Review by battylife

Halo Reach is a prequel to the original Halo trilogy, taking place on the planet Reach, which is destroyed before the events of Halo 1. The story follows Nobel Team an elite group of super soldiers who attempt to fend off the vicious Covenant, a group of genocidal aliens. You play as Nobel Six the teams most recant edition. Most games have your character as the star and your teammates as the supporting characters. Reach is the opposite. Your character is quiet, never removes his/her helmet and is completely customizable. You never even get a name, your just referred to as "Six". Your character is more of an observer to the story as apposed to a character. Nobel Team is the real star and you will get to know your teammates as you go through various missions with them. The team is likable and you will find yourself growing attached to them. The game succeeds in presenting a very bleak story. As much as you do, no matter how hard you try, deep down you know Reach will fall.

Gameplay is what you expect from Halo. Weapons are varied, enemies are tough and smart, and your teammates are indestructible but fail to shift the tide of battle. The new editions come in armor abilities and space battles. Armor abilities are special abilities that you can pick up and reuse as much as you like so long as they remain charged. They are as simple as sprint or roll to as complex as cloaking or hologram. Having the right one in the right situation can literally be the difference between life and death. Space battles are the other new edition and work well even though they are a very small part of the game.

The multi-player is the real draw to Reach and you will not be disappointed. You're offered up a bevy of new maps including Powerhouse, Sword base and Boneyard as well as a re-imagined blood gulch. You're also given new game types such as Invasion, head hunter and various forms of racing. If there is one draw back to the multi-player it is that there is no longer any form of ramification for leaving matches early, making deserters very common, but this could easily be fixed with an update.

All in all this is the same Halo you've come to love, with a few improvements. If you weren't a fan before this probably won't change your mind, but if you're craving more Halo don't wait, suit up and prepare for Reaches final stand.