Halo: Reach

Developer(s) Bungie

Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios

Composer(s) Martin O'DonnellMichael Salvatori

Series Halo

Platform(s) Xbox 360

Release date(s) WW September 14, 2010JP September 15, 2010

Genre(s) First­person shooter

Mode(s) Single­playerMultiplayer

Halo: ReachFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Halo: Reach is a first­person shooter video game developed byBungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox360 home video game console. The sixth game of the franchise,Reach was released worldwide in September 2010. The gametakes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a warwith the alien Covenant. Players control Noble Six, a member ofan elite supersoldier squad, when the human world known asReach falls under Covenant attack.

After releasing Halo 3 in 2007, Bungie split into teams todevelop two different games—what would become Halo 3:ODST and Reach. The developers decided to create a prequel tothe original Halo game trilogy, freeing themselves from theobligation of addressing old story threads. As the game wouldtake place on a human world doomed to be destroyed, theyfocused on making the environment a character unto itself.Longtime Halo composers Martin O'Donnell and MichaelSalvatori returned to compose Reach 's music, aiming for a moresomber sound to match the story.

Reach was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo2009 in Los Angeles, California, and the first in­engine trailerwas shown at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards. Players whopurchased ODST were eligible to participate in a Reachmultiplayer beta in May 2010; the beta allowed Bungie to gainplayer feedback for fixing bugs and making gameplay tweaksbefore shipping the final version. Microsoft gave Reach itsbiggest game marketing budget yet and created award­winninglive­action commercials, action figures, and interactive media topromote the game.

The game grossed US$200 million on its launch day, setting anew record for the franchise. Reach sold well in most territories,moving more than three million units its first month in NorthAmerica. Critical reception was positive; reviewers frompublications such as GamePro, IGN, and Official Xbox Magazine called it the best Halo title yet. Criticsgenerally praised the game's graphics and sound, but the plot and characters were less positively received.Reach was Bungie's final Halo game; subsequent games have been overseen by Microsoft subsidiary 343Industries.

Contents

The player character fires his assault rifle atenemy Covenant forces, flanked by membersof Noble Team.

Contents

1 Gameplay1.1 Multiplayer

2 Plot2.1 Setting and characters2.2 Story

3 Development3.1 Design3.2 Audio3.3 Multiplayer beta

4 Release4.1 Marketing4.2 Sales4.3 Downloadable content

5 Reception5.1 Awards

6 References7 External links

Gameplay

Halo: Reach is a first­person shooter in which playerspredominantly experience gameplay from a first­personperspective; the game perspective switches to third­personwhen using certain weapons and vehicles.[1]:2–5 Gameplay ismore similar to Halo: Combat Evolved than later games in theseries.[2] The player's head­up display displays and tracks aplayer's current weapons, abilities, and health; it also containsa compass and a "motion tracker" that registers moving allies,enemies, and vehicles in a certain radius of the player. TheHUD changes when the player pilots aircraft andspacecraft.[1]:2–5

In the game's campaign, which can be played alone orcooperatively, players assume the role of Noble Six, a supersoldier engaged in combat with an aliencollective known as the Covenant.[3] The Covenant come in eight distinct varieties with different ranks andclasses for each type; for example, Elites are the leaders of a group, while Grunts are less intelligent andonly dangerous in large groups.[1]:11 The player is equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbsdamage from weapons, fire and impacts. When the energy shield is depleted, the player loses health. Whenthe player's health reaches zero, the character dies and the game reloads from a saved checkpoint. Health isreplenished using health packs scattered throughout Reach 's levels.[2] The campaign's encounters withenemies are typically large, open spaces with weapons caches, cover from enemy fire and strategic vantagepoints.[4] New to the Halo series are dogfight sequences set in space.[5]

Reach features updated versions of old weapons, plus new weapons fulfilling various combat roles.[6] InHalo 3, players can carry single­use equipment power­ups that offer temporary offensive or defensiveadvantages.[7][8] This system of single­use equipment is replaced in Reach by reusable and persistent armorabilities that remain with a character until they are replaced.[9] The abilities are a jetpack; activecamouflage; sprint; hologram, which creates a facsimile of the player running towards a target point; dropshield, which creates a bubble that heals those inside and protects them from a limited amount of damage;and armor lock, which immobilizes the player but grants invincibility for a brief period of time. Whenplaying as Covenant Elites, players also have access to an evade armor ability.[1]:10[10]

