Halo Reach/Black Ops Review

[JSF16]

Now I love both Black Ops and Halo reach, I consider them both excellently made games. Long story short here, I’m going to review and compare them both to each other. Let the clash of the titans, begin!

 

Halo Reach:

 

Bungies last hurr-ah to Halo is fantastic, nothing less. I really love this game, it’s got one of the best campaigns of the series and the online multiplayer is something other games can only dream of.

Campaign: This game definitely gave the player a better connection to the player than before. As Noble Six, fighting alongside Noble team against the Covenant during the Fall of Reach I felt quite closely connected to him, the incredible armor customization helped for sure.

 

The story wasn’t phenomenal itself, though far from bad. Well-written, it has a few twists to it and the ending is really shocking and awesomely dramatic. However I didn’t quite get a sense of total tragedy, of fighting a lost cause against impossible odds, not to the extent I had hoped.

 

The characters didn’t really help a huge amount, despite attempts to humanize them they were still largely emotionless killers, rather devoid of humanity. Carter, the boring and emotionally dead commander, Kat was better but I never really got attached. Jorge, same thing although he exhibited more personality that the others. Jun was my favorite for sure, and Emile was fun, but faceless and more robot than human.

 

Game play is phenomenal, best vehicle controls of any game bar none for sure. Controls are easy to learn, fluid and effective. The addition of armor abilities is really awesome (Jet pack in the air as an elite sword charges you, it’s fun!) I know some people have whined that Halo stole from CoD with sprint and to those people I can truly and honestly say, shut up. Using a concept which is very sensible (Super soldier should be able to run) is not a lack of creativity. Besides plenty of games before CoD had sprinting (Half-Life 2)

 

Oh, and this game has some of the mot cunning and dangerous AI conceived. Elites will roll and duck for cover, recharge their shields, dodge your attacks and throw grenades with deadly aim.

 

Gotta love the multiplayer and the armory idea, fantastic! New gametypes are wicked (Invasion FTW!) and the basic, wild and zanily fun multiplayer trademark of Halo is better than ever in Reach, especially with some awesome Halo 2 remakes (Hooray for Blood Gulch!)

 

Now one of my favorite aspects of Reach is, without a doubt, the sheer creativity implemented in it, particularly the Forge. Nothing else can equal it (Excluding Garry’s Mod) and it is so simple to get the hang of and learn more about. You want to create a fantastic elaborate floating city? Sure! A giant cannons that shoots ATVs are a pile of explosives? Why not? Or even just spell out you name in the sky with street cones, its all fun!

But of course what is a good map without a good game? Modify the load outs, player traits, vehicle traits, and physics. You want to jump three hundred percent higher, run twice as fast with an instant-kill golf club? It’s all your choice.

 

This extends to firefight where you can fight waves of enemy soldiers. Choose what kind of enemies are in each wave, their difficulty, what kind of challenges you want added to the game and when, your traits, physics, etc. It’s all yours! Me and my friends will often run around like idiots, surrounded by hunters while we jump high in the air and shoot unlimited pistol ammunition, it’s all great fun!

 

A good, solid campaign, unparalleled multiplayer where your imaginations the limit, Reach is definitely the best game of 2010.

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 

This game is great to be sure. The campaign is fun and the plot is well-though out and very intense at times, although the game play is so narrow I don’t really care to replay it. Gameplay wise, it’s almost the same, if not the same, as the last couple of CoD titles. You can sprint, knife, go down the sights, etc. Most of the interesting new assassinations from behind are scripted, a pity.

 

Multiplayer-wise, it’s a blast. I really enjoy sometimes just squeezing off a few shots and dropping someone, as opposed to hosing down their shields first like in Halo. The class-creation is great as always, I do enjoy that you can’t take a shotgun/SMG as a secondary gun now (I also think the whole CoD money thing seems a little suspiciously similar to Reach’s) Although the matchmaking system is messed up. I don’t like how it will dump you into a game in progress, especially if the game is almost over and/or you’re on the loosing side. And when it gets you started, often it seems it just picked people at random, mixing Level 70s, 60ss and 50s with 10, 9, and 20s. Why?

