Zero Punctuation: Halo: Reach

[repeating integers]

thankgod. someone who doesnt think that halo reach is the second coming of the bible. HALO REACH IS A MEDIOCRE GAME AT BEST!

AND THAT IS AN ABSOLUTE FACT MAN! NOT AN OPINION OR ANYTHING! ALSO CAPSLOCK FOR EMPHASIS!

...Yeah. You get my point?

 

[Legion]

Half Life
Half Life: Opposing Force
Half Life: Blue Shift
Half Life 2
Half Life 2: Episode 1
Half Life 2: Episode 2
Half Life: Deathmatch
Half Life Merchandise

Deathmatch? Seriously? The HL1 xp packs were shite though, I'll give you that.

Just saying there are a more Half Life games than Halo ones. I just find it bizarre that Halo is one of the only series that I have come across that has been accused of "milking" the franchise when it has only just reached the 6 game mark.

Like I said, there are much better examples (Mario, Sonic, Metal Gear Solid) but I chose to go for one that he has suggested he likes a lot.

thankgod. someone who doesnt think that halo reach is the second coming of the bible. HALO REACH IS A MEDIOCRE GAME AT BEST!

AND THAT IS AN ABSOLUTE FACT MAN! NOT AN OPINION OR ANYTHING! ALSO CAPSLOCK FOR EMPHASIS!

...Yeah. You get my point?

Sometimes I would like to shoot Yahtzee for giving the people of this site the words "generic" and "mediocre" to their dictionaries, especially considering "mediocre" is meaningless in the discussion of how good a game is, and "generic" can very rarely be applied to anything other than clothing and food.

 

[Sepiida]

Though I've never been a big fan of the Halo series I've been planning to give this a rent for awhile now. It certainly seems to make enough changes to the formula (like having protagonists with personalities) that I'd probably enjoy it at the time.

Unfortunately it sounds like (and Yahtzee is by no means the only reviewer to point this out) this is yet another Halo game where they built the multiplayer and went "Fuck, now we need to give them something to do when there not teabagging." This is probably just bias on my part as I'm one of those gamers that agree completely that a game must stand on its single player but it really amazes me how little there is to the single player experience in the Halo games. IT makes me think of Goldeneye.

Still, I'll rent it and most likely enjoy it. And now I'm looking forward to the ending.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I just noticed he didnt say anything was terible. A few flaws, But nothing major.

That's because Bungie never really changed anything in the whole run of the series. You can't complain about things that have been shit in the first one, since they have became part of the franchise.

Yeah, but Bungie has changed things. Halo 1 is very different to Halo Reach. Oh wait sorry, they still have sheilds and space marines and a few of the same weapons, thats the formula for shitness apparently.

I played Halo 1 a few days before i gave Reach a try. The Art-Direction is a lot darker.

That's it.

A few days before you played reach? Let me ask you some thing. was that your first time or did you ever play Halo 1 when it was new?

I played it the first time it was released. Played Halo 2 the first time it was released. Didn't care for 3, Wars or ODST. Reach looked different, except it wasn't.

So you are saying that Halo has just been more of the same since day 1? Well good sir, tell me a single franchise that has not been more of the same? Because as far as im aware thats pretty much what a franchise is. A continuation of something popular. If Halo 2 was not similar to Halo 1 the franchise would have died, because Halo 1 was such a huge hit it would be stupid not to milk its success. If you want something different to Halo 1, play another game. I didnt go to watch Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back expecting something completely different to A new Hope.

To use your example, Empire Strikes Back. It took the franchise in a whole new, darker direction, as well as adding telekinesis to the ever-growing list of things the Force can do. Look at what happens throughout: The Alliance fights losing battle after losing battle, Luke still doesn't have enough of a grip on his powers to fight Darth Vader and it costs him his hand and lightsaber in the process, Han winds up being bashed around, betrayed, and then sealed in a block of carbonite (which probably, given the physical properties of carbon, smelled like being buried in charcoal briquettes), the other characters are either enslaved or dismantled, and the Empire pretty much wins a clear victory-- which, according to the expanded universe, is the ONLY clear victory in the whole Empire-Alliance conflict. What movie were you watching that this wasn't different from A New Hope, which was a space fantasy samurai flick where the good guys won?

How's this other example? Mass Effect. The first game's combat was inferior to the second's, because they thought they were making an RPG with shooting elements. The second game was a shooter with RPG elements. Similar, but there were enough changes that the first game and the second game were, essentially, two different games.

