007: Blood Stone

I love the James Bond franchise. From the guns to the gadgets, and the airplanes to the Aston Martins, James Bond is synonymous with luxury, clean-cut bad-assery. And this game is no different. Except for the clean cut part.

See, the game has beautiful opening cinematics that would make any game made in the last year blush. The mouths on characters don’t quite match their speech, but I’ve yet to find a game that really does, so it’s kind of a non-issue. The polish on the game is pretty great, and while it isn’t the longest game I’ve ever played, it does have some of my favourite moments in video games. Ever. Read on to see why.

First up, the driving is ridiculously amazing. Maybe it’s being behind the wheel of a DBS, or perhaps the fact that it just feels like you’re going 180 kph without a 3D-TV. It does make sense that the driving is great, considering that the game is developed by Bizarre Creations, the creators of the Project Gotham Racing Series. And there are tons of these racing scenes – boats, hovercraft, and of course, Aston Martins. The game actually ends in a car chase across the glorious nation of Greece, where you can see the stunning vistas of the Acropolis and the Rio Antirrio bridge.

And that’s where my problem lies. Even going at 180kph, it would take an hour of driving to see those two locations, because they’re nearly 200 kilometres apart in real life! Now, that wouldn’t bother any normal person, but you see the name at the top of this page? Yeah, I’m Greek, and that detail bugs me.

Thrilling moments are what Bond is known for, and there are some really original ones in Blood Stone. The most thrilling of the game is in a fast-paced escape of a tunnel boring machine. Very thrilling, incredible detailing on the machine, it was probably the best part of the game. And it only lasted twenty seconds.

There is a reason for that though, and that is the developers wanting to move onto other gameplay mechanics. There is a ton of variety in Blood Stone; you always feel like you’re doing something new, whether it’s releasing exhaust valves or destroying planes, controlling cranes or free running across rooftops, there is a ton of gameplay packed onto this disc, and it should be enjoyed by everyone. The fast paced nature of it means that you’re going through the game pretty quickly, and they didn’t really pack enough missions onto the disc (the game is over in about five or six hours) to make this an absolute buy. With that said, rent it, because you’ll get a decent fill of James Bond with Blood Stone… at least until the next movie rolls around in a couple of years.

When I started playing Blood Stone, within the first half hour or so, I had the same feeling when I played Quantum of Solace: “Alright, let’s get through this so I can be done with it.” Not the best experience you can possibly have with a video game, but nonetheless, it did deliver some pretty incredible action moments. Either way, any game that makes you want to see the end credits just to say you finished it isn’t really doing the audience any favours.

Blood Stone is that disappointment you find when watching the latest movie in your favourite series. Ostensibly, it sucks, but you love it because it’s your favourite series. That may only be true for myself as I’m such a Bond fan, and truth be told, you could rebrand this game with any other characters and it would still make sense, but the fact is that this isn’t any other franchise. This is James Bond.

The Sly Collection Review

by John Kalanderopoulos, Gaming Reviews
December 1, 2010

The Sly Collection is all three of the Sly Cooper games bundled and remastered for the PlayStation 3.  Sly Cooper was first introduced to gamers back in 2002, near the end of what I call the golden age of gaming which began with the Nintendo 64 and ended with the original Xbox, and PlayStation 2.  The collection greatly upgrades the graphics of the original games, supporting 3D compatibility, and adapts the control scheme to include the ability to use the PlayStation Move, as well as adding Trophies.

Sly Cooper is a classic platformer with dialogue and characters similar to Star Fox or Sonic the Hedgehog.  The player is a descendent in a long line of thieving raccoons and it is your job to carry on the family legacy with your posse of thieves around you.  The first game, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, you learn the back story to the Cooper family and how the “Thievius Raccoonus”, a book that chronicles the Cooper line, has been stolen.  It is the player’s job as the last Cooper to go and recover the book.  The second game, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Sly Cooper is attempting to destroy what remains of his enemy but the pieces he must gather have been stolen by a rival gang and must go through each world, tracking down and destroying artifacts.  The final game, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Sly is trying to enter his family’s vault which has been fortified with security.  The game takes place in flashback and has the player going around and gathering their gang in order to infiltrate the security and get into the Cooper vault.  As anyone can tell the story is very linear and simple, there are no great twists, but somehow the simplicity of it is very engaging and makes the player really feel part of the world and feels an honour among thieves.

