Aratio's Halo: Reach Review

[aratio]

~Disclaimer

I would like to point out there will be no leaked pictures or videos in this thread. All screenshots in this thread were released by Bungie or given permission to be shown. Please, respect the game and the work that the developers put into it. Would also like to say this game was gotten and reviewed through legal means. I am not a halo pro or professional. I am only a fan of the series. At the time of this review, 70 hours were logged in only to custom games. enjoy~


Alright with that out of the way, let's get started. Feel free to ask questions regarding the game or any other sections of the game you want to be reviewed.


Posts index
1-3: Maps,Custom games
4: Forge and FireFight
5: Campaign(no spoilers) and Weapons



The Custom Team

Aratio
David
Dubshot
Miss Frosti
The Pro
Berserk
Tacoooooo
Jester
Miss impurity
Emmaa Stone

and some guests.

[aratio]

Maps



http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100803101521325_640w.jpg

Zealot
Recommended players: 2-8
Recommended gametypes: FFA
Thoughts: When the countdown was going down, I was excited. I had such high expectations for this map. Let me get one thing straight, however. This is NOT Midship and does NOT play like it. It is its very own map. My first game on this map and on this game was FFA with reviewers and Mark of Bungie. Some interesting things about the map are the lifts. Bottom mid, there are little cannons that lift you over to the side of the map you are facing. This is great for getting to a part of the map I died at and know the guy is weak or want to help a teammate in trouble. Also, The Space area was very well done. Your jump was about 3 or 4 times than normal, and grenades will just keep going in the direction thrown without dropping. This map should not be compared to Midship. If you do that, you will only be disappointed.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100803100314740_640w.jpg

Reflection
Recommended players: 4-10
Recommended gametypes: FFA, Team Slayer
Thoughts: Another remake of Halo 2's Ivory Tower. This map has quite some differences. Some sketchy and others interesting. Some examples would be there are now two more air lifts near shotgun spawn in Ivory Tower. Both on opposite sides of eachother. I mainly recommend Team Slayer for the map, but FFA isn't too bad. You will have a lot of people camping those lifts. Team Slayer is a blast and all the games we played seem to become a 49-48 or 49-49 game. I loved it.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100803101614824_640w.jpg

Spire
Recommended players: 10-16
Recommended gametypes: Big Team Slayer, Infection
Thoughts: To be honest, I did not play very many games on this map. I played a couple slayers and a lot of infection. With the right settings, this map is really a blast for infection. At one point I was last alive being chased. I went up the lift to reach the top of the spire. After having 15 seconds left, I jumped off and aimed for the lifts at the bottom of the map that keep you alive. Needless to say, I died because I missed, but it still gave me that rush.


http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-the-beta-maps-20100407021545723_640w.jpg

Powerhouse
Recommended players: 4-8
Recommended gametypes: 2v2, 3v3, Infection
Thoughts: There are a couple changes on this map for those who played the Beta. There is a human sniper rifle, updated Rock Path to be a bit more smooth, and Office has a few visual changes. The map is not centered towards those competitive players and will most likely be mainly used in playlists for messing around. I don't see this being in Arena or lasting very long in it. Has a lot of potential with the new Forge, however.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-the-beta-maps-20100407021526411_640w.jpg

Swordbase
Recommended players: 4-10
Recommended gametypes: Team SWAT, Team Slayer, Oddball
Thoughts: Not much change from the Beta version from what I have noticed. This maps plays out pretty well with the Frag grenades being nerfed a bit. Oddball was a lot of fun for the guys running customs with me and is in my top 5. You can see some of Sage's influence in this map and Boardwalk for those who played Shadowrun.

Maps continued

[aratio]

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100722114237915_640w.jpg

Forge World(aka your new bff)
Recommended players: 1-16
Recommended gametypes: anything
Thoughts: There is not much for me to review with just the map alone. It takes you a good few minutes to fly through the entire map. Forge World is the largest map thus far in the franchise. With so many areas, you can easily waste the whole night away with a few buddies forging a completely random map. In the words of Luke Timmins, "I'm playing with my friends having a beer....it's awesome!"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100722114148870_640w.jpg

The Cage
Recommended players: 6-12
Recommended gametypes: FFA
Thoughts: The Cage is simply one of the first maps made with Forge World. Made by a couple of Bungie employees while testing Forge World. It is a simple map that can be made by most people in the community and nothing really special from what I have played. Very few of the custom team liked the map except for when just wanting to do stupid things at 4am. You also have to be careful not to fall off a lot.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100722114226587_640w.jpg

"Ascension"
Recommended players: 6-16
Recommended gametypes: Tower of Power, Team Slayer, Lava Man
Thoughts: Remake of Halo 2's Ascension. Weapon spawns and such are the exact same. some differences in the two maps would be the texture and jumps you can now perform to get to other places easier. There is no ledge that you can jump to next OV bridge and no ledge at the very bottom of the map. It is difficult to get on top of the ledge on the spinning structure and on the top ledge next to plat sniper spawn. Tower of Power and Lava Man were played 7 hours straight at one point for our custom team. You will remember those good ol' days when you are playing this map for the first time.


