Presenting the final chapter in a saga is tough. Look at films, for instance; the final installment in a trilogy is rarely, if ever, the best.
I was initially a little hesitant when Bungie announced that its last Halo game would be a prequel, wouldn’t star or feature the Master Chief, and wouldn’t take place on a Halo ring at all. It just wasn’t what I had imagined.
Flash forward to now, and I’m still reeling from what I’ve played. And from what I’m still playing. Halo: Reach takes place chronologically before 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, and that’s all too fitting. With Reach, Bungie has truly come full circle, offering a game that stands out as the best in the series, and one we’ll be playing for years and years to come.
In Reach, the player takes control of the unnamed Noble Six, the latest addition to a squad of Spartans called Noble Team. The player is given a plethora of armor, voice, and effect customization options, all for the sake of making each Noble Six unique to each player. Noble Six jumps in as the Covenant attacks the planet Reach, humanity’s last stronghold protecting its best kept and most important secret: Earth.
The tone here is much darker than in previous installments of the Halo franchise. Wonder is replaced with foreboding as the beautiful Halo rings are replaced with a planet on the brink of destruction. It’s an appropriately darker story, especially considering where it falls within the Halo canon. This is just the beginning of the Covenant onslaught.
The gameplay itself has seen some marked changes, most notably in the form of armor abilities. Instead of carrying equipment a la Halo 3, players are allowed to pick up different armor abilities throughout the single-player campaign. Many multiplayer modes allow players to choose their armor abilities before each match and after each death. These abilities include the jetpack (my personal favorite), armor lock (renders the player invincible for a few seconds) the drop shield (Halo 3’s bubble shield), active camouflage, and a few more. It’s a welcome change, and it simplifies the game to a great extent while providing some new features to enjoy.
The requisite new weapons and vehicles are also present, and all of them provide for some fun new stuff to get used to and enjoy. The pistol makes another triumphant return, scope and all. It’s a great tool used by Bungie to recreate the feel of the original Halo. Dual-wielding is nowhere to be found, and I applaud that decision. Simplicity isn’t a bad thing.
Regenerating health is back, in a way. Health packs are still strewn throughout the world, but player health will regenerate if it isn’t knocked down too far. It’s a nice mix of the original Halo’s health system and those of its sequels.
It’s still a horrible idea to let a computer-controlled character drive you around in the Warthog, unless driving off cliffs and bridges is your thing. This has been an AI problem since Bungie implemented the ability to let the computer drive, and it certainly hasn’t been fixed. That said, letting a friend jump in with you in cooperative mode is still one of gaming’s most fun options, so that helps to remedy the computer’s bad driving (if you have friends, that is).
As with each prior Halo title, you’ll come for the campaign and stay for the multiplayer. Players will know what to expect here, but Bungie has certainly gone the extra mile to maximize Reach’s longevity. Daily and weekly challenges will keep players coming back to test their mettle against Bungie’s toughest tasks.
Playing matches and completing challenges accumulate credits, which players can use to customize their characters. I’m currently saving up for “Heart Attack,” a customization that makes winged hearts fly out of my own dead body upon each death. There are many armor customization options available as well, all in the name of looking cool. None of them actually affect a character’s performance or abilities, but you can’t fault style.
ODST’s Firefight mode has returned, this time packed to the brim with new options. This is what Firefight should’ve been in the first place, but wasn’t. Many new customization options exist, making this Firefight incredibly varied and, most importantly, a lot of fun. Perhaps the biggest new addition to the mode is the ability to take control of the Covenant side of the onslaught. This adds an appreciated competitive side to Firefight.
Finally, the Forge makes its triumphant return, in a completely new form: Forge World. Many of the default maps included within Reach are Forge World creations. It’s basically an enormous map created solely for the purpose of homegrown maps. Reach’s multiplayer map selection is disappointingly small, and that’s probably the game’s biggest and most noticeable flaw. Forge World goes a long way toward fixing that problem, however. I found a pitch-perfect recreation of Halo 2’s Lockout (Blackout in Halo 3), ripe and ready for download. There are some truly talented mapmakers out there, and Forge allows us to experience their talents firsthand. The fact that Bungie created many of Reach’s default maps in Forge World using the same tools available to gamers is a testament to how robust the Forge is this time around.
On the technical side of things, Reach shines. It’s no Modern Warfare 2 in the graphics department, but Halo has never been about the latest and greatest graphics. The landscapes are beautiful and enormous, which is probably why the graphics can’t quite be up to par with those of other, more linear (smaller!) shooters out there. I experienced an annoying flashing in the background on some of the night campaign stages while playing cooperative mode, and those flashes were probably the most noticeable visual annoyance. Aside from that, Reach’s graphics are beautiful, and a sight to behold.
The Halo series’ most consistently amazing component is arguably the audio. Marty O’Donnell returns once again with a beautiful score that proves itself more than worthy of the series. O’Donnell established Halo's wonderful track record in the audio department, and he doesn’t disappoint here. The typically wonderful voiceover work returns this time around, with all the situational dialogue we’ve come to expect. I hear new NPC dialogue every time I play the game, and that’s a beautiful thing. The sound effects actually see an improvement here, with some extra little touches that go the extra mile to make the game more satisfying. It’s amazing how headshot sounds and grenade bounces can enhance a gaming experience so heavily.
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