Reach for the skyyyyy Halo: Reach and Bungie’s last hurrah

Halo: Reach was one of the most anticipated games of this year, in a year full of eagerly anticipated games. Every year the marketing budgets are increased, the hype spins out of control and expectations for each new sequel all the higher. Predictably Halo: Reach doesn’t quite maintain the exhilarating excitement of the first few hours of play but is however filled with enough features and gimmicks to keep people playing long after Bungie has moved on to pastures new.

Reach is infamous in the Halo lore, which is both a blessing and a curse. For the rabid Halo fanboy it means bearing witness to humanity’s worst defeat at the hands of the alien Covenant and the almost total eradication of the Spartan Spec-ops Cadre, bar one, guessed who that might be? For the fans Reach needs neither introduction nor explanation, for everyone else it’s all a bit whuh, huh, who? The story telling which has never been Bungie’s forte though bereft of the utterly bewildering and pretensions sci-fi storylines of past iterations is linear but empty. Little time is spent characterising the squad of Spartan super-soldiers that you follow beyond tedious cliché, while the connection to the playable character is made only through customisable armour. Though it is nice to see your own colour coding, be it hot-pink or sombre black in the cut-scenes I would’ve preferred to have some characterisation beyond heavy implications that you are a badass motherfucker.

The campaign though mercifully bereft of The Flood, and confusingly samey corridors nevertheless fails to awe. Not without it’s moments, including a dog-fight in space and close quarter combat in the silent void of zero-gravity, these highlights are few and far between. Though Reach harks back to the franchises’ greatest moments it nevertheless fails to capture the thrill and excitement of previous iterations. I personally put this down to the lack of electric guitar solos of the Halo Theme and the dearth in Gregorian chanting which made the soundtracks of previous games so involving. Atmospherically Bungie fails to truly convey the sense of tragedy, fear and cataclysm that the previous games all managed just by the hushed tones in which NPCs talked about Reach. Unlike Halo, 1 2 and 3, without the spunky A.I Cortana jabbering away in your ear the objectives all seem so detached with none of the sense of urgency her enthusiastic encouragement provided.

Another disappointment is the somewhat over-hyped armour abilities which looked as though like rechargeable shields and regenerating health would be another Bungie inspired revolution. Instead apart from the ability to sprint, which is a staple of many other First Person Shooters, including Call of Duty, any difficulty below the hardest setting the various armour abilities become somewhat superfluous. A seasoned FPS warrior can lay waste to the Covenant given the ability to run, if only for a short distance, however use of invisibility cloak or impenetrable armour never really display their usefulness. However this new feature shines in the multiplayer and becomes an invaluable boon when playing on “Legendary.” A difficulty I still lack the patience to commit the necessary days to complete.

Suffice to say the story of the fall of Reach and the stoic endurance of the ever so stoic stoical Spartans left me feeling somewhat under whelmed. However the addictive Halo multiplayer remains as frenetic and competitive as ever. Starting at the lowest rank and working your way up through the completion of slayer, co-operative matches or zany control zone games it’s hard to tear yourself away from hours in front the screen.  Armour pieces are once again unlocked and awarded for the most diligent and skilled players providing a means to instantly rate you’re opponents in terms of skill and their taste for combat aesthetics, the latter is normally none whatsoever. The lure of advancement is hard for anyone obsessed with ratings, progression and rewards, and if the official channels are to be believed even those at the highest rating now have only scratched the surface.

I was aiming for this review to be closer to 1500 words, but I really have reached the end of what needs to be said about this game. I liked the return of the deep-throated alien garglings of the agile Covenant Elites, but at the same time missed the ridiculous English dialogue of the Grunts and Brtues, “How the hell did he get hold of that Hammer!?” I liked the Spartan Evan Jorge, the only one who was even partially fleshed out as a character, but in truth he didn’t come close to the affection I hold for Sergeant Johnson the John Shaft of the Space Marines. The truth is, is that there isn’t anything particularly detestable about Reach at all, some have even gone as far to say it’s a flawless game. Unfortunately the same can be said of bread, or rice or pasta, there’s nothing wrong with them, but without accompanying seasonings, sauces and foods they’re just so much inoffensive carbohydrates. Halo: Reach is merely an example of professional competence, not flawed enough to be bad, but not exciting enough to push any boundaries. It seems to me that Bungie missed an opportunity to make something truly great, as opposed to comprehensively good and though not the worst offence in the law-book of crimes against game franchises it has nevertheless, left me somewhat miffed.