Title     Halo: Reach Developer    Bungie Studios Publisher    Microsoft Game Studios Platform    Xbox 360 Genre    First-Person Shooter, Science Fiction Action and Adventure Release Date    September 14th 2010

There probably isn’t a gamer alive today who hasn’t heard of Halo. Microsoft’s flagship franchise, the main character of the original trilogy of games Master Chief appears in much of the marketing for the two Xbox consoles, and has even been used by the corporation in their never-ending struggle with Apple to dominate the home computing market; Microsoft famously buying out development studio Bungie after Apple’s Grand High Poobah Steve Jobs announced publicly that the first game would be coming to Macintosh systems as well as Windows (the game finally made it to Mac 5 years later, when nobody cared anymore).

Despite the heavy pushing of the franchise by Microsoft, and generally positive critical and player reactions, the franchise has still managed to divide gamers. There are the fanboys of course, and the opposite camp who declaims the series as vastly over-rated. Somewhere in the middle are those of us who are more or less apathetic, apart from a certain degree of irritation whenever a new Halo title appears and more or less takes over the whole of our Xbox dashboard and most games sites and retailers. This is the group I myself belong to; I feel for the sake of clarity that I should point out that I have never been caught up in the hype surrounding Halo, I played the first two games and was underwhelmed, skipped the third and ODST, but also don’t actively hate them. It was therefore on something of a whim, and from a position of slightly bemused neutrality that I approached this game, so expect an entirely honest appraisal as I saw things. Both of the extremist sides of the argument have a tendency to accuse reviews of Halo games as biased one way or another, and I’m genuinely not interested in that. Now that I’ve hopefully headed off some of the more argumentative responses to my experience with Reach, let’s crack on. I’m going to try and do my best not to spoil the story or events of the single player campaign, but some may still slip in; consider yourself suitably warned in advance should you not have finished the game before reading further.

Reach is a prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved. The events of the campaign mode occur in the game universe timeline immediately prior to the UNSC starship Pillar of Autumn encountering the titular Halo station and kick-starting Master Chief and Cortana’s saga. Certain characters from the main trilogy, real-time strategy spin-off Halo Wars, and the expanded canon of books, comics and animation show up or are mentioned in the course of the story, but Reach does not feature Master Chief. Instead, the plot focuses on presenting a major piece of Halo lore that hadn’t previously been shown in the games, as seen from the perspective of a small Spartan Special Forces unit; the six members of Noble Team.

The team is deployed when communications are lost with a remote military outpost on the major human colony planet Reach. Initially this is assumed to be the actions of human rebels, but it quickly turns out to be a prelude to a major Covenant attack and attempted invasion. The fall of planet Reach is already an established part of Halo canon, and the rest of the campaign follows the losing battle to hold the Covenant off, until finally the aliens lose patience and “glass” the entire surface of the planet by bombarding it from orbit with plasma weapons. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that, with Reach’s invasion and destruction acting as a catalyst in the war with the Covenant, and heavily influencing the desperate measures that humanity takes to defend itself, including the discovery and attempted exploitation of Forerunner technology that includes the Halo station. Despite players assuming the role of one of Noble Team’s members, cutscenes are shown as if recorded by CCTV security cameras, and the entire game is styled in the manual description as “an interactive recording of the final actions of Noble Team prior to the glassing of planet Reach”, giving it the feel of a virtual reality documentary that places you in the suit of one of its subjects.

Noble Team’s Spartans, it turns out, are with a single exception not actually the true Spartan-II super soldiers of which Master Chief is a member. Rather they are so-called Spartan-IIIs, augmented with incredible physical and mental attributes including strength, speed, endurance and intellect and clad in the same Mjolnir modular armoured suits, but chosen for the program under a much less rigorous screening procedure that eschews their raising from childhood to more swiftly replenish the ranks of the original Spartans as the simultaneous wars against the Covenant and rebel human colonists gradually takes its toll. These Spartans are emblematic of the very finest in the UNSC military, and the members of Noble Team meet with much less hostility and distrust from allied forces than Master Chief did in the original games, instead being looked upon as welcome saviours and an inspirational rallying point where battles have been moving in the Covenant’s favour prior to Noble’s arrival. They are further differentiated from the original Spartan-IIs by the inclusion of officers in their number; three of Noble’s members hold ranks between commander and lieutenant, whereas Master Chief has been previously described as the leader of the Spartans and only has a senior non-commissioned officer rank.