 

The graphics of the game (as mentioned before) have been punched up significantly.  Even without high definition and 3D, you can tell that the development team put effort into the presentation.  The characters are drawn in 2D but placed in a 3D world giving an enjoyable contrast to the play.  The characters come across as very sharp but have retained that old school feeling about them.  With the classic audio track that accompanies the graphics, it is a very nostalgic feel entering the world of Sly Cooper.

As for the game play, this is a clear reminder of what platformers should be like and what they should involve.  No complicated plots, no need for a huge worlds, just good jumping around, hacking and slashing cartoon enemies and the like.  The game is a third-person adventure, “stealth” game.  There are elements of stealth as you sneak around and hide in shadows, but don’t expect Splinter Cell here.  The second game introduces the ability to play with characters other than Sly as well as expands on the stealth aspects.  You have the ability to shoot sleeper darts, hack computer terminals, and pickpocket people.  In part 3, there are a few new in-game puzzles to solve like cracking safes and the use of disguises but what I think is most significant is an offline multiplayer experience.  Overall, it is just a good time and has enough change to really give the player and enjoyable, varied experience in the world that has been created.

When Sly Cooper was first introduced almost 10 years ago I had heard of it but didn’t really experience it.  So when I had the opportunity to play this collection I was very excited because I remember the reverence the game was treated with on the PlayStation 2.  This is an excellent collection that should be picked up because it reminds us all what games used to be and how simple games can be the most engaging experiences we have.  Plus, who doesn’t want to play a cane-wielding, wise-cracking, raccoon thief?

DJ Hero 2

Oh look at this, a music game. At least this one doesn’t have a bunch of copycats. You know, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Band Hero, You Rock Guitar, et cetera, et cetera, all fighting with each other for space on your accessory shelf? Yeah, it gets annoying – because they’re all guitar based games! Well here is the second iteration of something thankfully unique in the music game-genre. Enter DJ Hero 2.

As with any music game, the play doesn’t vary too much once you get started. Up the difficulty and you add another element or note to play (in this case, the complexity just goes through the roof), and you continue to challenge yourself and test your skill. And since this is the second iteration of the game, I can say they made it significantly harder this time around. But for those newbies that haven’t the original DJ Hero, the tutorial the game starts you off with is pretty great. Even if you’ve played other music games, this isn’t exactly the standard guitar controller, so they do a good job of explaining every little detail of the game.

You might think that a tutorial would be unnecessary, given that this thing only has three buttons to start with. Actually, having five (or even six) buttons would’ve been alright. But the way the game gets more complex is through the return of its fader and effects knob. Some very interesting dynamics, especially when coupled with the fact that you’re supposed to move your hand up and down on the turntable as if scratching. Good luck with that. At least they’ve made it so that existing users can reuse the same turntable controller they had from the first game, although that does also mean that Activision hasn’t innovated on the controller at all, so believe it or not, gameplay is essentially the same. (Shocker, right?)

Now of course, these games always come down to one thing: music. If you know the music, this game makes you want to sing, bob your head, and get into it. It really makes you think you can be a DJ (on Easy, anyways). And any game that makes you feel like you can be the character you’re playing is pretty phenomenal stuff. With that said, I didn’t know most of the music. Sure, I recognized some Rihanna, Eminem, and Iyaz, but there were some songs in there that just didn’t appeal to me because I had no idea what the hell they were. And they were mixed with even more obscure songs. Not my thing.

At the end of the day, DJ Hero is fun if you know the songs, and like the mashups. The mixes are done really well, and while I’d like there to be the ability to play through with a bunch more different mixes (for example, being able to pick and choose which tracks get dropped on top of which), I can’t complain considering the usual music games are all exactly the same song over and over again. And how many times can you really play Dani California?

DJ Hero is worth a rent, if you’ve got the original controller. Otherwise, you’re SOL (that’s shit-out-of-luck, by the way), and you’ll just have to buy it. Read up on the set list and see what you like, and if there’s enough there, then buy it. It’s a good game and worth taking a look at.

