Reach is the third game in the Halo universe that I've purchased. The others being Halo Wars and ODST. I've played all the games quite extensively prior to purchasing Reach and I don't know why I decided to blow $60 on this one when I never bought the others at full price.
I've always felt that Halo is one of the few games that has a campaign game that is good enough to justify the existence of its multiplayer. And up until Reach, it's been true. However, to me Reach signifies the epitome of the all too common cash grab game. They've got a great story and fan base, so they make a sequel. As I understand it, this has nothing to do with Bungie, they had to do it per contract. I blame the fans.
At the risk of offending one of my closest friends, I really feel that Reach is nothing special, and in retrospect I'd love to return it and wait for it to appear in the bargain bin. All Reach is, is a graphically updated Halo: Combat Evolved, with a couple more vehicles, more Spartans, and jet packs.
The game takes place on the planet called "Reach" (bet you're surprised). If you read the Halo books, it's basically the human second home to Earth. The covenant find it, assault it, and win. It's technically a prequel to the other Halo games since it ends just as the original Halo begins. The usual universe canon arguments apply. 90% of which are based around the weapons. "If the Reach spartans had such great weapons, how come the Master Chief only got a Rocket Launcher?" Well, in the books something happens that causes all their super-advanced equipment to jettison into space and they can't go get it. How's that for a plot hole fixer!
I know I should write more about the game, but I really don't want to since I'm so bored with it. The multiplayer is the same as it ever was, minus dual-wielding. You can now do melee attacks with finesse, but all that does is make you a target (sure, you might net a few extra points).
Now, however, you can choose loadouts for your spartan or Elite. Yup, the loadouts are thus: jetpack, sprint, lockdown, drop shield, dodge, active camo and hologram. I may be missing one, but if that's the case it probably sucks. These all work in-game as well, which makes certain parts much easier if you know what to choose. Each loadout has a limit on use and a cooldown period until you use it again.
The only two that really need explanation are the hologram and lockdown. The hologram is a dead simple (and dead stupid) dummy Spartan that runs to the point in focus when you use it. It doesn't jump, dodge, maneuver or even wave. It just runs in a straight and falls if gravity necessitates it. Unless you're playing with newbies it'll almost never work. The image fizzles periodically so a veteran sniper won't attack it. At most you're looking at a fraction of a second worth of distraction.
Lockdown is a different beast. Your Spartan punches the ground and stays crouched until the timer expires. It's useful if you're waiting to get hit by a vehicle because they'll either bounce off, fly over you, or blow up. A lot of the time you're a sitting duck. If you wait for the shield to expire there is a tiny burst of energy that blasts off of your guy.. I don't know if it affects anything, but it does have the awesome factor.
I should also note that the active camo in Reach is... odd. First of all, the more you move the worse it works. If you stand still it's almost perfect, but running will pretty much ruin the camo and you may as well just switch it off. It also activates a motion tracker jammer so anyone in the area sees little read dots flying in random directions. Fun.
The main reason to play Reach (and every Halo game) is multiplayer. Reach does a TON of fan service by making its multiplayer completely geared towards what fans have been doing all along. Bungie included tons of game variants and now the Forge is so customizable that basically brand new games in the form of variants are coming out all the time. The main reason this is better than Halo 3's forge is Bungie included stationary objects in the forge. No more balancing acts! You have the option of letting stuff just sit in space without tricking the game engine into holding it there.
I'd like to write more but the game is old enough that anyone reading this is doing it for posterity , and I'm really not doing Reach any justice. Earlier I mentioned that I'd buy Reach in a bargain bin... Well the main reason I wanted it is because my brother wasn't buying it and our Halo nights with 10-16 players have always been a source of intense fun, and I don't want that to stop.
Cheers.
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