Halo: Reach

Bungie's Final farewell
to loyal fans.

Synopsis:

     Set immediately before the events in the Halo series, Reach follows the last days of Noble Team, a team of 6 Spartan super soldiers charged with keeping the peace on what may very well be the most important planet in the Halo universe. After a brief introduction to the members of Noble Team, players assume the command of Noble 6, a faceless and mysterious soldier reassigned to work with the elite band of Spartans. Almost immediately the group is sent on their first mission as a new team: investigate what is supposed to be a small act of rebel sabotage that has caused a communication zone black out. It isn't long until Noble Team finds the reason for the downed communication and what should have been a brief recon mission turns into a fight for their lives as the six super soldiers are quickly overwhelmed with covenant forces and are forced to retreat and regroup. Before long, Noble Team discovers that it isn't a small Covenant battalion that's causing all the chaos but rather a full scale invasion fleet.

     For any not familiar with the Halo franchise, Reach does an excellent job of revealing the ultimate fate of the star-crossed world within the first couple seconds of the game. Before the action begins, players are shown the helmet of Noble 6 cracked and broken, lying in the dirt; a somber screen shot that sets the tone for the campaign. After all, Halo Reach is a tragedy.

     As the last hurrah for game developer Bungie with it's cash-cow of a video game child, Halo, its obvious developers wanted to pull out all the stops and go out with a bang, a goal they most definitely accomplished. 

Appearance:

Noble team looks the same in the
cinematics as they do in regular
gameplay.

     One of the joys of being loyal to a game series is being able to revel in the advancement of graphics as new titles are released. This latest installment from the universe of the Master Chief is no different. Just like we thought Halo 2's vistas trumped those of the original, and Halo ODST put Halo 3's visual appearance to shame, so does Reach do to the entire franchise. Bungie has once again shown that their dedication to the Halo series goes far beyond a bad-ass main character and that they're not above the extra grunt work of amping up the polygons to bring something as simple as an assault rifle to life.

To remind players just how scary
the Covenant was, even the Grunts
got a bit of a redesign.

    Aside from giving the scenery and weapons a facelift, Bungie took time to give makeovers to the Covenant as well. By tweaking the appearance of the Grunts, Elites, Jackals, and Brutes developers were able to remind players that before being humanized in Halo 2, the Covenant were a terrifying collective of alien races as ruthless and frightening as they were foreign.

Noble Team is about as diverse as 
any group out there.

     By setting the game on the never-before-seen world of Reach, during a time where there was more than just Master Chief running around and saving the galaxy, Bungie was given the opportunity to play around with what different Spartans might have looked like. From the no-nonsense Kat with her cybernetic arm to the battle-eager Emile donning a helmet with painted on skull, Noble Team is just about as diverse and eclectic as a Benetton ad. 

Game Play

   Whether intentional or not, much of Reach pays homage to the original Halo, most notably in gameplay and the overall feeling of "oh crap." Bungie has done an excellent job of giving players a sense of accomplishment after completing mission objectives, even though ultimately there's only so much they can do to delay the inevitable. 

Through use of the armory, players
can upgrade Noble 6's armor from
sweet to utterly bad ass.

     In an effort to distinguish Reach from other Halo incarnations and to offer fans something they've been begging for for a while, Bungie introduces the Armory. By using points earned through completing missions and dispatching Covenant forces, players may purchase new additions or upgrades to Noble 6's armor. Some upgrades are intended to effect gameplay, some are only meant to add a laugh, and some ultimately were included to just look sweet.

Classic Halo returns with a better
AI and greater weapon choices

     Arguably the best part of Reach would be the elimination of the Flood. Taking place before the discovery of the zombie-like flesh bags, players don't have to worry about running through a level in order to survive and can instead focus on executing some sort of strategy to overcome large groups of Covenant ground forces. 

     Through an enhanced computer AI, something as seemingly simple as driving around in a ghost and gunning down Grunts and Elites has become quite a bit more laborious as Elites will now strafe out of the way only to jump down from a boulder and commandeer the ghost for themselves. While this may annoy some, it makes the gameplay that much more dynamic without really effecting the difficulty.

Battling in space is just one of the
insanely cool additions brought
out in Reach

     Another means of switching up gameplay would be the introduction of vastly different levels such as piloting a helicopter from skyscraper to skyscraper as players dispatch Covenant units within, or rocketing off into low orbit to repel a Covenant Corvette Battlecruiser, marking the first time Halo's combat has included space battles.

By using the jet pack players can
get more than a leg up on the
competition

    When not participating in dogfights in zero gravity, players can also geek out by employing Bungie's other gameplay additions through the use of armor abilities. These tactical actions range from the well-known 'invisibility' to the lusted after 'jet pack' and the invaluable 'armor lockdown', an ability that causes the Spartan to remain still but gain invulnerability for several seconds. 

     Following the tradition of its predecessors, Reach introduces an array of new and impressive weapons for players to geek out over. Namely: a weapon that allows player to call down an air strike on a select target, dealing area damage and pretty much turning anything within the blast radius into scrap. 

The Covenant Skirmisher might
look like a jackal with a bad hair day
but they're so much more than that

    Another new addition to the Halo universe is the introduction of a new Covenant race, the Skirmisher. A subspecies of the Jackals, the Skirmishers are faster, stronger, and more agile and only the high-ranking units employ the use of shields which are much smaller than their Jackal cousins and used primarily to show rank than to provide actual protection. The Skirmishers are Bungie's perfect way of showing off their enhanced AI system. By attacking in packs and using flanking tactics, a player practicing tunnel vision might find himself quickly surrounded by the close-range, feather-maned killers.

Don't Change a Thing:

Noble Team seen here
communicating with Dr. Halsey

     Featuring impressive graphics, a compelling story and the ability to change Noble 6's armor, Reach might be the best thing to come out of the Halo franchise since the original grandaddy of them all Halo: Combat Evolved. Following in the traditions of the games before it, Reach is oozing with Halo lore, back stories, and cameos. By including the appearance of Doctor Halsey, the doctor responsible for the Spartan soldiers and everybody's favorite quirky AI Cortana, Reach delves a little deeper into the fiction that has made the entire franchise so irresistible. 

Should Have Spent More Time On:

     Aside from fumbling with dialog and voice acting here and there, and occasionally having to run around in a circle while waiting for the next checkpoint to be triggered, Reach is free of many of the headaches and nuisances of its predecessors. Ultimately, Bungie hit their marks when they brought us this delight of geek ambrosia. 

While the game is about rugged and
tough soldiers saving a planet
its surprisingly not all that gay.

Just How Homo:

     Despite having a team comprised almost entirely of vastly different male super soldiers to cater to just about anyone's type, its hard to check someone out through layer upon layer of battle armor. Although Jorge might be the perfect sensitive bear, Emile the notorious bad boy, Jun the level headed and calm thinking boy next door and Commander Carter the all around straight-edge take-charge jock, the fact that they are all wearing full body suits and concerned primarily with defending a doomed planet means players might as well be fawning over a gun-slinging robot.

Own it or Rent it:
     Some people simply don't enjoy an FPS, no matter how compelling the story or interesting the characters, if that is the case, then those poor close-minded souls should steer clear of Reach. For the rest of us who like a good story, or who just want to tag aliens with plasma grenades until the cows come home, Reach is most definitely an Own It. Any fan of multiplayer online gaming already knows how perfect the Halo series is for Xbox Live, add in all the new weapons, maps, and chances to T-bag a downed opponent and you'll agree that Bungie's grand finale was just that.