Page 88 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

RE VIE W

Halo: Reach

HALOAGAIN

Mouse aim makes HALO: REACH’s multiplayer and

strong campaign better than ever. By Wes Fenlon

literally cackled the first time I fired a sniper rifle. Two shots, two alternating between setpieces and
kills, heavy calibre rounds crossing the map and cracking skulls as NEED TO KNOW smaller moments. In most Halo
casually as you’d order off a drink menu. In the thousands of hours WHAT IS IT? games, there are one or two missions
of Halo I played on console, I was never a good sniper. Headshots A first person shooter that string together all of these pieces
Iwith a controller were a minor miracle. With a mouse, I point at about the end of and really stand out. But in Reach,
the thing I want to die, and it obliges. Playing Reach on PC is like bringing the world that’s most of the campaign, and
death lasers to a fight built for blunderbusses. EXPECT TO PAY there isn’t one bad mission. There’s
£7 no fat on this game.
Is this what the weapons and maps are the Elites and the Brutes, whose DEVELOPER The story, about a unit of Spartan
and abilities were designed around? AI can occasionally still be Bungie, 343 Industries soldiers fighting to save a doomed
Hell no. Is it balanced? Absolutely intimidating today. PUBLISHER planet, tries really hard for poignant
not. But now I never want to play In most shooters it’s fun to switch Xbox Games Studios moments, with a sad piano score for
Halo any other way. weapons to decide what kind of every tragedy. But we don’t get to
REVIEWED ON
Halo: Reach was made for the carnage you want to dish out in the GTX 980, i7-6700K, spend enough time with the squad to
Xbox 360 in 2010, and moment, or what 16GB RAM really feel the gut punch. Still, it’s
nine years later it’s the works best against a hard to make a hopeless war fun, and
MULTIPLAYER
first part of The Master The campaign particular enemy. 16-player competitive, Reach leaves a heavier emotional
Chief Collection, an is full of big, That’s true in Halo, too up to 4-player co-op in imprint than most shooters.
anthology spanning the open-ended – but because you can campaign and Firefight After finishing the campaign, I’m
Halo series, to arrive on only carry two LINK already eager to jump back into my
PC. Playing it again for combat weapons at a time, and halowaypoint.com favourite levels with four-player
the first time in many encounters you don’t have a co-op, and so my experience playing
years, I think it’s still a permanent arsenal the online, both in co-op and competitive
shooter worth way you do in a game multiplayer, has been lag-free, thanks
experiencing in 2019. like Doom, every mission is a series of to dedicated servers.
The campaign is full of big, on-the-fly adaptations. I’m constantly Ultimately the issues with Halo:
open-ended combat encounters with analysing the most efficient or Reach wash away when I start aiming
a freedom still rare in shooters. creative ways to work with what’s with a mouse. This does introduce
Sometimes I’ll go out of my way to around me. The freedom of every some new problems. Accurate
kick a puny Grunt out of his Ghost, a encounter is key to why Halo’s long-range weapons like the DMR
one person anti-grav vehicle with a enemies are still fun to shoot, even dominate maps. Most of the guns
nasty pair of laser cannons, just so I though they haven’t changed much become irrelevant. And Reach already
can use it to run over his friends. over almost 20 years. had baggage. Halo has the DNA of an
Other times I’ll hang back and use a arena shooter, where everyone is on
rifle to pick off Jackals by shooting NO BAD MISSIONS equal footing and controlling the map
them in the hand and then in the The best Halo missions weave is key to victory. Reach added ‘armour
head, the most satisfying two-shot together open areas and vehicle abilities’ like sprint and a decoy,
kill in videogames. The real threats segments with close quarters battles, which distract from the shooting.
But playing multiplayer now, I’m
finding armour abilities and loadouts
don’t bother me nearly as much as
PEAK CHIEF Don’t miss these high points of the Halo series they once did, because the basic
gunplay is so satisfying with a mouse.
It’s exciting to come back to Reach
after nearly a decade and find its
multiplayer more fun than ever, in a
port that bodes well for the rest of
the series living on forever on PC.
HALO: CE: C TF ON HALO 2: AS SAULT HALO 3: MIS SION 7, HALO ODST:
BLOOD GULCH ON TERMINAL , THE C OVENANT MOMBOS SA VE R D I C T
The quintessential classic C ONTAINMENT Halo campaign design at STREE T S The PC port minimizes
multiplayer experience, Two sprawling, fantastic its very best, with thrilling The moody free roaming
pistol sniping over hilltops maps for objective modes vehicle segments, big hub that ties together Reach’s flaws and 76
and maddening instant that were never remade in freeform battles, and an ODST’s missions is like highlights its strengths,
touch return on the flag. later Halos. emotional finish. nothing else in Halo. from the campaign to the
joy of a clean headshot.

88 FEBRUARY 2020