Developer: Microsoft Game Studios
Publisher: Bungie
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Players: 1-16
ESRB: Mature
Release Date: September 14, 2010
In "Halo: Reach," players experience the fateful moments that forged the "Halo" legend. It's the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers, and their final stand on planet Reach, humanity's last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. This darker story is echoed by grittier visuals amid a backdrop of massive, awe-inspiring environments. Characters, enemies and environments are rendered in amazing detail by an all-new engine designed to deliver epic-scale encounters against the cunning and ruthless Covenant.
GraphicsReach?s visuals are solid and has finally brought the graphics to the next level. Don?t get me wrong, the graphics in the franchise as a whole have always been great, but with the capabilities of this generation of consoles I expected a whole lot more from Halo 3. Reach?s in-game cutscenes are well done with all the bells and whistles included to make it a top notch visual experience. The transition between the cutscenes and gameplay is seamless. I really like how there was a switch to a third person view during the cutscenes, to get a better visual experience, then the screen would go back to the first person view and it was game on.
Two new level types have been introduced in Reach. One is a space combat situation where you pilot a fighter called a Sabre. The other level type has you piloting a helicopter called a Falcon. Seeing one of the cities in Reach from a bird?s eye view when piloting the Falcon was quite amazing, with all the little details such as the lights in the buildings, fans on top of the buildings, and the realistic the fires throughout many of the buildings. The Sabre space combat levels were just as visually pleasing as you zigzag around the orbital space stations receiving shooting solutions to attack Space Banshees, Seraphs, and the much larger Covenant Cruisers. As for the other levels included in campaign, and the maps used in multiplayer, they too have a great level of attention to detail and offer a large variety of terrain types, along with some tributes to familiar levels that have seen/played in previous Halo games. And don?t forget the Forge Mode, as you can create some pretty interesting looking maps on your own too that can look great.
When you first pop Reach into your Xbox 360 you are guided to make a custom Spartan. This includes helmet design, chest plate, shoulder pads and so much more. Choose to be male or female, customize your logo, as well as your armor colors to round out how you will look throughout the game. That?s right, the choices you make for your custom Spartan will translate into the game right down to the finest detail, including speech. This will not only make a lot of die-hard Halo fans quite happy, but it may just recruit some more players to take on the role of a Spartan. When I told my wife that she could be a female Spartan, she quickly quipped that she now wants her own Xbox 360 along with her own copy of Reach. Players are not limited to the stock armor that is available from the beginning of the game either as you can earn in-game credits by playing a lot and completing challenges to earn in-game credits which you can use to purchase different armor.
SoundOne of the first things I noticed amidst all the gunfire, explosions, drop ships flying through the sky, and grunts screaming, was the amazing soundtrack throughout the whole game. Sure, all the right sound effects are in place in the game and add to the atmosphere; however the music throughout each level inspired me to play better during intense battles, it moved me during emotional scenes throughout the storyline, and ultimately it made the overall game experience that much better. After playing the game I am going to invest in Reach?s Soundtrack.
To say that the sound effects add to the atmosphere of the game is true, but there is plenty of details that some might miss during gameplay. For example, listen to the Covenant and you will notice that they don?t, or rarely do, speak any English at all, as they only speak in their native tongue which to the human ear will sound like a series of grunts. UNSC troops speak out to the Spartans, and to each other as well, and unlike other games I have played they don?t repeat that often or fall back on using catch phrases. Another good example is when you are fighting onboard a space station and all you have is the small air supply inside your armor. The sound in that environment will adjust and everything will be harder to hear just like if you were underwater. Overall the great attention to sound detail, and the compelling music throughout Reach impressed me and all of it really does add to the experience of the game.
GameplayPersonally, I?ve played the Halo series to take in the story that transpires in a war torn universe involving humanity, the Covenant, the Flood, and the Forerunners. As for Reach, there is so much rich detail that has gone into creating the narrative that is hard to just grab this game and hop online to start fragging some friends. You will want to play the single player campaign. The plot focuses on an elite Spartan unit called Noble Team and you take on the role of a rookie member with the call sign of Noble Six. It is your first day on the Noble Team. This is all you will learn in this review as you will have to play through the game yourself to learn the full story of Noble Team, and the Fall of Reach.
I found Reach?s plot to be one of the most complete and enriched stories I have encountered in a game. In the previous Halo games Master Chief seems robotic, methodical, and devoid of any emotions at all; however, in contrast, the members of Noble Team are full of emotions and they are ultimately more human than ?The Chief? could ever be. Noble Team encounters plenty of adversity on Planet Reach and overcome many challenges at grave cost, which results in an emotional roller coaster of joy and despair.
The maps in campaign are great to play through, for the most part, providing a lot of different challenges, terrain, and Covenant to battle through. There is also a good balance of combat variety in the air, on the ground, and in outer-space. The previously mentioned new gameplay modes, the Falcon helicopter and Sabre space fighter, were nice to see, but you can tell that the experience of the developers is a little bit more in the first person shooter aspect rather than aerial combat. It wasn?t a bad experience overall, but I felt that that the combat was a little bit slow paced and could of used a speed boost, especially in the space missions.
Pictures here - SlideshowVideo Review Here - Provided by GameTrailers
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