Halo: Reach Review

This is my first journal entry involving the Halo franchise. I know the current big game in the franchise is Halo 4 right now, but I'll get to that later. Now for the review.

The game is a prequel to the very first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved. The story revolves around a team of Spartan super soldiers trying to stop a religion crazy alien army called "The Covenant" from destroying the planet Reach. You play as Noble Team's newest member, Noble 6 who has no canon armor look, facial appearance, or even gender which means YOU are that new member. The environments and settings you visit feel more familiar because they do not take place on Halo, but military bases, natural forests, and cities, and it's really cool just walking(or flying) around and exploring them. The characters are okay. Each member of Noble Team didn't feel so well developed when it came to personality, but even so I still managed to like them. The music is simply amazing, Halo continues to pull off some awesome music tracks. There is some nostalgic value near the end of the game when you see Captain Keyes, the famed Pillar of Autumn UNSC ship, and most importantly, Spartan John-117, the main protagonist of the first Halo game. The game ends with you having to fight against The Covenant alone until you die. Overall, the story great. It's a truly epic experience. Fans have unfairly criticized the story for not being like previous Halo games, but thing is it doesn't have to. Halo: Reach isn't about Halo, it's about Reach and the tragedies that happen during it's fall. So again, the story is epic.

One of the new features of Halo: Reach is the armor abilities. There is Sprint, Jet Pack, Armor Lock, and plenty of other abilities that give you the advantage in both Campaign and Multiplayer. There are also some new weapons including the Concussion Rifle, Focus Rifle, Grenade Launcher, and my favorite, the DMR(Designated Marksman Rifle). Finally, there is the option to assassinate an enemy, you hold the melee button and see this badass animation of your character silently bringing down the unsuspecting victim. The new features of the game make it feel so new and fresh and help make it last a very long time.

Online features include Co-Op Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer. Customization for your Spartans are back and so are the different Elite armor types. There is now matchmaking for Firefight meaning we no longer have to rely on ONLY friends like we did in Halo 3: ODST. The Multiplayer is possibly the game's best part. All the old playlists are back but with new ones like the new Invasion mode which involves Spartans going up against Elites or the other way around depending on which map you play in. It's fun, it's addicting, and oh so enjoyable, my only problem is why they didn't leave the Spartans to be green and the Elites to be purple for Invasion like they did in the beta.

With the game's satisfying Campaign, fun Firefight, and amazing Multiplayer, Halo: Reach is one of the best FPS games out there. I give the game a solid 9/10.