Preview- Halo: Reach

Released: 1^st September 2010

Format(s): Xbox 360
Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Like countless others, I'm a big fan of the Halo franchise. From its humble beginnings as the dawn of a new era for first-person shooters to the trilogies' epic conclusion and one of the biggest entertainment releases ever with Halo 3. However, the announcement of Halo 3: ODST at Tokyo Game Show 2008, for some reason, didn't interest me in the slightest. I played through it, no doubt, but only months after. For me, it wasn't a case of the storyline, the new setting or the fact that you play as an 'Orbital Drop Shock Trooper' (I ended up quite liking all this!) It just seemed like too much Halo at a time when the series needed to cool down to still be fresh. There's no doubting how accomplished a shooter like Halo really is but since its release in 2001 for the original Xbox, it has done little to keep its head above the crowd of the competition.

Announced at E3 2009 to muted fanfare, Halo: Reach has my attention. To be honest, early footage of the Beta (which is playable on the ODST disc from 3^rd May 2010!) has swept away any preconceptions I had that this would be some major leap for the series. It looks much the same, and from what people have said playing it, it feels much the same. But Reach does introduce one major new game play mechanic...

Anyone who has played Halo 3 will be aware of the deployment of particular items with the 'X' button within the game. This could have been anything from a blinding flash of light to a deployable 'bubble shield'. Here, the concept works in much the same way, other than this time they revolve around 'armour abilities' and are reuseable and persistent to the player until they are replaced. Multiplayer will also allow the use of these abilities, meaning the competitive online community will be enlivened with fresh new game play opportunities and an all new experience. Amongst the suit upgrades are; 'active camo', sprinting, 'armour lock' (a protective suit that hinders movement), and a jet pack addition. The latter could really alter the way in which the game is played and it'll only be time that tells whether it'll truly add to the experience.

Other additions to multiplayer include the introduction of weapon 'loadouts' upon spawning, meaning players can choose which weapons to start with, an improved 'veto' system and new game modes. “Headhunter” sees players drop skulls upon death which can then be picked up by enemy players and deposited at drop zones for points. “Stockpile” involves the race for teams to collect neutral flags which then have to be held at capture points for game points. “Generator defense” puts 'Spartans' up against 'Elites' in a game not dissimilar to 'Defend the base' in which three generators have to be attacked/defended depending on the team. Finally, the last new game mode is possibly the most exciting, “Invasion” is a six-versus-six round of 'Spartans' versus 'Elites' once again but one in which as the round progresses, new weapon loadouts, vehicles and areas of the map become available with the opportunity of games really turning on their head a huge possibility. The mode is not too different to Killzone 2's service to the multiplayer scene in which objectives change on the fly for a real diversity in game progression. This type of design into multiplayer marks Bungie being inventive, trying something different, when they could so easily have rested on their laurels once again.

In terms of the single player experience, Reach sees you take control of “Control 6”, a member of an elite squad of supersoliders, set during the world for the human world 'Reach' in 2552. The game's designers have promised a “rich world, with a great fiction surrounding it” and have also detailed their work on the improvement of enemy AI and a more open-world or sandbox approach to combat. Forge, Custom Games and Theater all return with no mention as yet whether these too have any significant improvements.

And yes, this is Bungie's swansong to the Halo universe and if it's going to be a fond farewell, it's no doubt going to be worth getting excited about.

Extended Preview- Crysis 2

Release Date: Holiday 2010

Format(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Developer: Crytek

Publisher: EA

Released late-2007, the original Crysis by Crytek was a monumental achievement for a video game. Not only did it perform exceptionally well critically, the game was so technically demanding that to run at its highest resolution was unfeasible, even for the most high-end of rigs. Still the most graphically demanding video game for PC hardware, Crysis continues to be used to test PC efficiency.

A little over two years later, the sequel is well on its way to release for a 'Holiday 2010' launch for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Not to beat about the bush, Crytek have been treading the fine line between hype, 'PA' talk, harsh appraisal and extreme gloating or arrogance.

