Reach(ing) for it!

Well, its been a couple days since I first posted about Halo Reach. As of so far, my oppinion stays predominantly the same as I believe it was a botched, half-assed game that Bungie threw out for the sake of milking the cash cow a little bit more. I'm not going to talk about that today though. I'm gonna zone in on some positive aspects of it.

Revamped Match Making system. Gone are the days of going into Team Slayer with a party of four and getting the misfortune of being paired against a bunch of Lv 50 Restart accounts. Match Making now seems fairly competant in matching players of comarative skill levels. There are still gimmicks to it, but its vastly improved from Halo 3.

Rank Structure. No longer skill based! That alone is made of win. This tones down the competitive aspect of the game and makes it something easier to kick back, relax and play. Rank is earned in time and can't be lost. The benefits of rank is more armor options. Win or loose, you're gonna gain points towards your rank. Very friendly system.

Maps. Great selection of maps. Plenty of classics ported to the current as well. Also Forge appears to be capable of making some very true to the original ports. Love it.

Lobby Chatter, AKA Trash Talk. Virtually gone. No more little children screaming in my ears. No more angsty teens talking shit. Its much cleaner. I love it.

Sprint and Hologram. The only two powers I care for. Holo is cool as when used right, will throw off just about any player. That one to two second advantage can win you a DMR duel. And Sprint is great. Makes evasion real easy. Yeah, it takes a little longer to get to the tops of maps or across bridgy distances, but you're less likely to get shot down sprinting as you are when jet packing. :P

Voting on Gametype/Maps. Soooo much better than the Veto system. 'Nuff said.


There's a few other cool tidbits that I like as well. All minor things that don't really need to be listed...
As a whole, Halo Reach is a relatively fun and relaxing game to play. While it lacks the competitive factor of Halo 2, I think its a much more ballanced and enjoyable game than Halo 3.