Fable III Review

This game has been a long time coming. Eagerly anticipated for many many months, Fable III promised to finally fix a lot of the problems with the first two games, while elevating the storytelling to new heights. Lucky for you, you’ve probably read about that in other reviews. Here is my take on a game that doesn’t include making good on past broken promises because I’m probably the first person on the planet to play this game without having played the first three. This review has taken so long because I’ve been busy enthralling myself in the epicness that is Fable III. Alright, epic might be an overstatement, but the game has some pretty great qualities. Read on to find out what I loved and what was a complete blasphemy to the RPG genre.

Let’s go chronologically here. The first thing you see when you crack open Fable III are the phenomenal cinematics. The game opens with a very clever animation (there’s a chicken!), fantastic design ambitions, and sets a pretty stunning stage. There’s no way these characters are playable. And sadly, I’m right – they’re not. Therein lies my first problem with Fable III: the fantastic cinematics at the beginning is one of the only times you ever see such beautiful polygons anywhere in the entire game. I will say that water rendered in-game looks pretty phenomenal and are the only part ripped out of the opening cinematics almost verbatim. With that said, the game still looks pretty great, although not Xbox 360 great. Then again, it’s worlds above Xbox great, so in the graphics department, maybe the game ain’t too bad.

Combat in the game is a sour point and sadly, there are no redeeming qualities here. I do like the fact that it’s ridiculously easy, but I feel like I’m cheating.The same enemies come at your over and over again, in the same pattern, requiring the same button smashing technique to shoo them away. Every battle ends with a bigger version of the same enemy and a slow-mo takedown. Nothing creative here, and certainly nothing we haven’t seen done before. In the 80s. So long as you have enough potions, you’ll never die, which may sound good, but it doesn’t really give you the threat you would need to actually put some effort into it.

The bad continues when we get to talk about polish. The game is ridiculously unfinished. Choppy movements, mouths disjointed to character speech, object detection issues, camera problems, irregular movement, it’s got every problem in this department. Ever seen a shovel go right through a dog? Play Fable III.

There are a lot of clever hidden jokes in Fable III that redeem its qualities, and although it may seem like I’m harping on the bad points, the game is really superb. The storyline is its crown jewel, and it evolves naturally, even if it has some boring quests that have you running to and fro across the map. There are interesting story moments that make the game truly unique; playing a Lute for spectators (and the game calls this Lute Hero, by the way – I told you they had a lot of clever hidden jokes), performing in plays, saving children from evil barons, and the list goes on.

The story is one you’ve heard – you become the king of a land where you’ve made promises and have to fulfill them. A story of good or evil. It makes sense, and the story is actually quite robust. It isn’t a game where every decision supposedly matters, it’s a game where every decision matters. Period.

Based on what I’ve heard of Fable and Fable II, Peter Molyneux’s latest iteration makes good on a lot of promises, but still forgets to polish the game. Either way, it is worth noting that the game more than makes up for it in cinematic quality, unique story moments, and an overall feeling of accomplishment. Fable III is worth playing. Albion needs you.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Review

by John Kalanderopoulos, Gaming Reviews
November 15, 2010

I have been enjoying first-person shooter games since I can remember playing on my computer.  I remember watching my father beat Wolfenstein 3D, I remember picking up Doom, and then moving on to Star Wars: Dark Forces.  There is something about experiencing events from a first-person view that really engages me.  I have been privileged to remember playing Quake, MechWarrior, GoldenEye 64, Rainbow Six, Medal of Honor, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Deus Ex, Halo, Far Cry, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the list can go on and on.  Up to that point I had heard about the Call of Duty franchise but was truly blown away by Modern Warfare.  Until then (for the most part) first-person shooters had either been based in World War II and you were killing Nazis, or was based in the future and you were killing aliens.  Call of Duty took the franchise into the foreseeable future, tossing any political correctness aside, and brought the player into the modern theatre of war.

