Halo: Reach

I was a Playstation kid and shunned the original XBox for a long time, and so I totally missed the original Halo. By the time I wised up and gave Microsoft a chance, it was 2004 and Halo 2 was out. Ever since then, I have been an ardent fan of both Halo and Bungie. The arc of adventures in the Halo universe has been extensive and complex, and the team responsible for the creation of the Halo universe has largely stuck together over ten years. As a result, Halo: Reach is the best in a long line of great games, and it is a product obviously made with love and care. Even as someone who has dedicated exponentially more time to each progressive game in the series, I know I’ll spend even more with this one.

I can say without qualification that Reach is one of the best console games I’ve ever played. The single player campaign is another compelling story told very well, the prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved. Not only does it look amazing and have a really, really good score, but mission types vary between objectives and style, so while there’s plenty of running and gunning, there’s also some vehicle stuff, including a space-fighter level that is completely tits.

The really shiny parts are on display in the multi-player. All of the old favorite game types have made a return, and many of the new maps are callbacks to old favorites. The ranking and matchmaking systems are much improved, despite having already been very effective, and you can even go so far as to pick the kinds of people you play with – if you would rather not play with 13 year olds that shoot you in the face 17 times in a row and then call you a fag, you don’t have to.

The best part of Halo is that the game never gets in the way. Because of the level design and community aspects brought about the evolution of the Forge and bungie.net, a real virtual society has built up across several generations of fans, and you can pretty much play around inside the Halo universe in whatever way you please, with as much or as little variation as you like. That’s a rare experience with any digital entertainment, and this edition’s sales and reviews indicate perfectly how well Bungie managed to pull it off.