20 Sept 2010

Halo: Reach [a.k.a. Halo 5]

Ahhh it seems to be the season of new games - this time it's back to the Halo universe, for the 5th (& arguably final) game that the developers Bungie are making involving Spartans/UNSC vs. Covenant.

The game is different to previous Halo games (ignoring ODST), because you are not controlling the Master Chief - this time you are another Spartan warrior called Noble 6, as part of an elite squad called 'Noble', on various missions on the doomed planet of Reach (we know it's doomed because it's set a couple of weeks before the original Halo: Combat Evolved game, which kick-starts after the fabled Fall of Reach).

There are only 10 formal missions found within the main campaign, but these are really tough - even on normal difficulty setting. So far I'm only playing through on normal, but once completed it's game-on for Legendary (i.e. toughest mode). The story is packed with emotions, it's gripping and makes you want to keep going through to the end. In fact it's quite like the movie 300, because you know they're doomed to fail (eventually) & it's a futile fight, but that doesn't stop them going out all guns blazing!

However, the main element of this game is not simply the campaign, the level of extras is huge; there's online Multiplayer games aplenty, there's Forge (a level creator tool) & the return of Firefight 2.0 (building on the original from ODST) all fully editable.

What this game has done is to pick all the best parts from the franchise (guns are  new & improved, firefight is fully customisable, forge is an epic affair, multiplayer is expanded to be on a par with the greats...like Halo 3!) create an exciting storyline, then allow you to play to your hearts content.

I would describe it as a must buy a 5/5 for any Halo fan - it's better than ODST & arguably the best of the main games - go get it!