When I heard about Call of Duty: Black Ops I was definitely excited, but also hesitant.  I loved the first Modern Warfare but thought that Modern Warfare 2 was a little bit lack luster and felt like a reiteration of the first one.  It really didn’t give me anything new.  I also heard that the developer of Black Ops was not Infinity Ward as it had been with the previous Modern Warfare games, but rather Treyarch.  They’ve previously developed Call of Duty: World at War, another game that really didn’t rank high for me.  So while I did start playing with excitement, I also didn’t have high expectations, despite the anticipation amongst the video game community.

The only game I have ever played online was the first Modern Warfare.  I do not like online play because I find it too often repetitious and so when I review a game I pretty much just look at it from a single player campaign perspective.  So not only does the story have be top notch, but has to be long enough for me to justify purchasing a game.  This game has to have one of the best story lines for a Call of Duty game, if not for any realistic first person shooter that I have experienced.  The game starts you off being strapped to a chair, your hands bloodied, and you talking to some shadowy figure.  Through this interrogation, the story is told through flashbacks of your career as a black ops soldier.  You revisit past operations in Cuba, Russia, and Vietnam to name a few.  My one gripe with the game at large is that it seems more that you’re watching a spy movie rather than playing a game.  The action is too often interrupted by cut scenes, and while it makes for a very fast story line, it very much detracts from the game play itself by removing you from the experience.

The actions taken by the player are what you would expect from any Call of Duty game, or really any first-person shooter: lots of explosions, enemies spawning by the hundreds, and a good variety of weaponry.  While the game tries to provide a lot of variety of things to do, like driving vehicles or operating different turrets, these moments are very short and I would have liked it if they were drawn out more so I could appreciate each one.  But the game play is most definitely very linear and doesn’t really give you a chance to enjoy the environments presented.  Visual and audio in this game is terrific, from the character renders, to the backdrops, to the score.  This game really does have all the finer touches on it though also presents a problem, as I had a lot of lagging moments and it seemed to take forever to load, but other than that it was more than enjoyable.  One little tidbit I liked was every time a level loaded was to see the title in the bottom corner become blackened as it would in a classified black operations file.

Can you imagine how Call of Duty started as a small World War II game on the PC back in 2003 that tried to rival Medal of Honor?  Now it has become one of the most commercially and critically successful franchises that the video game industry knows.  Call of Duty: Black Ops is no different and has exceeded my expectations.  The story telling does excel in this installment and though I was worried that it would be sacrificed in lieu of spending more time on the multiplayer portion of the game, I am satisfied to say that my fears were for naught.  While this game does have some minor glitches, and the load times can just seem to drag on, this is definitely worth it in the end, not just for the game play but for what the series has accomplished with their unique narrative.

Force Unleashed 2 Review

by John Kalanderopoulos, Gaming Reviews
November 13, 2010

Before I begin this review, I have to preface it by saying that I am a huge Star Wars fan.  Not only have I built a Darth Vader costume (aside from the helmet), I have tried to construct my own lightsaber before giving up and just getting one of the Force FX ones.  Now given that the prequel trilogy has taken away some of the mystique, darkness, and power of the series, it still remains an epic saga.

In the first game you play as Galen Marek, a boy that Darth Vader finds on Kashyyyk (the Wookie home world) after killing his Jedi father.  Darth Vader then takes you on as a secret apprentice and you become Lord Starkiller, an assassin sent to find and kill all remaining Jedi in the galaxy who have survived Order 66 (The Great Jedi Purge).  Vader then tries to use you to infiltrate the developing Rebellion that is occurring but in the process you learn about the Light side of the force and actually become a willing member of the Rebellion, ultimately leading to a final confrontation with Darth Vader and your death.

The Force Unleashed II takes place about 6 months after the first game left off on Kamino where Vader has been attempting to clone Starkiller.  You wake up with Vader looming over your body but the memories of the original Starkiller still haunt you and you immediately break out of the facility on Kamino and go looking for your allies from the previous game.

I played through the first game 2 or 3 times (including the downloadable content) and aside from some detection issues with the force powers, I loved every moment of it.  What was really capturing was the storyline and how they not only described the formation of the Rebellion but how they linked Episodes III and IV together.  I found that this game fell short from even comparing with the first.  Other than an appearance of Yoda on Dagobah, and Darth Vader hiring Boba Fett, I found there was little real tie in to the Star Wars universe as compared with the first.  Another frustrating point (and this is true about most if not all Star Wars games) is the ability of random troopers to have force-resistant shields, or even to be wielding lighsabers.  I don’t remember that from any of the movies.