Noble’s leader Carter is shown as a no-nonsense by-the-book soldier who follows orders from his contact in the UNSC command hierarchy even despite occasional reservations about specific directives, though much more openly resentful of ONI (office of naval intelligence) and civilian interference in missions. He rarely is shown fighting in the thick of engagements, only doing so when given no other alternative, and more commonly serves as a radio contact feeding the player mission objectives and updating intelligence about enemy positions and force composition in the field.

Noble 2, the team second in command and tech/communications specialist is Kat, the only female member of Noble. Her more slender physique compared to the male Spartans, as well as her bionic arm, make her stand out compared to her peers. She often accompanies combat operations, with her protection as she performs field repairs to damaged equipment being the responsibility of the player. She also is delegated operation coordination responsibility in place of Carter and performs similar command functions at points during the campaign.

Nobles 3, 4 and 5 all frequently accompany the player into the thick of the action. Jun is the squad’s marksman and recon specialist, and never seen without his huge high-powered sniper rifle and various parts of his armour obscured by camouflage webbing. Emile acts as Noble’s artillery and explosives expert, and is the only non-player member of the squad never seen without his helmet, which bears a stylised skull design etched onto the visor. Heavy weapons are handled by Jorge, the oldest member of the team and the only one to have come from the original Spartan-II project. He’s also the biggest and toughest fighter in Noble Team, but extremely compassionate and relatively gentle with civilians who get mixed up in battle, leading to tension with Emile. Jorge accompanies the player for almost all the first half of the campaign, and acts as your combat partner and bodyguard whilst he’s with you.

The player assumes control of Noble 6 during the solo campaign; in co-op it’s the party host, with other human players acting in support but not shown during cutscenes. Noble 6 is the team’s most junior of the three officers and vehicle specialist and pilot, but also takes on other duties in order for the player to be thrust directly into the most intense areas of combat. Almost all of the major events revolve around Noble 6 in some way, and he is revealed to be integral in initiating the events of the main Halo trilogy. At the start of Reach, Noble 6 is drafted into the team as a replacement for the previous Noble 6 who has died in action prior to the events of the game. His service record is heavily censored even from his new team mates, though Carter immediately informs him that he is expected to work as a member of the team and not a lone wolf; a clever nod from the development team that the focus of missions in Reach compared to other Halo games is altered, with players needing to coordinate their efforts with other characters instead of charging in and acting as a superhero one-man-army.

As with Master Chief, Noble 6 rarely speaks, in order to aid players in assuming his identity as their own during the game. This personal attachment goes even further with Noble 6 than the Chief, as Noble 6’s name is never revealed, but also because players customise each component of his Mjolnir armour from a wide-selection of helmets, chest plates, spaulders and greaves, and other accessories. You also have control over the colour of his armour, and the design of his personal emblem which appears on the chest plate on the opposite breast to the UNSC emblem. These customisations are persistent and carry over to multiplayer, with additional armour component variants unlocked in the armoury by earning credits and player ranks (ranging from recruit to lieutenant colonel) whilst playing both the solo and multiplayer aspects of the game. Access to equipment is restricted by rank, and then purchased using the credits; once purchased components remain available even if unequipped and replaced with a different piece of armour. Players are able to select any combination of armour components available to them, with incompatibility never being an issue. When you first start the game you are required to set up your own armour before being allowed to play either the campaign or multiplayer, but after that players can alter their appearance at any time outside of missions by pressing the start button and selecting the armoury menu. Options also exist to change the character to a female Spartan or even to a Covenant Elite during multiplayer games.

