In Response To: What I liked about Halo: Reach *SP* (Schooly D)
: One thing that I think was lost as Halo's story twisted and turned and
: matured was the feeling of anger and hopelessness that the Covenant threat
: originally instilled.
: Originally, back when I read The Fall of Reach and played the original Halo,
: I hated the Covenant. Hated hated hated. They were this unknown, faceless,
: nigh-invincible death machine that was killing the human race for no
: reason. It was Us versus Them, and they (almost) always won. Everything
: humans did seemed futile.
: But then what happened? More Halo games were released. The Covenant backstory
: was fleshed out, they were humanized, and some races even joined our side.
: The general setting of the Halo universe shifted from the Covenant
: destroying the better part of the human race almost unobstructed, to
: Humans and Covenant sort of bouncing around the universe, fighting in
: exotic locales on mostly even terms. Team A, Team B, here are your
: weapons, okay, fight. In Halo 2 you actually played AS Covenant for a few
: missions. Which is all fine as far as story is concerned. But it really
: affected how the whole thing feels to you.
: But Halo: Reach rekindled my anger at the Covenant. And it also rekindled
: that feeling of hopelessness I used to get, knowing that even though there
: are small victories here and there, everything's still going to hell in a
: handbasket. During the game, each of your missions, which feel like
: enormous tasks to you, have negligible impact on the state of the
: conflict. You're doing everything you can but nothing is changing.
: There are a couple of good examples of this I can readily recall from the
: game. Moments when your stomach gets heavy and you feel much smaller than
: you felt a moment ago.
: The first is when Jorge sacrifices himself to blow up that Covenant cruiser.
: The whole mission to destroy the cruiser was this huge deal. Space
: battles, hordes of enemies, countless UNSC resources, etc. Plus one
: Spartan's life. And before the wreckage of the destroyed cruiser is even
: cooled off, like 15 more Covenant vessels of the same or greater size
: unfold right next to it, all so quickly the warning message can't even
: keep up.
: I got such a strong feeling at that point. It wasn't a good feeling, it was
: one of hopelessness and despair, but it was a more potent feeling than any
: Halo game has given me since Halo 1. And I loved it.
: The other notable occasion was during the last part of the last mission. I
: spent the past hour killing scores of Covenant enemies on and around the
: landing pad. And then I got into the MAC cannon and started dropping
: Phantoms and Banshees as quickly as I could reload. And after the credits
: rolled, I'm greeted by the scene of Noble Six standing around looking
: forlorn as Covenant airships fly around the sky routinely, as if doing
: morning patrols. Despite everything you had done up to that point, every
: enemy you killed, every aircraft you brought down, it didn't matter. The
: Covenant own this area now. You don't have anyone left. And in the
: game's final act you engage in the single most obviously futile exercise
: you've ever performed in any Halo game.
: When does Halo: Reach 2 come out?
I felt the same way through much of the campaign. When that poor frigate gets WASTED by the Super Carrier, that's when my heart first dropped. Then Jorge, Kat, Carter, Emile, all the dead civilians, were cut down by overwhelming force.
By my last stand, I was one angry sonofabitch. 'From hell's heart, I stab at thee.' It all made Halsey's epilogue all the more sweeter. I really felt like I contributed, even though it cost my life.
Bravo, Bungie.
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