Multiplayer

Reach supports player­versus­player multiplayer through splitscreen on a single Xbox 360, local networks(System Link), and the Xbox Live service. The game includes standard multiplayer modes such as "slayer"and capture the flag, as well as gametypes new to the franchise. In "headhunter", players drop skulls upondeath, which other players can pick up and deposit at special zones for points.[11] When players die, all theiraccumulated skulls are dropped. "Stockpile" has teams race to collect neutral flags, holding them at capturepoints every minute for points. "Generator defense" pits three human supersoldiers, or Spartans, againstthree Covenant soldiers called Elites. The Elites' objective is to destroy three generators, while the Spartansdefend the installation. After every round the players switch roles. "Invasion" is a six versus six mode withthree squads of two on each team.[12] The gametype matches Spartans against Elites; Elites vie for controlof territories to disable a shield guarding a navigation core. Once the shield is disabled, they must transferthe core to a dropship; the Spartans must prevent this. As the game progresses, new vehicles and areas ofthe map become open.[2]

Alongside other multiplayer options is "firefight", where players take on increasingly difficult waves offoes in a game of survival. Players can customize the firefight options, including the number and types ofenemies. Firefight versus allows a player­controlled Elite team to try to stop a Spartan team from scoringpoints. Game modes like generator defense are also playable in firefight.[13][14][15]

Also included with Reach is "Forge", a level editor. Players can edit the default multiplayer maps and alarge empty map known as "Forge World", adding or modifying spawn points, weapons and items. Objectsmay be phased into other objects, and can also be snapped to specific orientations.[16] Other includedfeatures are the "theater", where players can watch saved films of their games and take screenshots andvideo clips for posterity, and the file share, where players can upload their screenshots, films, custom maps,and gametypes for public viewing.[1]:20–24

Plot

Setting and characters

Reach takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting; the year is 2552, shortly before the events of thevideo game Halo: Combat Evolved,[17] and during the events of the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach.Humans, under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), have been waging a long war

against a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. By the events of Reach, almost all of humanity'sinterstellar colonies have fallen. Reach itself is an Earthlike colony that serves as the UNSC's main militaryhub. The colony is home to over 700 million civilians in addition to the military presence.[18]

The game follows the actions of "Noble Team", a UNSC special operations unit composed of elitesupersoldiers known as Spartans.[19] Players assume the role of a new addition to the team identified by thecall sign Noble Six. Noble Team's leader is Carter­A259, a no­nonsense soldier. His second­in­command,Kat­B320, has a bionic arm; together, Carter and Kat are the only remaining original members of NobleTeam. The other current members include heavy weapons specialist Jorge­052, assault specialist Emile­A239, and marksman Jun­A266.[9][17][20]

Story

The game opens with the planet Reach in ruins, then flashes back to before the devastating invasion by theCovenant. Noble Team, dispatched to discover why a communications relay has gone offline, discoversCovenant forces on Reach. Soon after, the team defends "Sword Base", an Office of Naval Intelligence(ONI) installation, from a Covenant vessel. The team meets Catherine Halsey, a scientist and themastermind behind the Spartan program and their MJOLNIR powered armor. Halsey informs Noble Teamthat the Covenant forces at the relay were searching for important information.

Jun and Six are dispatched on a covert mission to assess the Covenant's strength and discover an invasionforce gathering on the planet. The following morning, Noble Team assists UNSC forces in assaulting aCovenant ground base. When a massive Covenant super­carrier joins the fight, Jorge and Six take part in aplan to destroy the super­carrier using a makeshift bomb. The Spartans use starfighters to infiltrate a smallerCovenant corvette, prepare the bomb and set the corvette on a docking course with the carrier, but thebomb's timer is damaged. Left with no choice, Jorge stays behind and sacrifices himself to destroy thesuper­carrier. Moments later, huge numbers of Covenant ships arrive at Reach and begin a full­scaleinvasion.

