Right, well I'm going to try and step this up now as I do have some new video games as you might have seen on the Wall. But as this diary thing is seriously backdated anyway I figured I might as well finish off Reach before pressing on, so we'll look at one more level this week and keep up the pace as best as possible.
This post contains spoilers for the level 'New Alexandria'
Armour
A bit more of a mis-match this time as it was harder to find definitive armour to suit the mission. I'd quite liked the look of the Operator helmet so I went for that, plus it also seemed suitable for a pilot which is what half the mission entailed. The rest of the armour I made up from Counter-Assault pieces as the mission was a counter-assault against the covenant.
New Stuff
UH-144 Falcon
A lot of this level takes place in this craft so it seems a good time to bring it to the table. Of the new things in Reach the Falcon is the most prominent. It is a troop-transport come gunship able to rapidly transport soldiers across Reach. I wasn't too sure about the Falcon on first-viewing, not seeing the difference between it and a Pelican in terms of function. but I can see that Pelicans are what you use for a mobile space force, but on a planet you need the nimble but powerful Falcon. They are great to fly, with 'lock altitude' being a handy feature.
Shade Turret
Shades have been a regular feature of Halo since the first game, but things have stepped up in this latest edition with the Covenant employing powerful fuel-rod Shades and specialised anti-air Shades (above)
Armour Lock
An ever-popular ability armour lock generates an incredibly powerful energy shield that can repel even heavy weapons fire for a limited time. The user has to 'lock down' and remain immobile for the shield to work, but if used properly it has incredible benefits. These include being able to shuck off plasma grenades and the tricky move of blowing up a Ghost trying to splatter you. My favourite use is to run up close to the elites, sticky them in the face at point blank range (they dodge too well at distance!) and then armour lock to weather the blast.
Campaign
This was a nice varied mission with both aerial and ground combat for plenty of variety. The Covenant have place communication jammers all over the city of New Alexandria, destabilizing military operations - the Spartans counter-attack to restore communications. Noble 6 flies around the city, taking out Banshees and Phantoms on his path, completing a number of objectives such as.
. Destroying a jammer at a hospital overrun with Brutes and Huragok and another in a luxury penthouse swarming with Drones.
. The third jammer was challenging, but exhilarating, taking out Hunters in a luxury nightclub. The combat was intensified by the awesome location, with holographic lighting on the dance floor giving us a glimpse of the luxury that was lost when Reach fell.
While traveling to the objectives a number of other missions take priority, such as taking out attack teams about to invade a building, rescuing squads of Army troopers pinned down and eliminating anti-air Shades to clear a path for other air traffic. The absolute highlight of the level was running in Gunnery Sergeant Buck and his squad and giving them support so they could live to complete a very important mission on Earth - that and the voice of sci-fi legend Nathan Fillion!
With all these objectives complete and communications back online Noble Six rejoins the team to get their next orders, while doing so the Covenant attacking the city draw near and begin glassing their area. The Spartans escape to a shelter through the crumbling building but as they do a sniper shoots and kills Kat before escaping on a Phantom. After three days the Spartans emerge, bringing Kat's body with them.
Naturally I bought her voice for Firefight!
That'll do for now I think, more soon!
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