So HALO: Reach is out tomorrow

Dcully

No mention of it in here but i cant wait for this to hit PC.
Part one of the master chief collection, complete with campaign and multiplayer.

€9.99 for HALO reach or €39.99 for MCC

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1064220/Halo_Reach/?snr=1_7_15__13

Its also on xbox game pass on PC.

Anyone else looking forward to it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REdelyAV3-A

Yea, though i played them to death when i had an Xbox. The MP was second to none on the first one.

Dcully

Just signed up again for xbox game pass with that offer Mickeroo linked previously and got a year of xb game pas for €1 there now :D

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057986993

So you have to buy XBL and convert it?

ancapailldorcha

Is this all of the Halo games? I've never played them but I'd really like to if they have good campaigns.

Mickeroo

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Is this all of the Halo games? I've never played them but I'd really like to if they have good campaigns.

It's just Halo Reach for now. It's technically the 4th game but it's a prequel to the others.

If you buy the MCC you will get all of them eventually (apart from 5) but they're getting a staggered release on PC so Reach for now, rest to follow later one at a time.

The only Microsoft exclusives worth playing imo.

ancapailldorcha

Mickeroo wrote: »

It's just Halo Reach for now. It's technically the 4th game but it's a prequel to the others.

If you buy the MCC you will get all of them eventually (apart from 5) but they're getting a staggered release on PC so Reach for now, rest to follow later one at a time.

Ok. There doesn't seem to be a Halo 1 but I seem to remember seeing Halo: Combat Evolved in shops.

That is the first one.

Shiminay

Halo is one of those games that for anyone who'd been serious about FPS on PC around the time of its release, it's average at best, but for console people who had never had a properly good competitive multiplayer FPS game (as well as an ok, but repetitive campaign), it was a game changer. If you've played games like HL/HL2 on PC then Halo's story and gameplay will feel pretty tame in comparison (but the amount of now 30 something man children that will swear it's the greatest story ever written is sad because they've clearly never read a book in their lives.). It's a very fun series of games for playing with friends mind you, some of my best gaming memories are of multi-machine Halo XBox LAN parties and so for that alone, I'd always recommend it if you've got a regular group.

Robert ninja

The only time I played Halo was when I was younger at freinds' houses. It always seemed like a completely meh FPS to me but I'd be willing to try it out if there's a demo (or a friend gameshares it with me) and the proton reports are stable

Dcully

I'm only going to be playing for multiplayer really.Hopefully it's aged well

Kiith

Really looking forward to playing them all again tbh, as i absolutely loved them. Purely for the single player, as i was never really into the MP side of things.

That music :eek:

Kiith

One thing though...no allowing a pre-load is absolutely idiotic.

Homelander

Shiminay wrote: »

Halo is one of those games that for anyone who'd been serious about FPS on PC around the time of its release, it's average at best, but for console people who had never had a properly good competitive multiplayer FPS game (as well as an ok, but repetitive campaign), it was a game changer. If you've played games like HL/HL2 on PC then Halo's story and gameplay will feel pretty tame in comparison (but the amount of now 30 something man children that will swear it's the greatest story ever written is sad because they've clearly never read a book in their lives.). It's a very fun series of games for playing with friends mind you, some of my best gaming memories are of multi-machine Halo XBox LAN parties and so for that alone, I'd always recommend it if you've got a regular group.

This gets said alot but I don't think it's true for a great many PC gamers. I went straight from playing CS, Unreal Touranment and Quake 3 on PC to Halo on the Xbox and it was an amazing game - story and multiplayer but especially the MP, it actually was the first game that led to me playing more console than PC.

The same thing happened me when Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo Reach came out, it just took over and everything else just took a backseat for a long while.

What I personally love about Halo is that utterly unique quality of unpredictable, infinitely random chaos within the confines of a normal, serious game. You throw a grenade, it explodes you think nothing of it. 10 seconds later - double or triple kill.

You look back at the feed....your grenade sent a barrell hurtling into a Warthog assault jeep, which in turn was pushed into a jump-lift, it sails majestically across the battlefield, lands on some dudes on the opposite side and crushes them...all while you're in the middle of a firefight 200 metres away. It's just magic, and it's the sort of stuff I've never seen replicated properly in any other game.

I can't wait for Reach tomorrow, Apex, Overwatch, Modern Warfare will all get put on the backburner for a bit. I played it recently on the Xbox One and it was still as much fun as ever so I'm super excited for this.

