Now Playing: Halo: Reach

I played Halo: Reach on its original release in 2010. A prequel to the original Halo, Reach follows the Spartan Noble Team as they attempt to defend the colony of Reach from invading Covenant forces. I played Halo and Halo 2 at release on the original X-Box, and later Halo 3 on 360. Reach was the last Halo game I played, however, as I never played ODST, 4, or 5. I’m not sure why I never gave 4 a shot back in the day, but I’m sure I’ll give it and ODST a spin when they eventually release as part of the Master Chief Collection.

So it’s been a long time since I played a Halo game and it felt really good jumping back into that universe. It also felt really good just playing a pure, story driven, first person shooter campaign again. We don’t seem to get too many of those these days. Despite its age, there was something very refreshing about playing Reach again today.

Before writing this review, I completed the Reach campaign both in solo and co-op – and on Legendary difficulty, each time. Yes, I’m going to brag about that as sad as it might be, but I am ten years older than when I first did it and I know my reactions aren’t quite as fast, but there was no way I wasn’t going to do it again.

That said, Legendary isn’t so much about fast reactions as it is patience. Some sections can be frustratingly tricky, but you just have to persist until you get it right. And once you do, it’s very satisfying. Playing on Legendary also makes the other difficulties feel rather lacklustre in comparison, so aside from revisiting levels on lower difficulties to grab various missing achievements, you’ll probably stick with Legendary on any other repeat play.

The campaign lasts a solid 6-8 hours depending upon your style of play. There’s lots of sections you can skip entirely if you want to rush (or try to beat the ‘par time’ for each mission) but there’s also lots of little secrets and achievement related Easter eggs to discover if you choose to take your time. The campaign also has a great deal of replay value.

 

Although story based and reliant upon various scripted sequences to progress that story, each mission is, more or less, a free form sandbox in which you can approach each objective in your own way. With a great variety of weapons, vehicles and abilities to choose between, you won’t play each mission in quite the same way twice. And that’s another reason why I enjoy the Legendary difficulty – it really does force you to be creative, think on your feet, and use whatever resources you have at hand. 

The campaign, aside from the difficulty settings, also has score and time challenges in addition to the ‘skull’ modifiers. There’s plenty to keep you engaged if you just play the campaign alone. But Reach has more to offer beyond just the campaign. There’s a solo/co-op Firefight Mode with fully customisable settings to put your combat skills to the test. And, of course, there’s a full suite of multiplayer modes too.

I must admit, I never really got into Halo MP. As much as I enjoy the campaigns, I’ve never really connected with the MP side of the series. I’m not quite sure what it is about it that I just . . . I was going to say ‘don’t like’ but it’s not really a case of like or dislike – I just don’t really care about it. It just doesn’t interest me and that’s something that hasn’t really changed, even today.

 

Visually, this PC version looks pretty great. It’s what I’d describe as a modest, respectful overhaul of the original game – and I’m curious to see how they handle the visuals of the older games in the series, Halo 1 & 2 in particular. The music, as you’d expect, is also pretty great, as it always was in the Halo games.

The campaign of Reach is engaging both in terms of story and gameplay, in solo or in co-op. It’s kind of hard to compare it to the other Halo games I’ve played because it’s been so long since I played them, but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed playing through Reach again today. And as a package, the MCC is pretty great value – 6 games for only 29.99, or 6.99 for each as they release.

And 6.99 for Reach is excellent value given its extensive solo & co-op content, range of customisable modes and MP for those who like that sort of thing. If you’re a veteran of the series, then Reach is still great fun to play today, and if you’re new to the series, then Reach is an excellent place to start.

8/10