Halo Reach: First look review

THREE YEARS after Halo 3 was released, and a decade after combat evolved was thrust upon us, and a few months after the beta ended Halo Reach is here and it was well worth the wait.

The game was launched with a fanfare this morning, and many, many events were hosted in towns across the country. We like this one, which was held in Seattle, and included amongst other things, a man in a costume, a smattering of pasty men, and at least one girl.

Elsewhere people ordered the game online, like us, and got their copy as early as Saturday morning, not like us.

We realise now that ordering online is a good idea, not because we hate to be surrounded by people like us, but because it saves the embarrassment of being spied by early morning walkers and work colleagues surprised that we have apparently caught ‘the flu’ while standing on a high street wearing paper mache armour.

Back to the game, and it looks wonderful, from the way that you dispense of opponents to the way that the flora and fauna effortlessly fill the screen. The maps, some of which are throwbacks to earlier outings are all rendered beautifully, and it's smooth, oh boy, is it smooth.

Halo Reach is essentially Halo 4, but it is actually a prequel, so sadly there is no room for Master Chief, the fragger we have come to know and love. Instead we welcome Noble 6 into our hands as we make our way through the war-torn Halo universe.

Although we jumped straight to the multiplayer option, campaign does deserve its own share of the attention, and, as is the norm with Halo games, we get a decent story line to follow, interesting characters, and the desire to play through to the end.

The cut scenes are very cinematic, the game play is excellent, the opposition hard - and intelligent - and the design, scope and scale of the maps is overwhelming. Halo Reach in campaign mode is a treat and no mistake.

It's not just a straight first person shooter either, and while in one level you are running and leaping about on foot, another will place you in the seat of a jeep, or in another exciting level, flying through space, which is a new and fresh addition.

You can also work through the game with up to four of your friends, or cyber-friends, making even the apparent one-player option a very social experience.

But that's the campaign. The real meat of the Halo experience comes from the online play, and specifically its multiplayer options that pitch players against their peers and charges them to do things like fill them full of spikes, or nail their domes with a sniper shot.

With a weapons tweak, and the new features, such as the hover pack, invisibility, a speed boost, or the ability to send a hologram forward to confuse the opposition, this multiplayer option has had more than a polish - it has had a complete overhaul. Slightly different controls might mean you make fewer kills than you were used to, but that won't last long. Fingers crossed anyway.

Multiplayer lets you choose between the usual suspects, such as Rumble Pit and Team Slayer, in teams up two of four, and although some of the maps are as old as Halo 2, they look fantastic and create a feeling of familiarity, as well as joyful memories of lives had and lost, and players pwned and shamed in days of yore.

Fast-paced, and at times confusing and beguiling, multiplayer Halo Reach is first and foremost fun, and will take up many hours of gamer time for weeks, months and possibly years to come. It has barely stopped spinning in The INQUIRER's Xbox since it turned up, and is likely to remain in residency despite what else gets released later in the year.

The more you play the more you are rewarded, too, and after each game points are tallied up and awarded. These credits can then be used to tweak your helmet and armour, letting the user treat their avatar as a continually evolving project. Checking out your medal haul, as well as your kills versus death ratio after each game is also good for obsessive completives, and as we have already discovered there are a fantastic array of achievements to unlock.

The ability to save games, clips and individual kills is always fun, and as per usual Bungie lets you share these with friends and conquests.

Apparently the last Halo game to be made by Bungie, Halo Reach is a fantastic signoff, and we are away to fire a 21 shotgun salute in its honour. µ