Zero Punctuation: Halo: Reach

[Andy of Comix Inc]

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?

A game WITH single-player has to stand up on it alone. Obviously it doesn't count of it's a multiplayer-only genre or title.

Some games (Unreal Tournament 3, Universe at War, what have you) just throw in single-player because they can, without much forethought.

 

[Xarhs Vrentas]

What I learned today:

I technically don't exist, seeing how I am a hardcore Half-Life fanboy and also think that Halo is a fantastic series.

Thank God for these forums, or I never would have realized that.

Well, you either don't exist or you are far superior to other gamers, judging from the people on this forum

 

[SnakeCL]

Now, myself being anything but Bungie fanboy, or a Halo fanboy, or even a Microsoft fanboy, I liked Reach.

Until recently, I didn't even own a 360, was just a PS3 kind of guy. I decided to "jump in" when they started offering the Reach bundles, and the idea of a group of Spartans fighting their last desperate struggle appealed to me much more than the "I AM GOD"ness of Master Chief in the previous games.

Now, onto a primary point. I feel like if you're going to criticize Halo games for being "Generic" then you're effectively writing off almost all FPS games. We see small variations on a theme, with increased graphics, as technology marches forward, but its always essentially "get gun, kill things, unlock door, get to next area, repeat".

I guess my point is, I haven't really been enthralled with a "new" FPS game since Quake II or Half-Life (1). Everything thing else appears to be variations on a theme, but the fault Halo for it, you'd pretty much have to fault every other FPS that's come since.

 

[cheese_wizington]

Just for once fucking try the multiplayer, you could have at least tried split screen firefight withya friends.

 

[james castle]

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?

A game WITH single-player has to stand up on it alone. Obviously it doesn't count of it's a multiplayer-only genre or title.

Some games (Unreal Tournament 3, Universe at War, what have you) just throw in single-player because they can, without much forethought.

Wait. What? So if a game is multiplayer only it is judged by that standard but if it has any single player mode the multiplayer side can/should be ignored entirely? How the what?

 

[CoolTrixs]

That said what Yatzhee said about the game is true. They do have the same storyline and have annoying camera angles but let me ask you this. If you had to write a new storyline for this game what would you make it. It has to make sense with the setting in the future and needs to make sense with all the other sequels of the game. if you can do that then i will personally not play games that you think are bad and play the games you like or do no gaming at all.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

True story: when I first clicked on the video, the number of comments in this thread was 343.

Oh, and Reach isn't the beginning of the human-covenant war. The war had been going on for 20 years at that point, and humanity has been getting f'd up the a. The reason everybody seems to know that they're doomed is because the *DO* know that they're doomed.

 

[Chunko]

This is one of the best episodes of zero punctuation in a long time.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

A game WITH single-player has to stand up on it alone. Obviously it doesn't count of it's a multiplayer-only genre or title.

Some games (Unreal Tournament 3, Universe at War, what have you) just throw in single-player because they can, without much forethought.

A game with a focus on multiplayer can have a crappy single player mode (UT3, StarCraft) just like a game with a focus on single player mode can have a crappy multiplayer (BioShock 2, Uncharted 2). You shouldn't judge a game on only one without even considering the other.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Really great episode this week, quite funny actually which is suprising because it seemed you went a bit stale. Also... SPOILERS!?!

I think you need to read this comic:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/12/5/

 

[LitleWaffle]

Soooo... He thinks the game is mediocre?

....he can't possibly like it

[small]that's impossible[/small]

On a side note: Never heard of Oni.
I feel so young now.

 

[FlyAwayAutumn]

no forge, custom games, multiplayer or firefight review. I guess multiplayer is sorta understandable why he didn't review it but come on the others are all playable by yourself or even with buddies in real life.

 

[FinalPOSTMORTEM]

Yahtzee... what you don't have is an understanding of the Halo storyline... at all. What you do have is an amazing sense of humor that completely outweighs and makes up for any downfalls you may have had. I myself am a Halo fanboy as much as you're probably a SH fanboy, and I'm okay admitting that. And I still love your videos. Keep doing what you do best, and I'll keep enjoying every minute of it. BTW, Reach isn't at the start of the Human-Covenant War, it's about 50 years into it. I know you don't care, but I can't help but point that out. Also, 343 Industries is in charge of Halo now, so it's not that there won't be any more HALO games... it's just that this was the last one by Bungie. So yeah, it's a complete sellout and capitalization on the fan base, yeah it's never going to end when it probably should have, and yeah... I'm probably going to continue to buy and play the games.

