2.5/5 ★ – KingChiliPepper's review of Halo: Reach.

*Campaign Review* Halo games have never been particularly adept at story presentation. The world of Halo is a rich Bible of science fiction intrigue, but if you want storytelling, pick up some of the novels. At least in Bungie's main trilogy, the narrative is carried somewhat by our interest in Cortana and the Chief. Their relationship and quick exchanges make for a decent foundation to balance the combat upon. In Halo: Reach, Bungie display the absolute nadir of their narrative abilities and it's a damn shame that's how they had to bow out of this series. This game's position as a prequel should have given it an innate sense of doom, made every exchange between characters bittersweet as they fight for survival, not knowing the unchangeable fate of the planet Reach. Instead, Bungie fill this game, and the player's boots, with a cast of one-dimensional, depersonalised soldiers that can barely hold a conversation. Of the, I don't know how many Spartans because I never once cared, not one is anything other than an all about the mission soldier type. Regardless of silhouette, choice of weapon, gender, rank, armour colour, they are all the same. That makes for some very dull cutscenes and a complete disconnect from this team and their mission. And what, exactly, is their mission? Stop some insurrectionists? Get rid of some guns? Shoot stuff? Until the very end of the game, there's no direct through line to anything they do, no sense of progression or tension: just busy work. Point A to Point B to Point C, back to B, maybe a character dies, to Point F, who was that again? It wouldn't be so important if the game was at least fun to play, right? I don't need great writing to pull me through a video game. I could do with some better level design than what Bungie supply here though. It's not like anything here is as bad as some of the later levels from Halo: Combat Evolved, but my god are they all big and samey. Bungie have created these huge, more 'open' spaces than previous Halo games. I wouldn't say I got lost in them, just found myself trekking through a lot of nothing and rocks just to be greeted by yet another area where the enemy have the high ground and I'm pinned down with no access to long range weapons. Once or twice, and that makes for a reasonable challenge, but it becomes a crutch of this game's design; so much so, the difficulty begins to feel artificial (I played on heroic, admittedly I'm not the best player). The combat itself is still that solid system built on from Halo 3. I don't have much to grumble about when it comes to the base gunplay and enemy AI. Additions include some questionable new weapons and a load of armour abilities to give you a tactical edge in tough situations. There's a running one, a jetpack, drop shield, armour lock, maybe others? I found them largely pointless as, whenever I gave up my run to try something else, I instantly wanted it back. Like I said: big, samey levels, and they're no fun to traverse when you can't run. There's only one point where the game forces you to switch to a jetpack and it's more of a showcase for the jetpack itself that it is challenging or engaging. Halo: Reach has the rock solid mechanics of its older brothers; I can't call it a terrible game. That said, I had little fun slogging through it, and only a measly excuse for a story to hang my interest on. Its a disappointment. If you want a solid Halo campaign, play Halo 3. If you're a lore nut that wants to know what happened to planet Reach, read Eric Nylund's novel instead.