Six returns to the surface and travels to the city of New Alexandria. The Spartan aids the local military infighting the Covenant and evacuating the city, reuniting with Noble Team along the way. They retreat to anunderground bunker when the Covenant begin to bombard the city with plasma, but Kat is killed by aCovenant sniper before they reach it. Recalled to Sword Base, Noble Team is guided underground to anancient artifact that Halsey believes is key to winning the war against the Covenant. Six, Carter and Emileare entrusted with transporting the artificial intelligence Cortana, and the information she carries concerningthe artifact, to the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn. Jun leaves the team to escort Halsey to another base.

En route to the Autumn 's dry dock, Carter is critically wounded. He rams his ship into a Covenant mobileassault platform, allowing Six and Emile to safely reach the shipyard. Emile uses a mass driveremplacement to defend the Autumn while Six fights through Covenant ground forces to get Cortana to theAutumn 's captain, Jacob Keyes. When Emile is slain by Elites, Six remains behind to control the gun,ensuring the Autumn 's escape. The Autumn flees from Reach and discovers a Halo ringworld, sparking theevents of Halo: Combat Evolved.

The post­credits scene puts the player in control of Six's last stand against overwhelming Covenant forces.After sustaining heavy damage, Six drops his or her shattered helmet and is overwhelmed and killed.Decades later, Six's helmet remains on the grassy plains of a now­restored Reach. A narration by Halseyeulogizes Noble Team, who ultimately enabled humanity's victory over the Covenant.

Reach 's E3 announcement

Development

Halo: Reach was announced on June 1, 2009, accompaniedby a trailer at the Microsoft Electronic Entertainment Expo(E3) press conference.[21] A press release announced that aninvitation to the open multiplayer beta of the game wouldappear in 2010.[22] Reach is Bungie's last game developmentfor the Halo series. Responsibility for developing future Halogames fell to Microsoft subsidiary 343 Industries.[23]

A trailer released March 3, 2010, showcased the game'smultiplayer.[24] Bungie revealed parts of the game's campaignand Firefight at E3 2010. The game reached the "zero bug release" milestone on June 23, signifying a shiftfrom content creation to troubleshooting; buggy artificial intelligence or other elements would be removedrather than fixed at this point because of time constraints.[23] Bungie released the complete list ofachievements for the game on July 30, including their titles, symbols, and requirements,[25] and completedReach between the end of July and beginning of August 2010.[26]

Design

After Halo 3, development studio Bungie created an internal team to work on Peter Jackson's planned Halogame, Halo Chronicles. Chronicles was eventually canceled and the team began working on a standaloneexpansion project—Halo 3: ODST—while another team, led by creative director Marcus Lehto and designlead Christian Allen,[27] worked on Reach.[28] The team considered many different concepts and approachesto the game; among the rejected ideas was a sequel to Halo 3.[29] The team eventually settled on a prequelto the first Halo game in brainstorming sessions. It would take place on the planet Reach, during a pivotaltime in the war. "Reach, as a fictional planet, was just a great candidate [to] play around with. It's such arich world, with such a great fiction surrounding it," said Lehto. "We were like: 'Okay, that's it. We've justgot a lot of things we can do there so we can build an immense story with it.'"[30] No longer burdened withcontinuing the story threads of the Halo trilogy, Bungie used Reach to introduce new characters andsettings.[26] As Reach ends with the destruction of the titular planet, Bungie wanted to be sure players stillfelt a sense of accomplishment and success. "It is a challenge overall to ensure the player feels they're doingthe right thing all the way to the end," said Lehto.[31][32]

Lehto recalled that making a character­driven story was a great challenge—players would come to knowmore about them as they progressed through the campaign, but the Spartan characters also had to behaveintelligently.[33] "The Halo games consistently featured protagonists that were silent during gameplaysequences. Community manager Brian Jarrard pushed for allowing players to choose a female Noble Sixand have the cinematics and dialogue change accordingly.[34] The post­credit game sequence was thesubject of intense discussion; some at Bungie wanted to remove it. Executive producer Joe Tung noted, "the'survive' component ... felt great to us. We definitely talked about different versions of how that washappening and different versions of ending [the game] cinematically, but I think the way that it ultimatelyended up is just a really well­paced, significant and emotionally impactful ending."[35]

