Before the discovery and destruction of an ancient alien ringworld, before a teeming parasitic enemy threatened Earth, before a soldier called John-117 made a new name for himself, humanity fought to defend the planet Reach. If you’re completely new to the series, “Halo” is a science-fiction first-person shooter series where players inhabit the armor of future cyborg soldiers called Spartans. The first three Halo games had you controlling Master Chief, the last of the Spartans, as he took command in humanity’s war against a collective of alien races called the Covenant. Released on September 14th,”Halo: Reach” is the fourth video game in the Halo series and is the last title that series’ originators – the development studio Bungie – will be working on.
In “Halo: Reach,” players experience the fateful moments that forged the “Halo” legend. It’s the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers taking their final stand on planet Reach, humanity’s last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. This darker story is echoed by grittier visuals amid a backdrop of massive, awe-inspiring environments. Characters, enemies and environments are rendered in amazing detail by an all-new engine, designed to deliver epic-scale encounters against the cunning and ruthless Covenant.
From a challenging expansive campaign mode to an exhilarating online multiplayer mode which contains several game types from Halo classics such as Slayer and King of the Hill to brand new games such as Headhunter, “Halo Reach” is packed with content that shows off the very best the Halo series has to offer. Hardcore gamers and Halo veterans will not be disappointed as there are many allusions to the previous games which makes the entire franchise finally come full-circle. The campaign is much more difficult than any of the previous titles, and with a cooperative play option available, the difficulty increases even further.
Arguably the most exciting add-on, is an expansion on Forge, which debuted on Halo 3, called Forge World. It is used to edit the default multiplayer maps as well as a large blank canvas. Forge World itself is home to several Bungie-created Forge maps that are shipped with the disc. Forge tools have also been improved; objects can now be phased into other objects, and can also be snapped to specific orientations. With the new ability to create maps from scratch and play them online with fellow gamers worldwide, the number of potential game play experiences increases infinitely.
After only being out for a few weeks, this game has already impressed the video game world with an array of impressive statistics. Bungie has revealed that 31 million “Halo: Reach” games have been played worldwide in its debut week, amounting to more than 2,300 years of game time, tech news site THINQ reports. “Halo: Reach” has also grossed $200 million on its launch day setting a new record for the franchise. On the critic aggregate reviews GameRankings and Metacritic, the game has a normalized score of 92.23% and 93%, respectively, based on samples of 15 and 26 reviews. “Halo: Reach” ensured that the series went out with a bang and leaves Halo fans thirsting for more.
