Halo: Reach

Something I've been writing for the past week. Hope it's helpful.



As a Spartan you are part of a naval team known as Noble. Your play as the teams newest member Noble 6, you are a replacement for the recently fallen Spartan. You join them to take part in the fight against rebels on the planet Reach, the second most defended planet in the Galaxy (other than Earth).



Your team receives new orders to check out a downed relay station, your Intel suggests rebels as they have used similar tactics in the past. As a Spartan you are expected to get this done without any problems, that is why you are picked, to get it done quickly.

You and your team move in to check out the surrounding area, as you get near contact with command is lost. You know something is going on as someone is jamming your communication signal. Noble team move swiftly through the farmer’s homes getting closer to the relay station, you then find out that there is no rebels, the enemy that has downed the relay station is in fact the Covenant.

Now that’s the intro to the game, this is when things really get really interesting. You find your self having to fight for survival against a very powerful and advance enemy, now I can’t really say much because I would only spoil the game for you. But what I can say is that the game provides a very interesting story of these Spartans, how they work as a team and plan missions is very strong. You find yourself getting attached to these Spartans, which were the developer’s plans to make their unfortunate deaths more touching. Now you may say “hey that’s a spoiler!” It’s not; from the beginning you know the end. This game tells the story of what happen to the Spartans when Reach fell. You know they will die, but its how they die that is important.

Now game play, well they change things a bit, it still has that Halo feel everyone loves. But there are a few tweaks, some for the better and some for the worse. You run slower and don’t jump as high, but this is because you are a different class of Spartan. It is suppose to be different, who wants a new game to just like the old one (Crackdown 2)

Your weapons have been upgraded and feel smooth, but Bungie has added bloom, this makes you time your shots so you have to be precise. Not just spamming the trigger, I personally am having trouble with this. But the idea of a new game is to learn how to play it, so give it time and you will see the benefits of it.

Amore abilities and a new addition to the game, like in Halo 3 you can use power ups to give you an advantage against your enemy, but this isn’t equipment. It’s part of your armour, so you can use it when ever you want. Throughout the campaign you will find these different armour abilities lying around, some may be hidden so look around. You never know when certain ability could be useful, I personally love the camouflage.



When fighting the A.I you will instantly see a big difference in the way they fight you, they move around a lot more and don’t stop shooting you until you’re dead…and sometimes not even then. They are a lot more accurate than the previous games, and they now lead their shots you if you think you can run away, think again. Taking cover is you best be and taking your time will pay off. But this is a review not a tactics review .

Now how the campaign is set you will find that fighting is most of the time different, always a different enemy and vehicle to destroy. Can’t really say how the missions are without and spoilers so you will have to play it to find out, but it feels like an adventure sometimes. Mission lengths are much longer, if you like to explore and not rush through things this campaign will last you a while. From time to time near the end of a mission you will get the feeling that the game is just dragging, like it won’t end and it’s just repeating itself. This is on purpose, constant waves of enemy’s are realistic in war and that gives you a greater feel on accomplishment once you finish a mission.

All in all this game is great, the multiplayer and fire fight just add onto this amazing story. Multiplayer is filled with different game types, ranks and armour. But be aware that Halo multiplayer is competitive and can be very hard once in a while, but with Bungie’s new true skill program you should end up playing with people your own skill (Most of the time).

Fire fight, well this would take too long to explain properly. Just by saying that you should get the idea on how big this thing is, you can customise it to your choosing. What enemies you want, how tough they are, how many they are. Seriously the custom settings on this thing will drive you crazy, it’s that good.



This is definitely a game to get your hands on; you don’t need to play the others to understand it as it is a prequel to the other Halo games. My favourite thing about this game is the scenery, throughout the story and even multiplayer you are surrounded in an amazing environment. This game plays and looks great, I would recommend to all.

Hope you enjoyed reading.

Asurans Progeny

Kyle.

nice review looks and sounds cool. i only played the beta and loved it. I am gonna pick it up when i get back and see how good it really is.

Rep given for the review m8

Well done mate!

I badly want this game, but have too many others to get through first to justify spending your hard earned tax dollars on a new game (my benefits )

Will ask Santa for it for xmas

mp got a bit boring for me after a while so sold mine today oh well black ops soon

Nice review matey

I will buy this one day as it does look amazing like you said

Very imformative and well played

can haz rep

Glad you guys like it, would like to know from more people. If people like my reviews I'll do more.

Please let me know what you think.

Good review dude. I have to agree with Toe Knee though, after a while the multiplayer does get a bit dull and repetitive, me being shite might have something to do with that though!

Nice review, particularly given the need to avoid accidentally spoiling it for others.

It is a top top game. Some of the environments and cutscenes were stunning

Sounds cool! I'll have to make sure I check it out

Gabhlan wrote:Sounds cool! I'll have to make sure I check it out

oh Gab.

Am enjoying this a lot

just finished my first playthrough on normal and although I am hopeless at this genre it was an epic adventure.

