Examining Halo: Reach's Most Shocking Mission

new alexandria in halo reach is without doubt one of the series most unique missions not only do its objectives change from play through to play through making it a different experience every time you play it but it's also one of the bleakest in terms of story as well and in this video i'm going to take a closer look at the mission from beginning to end for those not familiar with halo reach here's the story so far noble team a squad of spartan super soldiers made up of leader carter cat george june and emil are joined by new recruit noble six as they investigate a communications disruption on the colony world of reach at first the team suspect human interference but they are soon shocked to discover the presence of humanity's sworn enemy the covenant on the planet noble team is then deployed to defend sword base from a covenant assault where they eventually meet dr catherine halsey the woman responsible for the spartan programme who says that she believes the covenant to be searching reach for information pertaining to their religion soon after noble six and june discover a covenant invasion force during a reconnaissance mission before noble team along with unsc forces decide to take their fight to the enemy after what initially appears to be a relatively successful assault an enormous covenant supercarrier appears above reach at which point noble six and george head into space to try and bring it down george sacrifices himself in order to complete the mission but it all appears to be for naught as just moments later a huge covenant fleet arrives on the scene back on reach noble six fights his way through the city of new alexandria and assists in the evacuation effort before eventually heading to rejoin noble team and that's where we'll jump into the action as the mission new alexandria begins one of my favorite parts of this mission is actually its very start as a deflated noble six travels to where the rest of noble team are located i've always considered long night of solace and exodus the two missions preceding you alexandria to be where halo reached knox players off their pedestal and really begins to drive home how hopeless things are and it's at this point with the rain pouring the city burning and few signs of life left that it becomes very apparent just how hopeless the situation really is later on in the mission cat says to carter that she wants to know if humanity has already lost but i think it's pretty clear by this point that the answer is a resounding yes the missions leading up to new alexandria were action-packed fast-paced and there was perhaps still a slither of hope remaining but here bungie gives noble six and by extension players time to reflect for just a few moments on what is at this point a very dire situation it's an excellent change of pace which really helps drive home the gravity of the situation and i'd imagine many playing through the mission probably felt just as crest fallen as noble 6 looks during this minute or so long introduction carter and 6 engage in the briefest of conversations to set the scene your report will have to wait lieutenant the covenant are jamming all comms to command cat needs your help running a counteroffer [Music] it's good to have you back sorry i came alone made him proud before you take to the skies in a falcon to destroy three covenant communications jammers dotted across the city i mentioned during the introduction that new alexandria is a unique mission but those who only play it the once may not even notice as it's only on repeat playthroughs that that becomes apparent there are two ways new alexandria can change firstly the primary objectives of taking down the covenant communications jammers can be given to you in any order you will always visit the hospital the nightclub and the penthouse each of which houses a jammer but you won't know in what sequence until you actually start playing the second way the mission mixes things up is by assigning you different secondary objectives in between destroying the jammers in single-player and two-player co-op you will have to complete one after destroying the first jammer and another after destroying the second for a total of two while those playing three or four player co-op will be given two simultaneously each time for a total of four the secondary objectives will be chosen at random from a long list including escorting halo odst and v alumni sergeant edward buck's falcon out of the city taking out brutes attacking marines on the roof of a building covering a pelican as it escapes new alexandria destroying banshees harassing a unsc squad and many more besides now i'll touch on the three primary objectives again in just a moment but first a word on the secondary objectives they are okay what they definitely do a good job of is adding to the feeling that at this point you are simply fighting fires where you can completing them doesn't make you feel like you've really made that big a difference but rather that you're simply making the best of what is an absolutely terrible situation you may have lost the war but you might still be able to win the odd battle here and there if you're lucky before all is truly said and done from a gameplay perspective i'm not as keen they aren't terrible by any means but they do all require more aerial combat in a mission which already features a lot of aerial combat thanks to the incredible number of banshees appearing throughout new alexandria to harass you even on lower