, they must have felt the need to dumb it down so the five to seven year old children that make up half of Bungie's consumer-base could follow the plot. Or rather, they eliminated the plot and reduced the single player to "go here, kill aliens, blow that thing up, go there, kill aliens, blow that other thing up." Not going to win an Oscar for best picture, that's for damn sure.

I say this as a Halo 'fan'. By which I mean I am willing to shell out $60 for hundreds, if not thousands of hours of multiplayer. I take this to be a good investment. But I also enjoy good stories from games. With the cast line up they have for Fable 3, I'm hoping they'll have the decency to just make it a full fledged adventure game with a great storyline, rather than just failing miserably at trying to make it into an RPG. (It isn't an RPG if after ten hours everyone's character looks and plays exactly the same except for their clothes.)

Yahtzee apparently shells out $60 (or whatever the Australian equivalent is) to play a story for ten hours.

And your complaint is REPETITION? WHAT? You do know they are called 'Video GAMES', not 'interactive story-majigs'. A Game is something that is, by its nature, repetitive and objective based. There is no important back-story to why the New York Giants play the Philadelphia Eagles. Its the same game, with the same rules, on the same field, over and over and over again. It is the exact same principle that motivates people to play multiplayer online. How could you not get that? The thing that gets repetitive is the STORY AFTER YOU'VE BEATEN IT A SINGLE TIME. That's why I RENT THE GAMES I PLAY FOR STORY AND BUY THE MULTIPLAYER CENTERED GAMES.

If your excuse is that you only care about plot, fine. More power to you. I like a good story to and I'll come to you for your opinion because I generally find that I have agreed with it in the past. But as a VIDEO GAME critic you should at least understand what GAMES ARE and why people play them. Aside from that, keep up the good work.

 

[Something Amyss]

Predictable responses, but I'm not sure why people got the wrong impression. (OK I admit, I was a bit baffled by his Haze review initially, but whatever). But possibly the biggest revelation today, is that he liked Metal Gear Solid 3, so far as to say it's one of the best in the series. And I couldn't agree more.

EP covered that even. People live in a binary state of mind. Yes or no, agree or disagree, coke or pepsi. There are people who exist in a world of nuance and shades of gray, and they're the minority.

So by not hating it, Yahtzee was (To them) endorsing it, saying he liked it. To a lot of people, if you disagree you take the polar opposite view by default. Though it could be more Yahtzee's tendency to slam everything in ZP. By extension, people might take his lack of vitriol as approval. I'm hoping it's more that, but we live in a binary world, so I bet it's more a "tick yes or no" deal.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

It seems Bungie doesn't have the slightest clue on how a prequel is supposed to work. A prequel is supposed to take place before all the other entires in your series that means, at the very least, all the the characters don't know about anything the happened in the other entries in your series because, you know, it hasn't happened yet!!!
Of course I'm fundamentally against the very principle of prequels.

 

[Oliver Pink]

But as for competitive multiplayer, I'm sorry, I just don't see the appeal of playing the same maps over and over again to find out which one out of you is the best at whatever it is you're doing. That's not why I'm into gaming. Call me antisocial.

Sure, but you can't blame the game for that. Different games cater to different tastes.

The fact that one is not into competitive multiplayer gaming doesn't make games that focus on it bad, it just makes them games that don't belong in ones tastes. The game can still function properly, have solid and well-balanced gameplay, that sort of thing. I hate FIFA games, just go outside and play football yourself you lazy bum, but I can't call them bad games just for that.

I wouldn't use MMO's as examples either, I'd pick games like Unreal Tournament, Quake, Team Fortress 2 and most fighting games.

You raise a valid argument - but remember that EVERYONE can play Single Player because everyone is always themselves all the time. Not everyone has an internet connection, or money for a subscription, or friends or a decent phone line. Thus it is crucial for a game to be able to stand up on Single Player only, simply because there are plenty of people who will never see a multiplayer game segment, let alone play it regularly.

 

[Crumpet Man]

For those of you saying that Yahtzee doesn't pay attention to multiplayer because he doesn't like it, that's not true. It's because some people may not have internet and therefore can't access the multiplayer, while if you own the game you have single player no matter what.

 

[Cat Cloud]

I'm just glad I'm not the only person who deosn't care about multiplayer. Great article.

 

[Diver Down]

Yahtzee's job is to be funny, and bashing stuff is funny. I personally don't take any of his reviews seriously.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

But as for competitive multiplayer, I'm sorry, I just don't see the appeal of playing the same maps over and over again to find out which one out of you is the best at whatever it is you're doing. That's not why I'm into gaming. Call me antisocial.

