Mini Review – Halo: Reach

FPS

Reach for the stars.

Paul Weedon

For many, discussion of the Halo franchise usually boils down to one thing – its obnoxious fan base. When it comes to fans, Halo is only mildly out-shat by the arseholes you’ll find loitering around Activision’s servers playing that other, less-impressive first person shooter, and sadly there isn’t much Bungie can do to buck the trend. What they can do however is expand on the already impressive FPS blueprint laid down with every passing entry in the franchise. Make no mistake, Reach isn’t flawless, but when it comes to delivering the thrills, few developers know how to do it as well as Bungie.

Space midgets must die.

Neatly serving as a precursor to the first Halo, Reach’s campaign is, for the most part, a well-balanced affair that provides as much of challenge for hardened veterans as it does for newcomers. New additions include a neat (though lamentably short) Rogue Leader-esque flight section and yet another welcome selection of new vehicles whilst a remarkably polished co-op campaign serves as one of Reach’s biggest draws, much like Halo 3 before it.

There’s little to be said that will convince detractors of the franchise’s multiplayer to give Reach even a cursory glance, but whilst the standard flaws are still present – certain weapons still feel imbalanced and the decision to remove the ability to duel-wield feels like a step backwards – for the most part the tweaks made to the weapons are entirely welcome. Standard fare from previous titles including ODST’s Firefight mode and a revamped Forge mode are both present and will doubtless add hours to Reach’s lifespan if you can learn to look past the racist, homophobic ten-year olds who will likely accuse you of being a ‘faggot’ or whatever.

As lazy a journalistic summary as it might be, at the end of the day Reach’s appeal simply boils down to how much you enjoyed previous instalments of the franchise. Deftly crafted with a ridiculously fine level of polish, Reach is very much in a class of its own. And if this is Bungie’s Halo swansong then, frankly, I’m perfectly satisfied.

9/10