More on Halo: Reach

[Misho-]

Yahtzee, you do realize this takes place several years into the war and isn't first contact, right? Halo wars is set about five years before this, and that was still a little ways in. Master Chief, Cortana, and the rest of the spartans were peparing for an unrelated secret mission anyway when the Covenent showed up.

I didn't bother getting this game and haven't played a Halo game since the second one, but frankly if the basic backstory wasn't explained then Bungie screwed up badly. Or you didn't read the manual.

I think this is a point Yahtzee has covered in the past, like in FFXIII... If you have to read the manual to get the story its bad exposition or story telling/narrative.

The thing that turns me off on most FPS is that the Single player Campaing is a Glorified Tutorial teaching you everything you will use on the Multiplayer. Only a hand full of Shooters in general take the time to develop a good story orrr... don't include it at all Which is why I'm probably getting Vanquish Oh and any shirt would make me look fat since I'm you know... Fat!

 

[Thyunda]

Yahtzee, you do realize this takes place several years into the war and isn't first contact, right? Halo wars is set about five years before this, and that was still a little ways in. Master Chief, Cortana, and the rest of the spartans were peparing for an unrelated secret mission anyway when the Covenent showed up.

I didn't bother getting this game and haven't played a Halo game since the second one, but frankly if the basic backstory wasn't explained then Bungie screwed up badly. Or you didn't read the manual.

I think Bungie implied the backstory more than anything. If you don't throw your controller at the floor crying 'bad voice acting', you might realise a bit more. Not saying you do, of course.
They didn't sound surprised the Covenant were on Reach. Maybe they'd been seeing Covenant cruisers all over the place, and knew it was fairly inevitable that they'd end up with at least a few aliens.
The rest of the Spartans were most likely dead all over Reach - the last mission gives you a good idea of what happened to a chunk.

On the original topic...One of the Spartans had a mum? Are we referring to Jorge and Halsey? 'Cause if we are I'm fairly sure she spent most of his life telling him he was adopted.

 

[lukemdizzle]

I really don't understand yahtzee's criticism of the halo franchise, ya the core formula of halo hasn't changed. probably because it has been one of the most intuitive and fun core shooting formulas of any game since 2001. on the other hand I completely see the complaints with story and direction. the only halo games with good stories were the first and second (mostly the second) and even they had some glaring faults. finally I will never agree that yahtzee should call his review of halo reach a review of halo reach. Its a review of the single player; the multiplayer is half the game. more than half of the development time went into multiplayer and just as you say games should be able to stand alone on single player alone, others think they should stand on multiplayer alone. I personally think its neither and that they are both important components of a complete package but that means they should both be considered in a review. I understand that you don't like multiplayer but its just arrogant of you as a reviewer to claim that you can judge a game with an important multiplayer component on single player alone.

ps. I also hate listening to other people in halo multiplayer which is why I use the mute all voices option.

 

[gallaetha_matt]

I really don't understand why so many commentators get bent out of shape when somebody makes fun of the games they like. I noticed this during Yahtzee's Monster Hunter Tri review as well. Does his opinion really effect your enjoyment of a game that much?

 

[Scrythe]

No input or opinion here, but after that last sentence I'd like to point out that Master Chief does not have a soul...

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[small][small]...because he's a ginger [http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID15166/images/ginger.jpg][/small][/small]

 

[josephmatthew10]

Join WHAT at the mediocrity table, sir?

 

[TheSugarRay]

You should read all your hatemail with the inception music in the background.

 

[spartan1077]

On the contrary my shirt makes me look not fat. I don't really care one way or another what ZP says. I do follow his reviews and the slightest bit of positive means the game is good.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

Snip

That's probably because you're used to console shooters where holding down the trigger feels like the only option. I went through the entire game taking down shielded enemies from long range with the assault rifle by firing short bursts and that's on the Veteran difficulty, whatever is after normal. I play CS a lot and spraying only gets you called a noob and killed, seems that my CS experience paid off.

Well, the bullets from the assault rifle do have enough range to get some distance kills, so you are right; however, I didn't want to advise that strategy to the person I was quoting, since they probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off. The assault rifle has the best accuracy when fired in short bursts, but the elites shields drop slowly and charge quickly, so it's easiest to use it at close/medium range to take down their shields, and to keep a DMR/Sniper/Pistol handy for long range battles.
So yeah, you CAN use the assault rifle from far away, though I'd suggest using the DMR or something instead, unless you have really good aim and some patience.

Edit: And a metric crapton of ammo.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

The notion that a game must stand on its singleplayer is fine if presented as personal preference. It's perfectly acceptable for Yahtzee or anyone else to dislike multiplayer gameplay. It's also fine for them to dislike gameplay genres. But making a blanket statement that all games must stand on their singleplayer experience is just as absurd as saying that all games must stand on the quality of their first person shooting gameplay, even if it just so happens that that's the only style of gameplay you enjoy. It's simply not a statement that can be an absolute.

Let's briefly explore the absurdity of this statement. First, do we limit it to video games? I'm not sure why we should, but if we don't, we run into some particularly bizarre conclusions. For example, nearly all card games are worthless. Only the various flavors of Solitaire stand on their singleplayer experience. Very few board games stand on their singleplayer experience (taking a brief moment, I can think of approximately zero). Pencil and paper roleplaying games, if converted to singleplayer, cease to be games and instead turn into story writing.

