One of the more intriguing reveals of Microsoftâs E3 press conference was a brief glimpse of a spacefighter combat level in the upcoming Halo: Reach. The Bungie team gave a longer look at it during a closed-doors demonstration later.
There will be only one spaceflight mission in the game, said Bungieâs Eric Osborne. What we were shown was a truncated version of both the space combat and the ground conflict leading up to it. (It all matched up with the gameâs E3 trailer.) You will, as Noble Six (the gameâs protagonist) pilot a Sabre and help defend a cluster of UNSC space stations from a Covenant attack.
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Osborne cleaned up the first wave of ships easily enough, and then the onslaught intensified. It wasnât clear to me if the stations were acquiring damage toward some mission failure point or if the level was just a kill-all-enemies setup not conditional to the story given. Teammate AIs assisted in the fight but werenât rockstar fighters.
Osborne said the flight controls will handle intuitively for those with experience flying Halo aircraft, and this mission comes about midway through the game, at a point where first-time players should be seasoned enough to handle it.
Preceding that battle, we saw a counterattack by Noble Six against a massive Covenant ground invasion. The battlefield transitioned from open-field combat against Elites jumping out of landing pods to industrial interiors somewhat reminiscent of the multiplayer betaâs Boneyard map. The fight showcased some nice set pieces â a Wraith or a Ghost charging someone of your unit and getting wrecked when he goes into armor lock â as the score transitioned to an unconventional, driving guitar theme. Inside, an unsuspecting Elite conveniently presented his backside for an easy assassination. Noble Six was directed to get to the Sabre before the Covenant destroyed it, and he did, beginning the space battle.
Osborne said the mission was included to give players a taste of something extra and to bring them further into a part of the story without relaying its outcome to them secondhand. But this is still a first-person shooter. After this sortie, there are no more.
We were also shown the gameâs cooperative Firefight mode, a carryover from Halo 3: ODST, this time with matchmaking available, per tremendous demand by the Halo community . (Previously, Firefight was friend-list only.) Osborne walked through the menus, showing complete customization control over your firefight setup, with a la carte weapon and ability loadouts and skulls, the trigger points that deliver powers or modifiers to friends or foes. You can customize up to three.
Given that Halo: Reach is a prequel to the events of the first three games, we should expect this to end as a decisive victory for the Covenant. Osborne still promised surprises within an engrossing story that doesnât end as a downer.
âTheyâre definitely heroes,â he said of Noble Sixâs unit. âThis will be about honor and sacrifice. And you still kick a ton of ass, you still blow a lot of stuff up.â The game is due out Sept. 14.
