Posts Tagged ‘bungie’

I remember Raptr when I tried the service once as it offers friend tracking across several systems.  If you’re at your computer and you want to know if anyone is on Xbox Live playing Halo: Reach, this is the service to have. Little did I know that Raptr tracks gaming statistics of registered users.  Raptr recently posted an info-poster on their blog to highlight some important statistics of Halo: Reach.  Enclosed below you will find the poster attached and my thoughts on it.

Continue reading “Raptr Report Halo: Reach” »

[Re-posted with permission via Marissa's Dad]

It’s everywhere you turn.  The Microsoft advertising juggernaut is pushing it with all the force that a multimillion dollar budget can muster.  Your friends are talking about it.  Mainstream media is discussing it.  Numbers like $200,000,000 the first day are being bandied about.  I’ll get it out of the way early- Halo : Reach is one of the better console shooters of this generation.  None of this addresses the full point- is Halo : Reach worth playing at full retail price?

In the interest of full disclosure, my odyssey with things Bungie began nearly two decades ago with the Macintosh version of Pathways into Darkness.  As arguably the first FPS on the Mac, I had to give it a shot as all my PC buddies were discussing this “Wolf 3d” nonsense.  With typical Bungie style, hideous creatures and a convoluted story encompassing both the game and printed manual awaited me in the jungles of the Yucatan.  Oh yes, I’ve played them all.  The Marathon trilogy.  Minotaur after the fact.  Myth 1 and 2.  Oni.  A Halo ring has fallen by my hands, and I did finish the fight several times over.  I’m not saying there weren’t mis-steps along the way.  Pathways was too hard on the ammo allotments.  Oni wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t engaging.  Myth had a terrifically difficult series of missions.  Halo 2 was, well.  Halo 2.

Mis-steps.  That’s really the crux of most video game reviews.  Halo (1) had The Library, and a lot of back tracking over ground you thought you already cleared.  Halo 2 was narratively schizophrenic with some questionable game balance choices, and I suspect I’ll never play the campaign ever again because of some of these choices.  Halo 3 was very linear and had a terrible endgame (level Cortana, I’m looking at you).  Halo : ODST had a pre-perception by many to be a flawed experience or an expansion pack to Halo 3, but I think that turned out to be more a he-said she-said victim between Bungie and Microsoft regarding the pricing point on release, I think.

Reach has it’s own flaws and mis-steps.  Speaking from the perspective of an older gamer who often has to step away and pause the game, I appreciate deep campaigns.  You try telling xBox live participants on the other team to not shoot you, as you’ve got to get the kid some milk or her meds!  Anyway, the Reach campaign is very short.  Varied, but very short.  It does have the advantage of not having a single player level that I want to beat my head against the controller, Sesame Street Don Music style in rage or despair.

Continue reading “Halo: Reach Review” »

First things first.  Watch this video.

Next, react to said video.


Now, read our reactions to previously stated video, and perhaps add some thoughts of your own:

Mike: That is pretty awesome!

Matt: Wow, that is incredibly huge.

Mike: That sort of map making and the ability to share is badass.

Matt: What’s up with the flying flock of mongeese?

Mike: I suppose my worry with a map that large is that 16 people will make for a pretty sparse game. I suppose you can build a large wall or structure to hold people in one area if you wanted.

Matt: Imagine maps with all the new loadouts and gametypes.  Invasion across a giant map!  I wonder if they’ll let us customize invasion maps, this one would be killer in so many different ways!

Mike: Well they said you can do all kinds of crazy stuff.  King of the hill where the hill is a vehicle and all that. It would be great to create a huge air-suspended tower in the middle of the map, with the new “fixed” feature, that spirals way into the sky, with the “hill” at the top.  Jet packs required, for sure!

Matt: Yeah, now imagine some “King of the Warthog” with nothing but fixed man-cannons!  Chasing it around mid-air!  This really, really makes me want to start forging.  I never really tried because I couldn’t get the hang of placing things, but the new system seems to make it really easy.

Mike
Outside of my conversation with Matt, I had some additional thoughts regarding Forge World. The effort the devs have put into this is clearly immense. It extends the replay value of Reach far beyond what any other game on the Xbox has even considered possible.

Any additional game content is always welcome. Free game content even more so. Additional, Free, user-generated game content is the crown jewel of replay value in my eyes. Sure Forge isn’t exactly new, but the level of accessibility now built in like the additional geometry “states” and geometry snapping makes it far more likely that we will see far more superbly executed maps and custom games in no time.

The only piece of the puzzle that I would say is missing would be the ability to play public games on Forge maps. I’m not suggesting that games on Forge maps should be ranked, but it would be awesome to see a public lobby that allows users to play matches against strangers. Bungie could allow users to vote on maps, and rotate through the top 10-15 user-generated maps to create an always-fluctuating playlist with years of replayability.

Regardless, this will no doubt be a game I pick up the day it is released.