The developers originally intended to port existing Halo 3 assets to Reach and update them.[36] For Halo 3,Bungie had been forced to shrink parts of the game to fit the game engine's constraints,[34] but wanted tomake Reach look better than its predecessors.[37] "The more we started looking into this, the more we foundthat realistically we could rebuild each asset from scratch with a huge increase in quality withoutsignificantly investing more time," said Bungie 3D artist Scott Shepherd.[36] Texture resolution and polygoncounts for models increased; the Reach assault rifle is constructed of more polygons than an entire Marinecharacter from Halo 3.[36] The prequel concept also gave the art team an opportunity to redesign keyenemies, weapons, and elements of the series. Artists found inspiration in the original concept art for Halo:Combat Evolved; the shape for the redesigned Covenant Grunts came from a sketch that concept artist ShiKai Wang created ten years earlier.[36][38]

The developers redesigned the game engine, the software that handles rendering and much of gameplay.[39]

Bungie hired an expert in motion capture to develop more realistic character animations.[33] Building amotion capture studio in­house saved Bungie time as motion capture data could be applied to the gamemodels the same day it was shot.[40] The developers sought to increase replay value by focusing onimproving artificial intelligence.[37] Rather than scripting enemy encounters, they focused on a more openworld or sandbox approach to battles.[39]

Audio

Composing team Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori scored Reach. O'Donnell wrote "somber, morevisceral" music since the plot is character­driven and focuses on a planet that is already known—in theHalo fictional universe—to have fallen.[41] The first music he wrote for Reach was played for the game'sworld premiere, and he used it as a starting piece to develop further themes.[42] O'Donnell began work onReach while ODST, for which he also wrote the music, was still in production, but did not begin composinguntil August 2009. Past Halo collaborators Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and Stan LePard assisted O'Donnell.With Reach, he did not give them strictly divided responsibilities. "I decided this time to come up withsome themes, tempos, keys, and other basic starting points for musical ideas," explained O'Donnell. "Ishared these with all the other composers and just asked them to take off if they felt inspired by any of thatmaterial." The works­in­progress they came up with were either retouched by O'Donnell or sent back to befinished by their composer.[43]

In previous Halo games, sections of music overlap and change depending on player action. Reach 's systemof interactive audio was much more complex, featuring the ability to combine up to seven layers ofinstrumentation compared to Combat Evolved 's two.[44] Developers also expanded the sound effect system.Every interacting object in Reach produces two sounds for respective objects; for example, a Warthogvehicle that hits an armored Covenant soldier produces a crunching metal noise based on the two collidingelements.[45] The interaction between objects and terrain was demonstrated in an in­game environment thatO'Donnell called "the stripey room" after the bands of alternating colors on the objects and environment.[44]

Halo: Reach (Original Soundtrack)No. Title Writer(s) Length1. "Overture" Martin O'Donnell, Michael

Salvatori4:47

2. "Winter Contingency" O'Donnell, Salvatori 12:093. "ONI: Sword Base" O'Donnell, Salvatori 8:284. "Nightfall" O'Donnell, Salvatori 5:415. "Tip of the Spear" O'Donnell, Salvatori 6:056. "Long Night of Solace" O'Donnell, Salvatori 11:477. "Exodus" O'Donnell, Salvatori 7:198. "New Alexandria" O'Donnell, Salvatori 8:429. "The Package" O'Donnell, Salvatori 6:5610. "The Pillar of Autumn" O'Donnell, Salvatori 9:4011. "Epilogue" O'Donnell, Salvatori 4:3012. "From the Vault" O'Donnell, Salvatori 4:5913. "Ashes" O'Donnell, Salvatori 2:4614. "Fortress" O'Donnell, Salvatori 1:0815. "We're Not Going Anywhere" O'Donnell, Salvatori 1:1416. "At Any Cost" O'Donnell, Salvatori 2:3017. "Both Ways (remix)" O'Donnell, Salvatori 2:1718. "Walking Away" O'Donnell, Salvatori 1:5319. "Ghosts and Glass" O'Donnell, Salvatori 2:4220. "We Remember" O'Donnell, Salvatori 2:05

