In 2001, Bungie released Halo: Combat Evolved on the brand new Xbox console and it quickly became one of the most popular video games and the new gold standard in first person shooters. The campaign was a fun, fresh, and original experience and the multiplayer was the perfected version of the social gaming experience. Bungie followed with Halo 2 on the Xbox, and Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST on the Xbox 360. Now Bungie has released its final Halo game, Halo: Reach, and it is everything Halo fans could have hoped for.
The game takes directly before the events of the first game making this, chronologically, the earliest Halo game. You play as a replacement member to Noble Team, an elite group of Spartan soldiers, on the human planet Reach. You are simply known as Noble 6. Covenant forces are invading and you and your team are tasked with stopping the invasion and protecting Reach.
The game is the standard Halo faire, with the exception of Halo Wars, with the first person combat system and many of the same weapons. The assault rifle is slightly remodeled but is basically the same. The battle rifle has been replaced with a single shot weapon, the DMR, with a 15 round clip. Other new heavy weapons have been introduced but the pistols, both covenant and UNSC, have remained the same. The new variety of weapons rounds out the game and makes it possible to attack the enemy in a large variety of ways. Whether you prefer the run and gun method or attacking from a distance there are plenty of weapons to suit your tastes.
The gameplay varies drastically over the course of the game and this is one of the best features of the game, it keeps the game fresh and you never get tired of playing it because the action gets mixed up frequently. There are ground fights, fights in tanks, warthogs, space vehicles, and a lot more. Many of the vehicles are only in the game slightly, the Scorpion tank only making a brief cameo, but for the sake of the gameplay it works well.
The graphics are fantastic and some of the best visuals that we have seen from the Halo franchise. The gameplay is pretty smooth, there was only a loading slow up once or twice in game, not a framerate issue but a pause as the game loaded as I was turning a corner or something like that.
But where this game really hits the mark is actually on an emotional level. Though anyone who knows Halo will know how this game ends, the end is still an emotional ordeal. Familiar faces return and it really makes you feel nostalgia for the past 9 years of gaming that the Halo franchise has given us. Bungie does a great job of making you connect with the characters and it actually affects you when someone sacrifices themselves to protect you or your squad. The only problem is that there isn’t a whole lot of time to develop the characters because it is only one game, it took us 3 games to truly understand the Master Chief and Cortana so it would be impossible to develop these characters like that but for the time available Bungie did a good job.
It is sad to think that Bungie will no longer be providing us with these fantastic games but at least their last chapter in the series tied everything together and gave the franchise the right send off. The Halo franchise will move on with Microsoft’s game studios at the helm but it won’t be the same.
Pros
-Fantastic Gameplay
-Great Story and Characters
-Great Visuals
Cons
-Minor Difficulty Spikes
-This is Bungie’s Last Halo Game
10/10
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