The basic gameplay is slightly altered from previous Halo games. Whilst primarily a first person shooter, with the option where possible to pilot or ride as a gunner or passenger in various vehicles, there are certain sequences that differ from this style of play; most notably a mission where the player participates in a space battle in Reach’s orbit, piloting a prototype starfighter in order to damage and board a Covenant ship. This mission plays very similarly in control and style to arcade flight combat games like Ace Combat or H.A.W.X and makes for an interesting gimmick that breaks up the first person action. Another mission has the player alternating constantly between aerial and ground combat by piloting a Falcon helicopter gunship in order to fight your way between various sections of a city against flying opponents, then landing and taking out targets inside structures where the Falcon can’t go. Control of the Falcon takes a little getting used to, but it makes for an interesting juxtaposition of combat techniques and serves in a way as a kind of unskippable tutorial to acquaint players with the vehicle before they use it in multiplayer battles; one of the chief complaints in previous Halo games being the ineptitude of players online whilst piloting a vehicle leading to their own death and that of every other player riding with them as a gunner or passenger.

In ground combat, the single use armour power-ups from recent Halo games have been evolved into swappable armour abilities that lend players a different unique advantage temporarily, and require a set amount of time to recharge before they can be employed again. These range from the fairly mundane, such as the ability to sprint at high speed, to the extremely awesome, in the form of a jetpack. If timed well, these can make all the difference between taking down a group of tough opponents and getting killed very quickly.

There’s a good selection of weapons available, including most of the classic ones that have appeared previously in the franchise, and a bunch of new ones with various specific advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. As with ODST, players hoping to charge into battle dual-wielding a single-handed firearm in each hand are going to be disappointed, as apparently only Master Chief has thought of doing it in the Halo universe, and the left trigger button is assigned to lobbing grenades. Melee combat tends to be particularly violent and crunchy as the only non-projectile or plasma weapon you can pick up in the game is the iconic Elite beam sword; otherwise using the melee button results in pistol whipping your opponent or swinging your rifle butt or fist around into the side of their head. If you melee an enemy from behind by sneaking up on them or dropping on them from above, it is also possible to perform an “assassination” kill using either a beam sword or a large combat knife; the effect brought Assassin’s Creed to mind, but it can be a very satisfyingly brutal way of dispatching someone, especially if you’re skilled or lucky enough to do it to another human player online.

Another innovation links back to what I was saying earlier in the review about allied troops being much friendlier to the Spartans. You can now shanghai a small detachment of marines or ODST, who will follow you in the campaign and provide covering fire and distractions allowing you to focus on your objective rather than the endless waves of enemy grunts. You can also swap out your currently held weapon for one in the possession of an allied soldier. It doesn’t let you trade if the weapon you’re holding is completely spent of ammunition or power, or if it’s the same type of weapon, but it is a handy exploit at times to get rid of a gun with only one or two shots remaining in exchange for a fully loaded one, and the poor sod whose gun you take is only too happy to help you out. Unfortunately, the whole thing is slightly spoilt by the AI of other UNSC forces, who are apparently all extraordinarily stupid. They will charge into overwhelming enemy forces, not take cover when tanks are firing at your position, and woe betide the player who thinks that they can man a Warthog’s turret and leave the driving to a computer controlled ally; they will park right in the middle of a battlefield with tanks firing at you, or move the vehicle into a position where an object is in the way of you shooting at the enemy, and sometimes even drive over cliffs. They’re basically as much of a hindrance as a help, and the entire thing is occasionally baffling, as the enemy AI in comparison is extremely effective, efficient, and even cunning in its behaviour, even on the lower difficulty settings. In many respects the enemy AI seems to be much more advanced even than in previous Halo games, with the campaign being much harder to complete on all difficulties than elsewhere in the franchise. This difficulty is only increased in co-op modes, making the relatively short campaign take some time to finish for anyone but the most experienced or skilled fans of console shooters (a group of gamers I don’t count myself amongst, preferring to play shooters on PC; it took me three days to conquer the solo campaign).