Total length: 107:24

Multiplayer beta

Reach 's multiplayer beta was open to owners of Halo 3: ODST. More than three million copies of ODSTwere sold by November 2009.[46] Bungie estimated between two and three million players for the upcomingReach beta, compared to the 800,000 that participated in Halo 3 's trial.[47][48] Development schedulesforced Bungie to release a six­week­old beta, fraught with bugs and issues already addressed in newerbuilds. Though concerned that these issues might tarnish the game's image, Jarrard noted that they had littlechoice but to ship it as it was and communicate with players concerning the fixes.[49]

More than 2.7 million players participated in the beta, which lasted from May 3 to 20.[50] The game wasrolled out from an internal group of Bungie and Microsoft employees, with the total number of players inthe thousands. When the beta went public, more than a million played the first day, causing back­endservers to struggle to handle the traffic. While the engineering team had overestimated server load, bugs inserver clusters caused game uploads to become backed up, slowing matchmaking until the underlyingissues could be fixed. Jarrard noted that the 16 million total hours of play time and large­scale rollout of thebeta was vital to seeing how Reach would perform.[49][51]

Bungie used the beta to fix mistakes, glitches, and balance issues within gameplay elements.[52] "Weneeded our fans to provide feedback," said Lehto, adding that having a large audience to "hammer" on thegame allowed them to gather useful feedback to mold the finished product.[53] The game automaticallycollected statistics such as upload and matchmaking speeds, as well as game preferences; sorting out whatJarrard called "the more subjective anecdotal feedback" from emails, notes, and forums proved moredifficult. The Reach beta generated over 360,000 forum posts on Bungie's community forums. Bungiecreated official threads for groups of issues to manage the high volume of feedback; "We tried to give

people a little bit more of a direct avenue to give that feedback and to make our lives easier. It wasdefinitely a lot to assess and digest," said Jarrard.[49] Certain feedback from the players did not correlatewith the statistical data obtained from the matches during the beta. Chris Carney, lead designer for themultiplayer mode, recalled vocal dissatisfaction with the pistol early in the beta; by the end of the beta, theweapon was responsible for most of the kills coming from newly included weapons in the game. Bungiedeployed special test matches to eliminate lurking variables, balance gameplay, and make other informedchanges.[54]

Release

Reach was released in three editions on September 14, 2010.[55] The standard edition consisted of the gameand its manual. The limited edition featured an artifact bag with story information, different packaging, andan exclusive set of in­game Elite armor. The "legendary edition" contained all the materials from thelimited edition, a different packaging, two hours of developer commentary on the game's cutscenes, an in­game Spartan armor effect, and a 10­pound (4.5 kg) statue created by McFarlane Toys.[56] North Americanplayers who purchased a first run copy of the game (in­store near launch day or pre­ordered) received an in­game Spartan "recon" helmet customization; players in other regions could earn it only by pre­ordering.[57]Reach also came bundled with a limited edition Xbox 360 Slim that sports Halo­themed sounds and finishand two controllers.[58]

Bungie released a demo on May 24, 2010, featuring a single player level from the game's story mode, amultiplayer competitive map, and a cooperative firefight mission.[59] Microsoft later listed Reach as anXbox Live Marketplace download on August 12, 2010, at a price of 99999 Microsoft Points(~US$1250).[60] A spokesperson confirmed the download was for media review purposes, and that therewere no plans to distribute the game to the public through Games on Demand.[60] Four days later, hackersmanaged to access, download, and distribute the game online;[61][62] Microsoft stated they were activelyinvestigating the matter.[63] Halo 2, Halo 3, and ODST were similarly leaked ahead of their plannedrelease.[64]

