If you missed it, or if you just don't read magazines anymore, the most recent issue of Game Informer features the exclusive first scoop on Bungie's forthcoming Halo title, Halo: Reach. No longer are we left to look at, and hypothesize about the game from looking at a few shitty off-screen images posted on message boards by some anonymous gamer calling himself "Tom Morello" (not the Rage Against the Machine guitarist, sorry). However, having read the article and knowing more about the project I still can't shake the feeling of "meh" from my belly.
Why?
Well, it might have something to do with the fact that the Halo franchise has not moved a step towards innovation since its debut in 2001. That might be a a bit harsh on the gaming franchise that paved the way for how console first person shooters are played, but the truth is that Bungie has become comfortable with their station in life after the original Halo sky-rocketed the company to the top of the gaming industry. So, when Bungie comes out and says Halo: Reach will be the franchise game-changer, I'm just not convinced. But I'm trying to convince you, and I can't do that by just stating my dissatisfaction and walking away, my words don't have that kind of weight. I need to prove why, and here are my examples.
First, let's go over some background information. Halo: Reach takes us back to the genesis of the Halo story. If you remember from the original game, "Reach" was the name of the planet that housed all the Spartan program enlistees but was destroyed in the blink of an eye by a Covenant invasion, killing off all the Spartans except Master Chief, who was only able to survive the ordeal because he was hurried onto a ship and evacuated from the planet. Chief was the last of his kin. But with Halo: Reach, Bungie's rewinding the clock to before every Spartan was slaughtered and living the moments prior to the destruction of the planet Reach.
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Therefore, in Reach you play as Noble 6, the newest member of the Noble Team, a six-person squad made up of mostly Spartan IIIs. Your fellow brethren are Carter-259 who is the squad leader, a female Spartan named Kat-320 who is second in command, Jorge-052 who will trim your hedges, err, is the team's heavy weapons specialist and the only Spartan II of the group, Emile-239 who is probably the off-the-hinges member of the squad since he sports a skull on his helmet, and Jun-266 who rounds out the group.
But here is the first problem, much like in Halo: ODST, you are a squad member, yet there are no squad controls to be found. And unfortunately, that error in judgment doesn't look to be rectified in Halo: Reach. Having a Halo game that played more like a Ghost Recon title would be fantastic and a true breath of fresh air. But alas, Reach looks to be standard fair fps action where you're amongst a group, but the only one that really matters is you.
Also, and this naturally segways from the squad commands argument, but when is a Halo game going to be playable from a third person perspective? From the official screens, as well as the Morello's classics, Reach isn't going to be it. Would it kill Bungie to try something different, give us a third person perspective, give us a cover system, and let us command the troops we fight alongside?
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My next argument stems from what Bungie is doing to the Elites in Halo: Reach. This might seem like nitpicking but I feel it deserves attention. In the Game Informer article Bungie says that their intentions with Reach are to make the Elites more frightening. And while that's all good and grand, as this story takes place during a time before any human sympathized with the Elites, it still kills all the development Bungie did on the species in previous titles, namely Halo 2. What is happening in Reach exactly is that the Elites will always have deep scary voices and only talk in their native tongue of "Elitinese." Label it the Spartans just not giving a shit about what the Elites have to say, but in the context of the overarching Halo universe, this is a regression not an evolution. Just so Bungie has something to push from a PR standpoint that will make Reach seem different than all previous Halo entries.
And while I'm focusing on what I feel are the "negative" aspects of Reach, the stuff that makes me think this game will, once again, be a retread of all the Halos we've played before, the Game Informer article does point out a few new additions to the upcoming title. Namely, new gun types, new "super abilities" for Spartans, and the tech of the game being able to support 40-man firefights. However, those additions, or tweaks, aren't groundbreaking, they're merely the equivalent of a Madden football title updating it's roster on a yearly basis.
Now before the herd of diehard Halo fans find out where I live and come murder me over this article, I do want to say I could be proven wrong. I've never been the type of guy to let my ego get in the way of admitting I was wrong. But as it stands, I'm banking on Halo: Reach being another major letdown for those looking for some innovation from this decade old franchise.
Prove me wrong Bungie.