Multiplayer is therefore where most players will spend the majority of their time in Reach, and all of the standard classic play modes such as slayer make a return, including several of the maps from previous entries in the series. There are also a number of new online match types. Headhunter sees players dropping flaming skulls on their death; each player starts with one initially, but can collect more by killing other players, for which they get points if they deposit them in shifting collection zones. Generator Defence mode splits players into two teams, one of Spartans and one of Elites, with the Elites trying to destroy generators defended by the Spartans; teams swap over after each round. There is also a variation on the traditional capture the flag mode, called Stockpile, with neutral flags scattered around the map that must be collected and taken to drop-off points; these points only accept flags and convert them into points for a few seconds between countdowns, forcing teams to defend their drop point against enemy raiding parties attempting to steal them.

The biggest problems with the online multiplayer come from the matchmaking. It can on occasions take an age to find enough players to start a match, and it will not start a match until every player slot is filled, which is doubly frustrating if someone who has already been added to the game roster gets fed up and decides to drop out and try again in another game, further prolonging the wait for the remaining players. This is especially perplexing considering that during one session there was almost a million players online and playing the game, according to the counter, but I spent more time waiting for players to join in order for games to start than actually playing them. As well as that, as the game is a recent release and skill ratings are judged by a player’s rank, the option in matchmaking to only play against players of similar skill is utterly useless. I frequently find myself getting my arse kicked and insults coming over my headset about what a n00b I am from cocky 12 year olds with ostensibly a lower rank than my own, but who are clearly Halo veterans, by virtue of their having picked the game up after I did and not had enough time yet to achieve a superior rank. Hopefully at least this latter complaint will become less of an issue as time goes by and those players advance through the ranking system much more quickly than players who aren’t perhaps quite so adept at console shooters.

One final complaint about the online multiplayer is even more frustrating and inexplicable; the game has a tendency to suddenly say it’s switching to a new host and then take ages to restart the match – even though the original host is still in the game and there was apparently no need to switch in the first place.

These issues to one side, and the somewhat miserly selection of maps on offer (which will no doubt be remedied at further expense to players by DLC packs) the multiplayer is probably the best of any console game in terms of customisable options and play modes. And when you manage to join a game with other players of similar ability, it is a huge amount of fun, in a way that I’ve not seen matched by any other first person shooter on Live.

Graphically Reach is stunning. It has been said that Bungie wanted their final Halo game to push the limits of the 360s graphics, and that clearly shows. The quality of the graphics and animation throughout the game are on par with that shown during the cutscenes, which are themselves of a very high standard. Coupled with the sheer amount of action on screen in some of the larger battles, the scope of Reach blows away anything else currently on the console. Occasionally this does lead to the engine struggling somewhat to keep up, producing a framerate slowdown, but on the whole it handles it admirably well, resulting in one of the most simultaneously beautiful and epic looking games I’ve played. The sheer technical accomplishment aside, the design of the game too is utterly impeccable. My biggest problem with the first two Halo games was the rather uninspired and repetitive environments. In Reach, every map and area has clearly been carefully crafted to suit the dual demands of the campaign and multiplayer. None of it feels clumsy or randomly slapped together from generic objects and textures to drag the game out beyond its natural duration, which keeps the game constantly fresh and challenging, with there always being something new and interesting to look at. Character design is similarly flawless, with massive amounts of attention to detail to every piece of Spartan armour, and a large degree of variation in individual enemy and NPC ally characters.

As impressive as the visuals are, I’ve utterly fallen in love with the sound in Reach. The soundtrack is an absolute triumph; combining several themes and refrains, including occasional reprises from the soundtracks of prior games, but mostly consisting of new material. The soundtrack perfectly matches the mood of whatever is happening on screen at any given moment, and the music blends a variety of complimentary musical styles seamlessly, including orchestral and symphonic suites, electric guitar and rock percussion, electronic sounds, and choral chants and laments. There is a very heavy, sombre weight to the soundtrack when it’s appropriate, reflecting the emotions I was feeling watching this planet slowly destroyed around me despite my actions to save it. Other times, the rhythmic energy propelled me through firefights, adding to the excitement and adrenaline rush. My slightly negative view of other Halo games notwithstanding, I have always liked the music in the franchise and own the soundtrack albums, purely from musical appreciation. The soundtrack to Reach however is so far beyond anything that series composer Martin O’Donnell has done previously that at times the music has moved me near to tears. It’s available separately as a double CD album, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to fans of game soundtracks. There is one theme in particular that reprises at various points throughout the game and soundtrack, which is just hauntingly beautiful.