Marketing

According to Jarrard, the team decided to have much more "grandiose" marketing for Reach than that ofODST.[47] Microsoft gave Reach its largest game marketing budget at the time, surpassing the scale and$6.5 million cost of Halo 3 's award­winning marketing. Marketers focused their efforts on connecting withconsumers via universal themes, rather than outdoing Halo 3 's push.[65] Interpublic Group of Companies'AgencyTwoFifteen handled strategy and video development for the marketing push, while AKQAdeveloped interactive components. The agencies were involved with Halo 3 's marketing. The advertisers'brief was simple: "Remember Reach. Focus on the heroes, not the victims. Expand our audience beyondHalo fanboys."[66]

The advertising campaign commenced in April 2010 with the live­action short "Birth of a Spartan".[66] Aseries of online videos highlighting a day in the life of average Reach citizens before the Covenant invade,began on August 23, followed by TV spots on August 29.[67] The series concluded in late August withanother short, "Deliver Hope".[68] As part of the promotions, Microsoft created an interactive light

sculpture; users logged onto a website where they could direct a KUKA industrial robot to plot pinpricks oflight; over 54,000 points created a monument to Noble Team that faded unless more points were plotted.[69]Reach 's marketing won several industry distinctions, among them thirteen medals from the MI6 GameMarketing Conference Awards.[70]

Several lines of tie­in merchandise were launched. McFarlane, who had produced toys for Halo 3, created aline of five­inch action figures,[71] while Square Enix's Play Arts toy label created additional figures.[72]

Reach was released Tuesday, September 14 in 25 countries. Tens of thousands of stores signed up formidnight launch events; sponsored events took place in London, Oslo, Stockholm, and New York.[73]

Sales

Reach made $200 million in first­day sales, a record for the franchise. Its strong sales suggested to analyststhat core titles in the holiday season could reverse sluggish video game sales in 2010.[74] In its first sixteendays the game sold $350 million worth of merchandise.[75] Reach premiered at the top of Xbox 360 andmulti­platform charts in most territories.[76] Figures from the NPD Group estimated that Reach sold 3.3million units in North America, making it the third game for its console generation (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) tosell more than three million units during the first month of its release (alongside Halo 3 and ModernWarfare 2).[77] Halo: Reach became the third bestselling game of 2010 in North America, behind Call ofDuty: Black Ops and Madden NFL 11.[78] It sold 4.7 million units by September 2011.[79]

In the United Kingdom, Reach 's opening week was the fifth­best launch in the territory, beating Halo 3 'sdebut by 20,000 units and ODST 's by 200,000 units.[80] In its second week on the UK charts Reach was thesecond bestselling title, displaced by the racing game F1 2010.[81] Reach continued to hold the top place inNorth America.[82][83] In Japan, the game debuted at first place with 44,413 units, but fared poorly in thelong­term (as have other Halo games). This showing was above ODST 's sales of 29,734 in the comparabletimeframe, but below Halo 3 's 61,143.[84] Reach dropped out of the top 20 best selling titles entirely itssecond week.[85][86]

Downloadable content

Reach supports additional downloadable content (DLC). Bungie released the game's first DLC, dubbed the"Noble Map Pack", on November 30, 2010;[87] this map pack contains three maps, unique in that they arenot based on Reach campaign levels.[88] Microsoft partnered with Certain Affinity, which had worked onHalo 2 maps,[89] to produce the second, "Defiant Map Pack",[90] made available for download on March 15,2011.[91]

A "title update" was released by 343 Industries for Reach that modified game mechanics such as bulletspread and melee damage. The update also contained playlists for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.[92]Purchasers of anniversary edition received a voucher to download the game's seven multiplayer mapsdirectly into Reach, the map pack was also made available to purchase via the Xbox LiveMarketplace.[93][94]

Aggregate scoresAggregator Score

GameRankings 92%[95]

Metacritic 91/100[96]

Review scoresPublication Score

1UP.com A+[100]

CVG 9.2/10[97]

Edge 9/10[101]

Eurogamer 9/10[98]

Famitsu 34/40[99]

Game Informer 9.5/10[102]

GamePro [103]

GameSpot 9.5/10[105]

GamesRadar 8/10[104]

GameTrailers 9.3/10[106]

IGN 9.5/10 (US)[3]

10.0/10 (UK)[107]

OXM 9.5/10[110]

OXM (UK) 10.0/10[108]

