Game Review: Halo Reach

**Please read about the new review policy first.**

Halo Reach is both the beginning and the end of an era. Nearly ten years ago, Halo Combat Evolved launched with the original Xbox. For better or for worse, it changed gaming forever by single-handedly carrying the Xbox through it’s launch and altering the very core of the FPS genre. Halo 2 added online support and helped to make Live what it is today. Halo has always been an influential franchise and Bungie does it again with Reach. Some changes are subtle and some are grand, but the guys at Bungie really gave this one their all. It is, after all, their final Halo title before they move on to their new ten-year deal with Activision. Halo is far from dead, but this is the last time Bungie will be behind it. You have to wonder whether Microsoft will put as much love and care into the franchise as Bungie has, or if they’ll milk it till the udders are raw. We can only hope for the former.

Building a better review: The new system explained

After much work, the new review format is complete. Here's a breakdown of how it works and what it means to you, the reader

Upcoming reviews

So I got some new games, the reviews for which will be coming up soonish. First down the pipeline will be Halo Reach. What good is reviewing the game three weeks after it comes out and everybody's played it? Because everybody's not played it. A lot of people I know have't played it yet. It's for guys like them.

After that, I'll have Metroid Other M and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. My prediction for Kingdom Hearts is that it'll be the best one yet. Other M, though, I'm really looking forward to because I have no idea if I'm going to love it or hate it.

Final order of business: review structure. Another reason to delay my reviews is because I'm working on a new structure for the reviews. Hopefully, it'll end up being the best quality, most helpful review you've ever read. Fingers crossed.

Holy shit

Album Review: A Thousand Suns

I don't understand it either.

A strange thing happened, Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns caught me completely off guard by not sucking. It's strange because upon hearing the first single off ATS, "The Catalyst," I had given up on the band. It was way too... crap to have come from my former favorite band. Then I heard another song LP released called "Wretches and Kings" and thought it was garbage. I heard a third called "Blackout" and thought it was loud and repetitive. Then "Waiting for the End." With that song everything changed. I began to think of the songs less like individual tracks and more like pieces of a puzzle. "Waiting for the End," "Blackout," and "Wretches and Kings" are all one after another on the album in that order. Listen to them together and they don't suck so much. Listen to the whole album together and you have something that's actually much more consistant and coherent than Minutes to Midnight. Track breakdown inside lies ahead.

Uh-oh: Metroid: Other M soundtrack is bad

So Metroid: Other M got mixed reviews, but it still looks like a hugely fun game to play. I personally haven't played it yet, but as soon as it released I rushed online to check out the next awesome Metroid soundtrack. Except there was no awesome Metroid soundtrack. It was more like a bunch of ambient sounds strung together. Almost every track had no recognizable melody to it save for the few that were ripped from previous Metroid games. In short, it's almost as if the composer was so afraid or screwing up that he reused some old Metroid tunes and didn't do anything specific for the rest of it. So it looks like we'll have to wait for the next Metroid game to get a decent new soundtrack. Shame, because the Prime series was brilliant musically.

The worst review ever written

So Metroid: Other M comes out this upcoming Tuesday and today was review day. A lot of reviews have gone up today, and currently the game has a metascore of 80. Scores range from 6.3 to 9.5. Basically, it seems like a love it or hate it game. One review (thankfully) not factored in was that of G4's Abbie Heppe. It's the biggest joke of a review I've ever read in my life. Seriously, she just downright gives woman a bad name. It's just absolutely ridiculous how subjective and biased it is. But the worst part is that it was written by a woman and complains how Samus isn't portrayed to her liking. Well, just check out the video review below and you'll see what I mean.

Once you see (or hear) it...

I'm about to ruin your childhood.
You will never see things in the same way again.

The Best Modern Game Trailers Ever Redux

So I did this feature, a little over a year ago called The Top 7 Best Modern Game Trailers Ever. You know, if you don't periodically update these lists, they become completely outdated. A lot has changed in a year. A lot. So now I'm updating it. Hell, I might even make this an annual thing. So here they are: the best modern game trailers ever. Since I added one, I won't restrict this list to a certain number, especially if I do this annually. Original content in gold and new content in blue.

Why didn't Irrational develop BioShock 2?

Because they've been busy on this since they finished the original BioShock. It's due in 2012. It will be awesome.