The storyline is very moving and its the best of all the Halo series

I love the way the opening scene and closing scene are tied together

Have started now a playthru on my own on legendary

Having beaten levels 1 and 2 I feel great, but I know the tough stuff is to come. Still I should get it done by Christmas lol


If you have not played this game then I seriously suggest that you do so

As a franchise goes, I doubt whether this will ever be beaten.

Everton wrote:
If you have not played this game then I seriously suggest that you do so

i have played this for all of an hour on multiplayer and really need to play more.

have you had a go online yet ir just the story mate?

Still battling the story on legendary matey and am now up to level 4.....level 3 took me nearly 4 hours lol

i did try firefight solo as well tonight and it was a hoot but not sure how to rack up the points for the million yet

all in all its a tremendous game and I just wish i was better at it

Theres a way of setting it up, I'll set up a thread for anyone else who wants me to get them the setup sorted as someone else asked me about this

Squeezed past lev 4 last night so just 6 to go

Being enjoying some firefight stuff too

This game is choc a bloc full of stuff and I just hope I can get to the end on Ledge as I want those ach bad!

I have finally beat the space level (5 or 6 whatever it is) on ledge after just 3 days lol

I must be utter shite at this type of game as it seems that most folks have beaten legendary on their own and I am really struggling

Some of the enemy seem to be impervious even to a volley of headshots. Still its so much fun that when I do eventually beat it I will have to add it to my all time fave game lists

The only thing that spoils it for me is the little inconsistency of your start up power up each level
I was just thrown off the ship and gravity pulled back to Reach. Whe Jorge chucked me through the forcefield I had the shield power up. When I land and start next level I have the sprint power up. Little things like that spoil the immersion for me in games a bit.

The run up to the big gun on the last level where you fight waves of enemies is probably one of the hardest parts tbh lol.

There's one level I can't remember the name of, where theres a bunch of wraiths and ghosts and you have to get into a building to press a button. Thanks to a dodgy checkpoint, that took me about 3 hours to complete :/.

cheers leigh

I know I am in for some pain yet

Having played it through on normal, I can remember the tricky parts from that and I am rather daunted by some of the levels to come

That last bit I can imagine is going to be a bit of a bast

Having said that there have been two parts that I have sailed through on Ledge that had me stuck for hours on Normal!

It took me nearly 2 years to get 1000 on COD2 so I am used to battling through on FPS stuff

Yeah, don't get me wrong. Although some of these bits can be really frustrating and made me want to pull my hair out, I still enjoyed every single minute of it. It's an awesome game and that satisfation when the Legendary achievement pops up is the icing on the cake. I just need to do the multiplayer achievements now, but it takes ages to gain XP

If you do get seriously stuck then there's always co-op though that won't get you the ledg solo achievement. But if you're stuck i'm sure kyle or I could show you a couple of tips to get through any tricky parts in a co-op session.

Thanks Gab

I am going to beat this on my own though

Its my mission

I may be old and have withered hands and zero skill, but I am determined

woot

sailed through levels 7 and 8 in just 2 days

just got to get into sword base now and pick up the package (9) then deliver the package (10) and I will be there


I have altered my gaming style slightly and gone into sneak mode where I can using the cloak thingy power up. I had too as on Level 6 I could just not beat the hoardes at the end and lauch the missles so the transports could get away. Swapped to cloak and sneaked past everything lol.

Cannot remember playing 360 for so long without getting an ach

This really is an exceptional game. Definitely the best story of all the Halo's since the first one.
I've been playing loads of Firefight recently and slowly ranking up, not on a blinkered mission to get Cr as fast as possible as I'm enjoying Firefight immensely.
Still haven't tried normal mutliplayer yet as I still remember getting my arse handed to me regularly on Halo 2 and 3's multiplayer.

Yeah, been adding a bit of Firefight into the mix for me too

I am not up to ability levels of the Halo hardcore but its still really fun

I did like setting up the custom game for the million point madness!!!

Launching 5 billionty rockets when you are indestructible is a hoot lol

But the story is without doubt the strong point of Reach and I was moved by the whole thing

I reckon when I do (for I will lol) beat it, then you will be able to hear the woops miles away!

Leigh36295 wrote:The run up to the big gun on the last level where you fight waves of enemies is probably one of the hardest parts tbh lol.

There's one level I can't remember the name of, where theres a bunch of wraiths and ghosts and you have to get into a building to press a button. Thanks to a dodgy checkpoint, that took me about 3 hours to complete :/.

Well you are not wrong

I have delivered the package and now all I have to do is get up to the gun

There are 4 of the real nasty bulletproof twats in in the building that I need to enter and I just cant kill them

I used every ounce of power of the biggest guns I could find and downed one of them and the sheild regenerator floaty thing, but the 3 remaining are just bastrads!!

I really hope I have not spent 3 weeks getting to within inches of the line to fail here. If only I could find a cloak I would sneak by but it looks like thats not gonna happen.

I predict flying controllers in my lounge in the near future!!