X­Play [109]

The Guardian [111]

The Daily Telegraph 10/10[112]

Reception

Reception

Halo: Reach received critical acclaim upon its release. Onreview­aggregating web sites GameRankings andMetacritic, it holds averages of 91.79% and 91/100,respectively.[95][96] Critics such as 1UP.com's ThierryNguyen, the staff of Edge, GamePro 's Matt Cabral, andothers considered Reach the best Halo titleyet.[100][101][103][113] Reviewers noted there were fewmajor changes to the Halo formula;[105] IGN's ErikBrudvig wrote that Reach was not "another rehash",though franchise veterans would feel immediately athome with the game.[3]

Nguyen, Tom Hoggins of The Daily Telegraph, andothers wrote that Reach took the best elements fromprevious games and combined them in Bungie's finalentry. Hoggins noted that this approach made Reach "ablistering, breathless crescendo to a decade's worth ofwork", but also that it was unlikely to convert non­Halofans.[100][112][113] The Daily Mirror 's Kevin Lynchpraised Bungie for introducing new gameplay mechanicslike jetpacks without ruining the title's learning curve orgame balance.[113]

Brudvig praised the campaign for avoiding the "repetitivelandscapes and circuitous, difficult to follow plots" ofpast Halo titles.[3] GameSpot's Chris Watters and othersfelt the artificial intelligence of friendly non­playercharacters was less advanced than that of enemies,especially while driving.[105] Steve Boxer wrote for TheGuardian that Reach 's story made previous entries feel"amateurish";[111] Nguyen felt that whereas previous Halotitles had become mired in inconsistencies and Star Trek­like technobabble, Reach told a broader and moreaccessible story. Despite this, he contended, the gamesuffered from archetypal characters with which players spent little time: "I almost forgot that Noble Four(Emile) even existed for a big chunk of the campaign, as I rarely saw him."[100] Wired 's Gus Mastrapaunfavorably compared Noble Team to the marines of Aliens, writing that most of the characters wereunmemorable and one­dimensional.[5] Nguyen also faulted the game for occasional lapses in exposition, butsummed these up as "minor quibbles" compared to the improvements.[100] In contrast, GamesRadar'sCharlie Baratt opined that Reach 's campaign was better than ODST 's, but lacked the "franchise­changingpotential" it promised.[104] Lynch judged that while Bungie still had not learned to create a perfect story, "[Reach] does expertly set up bombastic scene after scene".[113]

Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica enjoyed the multiplayer component of Reach for its scope—"no matter howyou play, you will find something to like."[114] Reviewers lauded the many customization options availableto players:[104] Watters and Kuchera praised the concept of psych profiles to hone more agreeable teammateselections, but questioned its effectiveness;[105][114] G4 considered Reach 's Forge World more expansiveand impressive than Halo 3 's Forge offerings;[109] and Lynch wrote that the sheer quantity of multiplayeroptions would give the game a long life cycle for players.[113]

Critics considered the audio­visual components a marked advance over Halo 3 and ODST 's. The NewZealand Herald 's Troy Rawhiti­Forbes wrote that with the improved graphics and animation, "[Reach]looks just like a big­budget Hollywood project."[115] Official Xbox Magazine acknowledged better graphicsin other games, but praised Reach for "eye­catching beauty and breathless scope", noting that the inclusionof wildlife and civilians heightened the impression of a planet under siege.[108] Martin Robinson of IGN UKappreciated O'Donnell's moody score and the redone sound effects, writing that the new weapons "feel likethey're about to tear your hands off".[107]

Awards

Honor Award Presented by Date

Best sound[116] GG Awards 2010 Good Game December 6,2010

Best multiplayer[117] Spike Video Game Awards2010 Spike December 11,

2010Shooter game of theyear[118]

Game of the Year 2010 GameSpy December 22,2010

Game of the year[119] Drunk Tank Awards 2010 Drunk TankPodcast January 5, 2011

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External links

Halo: Reach at Bungie.net (http://halo.bungie.net/projects/reach/default.aspx)Halo: Reach at Halo Waypoint (https://www.halowaypoint.com/en­us/games/halo­reach)

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