Lead programmer for the PS3, Michael Gluck, has been raising awareness of the game's graphical output, stating that it will set a new benchmark in terms of visual quality. Speaking with 'Play Magazine' he proposed, “I think with Crysis 2 you will see the quality bar being set at a very high level that games will struggle to excel”.

Similarly, in a remarkable display of one-upmanship, award-winning novelist and lead writer on Crysis 2, Richard Morgan, in an interview with 'NowGamer', has been criticising the most successful video games of recent years, including last year's BAFTA-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum and fan-favourite Halo- to which he says includes “bull*h** characters” and having “no real emotional impact”. Morgan went on to claim that his involvement in the latest Crysis has meant characters have been crafted “with weight and gravitas”.

Crytek have announced that the second in the series is somewhat a “resetting of the franchise”. Set in New York City, evacuated due to alien infestation, 'Nomad' returns to his role as lead protagonist. In addition to a broader freedom provided to the player, the 'urban jungle' setting also allows for improved tactical manoeuvrability and, due to the technical excellence of its game engine, CryEngine 3*, will feature destructible environments- like that seen in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Crytek have also stated that combat will be “beautiful” with the new and improved 'Nanosuit 2' taking centre stage.

With so many first-person shooters already on the market, and with the weight of such huge releases as Modern Warfare 2 just past, can we really expect so much from Crysis 2? The talk may reek of arrogance but perhaps the current climate in where first-person shooters over-saturate the market, Crytek have had to stand their ground and be as aggressive. One thing's for sure, if it doesn't live up to the hype, they're sure going to know about it. I, for one, am not overly excited about the game. With little announced in terms of actual game play and still a long way off release, I'm hoping it is something more than a visual feast for the eyes and a press release comes along that announces a new game mechanic that will separate this from the competition. Until then, I couldn't really care.

(*Take a look at the 'CryEngine3' demo video on the 'Game Videos' page that showed at this year's GDC to get a feel of what the engine is capable of.)

Original Xbox Live Disabled- The State of Things to Come?

Yesterday marked the end of Xbox Live for the original Xbox console and its games. As reported in February, at midnight last night, the plug was indeed pulled, the service was deemed to be a drain on resources when they could be much more effective elsewhere. Xbox's Mark Whitton claims the move will “provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community”.

But at what cost does this action really weigh? Is this a state of things to come in terms of gaming? An 8 year reign may indeed be enough hours to wring from Halo 2 online, yes, but it marks the start of a worrying future. I'm talking of course towards the medium as a whole moving towards the reliance on digital distribution methods, where not only indie, bite-size titles are released on our online services, but full fledged titles, such as for example, Warhawk and SOCOM: Confrontation for the PS3. Furthermore, the announcement of services such as 'Gaikai' and 'OnLive', which is released in the US this summer (in which full titles are processed and streamed to users via the services own servers), it's hard not to question whether the content we buy now will be available to us, from day-to-day, like a regular disc-based product is. Granted, services such as Steam already exist within the gaming sphere and has been met with huge success since its initial release in 2003, ultimately, referred to as the saviour of PC gaming.

Microsoft's innocuous pull of Xbox Live's proverbial plug casts huge doubts in my mind. So all games still run, which is important to be reminded, however a title such as Halo 2 relies on its online capability, and is now, unplayable. It has been let known to the public that if for some reason Valve was to shut down the Steam service, then all games would be patched to allow to be run in offline mode. With services such as 'OnLive', it can not be this simple...

Now, imagine yourself, the proud owner of such titles as GTA VI and Final Fantasy XVII, all available through an online-only service such as 'OnLive' where the under-the-TV box is merely a thin client, a device that's only purpose is to send and receive digital signals, with little to no processing power of its own. What happens when a service like this is shut down? Does our legally downloaded content vanish into the virtual esther?

Sadly, it is an answer, that after much sifting, I can not locate, but it is worth thinking about. It seems we will only really find out once the service is made available to us. The shift to digital distribution and 'cloud computing' holds a tremendous amount of positives, but also, as covered, can hold its own problems. Is this the future we want, or should we be sticking to physical products?