difficulties if i were to make one change to this level i'd say keep the secondary objectives but drastically reduce the amount of aerial combat required in between as a proof of concept it is an amazing feature i'd have loved to seem built out further if bungie had continued to helm the series because while it is a clever idea in its present form and i'm glad i had the opportunity to try it out i think the following attempt at a similar mechanic would have been the one where bungie really managed to nail the concept the primary objectives are somewhat more involved with each asking you to land on a certain building and clear out whatever covenant forces lie in weight i consider the penthouse to be by far the weakest of the trio although i honestly can't get enough of the elevator ride to get there as you look out on the burning city while wonderfully jaunty music plays in the background although you do have to fight your way into the building it's not until you destroy the jammer that any combat occurs inside the penthouse itself the ambush by a pack of drones is actually fairly entertaining and works well with the narrow level design here as they dart in and out of the areas corridors and corners but it goes on a little too long for my liking and i reckon you'll be more than ready to head to your next objective by the time the battle reaches its conclusion my second favorite of the primary objectives is the nightclub like the penthouse you first have to fight your way through covenant outside its entrance and inside you'll find what i consider to be one of the most striking environments in the entire game it's also a very memorable encounter in that you take on four hunters at once as opposed to the usual two but fortunately they're all a little preoccupied when you arrive which means the encounter never runs the risk of becoming too overwhelming last but certainly not least is the hospital which is by far and away the best of the three areas i do often wonder whether this was the first of the trio bungie finished before running out of time to work on the others as it's definitely the most engaging it begins with you quietly entering the building and taking down a few unaware covenant before you're forced to fight your way down to the lobby past waves of grunts and jackals being shielded by an engineer you then make your way through another adjacent area which again houses covenant and an engineer providing them with shields before finally destroying the jammer when you reach its end the setting itself of course makes this the bleakest of the three locations you visit if even the hospitals were overrun with covenant then surely there's little to no hope left but it's also a much more layered section than those which take place at the penthouse and the nightclub as mentioned you have to fight your way down to the lobby and then through another adjacent area while also dealing with multiple engineers and destroy the jammer at its end but there's then even a further encounter to contend with after you've completed your objective as elites equipped with jetpacks arrive on the scene it definitely is the more fleshed out section when compared to the penthouse than the nightclub and i can't help but wonder whether both may have been a little more involved if bungie had a bit more development time on their hands one thing i want to mention that i think is used to consistently great effect during each encounter is reach's soundtrack in a penthouse a much more chilling piece of music is used as you find yourself up against what feels like overwhelming odds [Music] the nightclub features a track which includes more of a beat to match the plodding brutality of the hunters themselves while the hospital's chosen tune sit somewhere in the middle somber but still with some pace each area also feels different in terms of the space afforded to you with the penthouse the most narrow the hospital somewhere in the middle and the nightclub the widest i know i always bang on about bungie's amazing design philosophy in this regard but it's definitely evident here like it is in pretty much any bungee developed halo title bungie expertly varies how open or narrow each of the three areas is and combined with the change in soundtrack during each it makes for a trio of encounters which do vary in quality but are also very distinct while you might think the randomized secondary objectives and the primary objectives which can be completed in any order would be the stars of the show what i actually consider to be new alexandria's biggest highlight is the city itself the primary objectives are solid and as you'd expect provide the foundation on which the rest of the mission is built but i can't help but feel a little like the secondary objectives are there more in service of the city itself than to provide any real substance as mentioned earlier they do help highlight the fact that there are now only little victories to be won with defeat the inevitable conclusion of the larger conflict but i ultimately think their greatest strength is not in that nor the gameplay afforded to them i think it's that they force you to spend more time becoming properly immersed in the atmosphere of the city itself whether this is intentional on bungie's part or simply a fortunate by-product of how the mission is structured i cannot say but what i can say is that it works very well indeed reach is as much a character as the members of noble team and as the campaign progresses the desperation you feel is mirrored by