Whats with the obsession over "Halo Reach"?

Its an amazing FPS game with a great multi-player and Bungies last hoorah with the Halo series.

For a user name such as Gamrz360 one would think you would at least be familiar with Halo’s legacy.

Look up awesome godlike in the dictionary or thesaurus, should come up as a synonym.

But one would think that you’d know about the Halo series with the user name Gamrz360.

“Bungies last hoorah with the Halo series.” Thank god.

You know @Gamrz360 I couldn’t tell ya. I’ve vaguely followed Halo. I didn’t play the first, beat the second, got bored on the third. I think Halo is one of the most overrated games to date. That’s just my opinion though. There’s really nothing about Halo that intrigued me enough to go out and get reach. Now that it’s finally over, maybe Bungie will come out with something I might actually want to play.

@Axemusica I agree that the first three definitely were way overrated, but Reach has thoroughly impressed me.

@Winters really? The only thing about reach that I’m interested in is the story line. I know it’s before Master Chief and it’s the start of “Halo”. I dunno, maybe I’ll pick it up used next year sometime.

@Axemusica that’s a good idea, I just play it on my friends’ Xbox 360s, I’m too much of a penny pincher to actually go out and buy it at full price.

Gaylo Reacharound.

Yeah I just made that up. No you can’t use it.

I never played any of the Halo games because I don’t like first person shooters.

I bit the bullet and bought this game. It is easily one of the best games I’ve ever played (and I am extremely picky here).

Maybe it’s because I haven’t played the earlier games, so this one feels more innovative and less stale than it would to seasoned Halo fans. But it’s just amazingly polished. It’s constantly thrilling, it is never boring or repetitive. The game’s scope and artwork, its “direction,” is awe-inspiring. It doesn’t try to imitate cinema or rely on (inevitably bad) storytelling. The experience is uniquely that of a videogame; it does what videogames do best and cinema and novels cannot do—put you fully inside an imaginary world with amazing things happening all around you.

It’s seriously one of the most fun and beautiful games ever. Double rainbow!

@Axemusica, Halo Reach’s storyline is pretty thin, but that’s because the game is much more focused on atmosphere. It takes place on a planet being invaded by aliens, which you know at the outset is going to end up losing. It’s got this very strong sense of impending, inevitable doom. The storyline, for what it’s worth, exists basically to propel you from one tense and amazing situation to the next.

At least that’s been my experience so far (probably a little more than halfway), maybe there’s more narrative at the end. But the lack of narrative doesn’t bother me in the slightest; in fact I think it’s a blessing. As I understand it, the earlier Halo games had pretty goofy B-movie narratives. And with the exception of RPGs, I prefer video games to focus on atmosphere and visceral experience, and not complex plots (another one of my favorite games does this very well: Shadow of the Colossus).

@Qingu you wouldnt know this as youve only played the game, but there is a book on reach that came out shortly after the first game. It was awesome in so many ways. Sadly the game didnt deliver on half that awesomeness. It feels like bungie didnt give two shits about campaign and were more focused on the multiplayer

Really? So far (I’m in the city) this is easily one of the best single player games EVAR.

And yeah, I didn’t read The Fall of Reach, but I’m glad the game isn’t too focused on narrative (or shoehorning gameplay into a pre-conceived story). Books and games are very different! Are there setpieces in the book that would have worked better than the stuff in the game?

See @Qingu as @uberbatman said, “It feels like bungie didnt give two shits about campaign and were more focused on the multiplayer”, and that’s the reason why I lost interest in the halo series. I like in depth story and functionality. Halo 3 just seemed to dry and what was the one after that? I dunno, I just lost interest.

But speaking of Shadow of the Colossus, that’s RPG right? what’s that like?

Shadow of the Colossus is definitely not an RPG. It’s difficult to pick what genre it is, but if I had to pick one, I would call it a “platformer.”

The game is basically 16 boss fights, so in that sense it’s an action game. But the bosses are gigantic moving statues and in order to beat them, you have to climb/jump up them. A few of them fly. One particular (my favorite) requires you to ride your horse up alongside it really fast and then jump onto its moving body.

In between these 16 encounters, you ride your horse around this eerie, quiet, ridiculously huge and beautiful overworld. It’s very serene and atmospheric and reminds me a bit of Myst. There are no minor enemies to fight, no NPCs to talk to, no towns or anything, really, except a few lizards scurrying around. It’s empty and lonely, but it works because that loneliness actually enhances the game’s atmosphere (and the bond you feel with your horsey).

SoTC was my favorite game of the last (PS2) generation. It reminds me of Halo Reach because both games are so focused, almost in a minimalist way, on atmosphere and thrilling action. There is no chaff to either game. No boring, unnecessary, repetitive encounters or sidequests that serve only to pad the “average play through time”—just a pure experience.

@Axemusica yea I agree, i still love halo though, just not the reasons I fell in love with it in the first place