Halo: Reach, a prequel to previous Halo titles is arguably the year’s most-anticipated Xbox 360 game. It’s also developer Bungie’s last ever Halo outing before moving onto new game shaped pastures. It’s not in shops till 14th September, but we’ve just been given a first UK look at the single player campaign, multiplayer and level editor, Forge by Bungie themselves. How’s it shaping up? Read on to find out.
Yesterday afternoon we headed to the Churchill War Rooms, an underground bunker in London used by Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War – what better place to get our first proper UK look at Halo: Reach. We were joined by Campaign Designer, Niles Sankey and Bungie’s Community Director, Brian Jarrard, who told us why Halo: Reach is the best in the series yet.
Halo: Reach is “…the biggest Halo game we’ve ever made. Halo: Combat Evolved was our inspiration. We want to recapture that magic,” he said. We were then shown the intro to Reach and a demo of Reach’s first level, before getting hands-on with the Firefight mode.
Single player campaign
Our look at the single player campaign started off with the game’s intro. Reach is a prequel taking us back to when the Spartans were making their last stand against the Covenant. A scene showing a panning shot of a Spartan helmet with a bullet hole in its centre hints at the carnage to come before fading into the start of proceedings.
We start off with a group of Noble Team Spartans whose first objective is to respond to a distress call. “Stay focussed” one shouted. At this point Bungie’s Niles Sankey commented on the new improved graphics and level design. “It’s wide open, players can play it in many different ways.” He went on to tell us that everything is improved, even the AI animation.
As the play continued we watched as our Spartans investigated structures for dodgy activity. The surrounding is bare at this point, besides a few ostrich like animals running freely. “They will impact the gameplay experience in many ways,” apparently.
You’ll also come across the civilian population of Planet Reach. “We wanted to portray the tragedy. They are the victims.” Eventually the team stumble onto some corpses, before panic erupts. “I see movement!” Soon lots of enemies come at you from all angles. It’s the Covenant. They’re invading, and being dropped by large spaceships.
After taking the aliens out the team grab a vehicle, which handily has a gun turret atop. “We’ve gotta find the source of that distress call,” they said before coming under fire once more. “We are under attack from the Covenant!” Bungie then brought an end to our look at the campaign mode. “The story is just beginning. The game really picks up,” Sankey said.
Forge level editor
Brian Jarrad, Bungie’s Community Manager said the level editor that appeared in Halo 3 is “bigger and better” in Reach, letting you “build complex structures more easily.” Bungie’s really gone to town it seems. They’ve created their own massive level for multiplayer for all players to play - Forge World. It’s “the biggest environment we’ve ever created for multiplayer” Jarrad explained. We got to play it later. He wasn’t kidding.
To create levels It’ll offer better tools this time around. It’s the LittleBigPlanet of first-person shooters. Well, not quite, but it is more intuitive than previously. Handy tools to make level editing easier include the ability to make objects float without piling lots of things under them, then taking them away as a long winded workaround. Instead you can now select an object, (Jarrad used a massive boulder) use a “fixed” tool and set it to float. A similar process can be used to make objects fuse into one another using the “Phased” tool letting you “mush” together objects. Jarrad then hopped into a new Falcon helicopter to show us how big the world is. It’s big. And with over 150 bits of unique structure to play with there’s scope for all kinds of level building madness. You could tell they can’t wait to see what other players will come up with.
Firefight mode (multiplayer)
Those familiar with the Halo franchise will recognise the Firefight mode letting you face-off against waves of enemies. As most Halo fans will know, it’s back. Speaking about it Brian Jarrad explained that Bungie wanted to bring it back, along with matchmaking and added customisation to improve the Firefight experience.
You’ll be able to make the Firefight experience your own. We were shown how players can set different properties to each wave, including placing limits on the number of waves you’ll have to fend off and the time limit to do so. You’ll also be able to select the types of enemies you’ll come up against. For example you can face an initial wave of Jackals, Elites or “whatever suits you.” Other wave options include being able to change the ‘shootiness’ of enemies.
Then there’s the addition of Skulls in Firefight, which players can pick up off the floor. These will impact on gameplay. Some will benefit players by giving them double running speed and health, while others will take away health.
Jarrad also explained the Rocketfight mode. It’s basically a multiplayer mode with the addition of infinite ammo toting rocket launchers. Everyone likes exploding things. Right? The Versus mode – a round-based head-to-head affair pitting Spartans and Elites against each other is “even better than ever” Jarrad added.
We soon got a chance to have more than a few hours worth of play on different modes that had us protecting a series of generators from Covenant attack, Versus mode where we could play as the Covenant alongside its army against a group of Spartans and the Slayer mode (think team deathmatch). If you’ve already played the beta you’ll have some idea of what to expect. Fans will be glad to know it plays as Halo should.
On harder difficulties the Firefight mode is a particular challenge, with enemies coming at you from all directions and of varying size and weapons. Running out of ammo involves a customary mad dash to the nearest ammo stockpile, or ransacking deceased foes. Setting foot down on the new Forge World map it’s as massive as Bungie said it is. Some bits of land are even a tad too large for our liking. We kept getting run over by vehicles with acres to the next hidey spot! And you of course get to purchase new items with the credits you’ve earned after each round ranging from shoulder pads, to helmets and more.
In all a lot of care has clearly gone into making sure Halo: Reach builds on everything that made the first game such a master blaster, and making it quadruply times better. If you’re a Halo fan it looks like you’ll be in for a treat come 14th September.
Out 14 September | £TBC | Bungie
