Halo Anniversary gets Headlong remake; Reach title update drops Sept. 21

If you spent any considerable amount of time with Halo 2, then you've likely stomped around the Headlong map in your billion-dollar boots, helping to fertilize its soil with a few dead bodies. A new and improved version of that large-scale map, dubbed Breakneck, will ship with Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, 343 Industries announced today.

Some graphical tweaks have been made, but you may notice some layout differences as well. That teleporter on the Blue base's balcony has been replaced with a man-cannon and some panels have been added up there for better cover when moving from building to building. Red side's had an extension added to the Engineering Hallway and lost a chunk of the ceiling in the Office.

343 also sent word on the next big title update for Halo: Reach, due on September 21. Initially, the title update won't change anything for you, but come October 4 a special beta playlist will become active with 4-on-4 Objective and Slayer game modes.

[Shackdaddy836]

Oh damn. That's awesome :)

[m23]

I'm not a fan of them taking out bloom.

[nilamo]

i'm with you, bloom forced you to choose the right weapon for the range you're targetting. Now you can pretty much dominate with the DMR, making AR and everything else that isn't a power weapon useless, meh might as well call this halo 3 now.

[wwm0nkey]

Here is the thing about bloom, the way it is currently implemented is bad over internet connection, in LAN games it is usually fine. That is why for most playlists it is getting a 15% reduction, it will still be there but just improved.

In classic playlists bloom will be gone and then there will also be Zero Bloom playlists too.

NOTE: These changes ONLY effect the precision weapons.

[m23]

I guess a 15% reduction wouldn't hurt, I just hope the DMR doesn't turn into an unbeatable weapon.

[SixZeroFour]

they arent taking out the bloom across all playlists, so no need to worry about that

btw, 0 bloom would make needle rifle stronger than dmr

[Dorwrath]

Played a fair bit of Halo Reach, but frankly the crap over bloom doesn't bother me either way. Why?

Because frankly there are too many great games coming out over the next few months to give a damn about a tweak in a game. Frankly my Reach disk will be gathering dusts till sometime in 2012.

[grifter024]

Not a big fan? You must be those casual players Reach catered too after they began making the game easier for your playstyle.

Nilamo-

Bloom was implemented wrong. What does bloom affect the most? DMR/Needler which is almost ALWAYS used in every playlist.

How do people shoot with the DMR/Needler? 99% everyone spams so bloom doesnt even work.

You want to know how much it DOESNT work...go in a 1v1 and make one person spam a DMR and one person pace the shots at a decent distance and tell me who wins most of the battles.

Spoiler: The spammer will.

[m23]

I've been playing Halo since the first one released and I play on a regular basis with a few friends so don't call me a "casual" player who needed the game to be made easier. I believe that bloom made it so you actually require skill to use some of the guns. How is implementing bloom making it easier?
The spammer will win if you're four feet away, not if you use the DMR at its intended distance. That's why you have other weapons.

[SixZeroFour]

you are correct...dmr is meant for mid to long range...thats why i can beat a dmr with a plasma pistol or AR (plus melee) at close range 97% of the time

[grifter024]

Other weapons? What other weapon other than the needle rifle will help you win at mid/long ? Nothing besides powerweapons also I can spam you at a few feet while you spray with your AR and I bet I will win easily.

Face it Bloom was implemented horribly.

Six- Wow 97% of the time...EVERYTHING will win at close range with a plasma pistol! I can use a plasma pistol/DMR and kill you instantly while you spray/pray your AR.