There is currently no known screenshot of this map that has been released by Bungie or released with permission. If you have a non 'leaked' screenshot, pm me.
"Sanctuary"
Recommended players: 6-8
Recommended gametypes: 3v3, 4v4, CTF
Thoughts: Remake of Halo 2's Sanctuary. The map has a lot of differences compared to the original. There are now more rocks for cover on both sides of the map as well as a couple tiny textures in the wall you can jump onto found by our custom team. Another difference would be the rock to jump through the window to middle. You no longer have to jump onto the rock or through the middle. You can sprint onto the rock and keep sprinting straight into the window. This is useful for taking back control of mid or ring 3 and is a lot of fun to do with a sword. Now you will be Fraggin Like A Pro.
Fun fact: You can sprint jump and hold crouch onto the ledge to get into the room above shotgun spawn(There is no block there to help you like in Halo 2.)

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/800px-Reach_mpbeta_boneyard_001.jpg
Boneyard
Recommended players: 16
Recommended gametypes: Invasion
Thoughts: I have not played this map in a custom on retail version. This is basically an all-out war map with vehicles and one team with height advantage. This map will be available to play on the Invasion playlist once Reach falls.



Need a non 'leaked' screenshot of this map. PM me if you have one.
Boardwalk
Recommended players: 8-12
Recommended gametypes: Team SWAT, Team Snipers, CTF
Thoughts: This map has so many different ways to navigate to the other side. I personally do not like this map for FFA or Team Slayer whatsoever, but SWAT and Snipers makes it seem a lot better. We ran a lot of CTF on this map and it turned out to be a lot of fun. most of us rank it in our top 5 map + gametype. There is a lot of sneaking involved in this map, so it is fun to play without radar. You can tell Sage had a liking to this map. Also a great map for Hide and Seek.



Need a non 'leaked' screenshot of this map. PM me if you have one.
Countdown
Recommended players: 8-12
Recommended gametypes: FFA, Team Slayer, SWAT
Thoughts: Fun map to play on. With so many air lifts, there are many ways to navigate through the map. You have to be careful because you will never know who or what will be on the other side of the lift. Most of the action seems to take place near the outside area. There have been many found jumps on this map. This map can be a bit chaotic in FFA.

[aratio]

Custom Games

Gametypes

Assault
Capture the Flag
Headhunter
Infection
Invasion
Juggernaut
King of the Hill
Oddball
Race
Slayer
Stockpile
Territories



Custom Game Options
I will only list interesting or new options not in previous games

Abilities on map(Armor abilities can be picked up)
Indestructible vehicles
Advanced respawn settings(Synchronize with team, traits, ect)
Visible name
Immune to asassinations
Immune to headshots
Loadout Settings



Loadouts


In Halo: Reach, you are given the ability to have set loadouts to start out with upon spawn. In some gametypes, new loadouts become available as the game progresses. Here are some of the options you can customize with loadouts.


You can customize loadouts specifically FOR the race the player plays as. For example, you can customize Elites to start with the armor lock ability and plasma grenades while the spartans start out with the Sprint ability and Frags.

You can customize each of the loadouts to your liking(Starting weapons, how many grenades, ect.)

These loadouts don't have to be the same throughout an entire game. Bungie has given you the ability to customize Tier loadouts. This means the loadouts can change as the games progress. You currently have the option for 3 different Tier Loadouts.

[aratio]

Forge

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g187/reborn16/halo-reach-20100722114233993_640w.jpg

Thoughts
This game's forge is phenomenal. It greatly exceeded my expectations.

I did not see the Forge World vidoc before playing so I was in for a surprise. with the ability to make every single thing and every detail like this has really shown that Bungie wanted to go out with a blast. They may decide to slack on making map packs because of this.

What really got me was the Physics of the object you are holding in Forge.

Normal - See halo 3
Fixed - Object stays in the exact position when you let go of it
Phased - Object is Fixed as well as able to be blended or partially inside of another object


Menu for Forge

Weapons, Human
Weapons, Covenant
Armor Abilities
Vehicles
Gadgets(interesting stuff in there)
Spawning
Objectives
Scenery
Structure

[aratio]

Reserved-

You may now post.

[TACO]

wat...........

[aratio]

updating. Thanks whoever deleted their post earlier.

I will be out for a few hours. I will update the rest of the posts with the review tonight.

[Peridious]

Great thread! Excited to see the rest of your review.

[Mr P]

Nice job I want to see more !!

[heuer89]

Nice job I want to see more !!