They did lose me a bit with Halo 5 though. Felt too much like a Halo: Modern Battlefield Combat sort of frankenstein. But all the Bungie Halo games were 10/10's for me, and I say that as someone who was always a PC gamer. Best gaming memories all involve friends, cans, and various Halo titles. It not that we didn't do it with other games and enjoy them - or still do, with the likes of Apex or whatever - but nothing ever had the real magic of Halo.

Shiminay

I'm glad you dig it However I cut my teeth on QuakeWorld and there's still never been a game as fast as that and I would argue that the scenario you described above with barrels and grenades etc is as much down to poorly thought out map design and unnecessary clutter more than intention :P I get it though - it's a fun moment and games should always be full of them. But the cartoon moon physics of Halo coupled with the "built for a controller" which help make it so successful on the XBox are the exact reasons why I think it's a vastly inferior competitive FPS where physics tricks and precision of movement are so much more subtle and important. As an explainer, I played Quake super competitively. I was never much good at it, but that's how I liked to play it. I see Halo as a casual couch game in comparison and that's no slight on Halo, but they fill 2 very different slots in my head

Some people love Stratocaster guitars - I think they're boring - gimmie all them humbuckers all day, but it doesn't mean I can't acknowledge the craft and artistry of a Strat

Glebee

Shiminay wrote: »

Halo is one of those games that for anyone who'd been serious about FPS on PC around the time of its release, it's average at best, but for console people who had never had a properly good competitive multiplayer FPS game (as well as an ok, but repetitive campaign), it was a game changer. If you've played games like HL/HL2 on PC then Halo's story and gameplay will feel pretty tame in comparison (but the amount of now 30 something man children that will swear it's the greatest story ever written is sad because they've clearly never read a book in their lives.). It's a very fun series of games for playing with friends mind you, some of my best gaming memories are of multi-machine Halo XBox LAN parties and so for that alone, I'd always recommend it if you've got a regular group.

I remember playing Halo when it was released on PC(Fcuk me, just googled it, 2001:eek::eek::eek:) and thinking what the hell is all the fuss about, this is only average. No interest in revisiting en though I have XBox Game pass.

Shiminay

Something most people don't remember, Microsoft sniped Halo as an XBox exclusive some months (I think, it's a long time ago) before it was due to release on the PC which caused quite an uproar at the time. I often wonder what the original release of the game on PC might have been like, cause it seems to me that a lot of time and effort was invested in making a better "controller" experience. I wager it would never have had the impact it did if it hadn't become an XBox exclusive so I dare say history proved it to be the correct decision for Bungie at the time.

Going live at 6pm.

dreamers75

sake.....bought this.

forgot about XGP again ;(

Won't launch for me on XGP.

Edit : Working now.

Dcully

Download is painfully slow, servers getting hammered id say.

Robert ninja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXasCjUTNpE

dreamers75

124k playing and risiing on Steam.

Would call that a success.

Dcully

Watching one of my favourite PC destiny2 pvp streamers play it there and hes raving about how sharp it is with mouse and KB.

Robert ninja

Uses EAC. Rip for me.

dreamers75

Robert ninja wrote: »

Uses EAC. Rip for me.

You can turn it off and play "modded".

140k on steam atm, i only mention this as its rare for a game to break the steam top 10.

Played it earlier, it certainly feels like a game from 20 years ago, never really got "halo" always looked at it as the only decent FPS on a console at the time. The younger lads i was playing with were shreiking at things, so I guess its a good port. Runs well, looks like crap but in 4k at solid 60/144.

Something went wrong with the PC port of halo 1. It was bang average after I absolutely loving it on xbox. Strange enigma. It just didn't compare to the twitch shooters yet the sequels were great on xbox.

Venom

dreamers75 wrote: »

You can turn it off and play "modded".

140k on steam atm, i only mention this as its rare for a game to break the steam top 10.

Played it earlier, it certainly feels like a game from 20 years ago, never really got "halo" always looked at it as the only decent FPS on a console at the time. The younger lads i was playing with were shreiking at things, so I guess its a good port. Runs well, looks like crap but in 4k at solid 60/144.

Had a go at the first couple of campaign missions tonight thanks to XGP and to be honest it feels rather meh and super dated. The graphics are nothing special, the combat is badly dated and really showing its age, the sound effects and voice are poor tho the music is fantastic but the biggest issue is the AI or rather lack of it. I jumped on the back of Warthog to man the gun only for the AI driver to spazz out trying to drive along the road which led to the jeep getting stuck between two boulders like the scene from Austin Powers. When I got fed up going back and forth between the rocks and jumped out of said jeep, the AI then ran me over as doing donuts was suddenly the thing to do. Also, what the hell is it with this game and the lack of ammo? I'm almost constantly running around empty and have to melee enemy units until I can pick up one of their guns.

dreamers75

Yeah the AI, is it normal that the oompa loompas just throw their hands up in the air and just bob along after being shot?

