Is This The Same Company That Developed Halo 2 & 3?
| Name: Chris Hamilton |
| From: www.haloreach.com.au |
| About: Chris Hamilton is a longtime Halo enthusiast and contributor to the Australian Halo community. Chris is a writer for www.haloreach.com.au but has also been apart of www.xboxworld.com.au and www.gamersworld.com.au. |
Halo: Combat Evolved
Okay, so everyone remembers Halo: Combat Evolved – but you may not all know is that Bungie had initially planned Halo to be an RTS (Real Time Strategy) for the Mac.
Fortunately, after many, many changes, Halo eventually was released as an Xbox launch title. No body knew just how big this franchise would end up being.
Halo’s success chain reacted and was the sole reason the Xbox was as successful as it was. It didn’t take Microsoft long to realise what was infront of them – only a few months after the Xbox & Halo’s release – Microsoft acquired game development studio Bungie.
Firstly – what does this tell us? It tells us that Halo: CE was independantly developed by Bungie. Bungie and only Bungie. Microsoft had no say in the development of the game. Now let’s fast forward to November 9, 2004 – the release of Halo 2. The game had been in development for several years, the difference this time around is that Bungie is owned by Microsoft and that leads me to believe that Microsoft Game Studios contributed to the development of the game.
The game took a completely different approach to its gameplay when compared to its predecessor, Halo: Combat Evolved. The most noticeable changes were -
- Health Bar Invisible
- Field Of View Reduced to 70 Degrees
- No Fall Damage
- Assault Rifle Removed
- Pistol Severely Redesigned, Scope Removed
- Duel Wielding Implemented
- No Freeze On Plasma Weapons
- Battle Rifle Introduced as the “Pistol Replacement”
- Varities of The Same Weapons Designed for Duel Wielding (eg: Plasma Rifle / Brute Plasma Rifle)
Halo 3 also took many of these elements into its game, which turned alot of skilled, Halo: CE veterans off the series. That’s not to say Halo 2 & Halo 3 weren’t great games because they were, but the disapproval from Halo: CE fans was heard across the entire globe.
Now here we are today, with the Halo: Reach Beta only months away from launch and here are the confirmed changes made to Halo: Reach when compared to Halo 2 / Halo 3 -
- Health Bar Visible
- Duel Wielding Dropped
- Field Of View Changed to 90 Degrees
- Pistol Has Scope
- Battle Rifle ‘Replaced’ With the DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) Which Shoots A Single Shot, Not Burst
Another noticeable fact to consider? Bungie is creating this game as an independant, privately held game development company. As of October 6 in 2007, Bungie announced they were splitting from Microsoft.
Bungie has mentioned in their Vidoc and many, many, many times that they are going back to their roots, they are going back to Halo: CE, they are using Halo: CE as their inspiration and foundation for Halo: Reach.
Marty O’Donnell described Halo Reach in the Vidoc as ‘the definitive Halo, by the people who brought you Halo’ – meaning what exactly Marty? Meaning, Halo by the people who actually brought you Halo? Meaning – not Microsoft Game Studios?
Below is a comparison table, containing the features that were implemented for each Halo game and whether or not Bungie was owned by Microsoft at the time.
Seems like a rather big coincidence to me – and perhaps that’s all it is. Coincidence. Or maybe, just maybe – Microsoft Game Studios had more to do with the Halo series than many are lead to believe.
So again – I leave you with this question – Is the company that is currently developing Halo: Reach, the same company that developed Halo 2 & Halo 3?
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