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| A for effort? | |
| Posted By: Jillybean <jillybean@bungie.org> | Date: 9/18/10 9:57 a.m. |
In Response To: Hawaiian Pig's Fantabulous Story Review *SP* (Hawaiian Pig) I definitely missed the traditional epic sized Halo battle that Reach didn't have. Having Emile rush you through the middle of Pillar of Autumn on a mongoose just makes you wish you could get stuck in - but know you can't because you're on a mission. Sigh. I partially disagree with you on the story. Yes, the team dynamic is not handled well. The plot of each level is interchangeable. The sabre section is odd (but great fun, there I disagree with Cody too). But what Reach does do is something I've been complaining about for several games now. The Covenant were always more sympathetic for me. We were simply told "They glass planets" but in the previous games, what did we see? In Halo they're a fractured battle group, finding something of great cultural importance to them, which we promptly blow up because our AI tells us to. In Halo 2, the Arbiter blows us away with a brilliantly told story, we know who he is, we know his trials, we see the betrayal of the Elites. We find out more about the Flood and we're betrayed again. Halo 3 shoves that story on a backburner and tries to make us care about the super soldier and the AI (and depending on your viewpoint, it either works or it doesn't - I maintain Halo 3 is the weakest of all the games). ODST then, like you say, is a personal story about a grunt. He pieces together the story of his team, and you also get the story of Virgil, which is an omniprescient guide you actually care about, unlike Cortana and her delightful damsel in distress routine. Reach doesn't need a damsel in distress - that's Reach itself. And it makes the Covenant horrifying again. You're first faced with the problems within humanity, the rebels and the obvious distrust that the SPARTANS are met with. This is a society under a great deal of pressure. It's a community who has a battalion stationed down the road and the Germans across the channel. Six fights faceless Covies, frightening Covies. She is on her own, wounded and limping through an occupied city. She can use skills that only she has to take the fight to them. She manages to needle them constantly, as one woman against a whole army. She is definitely the Lone Wolf, considering you're always split up from the rest of Noble Team. If Reach does one thing well, it shows you how useless the fight is. How Halo actually becomes a turning point, shows us the chink in the Covenant's armour. Reach grounds you. It's just a shame Six is far more charismatic than the Chief ever was.
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