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Halo: Reach Almost Has "Nintendo Levels" Of Color, Should Have Less Color

Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
Well, besides obviously the fact that the game is awesome (never played it before), there's one thing that still bothers me in the Halo franchise. I don't know if it's about the technology (even with their new engine), or the colors used, but sometimes the game feels too "colorful", almost "Nintendo levels" colorful.

The game looks way better in the night stages and usually when the color tone is darker. Open environments with battles raging on in the middle of the day look like Rio's Carnival.

Maybe it's me, but this concept art gets it right:

1280x800.jpg


The pic above is a proof (for me anyway) that the problem isn't "bad" character design (they're quite awesome actually), but really... color choices.

The HUD in Reach also doesn't really help...

Who feels the same?

/runs for cover
 
T

thechristoph

Sir!
I feel the exact opposite. The color palate is what makes Halo tolerable for me. I can't handle playing Modern War of Dutyfield Brothers in Guns because it's brown, gray, and brown.
 
M

MrPliskin

Banned
The problem was never the colors, just the saturation. Reach isn't nearly as bad as say, 2 or 3.

That said, Anniversary Edition looks to return to the super saturated colors, which is a bit unfortunate, but I can live with it.
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
MrPliskin said:
The problem was never the colors, just the saturation. Reach isn't nearly as bad as say, 2 or 3.

That said, Anniversary Edition looks to return to the super saturated colors, which is a bit unfortunate, but I can live with it.
Click to expand...
halo_cea__343_guilty_spark__by_danyvaderday-d480v01.jpg


Im fine with how CEA looks lol
 
S

Sophia

Member
I'm perfectly fine with how Halo Reach looks. I do wish you could chose the color of the UI (like Crysis) however.
 
G

GodfatherX

Member
Orayn said:
I found Reach to be pretty drab-looking compared to Halo 3 and the original.
Click to expand...
likewise, while I enjoyed what the revamped engine could do, generally the world feels boring compared to Halo and Halo 3...Tsavo Highway for example, a lot of brown and grey but still had great art direction and looked great
 
K

Kimosabae

Banned
I agree. Halo CE is the only game in the series (and maybe ODST) with a respectable color palette - every other game looks like skittles.

And it's not like color can't be gritty or that I don't like color. LOVE color. Color CAN be gritty. Check Uncharted 2 or the final stage of Gears 3. That's high contrast and bright colors done breathtakingly right.

Just another aspect of the franchise that deteriorated when it forsook subltety.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
Grisby said:
Love the color. Makes Halo what it is.
Click to expand...
And makes it very easy to discern important details in the environment and other players, whether friend or foe. I think those clarity/readability considerations come first before anything else is taken into account.
 
Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
thechristoph said:
I feel the exact opposite. The color palate is what makes Halo tolerable for me. I can't handle playing Modern War of Dutyfield Brothers in Guns because it's brown, gray, and brown.
Click to expand...
Doesn't need to be that extreme. Just like the shot above... I think it feels more "real".
At least for what they're trying to achieve with the story. I mean... I can never take it seriously enough, don't know why... but could be 'cause how it looks.
 
R

Rahxephon91

Banned
I actually thought Reach was pretty much the best looking Halo and part of the reason was the color. It was a very colorful game. Hell my spartan was yellow.
 
C

Cat in the Hat

Member
I can see why some people would want a grittier looking Halo game but I think it's look and controls are what sets it apart. You change that tone and it loses the feeling of being halo and becomes something else entirely.
 
E

Elixist

Member
Uh oh mod just trolled you :p . I love Halos colors, just recently finished Reach awesome campaign, grreat pacing, gameplay etc.
 
G

Gospel

Parmesan et Romano
Marrshu said:
I'm perfectly fine with how Halo Reach looks. I do wish you could chose the color of the UI (like Crysis) however.
Click to expand...
This would be great. I found myself using Elites in H3 because of this.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
thechristoph said:
I feel the exact opposite. The color palate is what makes Halo tolerable for me. I can't handle playing Modern War of Dutyfield Brothers in Guns because it's brown, gray, and brown.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of Zero Punctuation's review of Clive Barker's Jericho.

"So which was your favorite Quake level? The Brown Castle, the Greenish-Brown Temple or the Other Brown Castle? Jericho shows us exactly how far we've come with the levels being, in order, Brown Ruins, More Brown Ruins, Brown Castle, More Brown Castle, and Revenge of the Brown Castle."
 
I

Im_So_Pringles

Member
Too many games end up looking crappy because they have no color. Halo developers realize the importance of color to the franchise. It makes the game stand out at a glance.

Gears 3 looks leaps and bounds better than Gears 2 because it actually has color.
 
E

Emitan

Member
Maxrpg said:
If the thread title had "IGN:" in front of it, I would not be surprised.
Click to expand...
Came here to post that I thought this was an IGN article.

Halo looks awesome. I love the colors. There a 100 brown shooters out there and only a handful of colorful ones (Halo, TF2, Warsaw, and BRINK instantly come to my mind but I can't think of anything else that's recent).
 
R

REV 09

Member
I would say that Forge killed Reach for me. Same looking maps over and over...and they're all void of any sort of artistic design. The regular maps are great but they're hardly voted for.
 
D

def sim

Member
Halo has always been colorful and I like it. Purple, blue, and orange explosions with brightly colored soldiers makes the multiplayer a lot more enjoyable for me.
 
S

Sophia

Member
Serenade said:
This would be great. I found myself using Elites in H3 because of this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, personally, I prefer the blue UI (or is it purple? I'm colorblind) of the Spartans over the one found in Halo Reach. Not that there's anything wrong with Reach's UI, I just have a personal preference.
 
U

udivision

Member
Takao said:
you're not morgan webb
Click to expand...
He'd have to say, "Looking at Halo Reach after seeing the snoozefest that is Skyward Sword, I was appalled at how similarly overcolored the games were. I wanted to die."
 
P

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
bengraven said:
I was one of the few who loved the paintball-looking alien blood in Halo 1.
Click to expand...
It was always fun painting a room with covenant blood and watching the framerate go down.
 
F

fernoca

Member
Came here expecting a Morgan Webb video/preview...disappointed that it was a GAFfer; with a cool avatar. :(

Bring moar games with Nintendo levels of color!! :p


And I loved Halo Reach, so run for cover indeed. >:|
 
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