Assume thats a bug?

Mickeroo

dreamers75 wrote: »

Yeah the AI, is it normal that the oompa loompas just throw their hands up in the air and just bob along after being shot?

Assume thats a bug?

No, it's because they're terrified of you.

I had great fun in the few games of multiplayer I played last night, graphically it looks dated for sure but it runs great and feels very good on m&kb. Will definitely be giving it a bit more time over the weekend.

Dcully

Multiplayer is what most people will be getting this for.
It may be dated looking but there is something about the multiplayer gameplay that just makes it fun to play.
There is definitely an issue with the sound,its very muffled and not as clear as expected.

Everything is as i expected apart from weird sound issue.

Shiminay

Dcully wrote: »

There is definitely an issue with the sound,its very muffled and not as clear as expected.

Try taking your helmet off... :P


I'm very glad people are enjoying it, I will have access to it at the weekend when I finish building my new PC and have Win 10 running

Homelander

Played a game or two there. Looks fine, basically upscaled Reach, but it is a 10 year old console game to be fair.

Plays well enough and I found it fun, but I have two big issues with this compared to the original 360 version (which I've played recently, so it's not nostalgia or anything like that)

1) Movement seems strangely floaty with keyboard and mouse, not precise...anyone else? 2) The audio is bad, really bad, main menu is fine, but in-game, everything sounds distant and tinny, some weapon sounds are barely audible above the ambient noise of the environment.

First one could've been a server issue, will give it a much longer play through after work later.

Dave_The_Sheep

I didn't play anymore than Halo 1 and most of 2 back in the day.

Reach was ... short. Very much a rehash of Halo CE. The mission structure followed on very similarly. The story was fine, I suppose. It was explained very poorly though, and I have no idea how the ... MC ... ends upon the PoA ... after the events of Reach. Cortana, maybe, ok makes sense. The rest, no.

I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. I paid nothing for it given I have 3 years of Xbox for all of about 80 quid but even if I'd paid a tenner, I'd be feeling a bit let down. Strong points of the Halo universe all there, using any weapon you find being it's ultimate strong point, but it's aged now. You need story to hold the aging components up, and it wasn't here.

I hope the rest are as good as I remember.

Dcully

1) Movement seems strangely floaty with keyboard and mouse, not precise...anyone else?

Yes but its inconsistent, good at times then bad at times, as you say it could be serverside but its slightly odd.

Your also correct about the sound, they have already acknowledged it themselves and are working on it.

I find it quite enjoyable,
Will it be my main multiplayer fps? No but i will definitely be playing it a lot more.
Destiny 2 pvp for me is modern Halo and im totally addicted to it.

Alkers

Dcully wrote: »

Multiplayer is what most people will be getting this for.
It may be dated looking but there is something about the multiplayer gameplay that just makes it fun to play.
There is definitely an issue with the sound,its very muffled and not as clear as expected.

Everything is as i expected apart from weird sound issue.

Played some campaign there last night and yes, the sound was awful. I turned the music and voice etc down to 50% and left FX up at 100% and even with my sub up high, firing of weapons etc was very underwhelming. Whereas I remember being blown away on console by the sound of dual-wielding SMGs etc.

Found the gameplay fairly boring, not sure I'll manage to play all the way through!

Mickeroo

Main thing I noticed about the sound was the thing I could hear the most was the panting and grunting of the spartans over everything else.

Homelander

Now that I've gotten into it more and playing with a few friends, it's actually great craic. Took me a bit to find that groove though, first few games I was sort of thinking "maybe it's aged more poorly than I anticipated" but now I'm falling in love with the game again.

CastorTroy

Halo Combat Evolved now available

https://store.steampowered.com/app/976730/Halo_The_Master_Chief_Collection/?snr=1_4_4__118

Homelander

Nice. Just finished Reach Co-Op the other day with a friend, was an absolute blast. Obviously the gameplay has dated a bit and it's limited by the fact it was originally designed for a 15 year old console, but the artwork, direction and backdrops are amazing.

Kiith

All the Halo games are absolutely brilliant in co-op. Halo 3 with a mate was one of the most fun games i've played.

Dave_The_Sheep

CastorTroy wrote: »

Halo Combat Evolved now available

https://store.steampowered.com/app/976730/Halo_The_Master_Chief_Collection/?snr=1_4_4__118

Only two player though, unfortunately.

Lu Tze

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Only two player though, unfortunately.

Does it support local two player on PC? Or is it just online