LogFAQs > #945981318

LinkMarioSamus posted...

From one military science-fiction game to another!

Yeah, 2010 was really a sci-fi Heavy year, and Reach is rounding up a space trilogy. The parallels with Starcraft in particular started to feel pronounced once Zealot-class Elites came up in dialog though.

Gall posted...

While I'm finishing up Starcraft I'll start watching a Halo playthrough. I have some small Call of Duty experience, but I've never been into Halo, and it should be interesting to compare and contrast the series in what would be the last year of them both being on top.

Yeah, that should be interesting. I don't have much CoD experience either, so I'll be looking at them both from the perspective of a newcomer.

I finished up what are essentially the first two levels of Reach - the first is just the intro where you're investigating and run into the covenant and the second is based around protecting a human base from them. I also started up the third, a stealth reconnaissance mission, but decided to take a break a couple firefights into that one.

There isn't too much story progression to speak of so far, except that this isn't the first time humans have encounter the Covenant although it is the early days of that whole conflict, and that one guy has a wife (or mother, I'm not entirely sure,) who is a hardassed researcher type and involved with the Noble Team's mission. There aren't too many different enemy types in Halo, and what variety there is comes from different area layouts and weapon options. To go over the typical enemy types, there are:

Grunts: Cannon fodder

Jackals/Skirmishers: Light shield guys. You have to aim around their shields, which is a bit of a pain. Grenades are one way around it.

Elites: Basically you but an alien. Regenerating shields, moves around while firing, good at dodging grenades, and a bit more strategic than other enemies. You have to be persistent in chasing them down once they're weakened, since their shields will come back if you leave them alone for a while.

I also got introduced to the vehicle mechanics, particularly through the Warthogs, which are basically jeeps with mounted turrets. The tricky thing about the Warthog is that the same character can't operate the turret and drive at the same time, so you have to pick one and let the AI do the other - something they tend to struggle with. So far, I tend to drive, and once I get to the next area with a lot of enemies around I just get out of the car and fight on foot.

The first major obstacle I came across was an energy sword guy in an enclosed area. The energy sword is a melee instant kill in this game. I really didn't know how to deal with this guy, since it didn't seem like I could do enough damage to bring him down before he caught up to me. I ended up resorting to luring him into one of my invincible AI buddies and letting him wail on that guy while I stood behind and let him have it.

In the next mission, there was an area where you can take out a rooftop sniper and then copy his tactics to pick off all the enemies. While I did this, the Covenant kept taking over my abandoned warthog to try and shoot me with the turret, but that worked as a trap because it led to them just standing still until I killed them. I ended up just waiting for each guy to start climbing up onto the car and then shooting them down.

The hardest part so far was when they wheeled out two really big guys who kind of look like Bionicles. These fuckers just would not die, no matter how much ammo I pumped into them. They wouldn't even flinch if I shot them with a sniper rifle - I wasn't sure if it was even dealing damage. One of them eventually died to a grenade, and I think one of the AI characters took out the other while I wasn't looking.

You can swap your ability to sprint for other powers in this game. So far the options I've encountered are a shield that requires you to stand still, which I can't really see much use for, and active camouflage in the stealth mission, which I gave a shot and seems pretty good.


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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 9/129
Currently Playing: Halo: Reach