Halo Reach Review

Another of JLB's reviews of relatively old games with deflated prices and inflated scores...

Presentation, Graphics and Additional Features: 5

Let me start off by saying that Halo Reach is amazing. The game is presented awesomely and gives a truly epic feel to Bungie's last work in the Halo series - you can feel the love poured in by the game designers, composers and all the staff at Bungie studios.

 The graphics are never the strong point of a Halo game and this is no exception - the graphics, although they are better than average, don't live up to the expectations of most people - but, on the other hand, the graphics go very well with the gameplay and while they aren't the most High-Tech, they are supremely executed, adding to the vast quantities of epic to this - well, epic.

 One thing that has been a strong point of the Halo series is the music, and while Reach breaks from the traditional, orchestral style of earlier Halo games, the music is brilliant. You could listen to hours upon hours of this music and still not get bored or tired of it - it's a great campaign companion, evoking emotions parallel to the great storm of musical emotion that was Lost Odyssey, another of my top five games.

Gameplay: 5

The gameplay of Reach is one of the best yet in the Halo series, keeping to the tried, tested and true gameplay of previous games, while adding new elements such as armour abilities etc. The Golden Triangle still applies, with the balance of melee, grenades and weapons checked even better than in Halo 3. Assassinations add a new challenge to the game, with more incentives for stealth and melee, as watching your Spartan or Elite take down the enemy in one of the glorious 3rd person cutscenes is honestly better than economic security and family.

The multiplayer in Reach is endless fun, with very well balanced weapons, incredibly varied and fun game modes and both community and professional made maps available to play on. I find it hard to believe you could get less than 100 hours play and get bored( I'm looking at you, PWN), especially with the rankings and credits system, where you progress through multiple ranks to unlock new sets of armour and armour variants.

The campaign is also great- varied enemies, compelling and emotional story and a great set of characters and objective to go with it, creating an in depth and enjoyable campaign- and with multiple difficulties, achievements and commendations, you will be wanting to play this many time over, often with friends.

Overall

Let these guys take your money. If you don't buy this game you have no soul or taste. Go on. Yes, you, the one in the t-shirt. Go off to best-buy or something and buy this game. Now. Seriously.

-JLB-