My pre-ordered copy of Halo: Reach came in the mail today from Amazon, and I gave the disc a few spins this afternoon.

The visuals look a little better than Halo 3 and ODST, but it definitely doesn't hold a candle to a lot of other games out there today. It doesn't look bad or anything, but it seems like the characters and immediate landscape could have used a little more polish. The gameplay is tried-and-true Halo, although there are some "improvements" that I didn't care for - for instance the melee button is mapped to the right bumper by default, which is really awkward. Luckily there are a good number of button configurations available and I was able to find something that suited my fancy. One neat aspect is that first thing, the game forces you to customize a character - this configuration follows you through both the campaign and multiplayer, which adds a great feel of consistency to the somewhat daunting level of game modes that Halo: Reach sports. My character looks like a Ninja Turtle.

The campaign itself feels like a solid mix of frantic gunning and story-driven action; I'm only a few missions into it but I am looking forward to finishing it (more than any other Halo game I've played). The whole game feels like a marriage of Halo 3 and ODST, and although I enjoyed those two games, I never LOVED them; that being said, Reach (and its glorious absence of Master Chief and Cortana) could very well end up being my favorite game in the Haloverse.

I tried a few rounds of multiplayer, which was familiar and new at the same time. There are two main types of team slayer that I saw, one in which everyone has a standard sprinting armor ability, and another one with multiple loadouts and armor abilities (jetpacks, etc). The second type of match was really disorienting at first, but I started to see that these new gameplay aspects will add a ton of depth to the game (but also possibly leave room for shameless exploitation if Bungie doesn't tweak it just right). I have yet to try the Firefight mode, which I've heard is the best part of the multiplayer, but I'm looking forward to it.



It's been three years since Halo 3 was released, which has probably been the perfect time in between these two games. I feel that Bungie has put these past few years to good use; we're treated to a true sequel with so much content that I'm happy with its release-day price point. no comments

If you picked up Halo: Reach today, make sure you friend-up TheJesusZombie on XBL. I won't be playing the game, but it's nice to have friends.

Also, feel free to write up a review and send it in for us to post on the site. We love that kind of thing! no comments

Earlier this week iOS 4.1 was released for the iPhone (and iPod Touch), which sports its new cross-game feature, Game Center. Before Game Center, there were several social gaming extensions available on iPhone apps, with OpenFeint being the largest and most similar to the experience you'll find on its big brothers, XBLA and PSN. I had high hopes for the service, since Apple usually does a great job of skimming down the details and only leaving you with the most essential features; unfortunately, my initial impressions of Game Center are less than I expected.

Game Center supports three critical tiers of social gaming - multiplayer, leaderboards, and achievements. The leaderboards look fine to me, and I haven't tried the multiplayer yet, but it was the achievement process that I was really looking forward to getting my hands on. The achievements themselves work well, although there doesn't seem to be a standardized point configuration - some games have 900 achievement points while others have 1000. But what really seems like a sidestep on Apple's part is the fact that there is no gamerscore - your total achievement points - instead, you can only see how many achievements a friend has unlocked. In other words, my "gamerscore" is 1 - because I've unlocked a 5-point achievement for finishing a game's tutorial; but if I had unlocked a 500-point achievement for beating the game, I would still have a "gamerscore" of 1. Without a genuine gamerscore, there are no real incentives to go for any of the big-point achievements.



Hopefully, Apple will upgrade Game Center in the future, to include real gamerscores, a way to access Game Center besides just your iPhone, app rating integration, and the ability to find friends based on your iPhone's contacts. As it stands right now, Game Center can't hold a candle to OpenFeint and their Game Spotlight app (which features a new free game every day), but with its mega infrastructure Apple should be able to overtake OpenFeint someday. It's a sluggish start, but Game Center does most things right and could be awesome provided it gains some needed features soon. no comments

This is the kind of thing I hate, and as I get older, I have less and less tolerance for it. 

Last night I was playing a guy named H A T E R Z 714 in Madden. He was legitimately beating the crap out of me, so I sent a message to him asking if I can just concede the game because there was no point in dragging it out any longer. I received neither a reply nor a concession offer. I asked him again, and I got a reply:

"NO FAG"

I just don't get it. no comments

Can you feel it? That feeling like you're standing on the cusp of something, but you just can't figure out what it is?  You don't know how you know it, but you just know something is about to happen.  That moment where you realise you're nervous, but can't explain why; when every cell in your body feels like it's soaking in adrenaline.

Well guess what? You're standing in it. The eye of the storm. Right now, you're literally standing in it, because the fall/holiday game releases will soon be upon us, and once again, this year's release schedule isn't taking any prisoners. After two extremely quiet months, we are about to have an entire year's worth of triple-A titles dropped on us in the space of around two months, and it begins here - with Halo: Reach.

Now, we here at The Easy Mode have talked, at length, in the past about how much none of us really care for the Halo: Reach multiplayer. The fact is, none of us really do care about it; it's not that the multiplayer is bad, it's just not our thing. However, we have all agreed though, that we are looking forward to the game's campaign, something which Bungie usually excels at.

Personally, I was unsure as to whether I was going to buy this game or rent it, but thanks to postabargain.co.uk I managed to pre-order a copy of the game for only £27 (UK only - sorry!).  If you're still on the fence as to whether you're going to pick up the game or not when it releases on September 14th, then check out the latest trailer from Bungie, entitled "Deliver Hope", below. Oh, and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season rush; things aren't going to be this quiet again for a while!

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Here is a list of downloadable titles coming to XBLA and PSN this week:

PSN
TerRover - released September 7th, $14.99 US.

XBLA
Plants Vs. Zombies - releases September 8th, 1200MSP.
Dance! It's Your Stage - releases September 8th, 800MSP.

Videos for all three titles can be found after the break, so if you're curious about Dance! It's Your Stage but don't want anyone to find out, go ahead and quietly click on the link below - we promise we won't tell anyone.

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Vanquish is the latest game developed by Platinum Games, a studio comprised of some of Japan's heaviest hitters in the videogame development world. The team are made up of ex-Capcom and Clover Studios developers, and includes the creative directors of such games as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, the Ace Attorney games, and more recently Bayonetta. With such a staggeringly impressive pedigree behind them, you'd expect something truly special from Vanquish, but just what exactly did the Easy Mode crew think of the recently released demo?  Read on to find out.

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