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| Re: Does it still have those goofy slapstick (but weighty) midgets? by Spiffl 10/06/2010, 11:22pm PDT | ||||
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| Yes, but they're implemented differently. In Halo 1, the only real bad guys were Elites and Hunters. Grunts and Jackals were just an annoyance that only became a threat in large numbers and on the highest skill level. They were just there to make killing the Elites more difficult until you kill the little guys first. The absolute biggest change to Reach's campaign mode is that both grunts and jackals are formidable opponents that can actually make you dead if you're not skillful. The hitbox for the notch in the jackal's plasma shield seems much smaller; I can never hit it, instead opting to shoot their feet (which I never did in previous Halos, but I'm not sure if I ever tried). Both enemies have much more health than I remembered, so the tactic of "run in the middle and melee all of them" doesn't work at all.
Of course, this isn't a bad thing. The fact that every type of baddie actually presents some level of challenge is a welcome change, and the elites have a new dodging animation that makes them much tougher to headshot. Hunters are absolutely brutal. Oddly enough, the game as a whole isn't too much tougher (I beat it on Heroic, and I've never been particularly skilled). The environments are very well constructed, with plenty of corners and scenery for "cover," but not randomly cluttered like Halo 2. The weapon balance is superb, and there are always plenty of strategic options to survive, all equally valid (which is of course the point of having them). So even though there are more enemies, and each one is a threat, the level design (and the distraction provided by the really crappy AI meat shield friendlies) turns the game into a series of small and, yes, "weighty" encounters with a couple dudes at once. My brother, a non-gamer, yet one who loves Halo 1 almost as much as he can't stand the latter 2 (a lot!), felt the similarity immediately. "Holy crap... this feels like Halo 1. Like, just walking around and stuff. And jumping!..." and after shooting some dudes and dying a couple times "...this is fantastic!" |
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