Halo Reach Review

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(More customer reviews)Updates at the bottom.

I got Reach in the mail a day early and spent a couple of hours playing last night. I was also part of the ODST beta. Skipping out on this game is doing yourself a disservice if you were a former HALO fan. I haven't played Halo 3 in months because I was bored with it. There's a lot of content here and I'm glad to say this game is worth every penny of $60 and I've been very entertained. Yes, it's still Halo and more of "the same", but they've changed enough about it to make a new Halo experience, not just another rehash. ODST was a joke of a game compared to Reach and having owned it almost made me skip out on Reach.

The spoilers so far will go at the bottom of the review.

I'll put in some of the major stuff I've noticed but I'm sure I missed a lot.

There's a new graphics engine and the graphics in the game are superior to any other 4 player split screen game I've played, and I make a special effort to purchase as many of them as I can. The graphics are not Killzone 2 level, but very high quality. MUCH better than Halo 3. I was very pleased when I played the BETA that the new engine still plays in HD when doing split-screen and that it's split horizontally. The blood and shield effects are great. You have a night vision mode instead of a flashlight now, a la ODST.

The new engineering packs have really added to the game. Your choices that you pick up are sprint, hologram, bubble shield(that also heals you), Cloaking that doesn't work well if you're moving quickly, what I'd call an ostrich or turtle shield that turns you invincible but immobile and unable to attack and (of course) the jetpack. My personal favorites so far are the bubble shield and the hologram.

The enemies are much more mobile and capable of dodging than they were in the past. I've played it on heroic and found the game to be more difficult than the past games, but certainly manageable.

The new weapons. There is no dual wielding. Both factions have weapons that are very similar now, I suppose it made balancing the game easy. All the weapons seem more effective than they were in the past (probably explains why there is no dual-wielding). The particle beam gun is pretty neat as is the covenant grenade launcher. The rocket launcher can lock onto vehicles. There are some of the old goodies, but there's a new covenant needler battle rifle, a covenant multi-lock plasma/rocket launcher and a couple of other new guns. The battle rifle is single fire instead of burst. There's the awesome pistol from the original Halo. There are two variations in how you melee something when you're holding a weapon. You can backstab someone now and it shows a little cinematic of you letting them have it instead of them just dying in one hit.

There's a health-bar under your shields like HALO 1. There's no red screen when you're injured either, just a red bar. This is a huge plus for me. It's the perfect system.

Full multi-player was blocked but I perused the game modes available, played some localized matches and played the beta. There's an invasion mode where you play Covenant VS NSDF and try and capture objectives. It's a lot of fun and a great new challenge. There are 3 more classes available with different engineering packs. I also played some firefight (like ODST, but with some new modes) and it was great fun. You can put a human player on the covenant side to make it even more challenging.

Customizable characters are a great addition. You get credits for every kill you make, and you can use those credits to make your character look different. New helmets, new kneepads, new add-ons etc. It's a great way to make people feel like they have a real in-game Avatar. As far as I know there are no benefits combat-wise to having new armor, it's just visual. This is how I like it. In Call of Duty games you have to play the game for quite a while to unlock all the weapons and upgrades and it gives experienced players an unfair advantage online. In Reach you should always have a level playing field, you'll just look spiffy if you play a lot.

Vehicles. The ghost has been nerfed. It was my favorite vehicle. I got a 27 kill spree on one in Halo 3 so I'm disappointed. The invincibility power ruins running people over. The guns on it are not all that effective either. There's a mini wraith vehicle that is pretty awesome, it can carry other people too. There's a missile launcher mounted to a Warthog also.

NEGATIVE: DLC. I was a fan of DLC until Bungie/MSFT disabled some game modes on my original copy of Halo 3 because I didn't want to buy their overpriced map packs. That's shameful. Charging $5+ for 3 maps is shameful. This game might be great now but once they release a couple of map packs the price of playing the full game goes up and up and up. If I lose game modes I'm dropping this review to 1 star.

A few SPOILERS
The campaign is awesome so far and has a good storyline. I haven't had to fight any flood yet, and for that I'm grateful, they're pretty lame. Courtana doesn't interrupt you every 5 minutes either. There is a space flight-sim which is actually really well done. It made me miss playing Wing Commander. If you've read the books ( I haven't) you'll know the ending to the game, eventually everyone has to die at some point. The voice acting is OK. Your squad is pretty cool and the cut-scenes are fun to watch and easy to skip. You'll probably like the commander. I can't wait to finish it up. Hopefully it'll last a while longer. I just blew up the huge Covenant ship (well, the big Spartan did and went down with it :o( ) and I'm about 3 hours in. I'd guess I'm 1/3 done but that's a guess, so who knows.

I'll add some updates as I learn more about the game and play some real multi-player.

Updates 9/15:

HUGE NEGATIVE:No 4 player split screen in Big Team Battle, the Campaign, or Firefight.I expected this for the last two, but Big Team Battle has always had this option.It's what'd I'd do 90% of the time I've ever played Halo, 3 or 4 players split-screen Big Team Battle.It probably didn't run very well, which is unfortunate.Taking this away from the game took away A LOT of value for me.I should remove a star but there are still a variety of other options for you to play.

Negative: The double punch in multiplayer.It's how you'll die about half the time.I actually like it but I know it'll annoy a lot of people as sometimes not firing your gun at all is the best strategy.

Negative:Matchmaking was having some problems last night freezing up before loading.Not sure what to contribute this too but it's certainly a problem that needs to be dealt with.

Negative:In invasion mode the humans seem to win the majority of the time.This may or may not be because of their weapons loadout.The assault rifle is easier to use as the shots hit instantaneously and you don't have to lead your target like you would with the plasma gun.

Negative:You can spawn off of your teammates now which seems like a cool idea but I don't like it.One guy will make it past your defenses and then suddenly it's 3 guys.Spawning in mid-air and falling to your death seems to be a big problem now too.If someone is flying around they shouldn't be an option for spawning.

Negative:Matchmaking doesn't have much variety.There are more maps than what the playlist is using over and over.Of course the game could use some more maps.I'm not willing to pay more than about $.05 each though considering how easy it is for them to make a map with the included editor.

Other stuff:

The covenant have a roll instead of a sprint in multiplayer.That would explain their maneuverability in the campaign.

The campaign just keeps getting better and better.Still not done though.

The multiplayer is still a lot of fun despite my complaints.I really enjoy the engineering packs/loadouts.They're a blast!

I didn't really think much about it but, why is technology better before Halo 1?Since this is a prequel and all.Maybe they'll explain it later.

I still think the game deserves 5 stars but the loss of 4 player split screen Big Team Battle really hurts the game's playability as a "party game".

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Product Description:
The planet Reach is humanity's last line of defense between the encroaching Covenant and their ultimate goal, the destruction of Earth. If it falls, humanity will be perched on the brink of destruction. Microsoft Xbox 360 HEA-00001 Halo: Reach immerses you in the ominous and heroic story of “Halo: Reach” as you play as a member of Noble Team, a squad of iconic Spartan soldiers, each with deadly talents as unique as their individual personalities and customized gear.

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