The audio matches up with any Star Wars game as being a large, orchestral score but the visuals are where this game really shines though.  The graphics are truly amazing and I really didn’t appreciate how good they were until I was running around on Kamino in the rain and I could see the steam coming off of my lightsabers from the water hitting the blades.  That being said, I did find that the levels seemed to repeat themselves and that I was going through the same hallway, or taking the same road moment after moment.  I would have liked to see some variety in the level design.

The game still has the same detection issues as the first, and I find that the camera did not move fast enough.  But these are minor gripes in the end.  The real flaw with this game is the repetitive actions by the player.  Was there a reason we couldn’t pilot a ship or vehicle considering that Star Wars is truly about space battles?  After the first hour, I found myself killing the same Stormtroopers with the same force powers over and over again.  I actually got bored and I really just wanted to get to the end to see how the story played out.

Sequels, in video games more than any other genre, are supposed to be grander, finer tuned, and more fun than their predecessor.  Think about games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, or Call of Duty where the sequel just gets bigger, more intense, and more fun that the ones before.  This game falls short on all those expectations.  While I find the ideas in the Force Unleashed intriguing, I find much of the story telling flawed.  You, as Starkiller’s clone (not even the original), have so much power that you can actually rival Darth Vader?  This is one game whose lack of faith I find disturbing.

Tropico 3 Review

by John Kalanderopoulos, Gaming Reviews
November 13, 2010

Welcome to the Caribbean, where you are now in charge of a small island and its populace.  Anyone familiar with the Tropico franchise will have no trouble understanding this game at all, because it is all too similar to its previous iterations.  The game begins as any other standard real-time strategy one would, with a tutorial describing the setting and explaining how to play.  You are now “El Presidente”, a dictator in a small banana republic and it is your job to see to this island’s prosperity.  There is nothing about this game that is politically correct.

The basic idea is simple enough: build up your island, enact policies to keep your people happy, and conduct business for the betterment of your little patch of dirt.  That being said, I found that in terms of game play, you are required to have quite a bit of patience.  The game tutorial tells the player right off the bat that they need to be patient in order to see the results of any changes that they make.  I will say that the game has added a few significant changes from the original that did make me enjoy the game more.  Apart from different constructs like roads and nuclear testing, the player can customize their avatar within the game, and actually construct a statue of themselves on their island.  And while customization is commonplace nowadays, it is still a nice touch that I appreciated.

Much of this is akin to the original Tropico that came out in 2001 and it seems very little has changed.  The graphics are poor at best considering this is a PC (it has also come out for the Xbox 360) game in 2010 and the audio track feels like it’s on a loop with the same midi-quality music playing in the background.  Not to mention the voice of your “advisor” becomes annoying after a while (think Navi in Ocarina of Time, every time she said “listen”).

I can’t say that I really enjoyed this game.  It might be the game play style, it may be the subject matter, but all in all I did not really have any fun.  I really enjoy real-time strategy games, but I miss the games where you can build a wall around your town, gather resources, create an army, and march against your enemy.  I enjoy micromanaging but it seems that more and more games are pulling away from that.

Playstation Holiday Preview

About a week ago, Sony held their Playstation Holiday Preview event in Toronto, where media and the general public could get their hands on the latest technology and games that are set to be released this holiday season, and some titles like LittleBigPlanet 2 that aren’t set for release until 2011.

Staged at the newly renovated Sony Centre in downtown Toronto, the event had games like Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5 (the real thing, not Prologue), LittleBigPlanet 2, Tron, and a little game called Call of Duty: Black Ops. They also had something like a dozen PSPs on display, as well as Playstation Move games, and 3D TV being showed off.

The biggest hit of the show for me was Call of Duty: Black Ops, and while you think that might be obvious because of how much people love that game, know that I’m not one of those people. Don’t get me wrong; Modern Warfare was good, but I never cared enough to get around to Modern Warfare 2, let alone really invest myself in the rest of the series. But Black Ops changed things for me, and it wasn’t because Activision has done anything magical with the storyline or the characters, but rather because they revealed that the game would be playable in full 3D. Now, that doesn’t mean much, not even to me, because Sony still hasn’t sent me that free 3D set I’ve been begging for, but the fact that I was interested in 3D made me interested in the rest of the game somehow. Looking down the scope literally means looking down the scope, and getting grenades thrown at you looks like grenades are being thrown at you. 3D or not, the game looked goooooooood.

