Article: Tech Analysis: Halo: Reach

Halo Reach tech analysis

The long wait is finally over. It’s been three years since the mighty Master Chief bowed out in 2007′s epic Halo 3, and while last year’s ODST exhibited plenty of minor tweaks and improvements to the base tech, there was little doubt that the vast majority of the Bungie engine had remained untouched. While the gameplay delivered, core gamers spoiled by the cutting-edge graphical techniques seen in titles like Killzone 2 really wanted to see what a next-generation Bungie game could deliver.

Halo: Reach is that game, an enormous technical leap over its predecessors and competitors on 360 and an exciting example of a first-party exclusive that genuinely pushes the console into new technological territory – something we don’t see so often on the Microsoft platform.

First things first – let’s cover the basic building blocks of the game’s visuals. Native resolution for the game remains as per the alpha and beta code we previously analysed – 1152×720, with just a mild horizontal scaling up to 1280 pixels wide that is extremely difficult to detect by eye in most circumstances.