From the Vault — originally published October 15, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
Halo Reach is said to be the final Halo game to be made by Bungie. In this Bungie has surely left the series on a high note. The game has improved on every aspect lacking in previous Halo titles. Specifically Graphics, story, online multiplayer and campaign modes have all been noticeably improved in this Halo game.
The graphics and particle effects have been bumped up significantly when compared to Halo ODST and Halo 3. The effects in explosions and the Covenant weapon fire effects have been upgraded in a very noticeable way. The stages and set pieces themselves look great and so are the menus and overall design of the game. Despite this upgrade I can not give Halo Reach a perfect score because as of the time of this review Halo Reach does not even come close to having the best graphics in a first person shooter. Killzone 2 was released two years prior to this Halo Reach release and still has significantly better graphics.
The story in Reach is a step beyond any story I have experienced in prior Halo games. The characters are more well defined and likable. It may be in part to the fact that many of the Spartans take off their helmets and you can get a better read into their persona’s. The cutcenes are well done and are never too short or long. The overall story is well scripted in that the game takes you from place to place in Reach in a way that runs with the story. You always get the reason why you are in each place and its importance to the overall story and objective. This is something very important that was not executed as well in say Halo 3. The well paced and clear story does much to keep you invested in playing through the game. The campaign is somewhere between 10-12 hours.
The campaign itself is meaty and engaging. At no point did I loose interest granted I played on the Heroic difficulty setting which apparently is recommended. Bungie did well in adding more variety than in past games. There are some parts that pays to be a bit stealthy planning your attack. There is also a section where you fly a spacecraft that is pretty well done and is a nice departure from the usual run and gun.
The enemy intelligence in battle is top notch. The covenant enemy forces move out of the way, shoot and flank as they should. Every battle is different and the gunfights are particularly fun and dynamic because of this. The AI of your computer controlled team members can suck if they are relegated to driving the vehicle. At times they will get stuck behind an obstacle, or if you are driving and they are shooting they simply will not shoot at enemy’s. This can be frustrating and on harder difficulty levels (Legendary anyone?) its typically necessary to team up with a freind or other human player. The campaign can be played in co-op and though your mileage may vary. I attempted to play with someone in Europe and the lag was unbearable. I also had this problem playing in firefight mode. I would let go of the trigger and the gun would stop firing a few seconds later. I would press the analog stick left and my character would move left after a second or two. For a twitch shooter such as Halo Reach this lag rendered it pretty much unplayable. You should be fine playing with people in your country though.
The Multiplayer modes provide a huge value. The single player campaign alone I felt was worth the price of admission for the game but the multiplayer just sealed the deal. Fans of Halo 3 multiplayer will feel right at home with the play list, map voting and matchmaking system in Halo Reach. Although I had some lag issues with the firefight and co op campaign modes. The competitive matchmaking modes seemed to be free of the lag issues. The firefight mode in Reach does have much more game type options than Firefight in ODST with the most important inclusion being matchmaking. Matter of fact just about every mode in the game can be played with friends or strangers via matchmaking. I love this game for the matchmaking options and hopefully other games will follow suit. The forge and theater options are still there with new features.
The newly updated tie in to which friends are online and also playing Reach is also a great plus. At the main menu you can see which friends on your Xbox friends list are playing reach and you can opt to join them automatically when their next game is over. A very nice touch and expansion of older party options from Halo 3.
All game modes tie into the new credit system. Credits are obtained from killing enemy’s in various ways. The credits are used to purchase cosmetic only changes to your armor. It does add a kind of meta game to the overall package and I do appreciate the fact that they opted to keep the upgrades cosmetic only. I like the fact that everyone starts out each multiplayer match with the same options evening the playing field and keeping it skilled based.
The soundtrack is superb and so is the surround sound mix. Just like the campaign gameplay it finds a great middle ground between the ODST and Halo 3 soundtracks.
The bottom line is that Halo Reach is the best Halo game to date. Worth it alone either for the single player or multiplayer experience. There are hours upon hours of fun here to be had. The graphics are much improved, the story is great and the multiplayer will keep you coming back for more and sometimes even with friends.