Agreed :) Looks pretty good so far!

[wookiemanx]

Eagerly awaiting more.

[aratio]

Updated two more maps. Will be updating throughout the night, so keep an eye out.

[itwuzmagik]

Great post's keep em coming :)

[aratio]

If anyone has a screenshot of Boardwalk that is not 'leaked' drop me a PM and I will update it into the Maps.

[heuer89]

If anyone has a screenshot of Boardwalk that is not 'leaked' drop me a PM and I will update it into the Maps.

The write-ups you have completed so far seem very well thought out, get to the point, explain a lot about the subject and don't even take up that much space. Great job aratio, you seem like you'd be able to write some good articles for TLN. :)

Also: check out some of the vids Bungie themselves have released. Boardwalk is one of the maps they went through I believe. Just take a screenshot, crop the sides out, reference the url of the video and you should be good to go! :)

[aratio]

^Thanks for both of those.

I decided not to look at any of the actual gameplay videos other than some Vidoc's before playing. I wanted to go through the maps myself first fresh and run customs so I can form my own opinion on the maps based off my playstyle. It is hard to judge a map from someone else's playstyle imo.


Updated a couple more maps.


For Sanctuary, I do not have a non-leaked screenshot of the map. I will dig around for one but in the meantime, enjoy some tips I included in the description of the map to make up for it.

Would any of you be interested in a tips section or fun facts about the maps? I don't want to give away too much about these maps so you can explore them yourself but I will leave it up to you.

[heuer89]

I got you covered aratio. I merged them for ya. :p If you ever need anything merged, etc please feel free to just drop me a PM with whatever you need. :)

[Bsarnn21]

Can't wait to see the rest

[aratio]

Updated and edited.

I am down for the night. I will update the last couple maps and move on to Forge in the morning. Will also fix all spelling and grammar mistakes for I am bound to have some typing this at 3am.

[Bsarnn21]

Is getting up onto ring 3 on the sanctuary remake anything like getting onto it in halo 2?

[Mr P]

I am so pumped for this game !!

[Mr P]

I am playing this game for sure !! can't wait !!

[aratio]

Is getting up onto ring 3 on the sanctuary remake anything like getting onto it in halo 2?

No, Bungie made it clear with this release of Asylum that they do not want you up there. So far, there is only one known way and it really is too much a hassle and will get you killed anyway.

However, you can now get on top of the sniper building on both sides very easily(no superbouncing...) The area has plenty of cover, can see the ENTIRE map, and is absolutely devastating if a good sniper is up there. this makes for exciting CTF games. If MLG does not like it, it won't be hard for them to forge so it is impossible to get up there.

[heuer89]

No, Bungie made it clear with this release of Asylum that they do not want you up there. So far, there is only one known way and it really is too much a hassle and will get you killed anyway.

However, you can now get on top of the sniper building on both sides very easily(no superbouncing...) The area has plenty of cover, can see the ENTIRE map, and is absolutely devastating if a good sniper is up there. this makes for exciting CTF games. If MLG does not like it, it won't be hard for them to forge so it is impossible to get up there.

You can always just place death barriers / soft kill barriers up there as well. Like the 10 seconds to return to the map type of thing. That way you can jump up there, try and get a nice kill, and get down in time before the 10 seconds is up. Gah! I can't wait to play this game!

[aratio]

We will just have to wait and see what KC thinks of it. If it's too powerful of a position or not.

Working on Custom games now then on to Forge.

[itwuzmagik]

I like the whole tiered load out thing. Keep the reviews coming :)

[Mr P]

I really enjoyed the post, very cool can't wait for it. If there is anything else thats good that you want to share do not hesitate !!

[aratio]

Forge and Firefight coming up now.

Also, it seems the sprinting onto the rock and directly through the window on Asylum only works with the right settings. it cannot be done on classic or normal slayer.

^ I am listing all I can without giving too much away. If you guys have any questions or want me to do another section on something, feel free to post it.

[Bsarnn21]

That's a bummer about Ring 3 :/

[aratio]

With the new spot on top of sniper structure, you do not need to be ring 3. you can see the whole map up there easily with cover, which is what ring 3 lacked a lot of.

It can still be forged in there with MLG settings, so you don't need to worry.


updated names of custom team on first post.

[Bsarnn21]

True, What's up with the custom team? Are you running customs once it comes out? If you are im definatly intrested.

[aratio]

The custom team are the people who played with me over splitscreen, system link, or xlink to help with this review. There is a thread for customs once Reach comes out, though. You should add your name on the list.

[Bsarnn21]

Gotcha, and lol I made that thread. I was just hoping to get into some more customs.

[aratio]

didn't see that. my b

Going to finish up the rest of the review through the night.

[itwuzmagik]

Wow keep this up i'm really excited for the forge stuff :)