exactly, alan wake and splinter cell conviction have a better chance of setting the visual bar for the 360, since both games already look better.

hell, the image with the orange pick up truck looks like it's from red faction guerrilla, an admitedly decent loking game, but nothing "omg" worthy. the game will look nice, but thats about it.

The new character models look great, lighting is a bit bright on these pictures, but we need to see it in motion anyway. Looks like not much changed in terms of artistic direction since Halo 3. The textures are sharp but I can't put my finger on it, they don't look all that good (like in Halo 3 really).

I actually hoped for more pronounced contrast between dark and bright scenes, the way it was in Halo CE and to some extent in ODST (the night/dawn levels looked great).

Oh well, I kinda hoped Bungie would go all out on this since it's presumably their last Halo title. They got a completely new environment to play with on Reach but it looks like we're in Africa again. I really don't care as much about the graphics as much as I care about this stuff. They are playing it safe again and when I play these games and always get the nagging feeling that the game isn't as good as it could/should be.

As Deft said with all the gameplay tweaks getting crammed into this, i have doubt it will be another blast to play through and raise the bar with its feature set yet again, only this time it will be much more sweet to look at whilst playing :)http://www.edge-online.com/features/out-soon-e211

I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with how good this one looks in first person :)

I went back and watched the vga cutscene and a lot of the mountain or rock formations or building architectures weren't at all very different from what I'm looking at right now in these very screens.

The problem with some of these screens is they don't really accurately account for the players perspective and size in relation to a lot of the stuff we are looking at in the environment. Seeing them the way we are seeing them now, can and does make them seem very uninteresting and small compared to what they truly are.

That's something that not only will true fps perspective shots do better, but actual in motion gameplay will do better as well. The leaked shots alone convince me of this. Yes, they were off screen, but even with direct feeds we are now seeing just how impressive the models look.

The textures in the environments, believe it or not, really don't need to be more impressive than what we're seeing in these screenshots for this game to look unbelievable during gameplay. It'll be all about how Bungie brings it all together during actual gameplay. What kind of atmospheric effects will they use? How will the lighting in the environment bring off the overall look? How will the much improved character models and weapon models (shaders/lighting/weapon fire effects) help add to the whole look?

How will all the things going on in the environment at once, vehicles etc, and potential scripted touches add to the whole visual look? If nothing else, that fog look sure appears as if it will be very prevalent in this game's visual design. I'm calling a very impressive looking title, one of the 360's best (top 3 best), until gameplay proves me otherwise :)

Yep, people on GAF are calling it a fake, but they are out of their damn minds, I think. That thing is clearly 100% legit. They think the voice is evidence of a fake, but in reality, it's actually confirmation. That's how bungie does things and they've pointed it out before on their site that they'll use such placeholder voices.

I love the look of that main screen and I also really like the vibe I'm getting from what I heard :D

And damn them... if the beta is going to have sp levels, I'll go out and buy ODST immediately :(

Good thing the beta won't start before my 360 is back to me.

And good to know regarding the maps Grift. Probably going to look to start playing some of those games while i wait for my 360 to be replaced, or I could just play and beat Uncharted 2. I love that game, but don't play it enough. Also wish I had beaten AC 2 before the 360 crapped out.

Then again.. I also need to beat Persona 4 damn it !

I agree with Viginti. They're going to play it safe again and I assume I will be bored of it just like 3 and ODST. It's the last in the series but they certainly don't seem to be doing much to celebrate it. I welcome the new models, something that should have happened in 3 really (as well as more variety of enemies for gods sake), but other than that this looks the same. Hate to be that "guy" but it does, it looks like 3 with a better expression of what models should have reached by now. Pretty bored with the Halo look they've developed (if at all) in this series.

That guy with the orange/red/green armor looks like a mess.

I'm also going to wager that this kill option by hitting the bottom button on the d-pad is merely going to function like the lunge/sword execution. You just won't need a sword anymore.

Still looks good even from the washed out screens, and i cant belive some of the stupid comments people are making about Bungie taking it safe, that people have got from a few screens!!

It's hard not to be disappointed when they remind you very much of initial screengrabs of Halo 3. It's not stupid by any means and I'm not going to call you stupid for disagreeing. I'd expect the same courtesy.

If someone says a stupid statment, then i call it a stupid statement, and i have been on these forums long enough to know you have done the same to statements you thought were stupid.

