The beginning of the end is nigh as you slip in that disk into your drive. At the first note of the introduction movie you know that this is going to be it. Halo as we know it is coming to an end, and what a way to end it.
OVERVIEW
Halo: Reach is Bungie’s swan song, and you would think making a prequel the last game in the series is a little odd, especially seeing how Halo 3 ended. But it works extremely well, we now get to see how Master Chief arrives to the Halo rings in Halo: Combat Evolved, as well as letting the gamer get a wider view of the vastness that is the Halo universe. In Reach, you fall into the boots of a Spartan III only known as Noble 6 on a mission to defend the planet Reach from the unstoppable forces of the alien collective known as The Covenant. You and your squads mission is to kick as much ass and chew as much bubblegum as you can, allowing the planet to evacuate of civvies and (hopefully) not let the planet get glassed, something The Covenant are very skilled in doing. It seems like a suicide mission, but that’s what you signed up for, right?
GAMEPLAY
There are various changes to game play in Reach in comparison to the previous games in the series. Seeing as you’re no longer Master Chief, you have lost the feeling of being a juggernaut, swatting aliens out of your way with relative ease. Alien scum is much more terrifying in this game. You’re smaller than some of the bigger creatures in The Covenant arsenal, and you are easily killed by a well-aimed roundhouse kick or pimp slap to the face. You can’t jump as high as the Chief could, which really does make a huge difference to how you play the game. Everything feels much more hostile on planet Reach, from the creepy sounding and looking Grunt to the agile but infinitely terrifying Elites. Your back is definitely against the wall in this game, and you really do feel like you are fighting for survival. Another great feature is the fact your character stays the same on both multiplayer and campaign modes. This makes you feel so much closer to Noble 6, as he/she is someone who you have crafted yourself. You have chosen their colour, their armour pieces, even their gender. Everything is up to you when it comes to what Noble 6 looks like, that it makes it feel as if you are Noble 6, much more so than being Master Chief in previous Halo games.
Game play changes include some new weapons, the removal of the ability to dual wield, “bloom” when you fire a weapon (you shoot, your crosshair gets bigger), but none are as important or are as innovative as Armour Abilities. These little lovelies give you special abilities to help you be that more dangerous. They vary from giving the ability to sprint, become invincible but unable to move or give you wings in the form of a jetpack. This simple idea is implemented in such a way that it allows you to combat situations in a variety of ways, giving the game a greater tactical feel. The real clincher though is that enemies in the Campaign and Firefight modes also have these abilities. This mixed with the new and incredibly clever enemy AI makes a dangerous concoction indeed.
It is great to see Bungie not settle down with just ground combat in Halo: Reach, they continue to push what they can to with a variety of missions that push the boundaries of First Person Shooter gameplay. From space battles which are complimentary to certain games in the past (*cough*StarWarsBattleFront2*cough*) to flying a helicopter through a burning city, skyscrapers crumbling down around you. These missions soon become set pieces that you remember long after playing them.
GRAPHICS
The Halo series has often had its graphics and general look criticised. People did not seem to be a fan of vibrant purple and blue the games possessed (something which, I personally loved). Especially during this current generation of consoles, players seem to favour games that have a more “realistic” taste. This, in laymen’s terms, means brown, grey, and maybe a bit of rust. Halo: Reach has responded to this by falling into the middle ground. This game has a much more dynamic and arty feel to it. Some levels have their colours leeched out of them by dominating thunderclouds rolling overhead; some seem to glow red from the burning earth surrounding them. The graphics definitely express the feeling the game wants to present. The planet is under siege from an unstoppable force. The future appears to be very bleak; however, there is still something there. A glimmer of hope in the form of Spartans and the human spirit to make it through impossible odds. All of this combines into making the entire world so vibrant and alive that you cant help but be drawn into it and care about what happens to you, your squad and the entire planet.
MULTIPLAYER
Now we come to the main lifeblood of the Halo series, multiplayer. Bungie has gone the whole hog with the multiplayer in this game. The level of customisation you are able to have is truly astounding. Your Spartan looks exactly how you want them to, everything from your kneepads to the colour of your visor, to having lightning coming out of your head. This amount of combinations you can have is vast and varied, and this definitely gives you something to aim for. To unlock all these fantastic goodies, you have to gain credits. You gain credits by playing games, doing well in games, reaching milestones (called Commendations) and getting lucky in the slot machine (random number of credits is given to you at an end of a Matchmaking game). Everything in Reach feels tuned to perfection, nothing is overpowered, the maps respond very well to the new range of game-changers (sorry, no Jet packing out of maps for you).
New game modes such as the Attack-Defend style Invasion make a welcome appearance. In this, players take turns playing as either Spartans or Elites and have to, well, attack or defend. The real draw for this though is that people who play as Elites have a built in advantage. Elites are stronger, jump higher, run faster and are just plain scary. However Spartans have access to better weapons and armour abilities sooner in the matches. It works really well, and the maps used in Invasion are tuned to the game type perfectly.
Firefight makes a return from Halo 3:ODST and is improved greatly.
There is a huge increase in customisable options in it that you can make it entirely how you want it. Want to go sniping Grunt’s heads, with confetti flying out of it, their deaths made joyous by the sounds of children cheering? Go ahead. Want to fire your Assault Rifle endlessly without the need to reload into the backs of wave after wave of hunters? Sure. Want to fly forever and shoot rockets from above? Be my guest. So much customisation means a near infinite amount of playtime to be had.
Now we come to Forge, the map editor. Forge has been given a huge reboot since Halo 3, with most of the gripes of Forge now gone. You are now able to “Phase” objects, meaning you can put blocks floating in the air or halfway through a wall. You can lock objects to certain degrees, which means you no longer have to spend hours making sure every wall is at a 90-degree angle. The main part of Forge in this game, however, is Forge World. A giant map dedicated for you to splurge your greatest creations on. With a giant budget, a crazy amount of items to Forge, and a giant and varied map to play on, Forge will give the community of Reach hours of fun to build, customise and play.
The only downside I can think of to put in this review is that, sometimes, the game is too grand for the console to handle. There are times where there are too many vehicles, too many explosions (otherwise known as too much awesome) for the Xbox to handle. I don’t know whether that should be a con of the game, or a con of the console.
I now believe that Halo: Reach has set a new standard for First Person Shooters. From now on I will go to a new shooter and think “Its alright and all, but you know what would improve this game? A jetpack.”
343 Studios do what you like. Halo, in my mind, is complete.
VERDICT – A “Halo:Reach is the perfect culmination of every Halo game before it, crafted brilliantly to make it a beautiful end to a beautiful saga.”
+Gameplay is fabulous
+Graphics are gorgeous
+Multiplayer is going to last forever
-It could be said to be too awesome for the console to handle.
Crafted with 100% love and care from us here at LudiCrumb.