I know I forgot some. Any others?

** edited to change "decisive", which isn't quite what I meant, to "clear", which is closer to what I meant.

LEt me make that point more clear. The two films may have been different down to every detail. But I went to see it expecting more of the great story telling and epic battles I got from a new hope.

Mass Effect 1&2 both have great story and epic encounters.

The same can be said for Halo 1-Reach

 

[Buizel91]

I'm saying it was created for Halo Fans. which has been said 10.000 times.

So... it's been said ten times? The .000 there is a bit redundant...

Lol! meant 10,000

You knew what i meant!

 

[Captain Pirate]

Good review. Nice that he didn't hate it, and I totally agree with him on Multiplayer and how the game should stand up on it's own campaign.
Which I think is what it should do too. Still love the multiplayer though.

 

[Zagzag]

That first pun at the end credits was the best yet.

"I don't know why you say goodbye, I say Halo!"

That was actually a reference to his Halo 3 review.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

That was surprisingly positive coming from Yahtzee...

I enjoyed the game. I'm not going to say it's the greatest thing ever, but it's enjoyable! And certainly more fun (to me, anyway) than the haven of meta-c*nt-istry that is MW2.

Also, I'm easily distracted by shiny things like jetpacks, and grunts exploding into confetti with a headshot. And also jetpacks.

 

[Theistic]

Am I the only one who laughed my figurative arse off at the imp crashing in on a ghost saying: "Sup y'all niggas"?

I liked Halo: Reach. Played it over at a pal's house and a 1v1v1 match can get pretty damned fun. The powers make it easier to kill good players (I actually won one game because of the armor lock that Yahtzee thinks is crap for some reason), without making the game too easy.
Liked invasion too. It's like capture the point in TF2. You even get premade classes and crap.

However, I strongly disagree that all games must be able to stand on their single-player content. I would never, ever pay for Modern Warfare 2 if I only had the single-player campaign. The way I see it, the price you pay is for the game. The campaign, multiplayer, customisation screen, theater, dress-up and vibrating cup are just parts that make up the game in its entirety.
If a game's other parts stop working, well then the game just gets worse than it was before. Situations change, after all.

 

[overkill_78]

I've been calling it Gaylo Reacharound for weeks. It's really fun to do to your Halo fanboy friends. They nerdrage hard.

 

[Miller iz Life]

he....didnt....hate it...........WHAT?

 

[Legendairy314]

I've got to disagree on the multiplayer argument. When a team's efforts are diverted into more than just the single player that effort deserves some kind of merit (or at least notification of it's existence). Why review something if you're only going to review 20% of it? Oh right, this is Zero Punctuation...Never mind!

 

[cthulhumythos]

well that was a lot better than i expected... kudos yahtzee.

(however i hate you for ruining my campaign experiences from now on because now i can never unimagine the whole "they never freaking fall-off their goddamn fast aircraft even though they're more than half off the edge).

 

[OceanRunner]

Anti motion-control sentiment FTW.

 

[CitySquirrel]

Also, I LIKED Oni.

Me too!

 

[Kristoffer Mattila]

I am actually surprised that he didn't tear it apart, but I still think that saying "a game has to stand up on single player alone" is a very silly statement. So is the quality of an MMO diminished because there's no mode to grind quests by yourself?

Yes. It. Is.

 

[jameskillalot]

WOO ONI

 

[YoungZer0]

Let me make that point more clear. The two films may have been different down to every detail. But I went to see it expecting more of the great story telling and epic battles I got from a new hope.

Mass Effect 1&2 both have great story and epic encounters.

The same can be said for Halo 1-Reach

Wait a second, are you actually saying you played Halo for the story? Really? Because i came in expecting a good story, but i haven't found it. It was simpler than the horrible mishmash that Halo 2 was, but it wasn't good.

A great example of sequel done better is Half-Life 2. New Weapons, new enemies, same enemies in new and refreshing disguise, new gameplay-elements like the gravity-gun, completely different setting and storyline, new characters, more depth, etc.

Halo is missing all that.

 

[SPARTANXIII]

It's a Halo game.....and he liked it?!

Well I for one am shocked, I thought he was going to be repulsed by it, but he like's it!!
THERE IS A GO-I MEAN FORERUNNER!

 

[conzan]

I like how all the halo haters were expecting him to rip it apart then to fuck there minds he said it was all right haha
why are so many people comparing halo to half life that's just not fair its like comparing a runner to a wheelchair bound turtle its just not fair