I will destroy you

I have to agree with BH, i mean if anything from the little tip bits of info that are now starting to come out about Reach, Bungie are taking the most risk they have ever taken on a Halo game, but i have faith it will turn out stella as per the norm.

I wouldn't call these similar to initial Halo 3 screen grabs. Those were heightened to resolutions many times more massive than what we are seeing here.

This looks like an actual honest look at the game, unless we're going to doubt that the models will really look that good, which wouldn't be outrageous by any means.

Those models look highly impressive. It's one of the few things I wanted to see maintained from that awesome vga cutscene.

Naturally some things look like they could need work, but then I feel they're going to look much better than some even realize when we get straight up gameplay.

I suppose people want something even more amazing graphically? Unfortunately, and this is not really a big deal for me, (I'd toss this crap at the blink of an eye) but Bungie would probably have to ditch things like 4 player split screen play and 4 player co-op over Xbox Live.

Me, personally, I don't care for any of that crap. I would absolutely welcome the ditching of even recordable SP, 2/4 player split spreen, 4 player co-op over Xbox Live if it meant giving them the resources to make the game even more awesome.

A lot of times I get the feeling that the Halo franchise is too caught up on bullet point features as opposed to the developer just concentrating on making the base game as amazing as it can possibly be. Everybody loves cool features, but I sure as hell wouldn't be very much into giving myself a handicap that not many other developers are willing to place on themselves with regards to their own titles. But then I suppose where the concerns are alleviated, is in the fact that everybody and their mother knows Halo Reach is going to sell like wildfire.

Hell, looking at their design philosophy so far this gen, I fully expect to see even Natal support in Reach. Halo is the title for the bullet points. I don't see them missing an opportunity to add another bullet point to their list of features :)

All in all, I don't have a problem with how the game looks, but if people want the kind of game graphically that some seem to be hoping for, I think it can't be done without slashing a host of features that some, not me, seem to enjoy.

What is it about the models that is apparently so impressive? To me, they really don't look much better than the Halo 3 Spartan models. I mean, they look different in that they're busier, but I'm not getting an "improved" vibe from them.

I'd be a bit upset if they did away with the recordable SP. To be honest, I'm upset that it's not a feature in every game. Watching shit unfold in slo-mo from any angle is a blast.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1937196...

With regards to the Skirmishers urk from Bungie sayshttp://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1937593...

This is easily one of the more exciting things for me personally in Reach. I felt the weapons in Halo 3 didn't have enough of a sense of power to their discharge sounds.Ron, you're kidding me right? Any single one of those Spartan models absolutely destroys Halo 3's models, even compared to the best bullshot that one can find. The same holds true for even those cutscenes where they enhance the look to make the chief look more impressive. And, naturally, even the the marine model looks way better.

It's obvious that there's way more detail in these models than was ever the case in Halo 3.

I won't deny that the Skirmishers look a bit rough, but hey, maybe I'll like them more in motion :)

How am I kidding? Tell me what exactly makes them better? The Chief's design made sense. More polys wouldn't have improved it because of the angled nature of the armour. To me, the Spartan models looked fantastic in Halo 3...especially the shaders... those models looked like I could pluck them out of the game and play with them in real life.

These Spartan models look... more cluttered I guess? I don't get what makes them better.

Keep in mind, I am speaking strictly of the Spartans vs the Chief. There's no denying that the rest of the models...humans, elites, grunts, etc... look better.

Yea, I suppose it comes down to preference when all is said and done.

However, Gameinformer proves, yet again, they are the worst ever at providing coverage for Reach

Yet ANOTHER update with no reach info!!

http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/01...

I'd be okay with this as well, if they sell me the game for $40. Seriously, you guys have some awfully low standards.

Don't be too hard on them, you know that they're just trying to make lemonade out anything related to Halo right now. But you are right..........it wasn't worth the click.

As for these screens? Well I'm certainly not surprised if some are very impressed while others are very disappointed, that's just Halo for you. I'm waiting for game footage, so for the time being my opinions will remain in reserve. I will say this, the Planet Reach looks alot like the locations in Halo 3's Sierra 117 level. I know these are very early screens but I thought Reach was supposed to be a sprawling UNSC colony with 700 million people living on it. I hope we get to fight through some of the major (non-backwoods) locations before it eventually and climatically gets glassed.

Or maybe I'm right.