Halo: Reach an epic elegy for storied video game franchise

Halo: Reach (Microsoft; Xbox 360; rated mature)

Halo: Reach is an elegy in every way.

It’s the last game in the franchise from Bungie, the creators of the series.

And those familiar with the story of the Halo franchise know that the planet Reach, on which this fifth game is set, falls.

So even before I started playing, I expected the experience to be tinged with sorrow. It was, but as my grandmother always told me, “It’s okay to be sad sometimes.” You don’t feel sad about things you don’t care about.

Humans have colonized the planet Reach and established a sizeable military presence. There is a base for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), a shipyard to construct and repair space vessels, and a healthy civilian population.

Reach is also the last outpost against the Covenant army, a mixed-species assembly of aliens set on the annihilation of humanity. If the Covenant get past Reach, there’s precious little standing between them and Earth.

Master Chief, the Spartan II soldier who was the protagonist for the main trilogy, is absent here. Instead, players take on the role of an enigmatic Spartan III troop, not as technically advanced as the super-soldier but still more competent than the average person. The game begins with players joining Noble team as the sixth member of the squad.

Don’t think that the absence of Master Chief is a problem, either. The Halo games do not owe their success to the character of Master Chief.

Last fall’s ODST—in many respects a better game than Halo 3—proved that for everything you might expect from a Halo game, you could also expect it to be well-designed, well-executed, and well-told.

Reach is all of those things. It really is a culmination of the Halo series. Bungie pulled from each of the previous four games—Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST—to create their swan song.

Reach contains the same epic scope that nearly derailed Halo 3, and some of the character development and storytelling sophistication that made ODST so compelling.

Players will combat the Covenant in a variety of striking environments, from the stark and beautiful landscapes of the planet Reach, to the interiors of Covenant ships to the white, angular urban centres of Reach’s civilians.

And in a first for the Halo series, we also get a chance to pilot spacecraft, too. And not just stealing a Covenant Banshee to get back to ground, but properly flying a Sabre starfighter. Bungie made the space battles more fun than furious, which was a smart decision. As much fun as it is to be dogfighting in space, we’re not playing Halo to be a fighter jockey.

And because this is the third Halo game created for the Xbox 360, the Bungie developers—now very familiar with the hardware—have been able to deliver something new, even if it is familiar.

From the upgraded AI engine to the stunning visuals, from the seamless transitions to the smooth mechanics involved in embodying Noble 6, Reach is not simply more of the same. It’s better.

While Reach doesn’t break any new ground in the shooter genre, it provides a perfectly refined experience. That, to me, is more than enough.

Bungie defined the multiplayer experience with Halo: Combat Evolved, and have also refined that in Reach. In fact, many will eschew the campaign story mode altogether, preferring instead to spend time playing on-line and taking advantage of the new character customization features.

But for me the Halo games have always been about the story of humanity’s struggle for survival, and the heroic and noble characters who are doing everything they can to help.

You can’t help but feel a bit sad while playing Halo: Reach. But as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that started it all, this is a perfect way to both start and end.