Remember Reach

Alan Barthelmess
   For those of you who happen to own an Xbox 360, you were probably out last Monday night on the 13th counting down the minutes until midnight. It was on that very night that the latest addition to the Halo games was released. Halo Reach is the title and so far it looks to be the best Halo game yet.


   Halo Reach has a great storyline to experience, and if you’re late to the Halo series, don’t worry about playing catch up and having to review previous Halo games to understand what is going on. Reach’s story starts long before you took control as Spartan 117 and embarked on a glorious adventure in the first Halo game (Combat Evolved). In this experience the gamer will play as the sixth member of noble team, a group of highly trained elite Spartans that work together to overcome obstacles of troublesome proportions. In the campaign mode, you can team up with three of your friends online through Xbox live or all on the same console at one person’s house.
  If the campaign is not your style, then never fear the multiplayer online play is more than enough to occupy your gaming free time. There are three main online gaming modes with many sub playlists. The first of these three playlists is Slayer; Slayer is your standard six on six team death matches. There are multiple playlists in Slayer such as invasion, big team, multi-team, and many more. Each one of these playlists offers its own unique style and feature to Reach that makes it enjoyable for hours on end.
  The second major playlist of the three is Firefight mode. Firefight mode is a playlist where you team up three of your friends either at the same console or online and fight waves of Covenant enemies. The Firefight mode is just like Halo ODST; four players fight numerous waves of alien enemies with each wave getting more difficult as the rounds progress. The rounds become more difficult as harder enemies start to show up in later rounds, and in certain rounds the game will turn on specific skulls such as the “catch” skull. When a skull is activated it will affect how the enemies react; for example, when the catch skull is active the enemies will hailstorm your position with grenades.
  The final playlist is the newest addition to the Halo series and is called Arena Combat. It is similar to the major league gaming playlist that was seen in Halo Three. Arena Combat has two sub playlists that are team doubles, which consist of two on two team combat. The other sub playlist is regular death match; the party size can hold up to four on four death matches. In Arena Combat, every match you play ranks you and matches you up with opponents of the same skill and ranking.
  In a ranking system from one to ten I would give Halo Reach at least a nine. The game has better graphics than the last, and more ways to play. The creativity of the game really takes off in the multiplayer experience with the new armor load outs and the ability to customize your Spartan or Elite. There are new weapons, such as the plasma launcher that shoots heat seeking plasma grenades, and new vehicles that you will need for taking down the Covenant in later missions. Overall Halo Reach is a great game and fun experience.