Bungie toyed with Reach space combat MP

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 November, 2010

Decided game was ambitious enough.

Bungie has revealed that it mocked up a multiplayer version of the Sabre orbital attack ship level used in Halo: Reach during the game's development.

One of Reach's most memorable chapters, Long Night of Solace, saw players take off from Reach in a Sabre and engage the Covenant in space.

And according to creative director Marcus Lehto, at one stage there were plans afoot to make it a competitive multiplayer level.

"We joked about it from time to time and even had a rough version of it working very early on in development," Lehto told Game Informer (thanks CVG).

"But the mechanics of it were pretty silly and we very quickly realised that the resulting gameplay experience wouldn't hit the bar we were aiming for, nor justify the amount of work required."

In the end, Lehto and his team decided that Reach had enough stuff going on in it anyway. Consider the ostriches.

"With so many features and so much content already committed, Reach was an incredibly ambitious project on an already aggressive schedule," he noted.

We thought so too, as you will know if you read our Halo: Reach review, where we gave it 9/10.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • d00dl #1 2 years ago

    NOOOOO!!! It's like a million souls cried out and then suddenly went silent. Damn you Bungie damn you to heck! Please make this DLC I beg you.
    Edited by d00dl at 29/11/10 @ 11:12

  • matrim83 #2 2 years ago

    Oooh all Sabres DM. Hell yeah. I would have been down for that.

    Actually you know what, in its place I will even take a all Banshees DM on Hemo. At least that way that map will have 1 gametype that suits it.
    Edited by matrim83 at 29/11/10 @ 11:14

  • CygnusReactor #3 2 years ago

    shame, that sounded pretty sweet. :(

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #4 2 years ago

    I think if they did a Sabre-only map back, with different levels and game types, they could probably sell it for 1200 points and justify development costs.

  • Shikasama #5 2 years ago

    I'm glad that they actually sat there and thought 'you know what, we can't do this properly just yet, let's leave it' rather than 'fuck it, we will sell arse loads of the game anyway, may aswell whack it on'.

  • Freek #6 2 years ago

    They say it wasn't fun, so why cry for something that doesn't add anything worthwhile to the game? They prototyped it, it diden't work and moved on.

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 2 years ago

    PLEASE make this DLC as its would be optional for gamers, to test the market and see if there is demand for space based Halo combat game!

    Battlefield 1943 DLC did have really fun flight combat game as an aside, which are loved and hated by different people, but its a luxury of choice.

    I even would consider getting it at 1200 points but an outright buy at 800 points.

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #8 2 years ago

    I found this one of the best parts of the game, shame there wasnt more of it.

  • AdamAsunder #9 2 years ago

    I think a lot of people would've liked space combat multiplayer but if it don't work it don't work.

  • Deoden #10 2 years ago

    Sigh... Might as well load up Rebel Strike again. It's not like there hasn't been a decent space combat game for the consoles since the Rogue Squadron series finished *checks calendar*

    SEVEN YEARS AGO?

    On the plus side, I think I'm now offically old and crotchety enough to bang my walking stick on the table and ask where the hell my next space shooter fix is coming from.

  • bratmandu #11 2 years ago

    It's ok bungie, save the space combat for your MMO space combat/trading game.

  • Seoh #12 2 years ago

    I think they made the right call there, the sabre combat was fun but wasn't fleshed out enough to support multiplayer.

    ... Still waiting for X wing vs Tie Fighter 2

  • mcreddie #13 2 years ago

    It really was ambitious. I mean you managed to create different models for the guns, add about 5 bits of equipment and create a similar campaign to Halo 3.

    If only all game developers rebranded the same game repeatedly.

    Well done.

    10/10.

  • StolenGlory #14 2 years ago

    Thank fuck they came to their senses.

    There is no need to dilute the No.2 multiplayer FPS with pointless 'space' match types in it's MP.

    Thanks, but no thanks.

  • CaptainQuint #15 2 years ago

    Yes, it was already going to be better than Black Ops without it.

  • darleysam #16 2 years ago

    If they're sure it's not fun, then I can believe that. Won't stop a whole pile of people claiming to know better, but hey.

  • thubie #17 2 years ago

    Microsoft please use this tech to make crimson skies in space plox.
    Just with a cod/halo kind of customization.

  • [TR] #18 2 years ago

    Isn't everyone else not surprised by this?
    Of course they considered it. If it wasn't in the final version of the game and hasn't been/won't be released as DLC it's because they decided it wasn't worth it for whatever reason.
    And the bit of space combat that's in SP is fun, but not really expansive enough to warrant them spending time on it for MP.

  • Mudo #19 2 years ago

    When you're flying in space in Reach, why when you go upside down does the Sabre naturally 'right' itself? There is no right way up in space!

    That was by far the best level in the game but it really annoyed me that they decided space has an up and a down.
    Edited by Mudo at 29/11/10 @ 17:24

  • Centrifugal #20 2 years ago

    They wouldn't be saying this unless they had plans to make it DLC; no developer admits that they could have done more in a game when it's still in the prime of its sales.

    A few years later, sure, like Molyneux calling Fable II rubbish.

  • Rack #21 2 years ago

    Yeah, adding a jet-pack to a Halo mission pack turned out to be entirely ambitious enough.

    Pity really, people don't give a crap about getting anything the least bit new or different. Just knock out a map pack over a few months and they'll lap it up.

  • bratmandu #22 2 years ago

    @Mudo

    I didn't mind the self righting mechanism - you still have a lot of vertical space to fly in any direction, but it also makes sure you never get too disorientated. There is no 'up' in space but it could be relative to the planet which kinda makes sense.

    I really do hope an elite style mmo is in the works at bungie, if they fleshed out that space combat a bit it's a winner.