So maybe Yahtzee really does mean to apply it only to video games. But what is fundamentally different about video games that makes this statement apply so narrowly? If a video game is built solely as a multiplayer experience (such as Team Fortress 2, for example), are we left with nothing to evaluate? Is the fun had by its players meaningless?

Ideally, Yahtzee would admit that a game does *not* need to stand on singleplayer alone as a general rule, but only as a rule particular to his personal tastes. He doesn't want to review the multiplayer aspect of a game because he doesn't enjoy it. Fine, but he shouldn't pretend like his assessment is some sort of objective truth.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

The purpose of the the switching to third person for the cut scenes was to emphasize that Noble 6 was YOUR character. It was simply to show off your armour customisation you have used, I agree that the cut scenes that were first person were better.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Yahtzee was probably not a man who played Final Fantasy XI. Guess he wouldn't have liked it.

Nice article, telling that the game was refreshing but still mediocre. Trying not to make a GTAIV mistake again, eh Yahtzee?

Calumon: I thought he was the real Layton!

Nothing you say ever makes any fucking sense.

Iggity boggity ooga booga woo.

But allow me to explain dear sir/madame.

Final Fantasy XI was a game that demanded that you found a group of friends and quest with them. It was described as a hardcore MMO, and since Yahtzee said he stuck by himself on Wow, He more than likely wouldn't have liked it.

With GTAIV Yahtzee said he thought it was a good game when he reviewed it, but he says that he was suffering from Release Drought and was praising what little he got and it wasn't until he played Saints Row 2 that he realised that GTAIV was crap. With Halo Reach he praised that it's the first game he's played in a while that doesn't involve cover based shooting, but still thought it was mediocre showing he didn't let that one feature got to his head like it did back in '08.

Finally, the user he mentioned was Called ProfessorLayton and Yahtzee said it wasn't the real one. Calumon thought it was.

But yes, I do tend to not make sense half the time. So allow me to stop the seriousness of this post and bring in Calumon.

Calumon: Awww... but I don't like the spotlight.

 

[DaBozz]

Co-op is one thing, but that's basically just single player with a ball and chain (and if you've never gotten that impression of co-op, it's because you're the ball and chain).

Can someone explain this to me? I don't get it.

What he means is in some games Co-op feels like your being held back by the other player.
While your getting lots of kills your friend keeps dying/wasting your lives/tying to figure out how you move. Don't worry I have often been the Ball and chain.

 

[Young Pretender]

How is Fun Space Game: The Game going? I just wonder, I was liking the updates. If you've got a life and stuff then that's cool. I guess.

 

[Emo-Hawk]

it's strange I bought Halo 3 2 years ago for £10 brand new, in Argos (and never understood cause never saw it that price ever again!) but me and my friends played that game for literally until Modern Warfare 2 came out and even then a couple months latter we was back on Halo 3 again, and it worries me how already, we are trying to find other games to play =/ does worry a little in terms of how good a game is when it can stand the test of time...but moving on.

Reach seems a little...empty to me...maybe I bought Halo 3 at a time when all their plans had been sorted, so I had updates etc, but looking at Reach... I really don't see it lasting long at all in terms of playing with my friends =/... I mean I know Yahtzee is anti-multiplayer but to be honest, I really don't blame him.
I could rant some more but I wont =/

 

[DaBozz]

Yahtzee was probably not a man who played Final Fantasy XI. Guess he wouldn't have liked it.

Nice article, telling that the game was refreshing but still mediocre. Trying not to make a GTAIV mistake again, eh Yahtzee?

Calumon: I thought he was the real Layton!

Nothing you say ever makes any fucking sense.

So you did not understand it...why bother replying to it ?
Personally I think Jack and Calumon is one of the most fun posters on this site.

 

[ex2katana]

This is nothing new guys. He always ignores multiplayer. I don't entirely agree with it, having some great experiences playing multiplayer, but he lays it right out there. Therefore view the videos as simply a scathing critique (and it is always a critique) of any given game's flaws when played single player. Always. Even if it's Super Smash Bros.

Zero Punctuation videos are not reviews, though they like to pretend they are. They are author tracts of the highest magnitude, focusing not on whether the general audience will like a game but whether Yahtzee alone likes a game. And guess what, they're still fucking hilarious. So stop getting your panties in a twist about whether one person doesn't like a game and just enjoy the comedy. Or stop watching if it truly bothers you so much.

 

[ShadowSilencer]

it's strange I bought Halo 3 2 years ago for £10 brand new, in Argos (and never understood cause never saw it that price ever again!) but me and my friends played that game for literally until Modern Warfare 2 came out and even then a couple months latter we was back on Halo 3 again, and it worries me how already, we are trying to find other games to play =/ does worry a little in terms of how good a game is when it can stand the test of time...but moving on.

Reach seems a little...empty to me...maybe I bought Halo 3 at a time when all their plans had been sorted, so I had updates etc, but looking at Reach... I really don't see it lasting long at all in terms of playing with my friends =/... I mean I know Yahtzee is anti-multiplayer but to be honest, I really don't blame him.
I could rant some more but I wont =/

No no. Please go on. By the time I decipher what you just said I'll need another good laugh.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Well I'm wearing an undershirt, and I guess I don't look best in white.
Still I might get reach after about 12 other games I care about way more.
Also, I agree with hm on multiplayer. I might play multiplayer once or twice on a game, but only games with really good multiplayer keep my attention. I tthink all games should have multiplayer like Quake 3: Intense music, pace so fast you could vomit from motion sickness, and the weapons are perfectly balanced againts each other.

 

[Shiro No Uma]

Your right. I should change my shirt!