Heading into Memorial Day weekend Bungie’s weekly update did a couple of things. Â 1) Reassured people of the incoming polish that Halo Reach would recieve before it’s final release date of 09.14.2010 2) Got them extremely excited to see these finishing touches on the game.
Just as things started looking damn good for Playtest 5, the realization that plenty of that content was still placeholder (like the skies you saw over Boneyard in the Beta) is only now starting to sink in for me. Now is when the promise of a great game not only takes corporeal form – now is when it balls itself up into a great big fist and uppercuts your expectations straight into outer space.
As new builds come in at a blistering pace, it means portions of planet Reach are now soaked in sheets of misty rain leaving exposed ground saturated while walkways under rooftops remain realistically bone dry. It means once empty rooms are now filled with vital signs of life – little touches like stoves, plants, and furnishings that help transform what was once just playable space into something much more potent and meaningful and human. It means indigenous life. It means the Covenant forces mercilessly fighting for purchase on the planet are more vicious and cunning than ever before. It means, ultimately, that as more and more polish gets liberally applied and the game moves into its final stretch of development, more and more facets are beginning to take on the finish and shine expected of a brilliant and beautiful gemstone.
Don’t worry. It won’t be long now. If you haven’t heard, Halo: Reach hits all stores everywhere on September 14th, 2010 (Except in Japan, where it’s set to launch on the 15th) and since that leaves us with precious little time to show off all the expected and unexpected features we have in the works, you can bet you’ll be sighting some shiny new aspects of Reach real soon. Like E3 soon.
But today ain’t that day, I’m afraid. – Bungie Weekly Update
