Halo Reach Review: Let it begin

Halo has been Bungie’s beloved child for a decade, delivering great experiences that brought many gamers to the Xbox. The final Bungie Halo game goes back to the beginning, Halo Reach. Let’s get to it:

Pros:

Aesop couldn’t have told this: The story in Reach is by far the strongest of any of the Halo games, and it’s something to really be appreciated. Considering this game didn’t even use the protagonist for the 3 major releases, Master Chief, you invest enough time into these characters that the eventual tragic end is only accentuated when it happens. This is the legend of a team of Spartans who entered a battle they couldn’t win, but they sure as hell made the enemy earn their victory.

This is MY story: Perhaps one of the best ideas of Reach was making Noble Six, the protagonist you play, a completely customizable character to use. The number of different options for armor you have is staggering and you get to use your Spartan in every mode of play in the game. It’s pretty cool to see your custom armor in a cut-scene and it adds extra incentive to play more and level up in the game to unlock more options. While you do wish you had more customization options (I would LOVE to put an emblem on my EVA helmet like Emile does in the campaign), they really give you enough that you barely can complain about this.

Multi-player is as strong as ever: It’s refreshing at times to know that a successful formula for multiplayer isn’t really touched that much. While the loss of dual-wielding weapons leaves some sour, you know you’re playing Halo when you pick this game up. Firefight is a lot more fun now (especially since you can actually survive the game this time, not just fight till you die), and new multi-player modes like Headhunter can be very addicting. Invasion is my favorite new team multiplayer type and improves on the “King of the hill” game-type. In short, you’re going to be kept entertained in this version.

Cons:

Needs more polish: One of the things I hoped for most out of Halo Reach was an updated graphics engine. While it is a little smoother, the jump isn’t that big, if at all really. Landscapes still look like they’re missing skins and the character models look at times, dare I say, cartoonish. Maybe I’m spoiled after playing games like Mass Effect 2, but the graphics really didn’t impress me that much this time outside of explosions.

Sometimes Lone Wolf IS better: Without trying to give too much of the story away, a friend and I were playing a mission where you needed to fly around a city rescuing soldiers and clearing covenant out in a Falcon. In the single player experience, it’s rather awe inspiring to explore this gigantic city from the air, but when playing co-op it got downright boring for anyone NOT flying the vehicle. I could forgive this if it were Bungie’s second run at co-op, but by now they should have been innovative enough to make it work.

You still suck at driving: If there’s absolutely one constant in a Halo game, it’s that your AI comrades can’t drive to save their lives. The classic problems of Halo 2 of being driven in circles, stopping in the middle of the road for NO reason, getting stuck on almost nothing at times remains. I’ve been patient with this in other Halo games, but there’s no excuse this time. After 3 other games of having the same problem, Bungie still hasn’t really fixed this and it really ruins the experience they were going for when you’re not playing with a friend.

You can’t hate Halo Reach because it’s still an entertaining shooter to play, but the biggest problem that Halo and Bungie face with this game is age. Over the course of a decade, we’ve gone from having just one reason to own an Xbox/360 to having numerous reasons. While Halo may have been a gateway into a great experience that Microsoft has made, combat hasn’t evolved enough in this last iteration to really make me think “This should be game of the year” like the main trilogy games have. If you’re a Halo fan, you will love this game. If you hate Halo, this game probably won’t convince you otherwise, but if you’re entirely new to the franchise you should definitely pick this up. Between a solid story and entertaining multi-player, there’s really enough here to keep a newcomer busy for a long time coming.

To any Halo fan, remember the story of soldiers who looked at a death demanding army and answered “No.” Remember the sound of a pummeled opponent as you lead your team to that fast-closing target. Remember what was given to prevent anymore loss.

Remember Reach.

Recommended buy price: $45
Score ratings: HORRIBLE – Pass – Meh – Good - EPIC