the state of the planet itself you begin the first mission of the campaign flying over lush green fields with few concerns and now some six missions later you're flying over the ruins of an entire city where all is seemingly lost buildings fall fires burn and as you progress further into the mission more covenant ships appear to continue new alexandria's bombardment it truly is a sight to behold and the way the orange light generated by the destruction below contrasts against the night sky is almost beautiful in its own way there's no arguing that the city scenes you're greeted with throughout the mission are dark and oppressive but they are also rather spectacular and keeping you in the city through the use of the secondary objectives ensures you have plenty of time to breathe in this beautiful horrific destruction time i don't think you would have had anywhere near enough of if new alexandria had simply tasked you with flying directly between your three primary objectives once you've spent some time admiring you alexandria skybox and have completed all your primary and secondary objectives there's one last task to complete this final battle marks the end of the mission in gameplay terms and i'm not going to dwell on it as it isn't much different from the other aerial encounters you'll have taken part in up to this point what i do want to talk about more however is the cutscene which follows and boy oh boy is it a somber one carter does his very best to paint the way george died in a positive light george always said he would never leave reach [Music] the big man was sentimental he gave his life thinking he just saved the planet we should all be so lucky cat seemingly suspects that defeat is not far away you didn't answer my question you want to know for losing i know we're losing i want to know if we've lost and as noble team look for cover as the covenant glassing of the city intensifies this happens first blessing me too don't worry i'm on it our best option is a fallout bunker on sub level two 96 meters northeast we get orders from holland sir we're being redeployed to sword base sword covenant own it now which is why they want to sport torch and burn up keep dr halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands it hasn't already maybe but according to holland the covenant are still hunting for something where does he get off calling a demolition a priority once [Music] when i first saw this scene i was in two minds about it and having seen it again a few more times since that remains the case on the one hand there is definitely an argument to be made that it's a little cheap and comes out of absolutely nowhere that it is the death scene equivalent of a horror movie jump scare on the other hand it also does a great deal to demonstrate the complete and utter futility of events by this point in the game new alexandria has been destroyed george was lost not too long ago and now noble team is down yet another squad member a death like cats would usually only be reserved for unimportant characters and there's little fanfare or heroism in her demise if even a spartan the best of the best can be killed so easily then what hope really remains for the rest of noble team i think bungie does get away with it here as it is about the only time i can think of in the series that something like this happens and looking at what the game in the mission is trying to accomplish in narrative terms it definitely does fit in those regards as well just a couple of missions prior george's death was preceded by at least something of a narrative as there was still some hope left whereas the lack of circumstance surrounding cat's death only serves to further the idea that everything up to this point has been for nothing and as noble team waits to be evacuated carter carrying cat's body with him new alexandria draws to a close new alexandria is a unique experience which i think is ultimately a success despite the odds stumble here and there in terms of story and atmosphere the mission has a whole lot to offer but on the gameplay side of things it's more of a mixed bag the primary objectives provide three interesting but brief scenarios to play through but unfortunately while clever in their execution the secondary objectives feel like they could have offered a little bit more when i play new alexandria nowadays the feeling i'm often left with when i finished is sadness not only due to the content of the mission itself but also because i think bungie's continued willingness to play with the halo formula right up until they departed from the series means that if they had carried on who knows what kind of mission we would have had the opportunity to play through next thanks for taking the time to watch the video boys girls and spartans if you had a good time do consider liking subscribing and letting me know your thoughts and hopefully i'll catch you all again soon

Channel: Ben Plays Games

Views: 342,639

Keywords: halo, halo reach, new alexandria, halo reach new alexandria, halo new alexandria, noble team, noble six, halo analysis, halo gameplay, halo review, halo reach analysis, halo reach gameplay, halo reach review, ben plays games, the covenant, halo reach retrospective, halo reach explained, halo the covenant, halo noble six, halo reach noble team, halo reach exodus, halo reach long night of solace, halo reach winter contingency, halo reach story, halo reach plot, halo xbox

Id: lnRdBuIX-Lg

Length: 14min 55sec (895 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021