Sure, but you can't blame the game for that. Different games cater to different tastes.

The fact that one is not into competitive multiplayer gaming doesn't make games that focus on it bad, it just makes them games that don't belong in ones tastes. The game can still function properly, have solid and well-balanced gameplay, that sort of thing. I hate FIFA games, just go outside and play football yourself you lazy bum, but I can't call them bad games just for that.

I wouldn't use MMO's as examples either, I'd pick games like Unreal Tournament, Quake, Team Fortress 2 and most fighting games.

You raise a valid argument - but remember that EVERYONE can play Single Player because everyone is always themselves all the time. Not everyone has an internet connection, or money for a subscription, or friends or a decent phone line. Thus it is crucial for a game to be able to stand up on Single Player only, simply because there are plenty of people who will never see a multiplayer game segment, let alone play it regularly.

Everyone except those who don't have gaming consoles. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people who own a console and play games regularly can afford those other things. If you look at my post above, you'll see that I only rent games for their story, but I buy titles like halo because they are a lasting investment. Games have been moving away from being story based because it's economics. Just look at the numbers, all the best selling games are the games people play for the multiplayer. The numbers suggest the actual facts, developers have relegated single player to secondary importance. You suggest this large market of people who will pay 60 bucks for ten hours of story. I don't know anyone like that, story games are 'renters'. Your economic presuppositions are all wrong. WoW, Starcraft, Halo, Call of Duty. All multiplayer centered games, all dominate the market.

 

[Tonythion]

I noticed that too, but what was Jorge's comment on "been hers half my life" about then? That would certainly imply she was his mother, or at least the person who looked after him half his life.

Interesting though, you think the pronunciation was off, while I think the subtitles are wrong

As a Spartan-II, Jorge was kidnapped at a young age and replaced with a flash-grown clone. He would not know his mother and it definitely wouldn't be Dr. Halsey. Of course, this is backstory, so for people who're just into run'n'gun and don't enjoy reading (like you, or Yahtzee) it's certainly wasted.

And yes, their training regimens are remarkably like suicide bombers. Both Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs are fully prepared to die for their cause.

Actually seeing as Jorge was a spartan II he would remember his mother. He was kidnapped at six, most people remember their mother at six years old. Chief and all of the spartan IIs were all very smart and very strong so I don't think they would forget, unless I missed reading something saying that they did in fact forget about their previous lives.

 

[aakibar]

I liked Reach. lets just get that out of the way

anywho

I agree the worst point of the game for me at least plot wise was when you go deep underground and theres this big thing and then you pick up what i am assuming is cortana, my biggest hate on the game is that i wanted to see that plot element devlopted more. Maybe its to much for a video game but it still would be cool. Maybe i need to succumb to reading the books.(god save me)

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I noticed that too, but what was Jorge's comment on "been hers half my life" about then? That would certainly imply she was his mother, or at least the person who looked after him half his life.

Interesting though, you think the pronunciation was off, while I think the subtitles are wrong

As a Spartan-II, Jorge was kidnapped at a young age and replaced with a flash-grown clone. He would not know his mother and it definitely wouldn't be Dr. Halsey. Of course, this is backstory, so for people who're just into run'n'gun and don't enjoy reading (like you, or Yahtzee) it's certainly wasted.

And yes, their training regimens are remarkably like suicide bombers. Both Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs are fully prepared to die for their cause.

Actually seeing as Jorge was a spartan II he would remember his mother. He was kidnapped at six, most people remember their mother at six years old. Chief and all of the spartan IIs were all very smart and very strong so I don't think they would forget, unless I missed reading something saying that they did in fact forget about their previous lives.

Yes, they were kidnapped at six, but they were immediately drilled to forget their previous lives and they never saw their parents again, so they only remember it like a dream.

 

[Tonythion]

Actually seeing as Jorge was a spartan II he would remember his mother. He was kidnapped at six, most people remember their mother at six years old. Chief and all of the spartan IIs were all very smart and very strong so I don't think they would forget, unless I missed reading something saying that they did in fact forget about their previous lives.

Yes, they were kidnapped at six, but they were immediately drilled to forget their previous lives and they never saw their parents again, so they only remember it like a dream.

Really? I missed something, which book was this? Or did I miss it in the Dr's notes?

 

[Ghengis John]

"I liked it, but I can't like things. Much less Halo things. So in order to maintain the loyalty of my fans I must now back peddle like an otter prostitute."

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Actually seeing as Jorge was a spartan II he would remember his mother. He was kidnapped at six, most people remember their mother at six years old. Chief and all of the spartan IIs were all very smart and very strong so I don't think they would forget, unless I missed reading something saying that they did in fact forget about their previous lives.

