Reach

A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it.
William Feather

IT IS AWESOME.

And I'm sure everyone can agree.

That is correct. Halo: Reach is here, and I thought I'd do a special post just for it. It deserves it anyway.

Total Rating:  ☆☆☆☆ and a half.

Right. Halo: Reach is a true action game from start to finish, it's entirety detailing the last stand of Noble Team on planet Reach, and their epic struggle against the deadly Covenant force intent on destroying it all. You play as Noble Six, new Noble Team member, same gender as yourself and wearing the same armor as you wish it to be. It's up to you and the rest of Team Noble to fight for Reach. From the beginning. You know the end (at least, I hope you do).

I thought I wouldn't be able to get it last Tuesday, and instead have to wait until this week to get it. Thankfully, my dad helped me out, and I got Reach on Tuesday (yay!).

The controls are a bit changed up (for the third time in the Halo series) but I soon had it down, just in time for the best parts of the game. The campaign is classic Halo bringing itself full circle,  and with plenty of juicy gameplay from beginning to end. Firefight from ODST returns, and that itself has been gloriously redefined. Matchmaking is as good as ever, and new features, such as Daily Challenges and Credits for buying things as well as ranking up, make the replay value incredibly high for a fifth installment in a series. All that, plus the expanded and improved Forge mode, Theater, new maps and gamemodes, and a great Community equals a brilliant game.

Bungie's send-off to Halo is a brilliant closure and I am really happy for them. They wrapped up Halo for them, and now they can move on and make a new masterpiece, as I'm sure they will.

On Blog news:

Do not miss next week's post!!!! It's reveal day, so we get to see all the trailers for things AbstractWorks side. Next Monday everyone.

So yeah, more on everything then. Reach is awesome. Next big game: PORTAL 2!!!!!

Revival

"All glory comes from daring to begin."
Eugene F. Ware



SOMETHING HAS BEEN SET IN MOTION.
Can you feel it? It is a new feeling at AbstractWorks, but definitely welcome.

There was no post last week for two reasons:


1. Labor Day, so my family and I went out in the city.
2. I was hard at work preparing for school.


Well, I've been working hard to make up for that. I've been deep in the Source SDK all week and weekend, recruiting our new AbstractWorks Mapping Crew (www.awemaps.blogspot.com) and working on Forgotten.


At the moment, Forgotten is 15% done mapping wise and only in it's first draft. I hope to get the first draft done quickly, so I may go over the maps to connect them and make them look nice. Tom's joined in after finishing his first map. With his new knowledge of mapping, hopefully Forgotten will get finished sooner. I'll add a few screenshots of the current maps into the post tomorrow.


Rebel's Mind and The Wick are on hold again, as the group is diverting all their effort into a group machinima we are revealing next week. When we release the pilot, I'll begin work on RM episode 1, I promise.

In other news, the popular web series Red vs. Blue finished it's eighth season today. I hope to see the episode after I type this. I'm excited!!! I hear they will be moving on to Halo: Reach now. Speaking of which, it came out an hour ago. I should probably pick up my copy tomorrow.


While we are the subject of new games, I've already preordered Portal 2, which releases February 9, 2011. I absolutely cannot wait for it. Shows how much of a Portal geek I am!


If you've been following Valve related news(www.halflife2.net) then you know Valve has 3 surprises for the coming year. They sure do know how to raise hype. I hope it's Episode 3. I really do.


Well, there you have it. Everything on my mind. Sigh. I need a coffee. I'll wait for morning.


Forgotten screenshots tomorrow.


See ya next Monday(for sure!!!)!


EDIT: Here are some epic screenshots of Forgotten so far.

If you head over to the Forgotten page you will see it is updated! I set up a Mod DB profile for it and updates will come over there as well. I am now going to go get Halo: Reach! Wish me luck!


-Jack