Halo: Reach Review

Many gamers that I know have had their best video game moments while playing Halo. I remember calling twelve of my friends over to my house. I remember making them haul over their television, Xbox, a copy of Halo, and multiple cases of Mountain Dew. I remember cramming all of us into one house strewn across multiple rooms and playing the original Halo for hours on end, all the while letting the mayhem and carnage ensue around me. This is what Halo: Reach does for me once again, minus hauling everything to one house thanks to the miracles of modern networking.

Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original Halo. No longer is Master Chief the only Spartan left in the universe, and although he doesn't make an appearance here, you'll learn to love this new Spartan group that you play through the campaign with. Enter Noble 6, this is your character in Halo: Reach, and he has been assigned to Noble squad. Over the course of the campaign, you and your companions from Noble squad will battle through a plethora of Covenant foes. Reach’s story arc spans ten chapters, which will typically take the average gamer eight to ten hours before the end credits, during which you will be pulled into what is in my mind the most epic of Halo's story-lines. As a longtime fan of the series, I can safely say that Reach’s finale ranks among the series’ best. I even shed a tear here and there, but I'll keep this review free of spoilers.

You will traverse a variety of areas across Reach, from mountain top cities to Covenant bases, and there are even a few missions that take place in space. The core shooter mechanics of the franchise haven’t changed all that much in Reach, but have been tweaked to near perfection. While Bungie has removed the possibility of dual wielding weapons, they have added a few new weapons to the Spartans arsenal. Among the new additions is the needle rifle, where three shots to one spot causes the needles to detonate. Another welcome addition to the series is the use of abilities. These perks found throughout the course of the campaign give Noble 6 special capabilities. You start out with the sprint modifier, but throughout the game you will find a multitude of abilities, from the capability to drop a bubble shield at will, to an armor lock-up that makes you impervious to all damage. While these abilities are on a cool down timer, they do come up regularly and can help turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Halo: Reach is the best looking Halo game to date. The action looks great and runs smooth. All of the Covenant costumes are really well done and makes them all feel different and unique for the most part in the campaign. The cut-scenes are well done, and will have you immersed into the story and have you wanting to know more about your companions on Noble team. Even better, you now have the option to customize the armor of Noble 6, and these changes are visible during both game play and cut-scenes. This helps to make you feel unique and different from the millions of other Spartans playing this game.

The sound in Halo: Reach is phenomenal as well. Hearing the explosions and bullets erupt around you makes this game almost feel realistic. The squad's dialogue is very well done, making you feel like your teammates are really talking to you. If you face or walk away from your teammates, their volume will decrease, causing you to move towards them again so that you can hear what they are saying to keep you involved in the action. The music for the cut-scenes, game menus, and title screen are all well orchestrated, which is nothing less than I'd expect from the audio team at Bungie. They did a great job delivering an audibly pleasing experience, and giving me a better sense of immersion than titles offered by other developers.

Multiplayer will definitely keep players coming back for more. This is a game people will be playing for months and months to come. Halo's multiplayer experience is really what this game is about. The game modes are really well done and before each round you and your fellow players get to vote on which map or game mode that you wish to partake in. The variety of game modes is enormous, and will keep things fresh and interesting for even veteran Halo players. Infection, a fan-favorite game mode in the series, makes its return here. Racing mode is a welcome addition, where you race an all-terrain vehicle through checkpoints while trying to maintain control of your unruly vehicle. If all that wasn't enough, you can also participate in Firefight once again.

Halo: Reach has a great story which breathes some fresh air into the Spartan story-arc by allowing you to play as someone other than Master Chief for once. The multiplayer game play will be bringing you back for months to come, and you will enjoy what these modes have to offer. I'm sure that this will be a game that will give me new stories to tell about how video games brought me and my friends closer than we ever wanted to be.