Halo: Reach is a 2010 science fiction first-person shooter action video game developed by Bungie, published by Microsoft Game Studios.  Serving as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved and released for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the story follows a group of Spartans known as Noble Team, who are deployed to the human world known as Reach which is under attack by a collection of aliens known as the Covenant.

Positives:

• Great characters with personality
• Great voice performances
• Great visual effects
• Engaging story
• Great score
• Challenging gameplay

Negatives:

• Linear campaign

Campaign:  Halo: Reach‘s story is a very extensive and compelling one. It is a tale of tragedy determination and try as we follow this group of Spartans known as Noble team as they defend the planet from an attack by the alien race known as the Covenant. The members of Noble Team are distinct with their own personalities, quirks, strengths and weaknesses. The story has it tragedies as well as its triumphant moments though it does leave off on a very hopeful yet sad ending. Engaging story that tells of humanity’s last stand on Reach, with many emotional moments with the loss of allies and the rising threat of Covenant forces converging. The best way to play the campaign is with co-op.  Single player maybe challenging but cooperative gameplay is just plain fun. (4 out of 5)

Gameplay: Halo: Reach gameplay is fun entertainment and challenging but it doesn’t change the formula of the original Halo gameplay. It does flow smoothly. The space battles have a great combat system that utilizes great control handling for freedom and maneuverability. AI opponents are tactical, offering players challenging gunfights in which enemies will tend to use cover and flank players.   The enemy NPCs are quite challenging and would like to try to get the upper hand in fights.  (3 out of 5)

Graphics: Visually the game does have a very appealing look to it. The cinematics do look pretty good and still hold up today standard. There is a unique look to the characters as well as detail to the creatures equipment environment and various elements to the game played that to make it highly appealing. (4 out of 5)

Score: The score is really good. There are some very epic moments which utilizes a very adventurous but the militaristic sound. The voice performances are just terrific each lending a voice as well as a personality to each character. The soundtrack is absolutely awesome and definitely deserves its spot along with other Halo installments. (4 out of 5)

Replay Value: There is a high level of replayability and hidden content. The campaign has multiple difficulty levels.  Some new additions to the game are armor abilities such as using a jetpack to fly short distances, an active short term camouflage, an electrical body shield to brace for incoming attacks, a hologram projector to distract enemy units, etc. Also the game allows players to customize their Spartan which holds up not only in the campaign but in the multiplayer matches as well. There is the Firefight Mode (which is straight up beast) in which players must survive against waves of enemies and it’s pretty fun, especially when playing with other players.  Forge is always fun with friends with all the crazy high jinks.  Also, there is the career section, that keeps track of your in-game status, kills, and even allowing players to customize their own Spartan, and there are a ton of customizable options. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, Halo: Reach is an epic game and one of the best in the series.  Despite really the linear story (which most Halo games suffer from), the game does have great characters, a compelling story, engaging campaign, challenging gameplay, great graphics, lots of customization, and a really cool soundtrack.  Halo: Reach gets 4 out of 5.  It’s definitely a game fans of the Halo series can get behind.

Thanks for checking out the post and in the comment section below let us know what you thought of Halo: Reach. Is it a good game? Does it feel like a Halo game?