Have you been wanting some real information on Halo Reach? Well, guess what? Your prayers have been answered. Game Informer has published an article about Reach in their February issue, and a couple helpful people have put it online for you to see. If you would like to see the screens go to All Games Beta and for a better idea of what is said go to The Mind Channel. For an even better look, and more information, subscribe to Game Informer or buy the February issue.
- Reach will NOT follow the book, Fall of Reach.
- We play as Spartan IIIs. Jorge is the only Spartan II on the team, and as a result is larger.
- Carter 259 and Kat 320 are the only members of their original squad.
- Jorge is a heavy weapons specialist.
- “Skully” now has a name, Emile 239. He’s the silent type of the game.
- The sniper is called Jun 266. He’s thoughtful and taciturn.
- We can customise the appearance of the Lone Wolf by a small degree. Awesome.
- The game is apparently darker than any of the other Halo games, even more so than ODST.
- Human Insurrectionists are possibly in the game
- Bungie have once again made the Covenant more dangerous and frightening, as they were in Halo 1.
- Covenant soldiers no longer speak English, they speak in their own languages.
- A new enemy like a Jackal has been introduced, named a “Skirmisher.” They are deadly and cunning enemies that attack in packs, and flank secure positions.
- Graphics have been improved drastically, as proven by in-magazine comparisons.
- Elites are back, and are more ferocious than ever.
- Larger scale combat will be in Reach. Where only 20 AI at a time could be on screen in Halo 3, now over 40 AI and 20 vehicles can be present at a time.
- Scenes are more cinematic.
- Noble Team splits up at a point in the story, but it seems they soon get back together.
- Health Bar is back along with energy shield.
- Single shot rifle like the Halo 2 E3 demo is in the game, named the Designated Marksman Rifle (DRM)
- Sniper, AR and Magnum make a return. Gun sounds are more realistic.
- Needler Rifle is in the game, a mid-range headshot capable weapon.
- Spike Grenades and Flame Grenades are out. Only frags and plasma remain.
- Helicopter Transport is called the Falcon.
- Civillian vehicles are now drivable.
- Fully stealthy gameplay is now possible.
- Assassinations are possible with a knife by holding down the melee button.
- Sprinting is now possible through an equipment like mechanic.
- Spirits, the Covenant drop ship in CE, return in Reach, alongside Phantoms.
- Grunts look a lot more menacing.
- Motion Tracker seems compressed, like an oval rather than the Halo 3 circle.
- Hud is yellow rather than blue.
- Marines look vaguely like Halo 1 marines.
- Phantoms now have a flashlight, like the one seen in the ODST announcement trailer.
- Elites seem taller, and are no longer hunched.
- All features from Halo 3 (Forge, Theatre, Co-op) make a comeback along with several new ones.
- We will be shown what Reach looks like before it is destroyed. We will see the levels of destruction progress as we get further through the game, implying the game takes place over a longish period of time.
Are you looking forward to the new additions and/or old implementations like the Needler Rifle or the Health system? Tell us what you think in the comments (no sign up is necessary).
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Halo Reach FTW.
all i have to say about halo reach is that it will be AWSOME!
****SPOILERS****
“We play as Spartan IIIs. Jorge is the only Spartan II on the team, and as a result is larger.”
I’m not sure how you are playing as Spartan IIIs… maybe I’m not remembering correctly, but the only Spartan III’s to come in contact with Spartan II’s are in a Dyson Sphere at the moment with Catherine Halsey.
Did I miss something or did some Spartan III’s survive their constant suicide missions? I thought only 2 Spartan III’s survived, and they certainly weren’t adults – they were all still kids on all of their missions.
I can’t wait. Sounds like it’s going to be far more true to Halo 1 than any other game.
Looks similar to Republic Commando.
i cant wait this game is gonna be so amazing
Didn’t you jack this from a user on bungie that made this thread?
seeing how you posted this AFTER he did, i believe so. you could at least give him the credit seeing how he typed the review and you didn’t.
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=40433028&postRepeater1-p=1
@ Grey,
First off read the full post and see that links are available to where I got the info from. I didn’t see it on bungie.net, I saw it on a random blog.
look, who cares about canon, i do to an extreme….but i want this game NOW
Looks similar to Republic Commando…
@ Terry
I’m sure ONI decided to steal away some Spartan III’s to make an elite team, and chalked it up to being they were lost in a suicidal battle. For instance, they took a Spartan II away as if he died/MIA and had him train the Spartan III’s, while all the rest of the Spartan II’s thought he was dead…thanks ONI.
As well, they may be from the first Spartan III program. Remember, they did 3-4 year training and gave bio-chems to boost growth. So they could actually be about 17-21 years old. I’m sure when your 12 years old and look like your 18 after getting those chems, you’ll look like 30 when you get to be 18.
>Phantoms now have a flashlight, like the one seen in the ODST announcement trailer.
Did you mean SEARCHLIGHT?
way to be late to the party koku
halo sucks OSDT OR whatever that shit called sucks there were good games back then now they just suck rather play borderland.
Naw from the start of the S-III’s Oni has been taking small groups out of each class and training them for even deeper ops in to space. some of them are old to. they make jokes about not having kids.
@billy
Good point, but personally I’d like something like that be released first by books or video – I don’t want my canon to be made strictly from the games – there’s too much history already established to allow the game designers to continue to make it up as they go along.
It was good when halo was new and they had nothing to work on or base it off of, but there’s already been a full history and back story established for this particular universe, including the Spartan III’s.
Perhaps they’ll release a book to go along with this story – a sideline to Reach.
What I wouldn’t understand though is how these particular Spartan’s did not have any contact with the Spartan’s holding down fort when the Covenant were glassing the place – they all use the same communication bands.
Then you take into account how it took a while for the Spartan II’s to get comfortable with the existence of the Spartan III’s in Ghost and accept them – it took a lot of teamwork and battle together in the book to do so, as well as an older Spartan leading the way. Without that connection I can’t imagine it’d be easy for the one Spartan II to accept being a part of a Spartan III team.
But these are all my issues, I’m sure the game will still be awesome.
Isn’t this game out of Bungie’s hands, I.E. Bungie’s not making it?
Maybe it won’t suck like Halo 3 did. Hopefully…
@Terry, did you not read the post, it says exactly, “This will NOT follow the story in Fall of Reach” sorry to break it to you bud I know it’s going to be hard grasping that.
HALO REACH FTW!!!
I never really appreciated Halo 2 and 3 loved the original but Reach definitely looks promising.
@Jon I understand it’s not following the story of “The Fall of Reach” the book, but if it’s still happening on reach then the only time it can have anything to do with the covenant is during the event The Fall of Reach.
HALO REACH LOOKS BEAST LOVE NEEDLERS MY FAVORITE WEPEON
IMA OWN ALL YALL BITCHES At THIS! >:D
@nightmarishd
yea…because the last non bungie halo game whent extreamly well…(halo wars)
most people who hate halo 3 are the people that cant play it…
and halo reach looks promising…I would of liked to see a little bit from the books but it dosent bother me,the game will be amazing anyway
I never really appreciated Halo 2 and 3 loved the original but Reach definitely looks promising.
Does halo reach come with all the maps ?
Sounds Awesome
apparently it involves natal and giving Master Chief a helping hand
halo reach will be the best game of this year but i think it could be a bit better