 

The maps are fun, except Hanoi which I find too stressful and generally annoying. Speaking of stress though, after about two hours of this game I really must get off and play something less stressful like Team Fortress 2.

 

Zombies is back and great as ever, although The Theater map is too big in my opinion, and way too dark, literally. I want to see my enemies! Personally, I’ve always liked the original Cod WaW maps the best.

 

A major gripe I’ve always had with CoD has been some of the killstreaks. Really? A computer controlled helicopter? Why not grab some free kills; no skill needed just sit back while the computer does it all. Thus, I usually play Pure Barebones which is fun, despite the loss of equipment with everything else.

 

Combat training is fun, but gets dull fast. The AI are pretty stupid, Reach has far better. And even on the Easy difficulty they can really annoying accuracy when throwing grenades. But after half an hour of combat training it becomes too simple. Point, shoot. Done. Repeat. Then of course the nearly complete lack of all but basic game customization is a real shame, so much potential lost.

So I’m going to sum it all up:

 

Soundtrack: Halo Reach wins, no fight

 

Sound effects: While the Reach guns sound better than before, Black Ops has better sound for weapons. The guns roar and scream in your hands, give you a sense of real power.

 

Gameplay: Close call, but CoD hasn’t really changed the game play. Reach’s new armor abilities and awesome assassinations give it the edge here.

 

Storyline: Black Ops, more originality here, though it's pretty ridiculous (SOVIETS INVADE LOL!)

 

Multiplayer: Very close, but Reach wins. New game types are great, the armor abilities gives everything a new twist which is awesome, and a far superior matchmaking system gives it the win.

 

Creativity: Reach, hands down.

 

Lasting appeal: I would say Reach because Black Ops, while it’s multiplayer is great; the multiplayer and zombies is the only real replay value while Reach has Firefight, Forge and Multiplayer.

 

Community and updates: Reach again, Bungie has shown to be one of the best game companies in the field of listening to the community and reacting. A certain game on a certain map is hated, and it is removed. Already multiple updates had been made with more to come.

 

I love both games a lot, though I really just have to go with Halo Reach.

[Jay Steinman]

Nice review.

[devilk870]

Reach Has been a cool game to see, but it seems that the multiplayer went down compared to halo 3. I do enjoy new gametypes, and user created maps to be featured in matchmaking. But it does not have that fun Online feel of the past halo games. The story is nothing to special, but it does tie in the halo series pretty well, including ODST. But it lacked the open world feel that bungie promised. Though compared to some games is pretty open. It still does not set the standard HIGH, but more of a Above Average open feel. Forge, and firefight is fun with friends, but without friends firefight is pretty bland. Forge Got complicated..... In a good way. It didnt take a genius to figure out the tools. But it does require some backround Knowledge of Forge to fully grasp the basics. Forge with friends is fun, Making MEGA maps, or just screwing around playing soccer with a gravity hammer. Theater Mode Is not much different, so there is no sense in talking about it. The whole sharing maps to people is pretty neat and lets you check out cool Maps, Pictures, Videos, and Gametypes. There are no Bungie Favorites (So to speak) and the Pictures are usaully vulgar or Tricking you. But it is a neat feature.

 

Blackops

I enjoyed the Campaign thoroughly, then never went back to it. If it featured Cheats like COD 4 I would play it more often. But the only reason to go back to the Campaign is to see some Eastereggs. The Multiplayer is cool.... At first. Then it just got old. The whole CoD points thing is cool, but it was sort of useless. The Gametypes are not to special, the whole One in the chamber thing was Filler. Nazi Zombies, It was fun, but without friends it is boring a frustrating. The game is popular because of how easy it was just to pick it up and play. Hardcore COD gamers who play Halo reach usually play SWAT, Because of how easy it is. Also going back to the single player it is pretty cool to see a good campaign.

Theater mode was a dissapointment for me, You could not use it on campaign. Only multiplayer, The only cool thing about it is the framerate is so smooth in slow motion. But Navagating is a bitch and making a montage in ONLY ONE GAME IS STUPID.

Like you said Halo reach won this, Blackops has not much to show.