The sound effects are almost as well done as the music, with everything sounding right for the way it looks and acts. Similarly the voice acting is solid, with nobody sounding out of place, or over the top or badly acted. There is an all-pervasive veneer of polish right the way through all aspects of the game.

Pros

• A story and characters that finally have some proper emotional development and depth to them in the Halo franchise.
• No other game will get more out of the Xbox 360s graphics processor than this does.
• A genuine challenge on any difficulty setting, demanding that you rise to meet its level rather than dumbing down to meet you, yet without being overly cheap or sadistic in achieving that effect.
• The most fully featured and fun console shooter to date.
• Excellent customisation options for altering your character’s appearance, which combine with a novel reward structure for playing the game.
• Solid vehicle control, adding some welcome variety to the gameplay.
• Weapons and armour abilities to suit every style of play.
• A very capable and simple to learn map editor, with the ability to create environments online with your friends and then upload them to a cloud server for other people to download.
• The most amazing musical soundtrack I’ve heard in a game.
• A Halo game that doesn’t require you to be a fan to really appreciate it.
• Jetpacks!

Cons

• Your allies are as dumb as a bag of rocks in the solo campaign.
• Online matchmaking can be tediously frustrating.
• Online play likes to switch hosts for no reason, disrupting play.
• The campaign is a bit short in duration.
• Somewhat limited selection of multiplayer maps.
• The higher than normal number of annoying foul-mouthed idiot tweens playing online compared to other games.

Summary

There are arguably better shooting games on the PC. Team Fortress 2 is more enjoyable as an online shooter. Crysis is better looking, if your PC is machine enough to do it justice. FEAR and Soldier of Fortune II do single-player narrative more competently. But there are no other console shooters remotely close to being as good as Halo: Reach. And none of those PC shooters do all of those things to a similarly high level at the same time. TF2 effectively has no single player mode, Crysis is good-looking but otherwise hollow, and FEAR and Soldier of Fortune II have dated and subsequently insufficient online options. Reach has it all.

It’s come as a major surprise to me personally that this game is as good as it is, and that I enjoyed it as much as I have. I’m not a Halo fan. I’m not really especially keen on playing first-person shooters without a mouse to be honest. This is a game that assaults all of your senses, without offending them, and demands attention and respect, and it has both from me. I’ve never been happier at having my assumptions about a game ultimately proven so wrong.

Initially the campaign starts off quite slowly, and it’s hard to see why you should care about the characters involved, but the story builds up momentum, gets you involved slowly, until you’re entirely emotionally involved in what’s happening. The sense of loss as sacrifices are made. The crushing tension and despair of seeing a once lush and flourishing world slowly ground to rubble and then finally utterly obliterated. The sensation of grand scale... but not so grand and high concept that it loses its human element.

Having a team of persistent characters surrounding you, all of them equals, even your superiors in many respects, also changed the dynamic of the story and the level of personal involvement, compared to Halos past where you were one man fighting for as vague and disembodied a goal as the survival of the entire human race, whilst not really seeing why it was worth fighting for, or ever feeling like you might not win. Victory was ultimately assured when playing as Master Chief. Loss was guaranteed all along playing as Noble 6, and yet somehow that made the struggle all the more significant, more meaningful.

As a final farewell to this successful franchise they created, Bungie have done something incredible. They knew that action was assured in the multiplayer, so they took a risk, with the campaign. It takes longer for the action to pick up, and I’ve heard that discussed as a negative by other players. But by taking that time instead to craft a story and characters and a feeling overall that you get to caring about... the parting gift they gave to Halo was a soul. This was so obviously a labour of love.

And to me, that’s what made this game special, and stand out from those that came before it. The marketing tagline for this game is “Remember Reach.” I know I shall.

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