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

and they eventually grew to love it. Don't take stuff out of context.

First off, what am I taking out of context and how?

Secondly I've never read anything about them growing to love it. All I've ever read [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=249196] is that the entire studio hated the "Combat Evolved" part and merely grew to accept it.

your taking it out of context by not including the fact they grew to like it.
you made a statement basically saying they were forced and without the context its like your saying they were forced and didn't like it.
but in reality they were asked to add the title and did, didn't like it then grew to like it.

 

[Scarecrow]

You already made the "Hello, Goodbye" pun on the Halo 3 video... or was that intended...

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?

I think that it's a very cleaver statement. Not every one can play muiltplayer, so they only have the single player. And playing online has all sorts of problems that I wont even go into.

 

[Shakaar9267]

I never did like Halo, and I never will.

 

[FollowUp]

Ok, before I say anything, I liked the game, a lot. But honestly, Yahtzee did make very good points, and he was a lot more merciful than I expected him to be.

Honestly, seeing that he decided to actually review this game put the fear of god into my heart, atheism aside.

I disagreed on a lot of this, as was expected, being a halo fan, but that thing about the fanbase?

Absolutely totally true in every way about 98% or so of them. So sick of the idiots, but honestly, that happens in any game with online multiplayer or a following of any size.

 

[Xarhs Vrentas]

You already made the "Hello, Goodbye" pun on the Halo 3 video... or was that intended...

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?

I think that it's a very cleaver statement. Not every one can play muiltplayer, so they only have the single player. And playing online has all sorts of problems that I wont even go into.

Well there is the online multiplayer and there is the lan multiplayer, which is just as fun when you have a couple of buddies to play with. He should have still reviewed co-op, firefight multiplayer and competitive multiplayer. Plus when you buy a halo game, you know that halo is mostly about the multiplayer

 

[Netrigan]

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?

A game WITH single-player has to stand up on it alone. Obviously it doesn't count of it's a multiplayer-only genre or title.

Some games (Unreal Tournament 3, Universe at War, what have you) just throw in single-player because they can, without much forethought.

Wait. What? So if a game is multiplayer only it is judged by that standard but if it has any single player mode the multiplayer side can/should be ignored entirely? How the what?

Assuming a game has an actual story mode (and not some trumped-up bot match), then, yeah, I think you can focus like a laser-beam on the single player mode, because there's a lot of people who are going to be doing just that.

The most glaring exceptions I see to this rule are on-line tournament games (Unreal Tournament or Quake Arena), which have a single player campaign which is a glorified tutorial for the on-line experience... although I was quite the fan of Unreal Tournament without going on-line with it, because it did deliver the thrills of multiplayer to the single player. Then you have the Co-Op horde levels like Left 4 Dead, which, unless I'm mistaken, has no single player story. In both of these cases, the almost sole focus was multi-player and as long as the reviewer makes it quite clear that there's no real single player game here, then judging them as a multiplayer-only experience is cool.

Games like Halo and Quake are very focused on multiplayer and it's probably no surprise that I take a dim view of their single player campaigns, because what makes a wonderfully balanced MP experience pretty much bores me to tears in single player. I don't want a rocket launcher that is perfectly balanced with the assault rifle... I want a rocket launcher that helps me mow through the hordes of super-tough baddies that ought to be showing up late in the game. I want a rocket launcher that is my one and only hope against a rampaging Cyber-Demon. And, ultimately, MP focused games tend to give us the same-old, same-old in single player. An assault rifle, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, maybe some alien equivalents... and I want shrink rays and cannons and voodoo dolls.

 

[Scarecrow]

You already made the "Hello, Goodbye" pun on the Halo 3 video... or was that intended...

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?

I think that it's a very cleaver statement. Not every one can play muiltplayer, so they only have the single player. And playing online has all sorts of problems that I wont even go into.

Well there is the online multiplayer and there is the lan multiplayer, which is just as fun when you have a couple of buddies to play with. He should have still reviewed co-op, firefight multiplayer and competitive multiplayer. Plus when you buy a halo game, you know that halo is mostly about the multiplayer

I can see what your getting at, but there are some people(like my self) who don't have LAN or online. So single player is all we got.