Yes, they were kidnapped at six, but they were immediately drilled to forget their previous lives and they never saw their parents again, so they only remember it like a dream.

Really? I missed something, which book was this? Or did I miss it in the Dr's notes?

It was in the book Fall of Reach. They weren't specifically told to forget, but nothing of their previous lives is ever mentioned to them, so they forget. Also, the Chief mentions on one of the books that all he remembers of his previous life is like a dream

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Thank you Yahtzee for writing an entire article just to clarify that you don't like a game, because, you know, you always like games.

 

[CATS FTW]

So, wait, what? Does this mean Yahztee actually reads comments on his videos? Huh, you learn something new every day I guess.

And when it's Yahtzee, I'm happy to settle for him finding it "inoffensive", even if I disagree and think it's awesome. Yes, even the singleplayer - indeed, I thought that was the best part and can't get enough of the campaign.

(still no reply? M be disappoint)

You are right in every way my friend.

 

[Tonythion]

Actually seeing as Jorge was a spartan II he would remember his mother. He was kidnapped at six, most people remember their mother at six years old. Chief and all of the spartan IIs were all very smart and very strong so I don't think they would forget, unless I missed reading something saying that they did in fact forget about their previous lives.

Yes, they were kidnapped at six, but they were immediately drilled to forget their previous lives and they never saw their parents again, so they only remember it like a dream.

Really? I missed something, which book was this? Or did I miss it in the Dr's notes?

It was in the book Fall of Reach. They weren't specifically told to forget, but nothing of their previous lives is ever mentioned to them, so they forget. Also, the Chief mentions on one of the books that all he remembers of his previous life is like a dream

So that's why I don't remember, I thought it was like stated. Thanks maybe I'll re-read everything.

 

[MarsProbe]

Everyone except those who don't have gaming consoles. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people who own a console and play games regularly can afford those other things. If you look at my post above, you'll see that I only rent games for their story, but I buy titles like halo because they are a lasting investment. Games have been moving away from being story based because it's economics. Just look at the numbers, all the best selling games are the games people play for the multiplayer. The numbers suggest the actual facts, developers have relegated single player to secondary importance. You suggest this large market of people who will pay 60 bucks for ten hours of story. I don't know anyone like that, story games are 'renters'. Your economic presuppositions are all wrong. WoW, Starcraft, Halo, Call of Duty. All multiplayer centered games, all dominate the market.

So, everyone who owns a games console is also able to afford a phone line, high speed internet connection and subcription to the gaming service of the console they own? that really is quite the presumptious statement. I find it strange that you say that story games are "renters". It somewhat saddens me to know that somebody would merely rent a game, play through its story then return it to the place they rented it from. Your statement that you don't know anyone who buys story-based games can hardly be taken as conclusive proof that these games are only worth renting. All that means is that you don't know anybody that (shock!) would take singleplayer over multiplayer. Would it surprise you that for some people I know the main draw of Halo : Reach for them was actually the events of the singleplayer game as opposed to the multiplayer sections? Also, you're statement that games are moving away from being story based couldn't be more wrong. While a lot of games out there do now feature multiplayer components, they will likely also feature singleplayer elements as well. Look at the number of games that are due to be released, or have been released recently. Mentioning the next two games from Bioware, Dragon Age 2 and (when it's announced) Mass Effect 3 - there's two major games there that will be purely singleplayer and story driven. What about Bioshock Infinite? Assassins Creed : Brotherhood (don't try and kid yourself or anyone else by saying that that's a multiplayer game)? Deus Ex : Human Revolution? Fable 3? Fallout: New Vegas? Enslaved, a game that basically shouts the fact that it has harrative qualities form the rooftops, what with having an actual wellknown author involved in its production? So yeh, story or narrative isn't really looking that important to games developers right now. At all.

You mentioned, what four games that are multiplayer focussed, though I don't think WoW warrants inclusion in that list, given that despite it's MMO design, it really can be as single- or multiplayer as one wishes it to be. As well as the fact that there is basically a story underpinning basically everything that happens in World of Warcraft. Halo and CoD may dominate the markets they are in to some extent, but that's really only the market of being games that people play online a lot, not the gaming market in general.

 

[Madara XIII]

Yes, it is rather boring. There are new weapons and vehicles. (Or should I say old). I much prefered ODST's characterisation. I only starting liking Noble team (a little) after about half of them were dead.

WOW and to think that YOU of all people wouldn't like Halo:Reach


Allow me to Present a short summarization of the Multiplayer

 

[Ampersand]

It seems like you just trying to get a rise out of people. The game is popular, get over it.
Also you should probably deal with the fact that not all games are designed specifically for you.