4.5/5 ★ – Kalle_Deimos's review of Halo: Reach.

TLDR: The Nostalgia Machine Gameplay: Reach does a lot of things for me that Halo has never done before and will likely never do again despite the fact that it easily printed them so much money. First, a completely new cast of characters, all Spartans and your own character taking on a big battle from the lore of the Halo series. Not playing as Chief is one thing, but being on a whole TEAM of Spartans was wild. The best part of course is your ability to customize your Spartan to your liking. Armor pieces, accessories, colors. It's all there for you to express yourself in an effective manner. Weapons handle very well and there is a shocking variety to be found in every game mode. And when you mix-and-match your loadout with armor abilities, you can even make something akin to a 'build'. Of course, it isn't perfect. Weapons now have 'bloom' making them inaccurate with consecutive fire which can mess with your Halo instincts. And armor abilities are more useful on paper than in practice. Sprint being an armor ability and not an inherit thing you can do at all times can really mess with any game mode because sprint is just...so good. Yes you can have a jetpack or armor lock or invisibility or even a hologram. Or you can rapidly change your position from point A to point B. And usually that is the most effective solution to anything that ails you. Although armor locking an approaching vehicle is always funny. The campaign is fun, has a good variety of levels, objectives and locations. Although there isn't any 'epic thrills' found in the original trilogy, it's all just tight level design that keeps you engaged. We get to fight brutes AND elites together again, mixed with like a dozen different kinds of grunts and jackals, every firefight has got a flavor to it. Firefight is a ton of fun to mess around with to test your skills. You can choose a beginning loadout and ordinance drops give you new weapons to mess with. And the multi-player is actually one that I've spent a real amount of time with. The game modes are a ton of fun. Especially Invasion. Invasion felt like a real war sometimes. And I did turn to real war crimes to turn the tides of battle. Theres no wonder why I spent so much time playing Reach. Its a completely closed system of dopamine and fun. Play some Reach, get some XP and credits, level up, buy more armor, play more Reach for more armor, become a better Spartan, look cooler. Story: Halo: Reach isn't an 'epic' like the original story but rather a somber story about a mission that we know ends in defeat. Although we never spend a lot of personal time with Noble Team, their conversations with each other display their unique personalities. Having to see them get picked off is quite sadje as you see the prospects of victory steadily fade away. Graphics: Game looks great back then and now. I don't know what they did but the Spartan designs are perfect. Noble Team and all your customization options look good, match the design of the game but are distinct. Halo 4 customization looks horrible comparatively because all the armor pieces aren't cohesive. When I think of the Halo enemies, their Reach designs is what pops into my head. Every setting, every prop, every enemy, everything looks great. Sound: Sound effects and design that is just as iconic as the other games. The Covenant no longer speak in English in Reach. This is likely done to make them more threatening and to keep the serious tone. Which may seem like a loss at first but it's handled very well. I do think the moment may have been lost on many a player if there was constant goofy lines being played. Extra: There's some secrets. The multi-player is amazing. And firefight can easily get your attention for a long time. Favorite Thing: Shooting the tank off a grunt makes them fly around like a popped balloon. Not My Favorite Thing: You can assassinate a brute but its IMPOSSIBLE. I have never been able to get it to work in over a decade.