“Halo: Reach” review

The end of a decade.

September 14, 2010 marks a day in history that will never be forgotten; the release of Halo: Reach, the end to a saga that will forever be played.

Yes, another first person shooter video game has been released by Bungie and once again topped the charts in gaming history. Reach was easily the most anticipated and bought game of 2010.

Reach is set in 2552 on a planet by the name of Reach just two weeks before Combat Evolved, Halo 1, started. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, planet Reach is where one of the biggest and most important battles between the humans and the aliens, otherwise known as the covenant, was held. Reach has now become a place of random species looking to smite each and every Spartan that comes their way. The end of existence for human beings is near when Nobel Team, a skilled group of Spartans willing to fight for Reach comes along. Nobel Six happens to be the newest solider joining Nobel Team in which you, the gamer, are in control of. It’s Nobel Team against the covenant, what happens after that is up to one’s self.

Whether you have been an ongoing fan of Halo and it’s saga over the past decade, like myself, or a critic of its every theme there is no denying that Reach has made a tremendous effort in ending the wonderful franchise that began one decade ago. Just the differences from Halo 3 alone makes this game a hit.

For example, you are now granted armour abilities; this is the change of a class during one set. Armour abilities give you advantages like invincibility, jet packs, sprinting, night vision, holographic settings and the introduction of two new guns, the needle riffle and the Designated Marksman Rifle, DMR. The pistol has been remade into a much more powerful weapon when compared to Halo 3 and the battle rifle has now been converted to a single shot opposed to the multiple shot. Target locator is a new special that allows you to lock onto a target and destroy, using a missile deploy system which is the result of multiple kills. The Plasma Repeater, Concussion Rifle, Plasma Cannon and Human Grenade Launcher are all new additions in Reach as well.

There were a number of little things that I found very interesting. Like the fact that this was the first time Halo had ever done space combat, or firefight, a fun little game where you take on waves of covenant in different stages. I also really liked how much personality the characters had besides Nobel Six.

In my opinion Reach is easily the best first person shooter game that I have ever played or has ever been invented. I figured it would be difficult to exceed the limits of Halo 3 but Reach did much more than exceed the limits. The graphics alone make the game worthwhile.

Surprisingly, there were some things I didn’t enjoy about Reach. Though they are plain and simple, I didn’t like certain things, nonetheless. Health packs have been brought back from Combat Evolved which changes the game play by making kill streaks harder to obtain and Nobel Six easier to die. The button layout has been changed, this isn’t a big problem, just a pain to get used to. The only thing that really aggravates me in Reach would be the grenades. It takes a good two more seconds for the grenade to go off compared to Halo 3, plus they don’t bounce nearly as well as they used to. Even though I found few flaws this game is still on the top of my list.

Seeing that Bungie the developer of the Halo saga, and Microsoft the publisher going their separate ways, Reach is sadly their way of saying “thank you Halo fans and goodbye” for the last and final time, or so they say. Bungie has now signed a deal with Activision and plans to make games other than Halo in the years to come. This is why Reach has been dubbed the most anticipated game of 2010.

Reach is overflowing with content much more than to sum up into one review. Although the heart wrenching finale of Halo has now been set in stone, this game will be played by their millions of fans for years on end.