The other games of the event didn’t disappoint, however. Gran Turismo looked beautiful, as anyone would expect from a game that’s been in development for fifty freakin’ years, although I didn’t notice the 3D effect adding much to the experience. In fact, something didn’t translate well in the 3D process and there was some unfortunate ghosting of the images – if anything, not having spent $3000 on a 3D set will save you here!

LittleBigPlanet 2 showed really great, as did Rock Band 3, and Tron. People seemed to be genuinely interested in everything that Sony’s got to show at this event, and they’ve only got more to show as the months roll on. These events just get me giddy for E3 2011, because once that rolls around, we’ll be on to the next generation of these titles – the next Call of Duty, something new from Harmonix, and hopefully a new PSP!

I had the chance to chat with Matt Levitan from Sony for a few moments, and he said that the Move was 80% sold out across all outlets, and they’re working hard to produce the second wave of units to ship to stores. No specific numbers have been released, and they’ve never shipped as much product for any launch as Move – not software, hardware, or anything. The Move actually shipped two to three times more than the Playstation 3 when it first launched, twice as much as PSPgo when it first launched, and within the first eight or nine days, the new tech was 80% sold out.

No matter how you spin it, Sony’s got a killer lineup this holiday season. With the newly launched Move, and Gran Turismo and Call of Duty (although the latter is available for every system known to man), arriving on the PS3, there is something for anyone. Your move, Nintendo. (I’d say it was Microsoft’s move, but we already know what they’re doing).

“Metroid: Other M” Review

I am probably one of the few gamers in the world that have no pre-conceived notions when walking into the Metroid universe. I’d never played a single Metroid game until recently picking up Metroid: Other M for a review. I’m not sure whether or not that was a good or bad thing at this point.

I expected to walk into Metroid as a fresh new IP for me, at least, given that the entire world was new to me. But I couldn’t help but think that super soldier equals Master Chief, and this being a Nintendo game equals awesome character and hit-or-miss storyline. I got exactly what I bargained for in the last department (that is, the storyline turned out to be a miss and the character was pretty awesome), but she is far from this awesome super soldier. You end up feeling more like you’re playing a cheesy robot with a blaster for an arm instead of anything grounded in some sort of reality. Don’t get me wrong, I know this isn’t supposed to be hyper-realistic, but something about it put its cheese higher up than I thought it should have been. Maybe it was the voiceover. Yep, it was definitely the voiceover. Shut up already, Samus.

The storyline is nothing to write home about; you’re dealing with a simple yet somehow convoluted story that involved more than one of you… I think. Samus just seemed to keep talking about her life and how she felt rather than letting me play through it. It seemed disjointed and a way for the developer to get out of having to come up with an interesting way to tell the story from the first person.

Perhaps I’m being too hard on the game overall. A redeeming factor, but by no means a saving grace, were the graphics. Somehow, Team Ninja manages to get a lot more horsepower out of the Wii than you’d ever expect possible given the current load of games available. The bosses were also cleverly crafted and well executed, both in design and strategy. I expected more given the usual Zelda bosses I’m used to, but remembering that this is not a Zelda game, I realize I need to cut it a bit of slack.

Feel free to let this review’s length be a testament to how I just couldn’t enjoy this game. I’m hoping for some really great stuff to come out of Nintendo in the near future, and I really hope that another development team doesn’t change around the formulas for classic icons like Kirby or Donkey Kong when they launch this November in Epic Yarn and Country Returns, respectively. I’m going to refrain from giving Metroid a review because I am not one of those people that had been in love with Metroid since I was three, I can’t judge because it may just not be something that I’m interested in. I can understand why people like it, but it’s just not for me. I need a bit more depth and strength from a title, especially when it claims to be so much and Metroid: Other M, for me, just didn’t deliver.

