Bungie's last installment dropped almost a year ago now, and they have left their favourite child with one hell of legacy. Halo Reach combines the best parts of all their titles, a solid campaign, firefight, online multiplayer and of course forge.
The campaign has characters that still suffer from the syndrome as their ODST counter parts, one sided, but at least they have evolved and you do get a glimpse of a 3D character every now and then, and upon most of their untimely deaths I felt a bit sorry for their demise, but that wont last long as you realise their pixels on a t.v. screen. However the story is more exciting that ODST and I found most missions genuinely entertaining. It is perfect and it isn't the best campaign by a long shot but it still is half decent, and compared to ODST this is a Charles Dickens novel.
The firefight has evolved since ODST allowing an insane amount of customising to what type of aliens are after your grapefruits and at which time. You can either play with friends offline or go online and play alongside strangers, although you are given a choice of three game modes on each map, and after a while of every single time arcadefight being selected to play you do go tired of fuel rodding a brute so much he flies off in a comical ragdoll physics manner before landing spread eagled onto your cohorts face.
The Forge mode is back bigger, better and a ton more easier to use. The amount of times Halo 3's forge made me go into a flying rage just because the game decides whether to move the block a small millimetre as it is being commanded or shoot the piece to the other side of the map with such speed you think Usain Bolt has just invaded your game. This time you get a tool which allows for precise positioning. You no longer have to go through an insane task to mold two blocks together or push it through the floor, you just have to set the physics to another setting.
The online multiplayer seems to have slightly better controls in my personal opinion, reload seems better on the x button Halo CE style. The gameplay seems smooth, if it can have some of the same issues as Halo 3 (see snipers and rockets in Halo 3 Review) although grenades seemed to have had an upgrade and now, even though tamed from their beta iterations, still are like mini nukes capable of taking down your shields and half your health if you are even in sight of the damn things. Also if you can shoot an entire AR mag into someone and still have to finish them off, but hit them twice and the keel over faster than salmon, you need to look at your game again. But despite all this the game is still expansively fun and I have lost manner an hour (or even day) on Halo Reach, especially with the addition of Challenges both of Daily and Weekly variety which allows you to earn credits by completing the specified task. Which leads me to the next improvement Halo Reach offers.
The ranking system is a lot better than Halo 3 with it not being a complicated system of skill points AND exp. but based on your overall collection of credits. The gap between ranks seem to be of almost decent length with me feeling a sense of achievement when the scroll bar rolls over into the next rank, to which your customised character gives you a salute for your troubles, the ungrateful (REDACTED).
Out of ten I give the game a 9. An almost perfect Halo title, and despite all it's faults, you can't help but love it. It's like a faithful Labrador, always there, always willing, always at your side, but stills has the ability to shit on your front lawn.
J Stanley
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