Halo: Reach Review

Welcome to Bungie’s final hurrah as caretakers of the Halo franchise. There have been high ups and only a few downs here and there (I’m looking at you, Halo 2 ending), but this venerable series has taken gamers on a ride over the past decade. Does the last instalment from one of gaming’s most powerful developers tie it up perfectly or leave you with a feeling of meh?

Well, let’s be honest, if you know anything about me, I’ve already made up my mind about this game: it’s great. Now I just have to figure out how great.

Let’s start off with what I have always thought to be the best part of any Halo game, and this one might be a bit of a shocker: the audio. I usually don’t pay too much attention to audio in video games. Sure, I notice when it sucks, but you tend not to notice things that are great. Unless they make you feel something. And Marty O’Donnell, the franchise’s composer knows just how to evoke certain emotions. At any time in the storyline, the music captures you and makes you feel for the people that are, inevitably doomed on Reach. We all know how this ends, and of course there are deaths, so I’m not giving any spoilers away. Just know that, in these moments, the music is exactly where it needs to be.

Speaking of feeling for the people, Halo: Reach brings you into a much more human story than has ever been told in the Halo universe. Halo 3: ODST began this arc of humanity, if you will, in the series, but Reach really expands on it and gives the characters more memorable personas and living, breathing, feeling characters. You won’t fall in love with any of them, and they aren’t memorable as individuals, but you feel for the team as a whole, and somehow, the designers have really created relationships between them to the extent that, when one dies, you know instantly how another will feel and you empathize with them. Very powerful storytelling here, no doubt.

The story is one of the less convoluted stories of the series since the beginning: the Covenant have landed on Reach and they want to glass the planet. Now go stop them – ’nuff said. No religious leaders, heretics, and no playing as the bad guys; just pure, kick some Covie-ass good time.

You might also be happy to know that there aren’t any of the pesky Flood in Reach. This is, in fact, the first of any Halo game to have not even a mention of them, of course, since their existence was unknown before Halo: Combat Evolved, this makes perfect sense. On the one hand, I hated the flood, but they did add an interesting dimension to the game. Other alien-killing games tend to have one species to kill, or multiple ones that end up being so mundane that may as well be one. In this series, the Covenant are clearly separate from the Flood, both in actions, abilities, ingenuity, and strength. There is a great amount of variety in having them here, but even with the Flood, Reach has a lot of stuff bundled on the disc, and you won’t be disappointed.

Halo, over the past few years, has become a multiplayer phenomenon. While I’m not much of a multiplayer person myself, know that Reach only builds upon the previous games to have the best multiplayer you will find in any Halo game to date. I only wish they had included the original Halo maps 1:1 for some nostalgia. But alas, we get what we get and we won’t be complaining about it.

So how good is it after all? I could go on for paragraphs more, but that would probably involve me giving away the storyline. I will say that the ending is not what you think (unless what you think actually happens in the ending). Bungie has made a masterpiece, and while I think Halo: CE and Halo 3 are my favourite games in the series, Reach comes up a close third. The multiplayer puts it over the top, but I like more story driven games, and while this one has it, something about the original classics still can’t be beat. For the record, Halo 3: ODST was also a great campaign, and Halo Wars had the best cinematics I’ve ever seen (ever) … Halo 2 was the worst of the series. Sorry.

I’ve come to the realization that, for myself at least, Halo games suffer from being too good. That is to say that, when the first Halo came out, I knew nothing about it, so I took my time playing the game, absorbing it slowly as it came along. Keeping me waiting two to three years between titles made me twitchy at the thought of playing through the latest Halo game and I’d be through it in ten hours or so. With that said, I think the best Halo game of all time is, well, Halo. I’ve never enjoyed a Halo game to its core the way I enjoyed Halo: Combat Evolved. The music was foreign but familiar, the characters cliche but unique, and the storyline nothing short of spectacular. The pieces fit, and everything made sense.

But who is to say what will happen in the future? I think that Halo needs to rest now. For a decade or so. Until Bungie once again picks up the flag and develops the game that they want to make. Right now, in the hands of 343 Industries, who knows what will happen with this franchise.

There’s only one way to end this decade of Halo:

“Halo. It’s finished.”       - Cortana, Halo: Combat Evolved