To mark the release of Bungie’s last Halo game, Halo: Reach, we at The Newb Review thought the task of reviewing such a huge game was a little bit too much for one single individual. So instead we have drafted in resident writers for the site, Luke Mears and Kieran Roycroft, to pick apart the game and take you through their thoughts on the game’s singleplayer and multiplayer. So without further or do… let’s get on with the review! Wahey that rhymed!

Singleplayer

The Fall of Reach has been mentioned several times throughout the Halo games; humanity’s first great loss against The Covenant that saw the decimation of an entire planet. The destruction of Reach is an event in the Halo universe that has been discussed with a great deal of solemnity, however Halo Reach’s execution of the great tragedy is anything but solemn.

Upon starting Halo Reach you are asked to select your character’s gender and customise their armour, making your character (theoretically) unique to you. At first there are only a handful of different pieces of armour available to select from, but as you play through the game you earn credits which not act as a way of increasing your character’s military rank, but can also be spent purchasing new pieces of armour or other bonuses such as having lightning coming out of your skull. For the most part these upgrades are purely cosmetic but some of the more elaborate ones act as a way of identifying you as a hardcore Halo player.

The Needle Rifle is one of the game's few new weapons.

Credits can be unlocked by killing enemies, completing missions, and completing in game sub tasks, such as performing head shots or blowing up several enemies at the same time. Each task has several grades that can be reached by performing the action a set amount of times; by reaching each grade you earn a large credit bonus, which incentivises playing in a certain way.

Further pieces of armour can be unlocked by accessing Halo Waypoint, the free to download Halo Hub for the 360′s dashboard. As well as containing news and videos on all things Halo, Halo Waypoint also scans your gamercard to build up a profile of you based on how many achievements you have unlocked in Halo 3, Halo: ODST, Halo Wars, and Halo Reach. In order to unlock these new pieces of armour you will need to unlock certain achievements in each of the main Halo games, which could be incentive enough for some players out there to replay the older games.

From the outset Halo Reach is a far better looking game than previous Halo games, but still manages to maintain that distinctive Halo visual style. The environments in Reach feel like a collection of Halo’s greatest hits, ranging from large open grassy areas, vast deserts, a bight neon metropolis, and fluorescent Covenant space ships. With the game being a prequel there are not many new weapons or enemies, however the enemies have been given a slight visual overhaul, such as the Elite’s armour design.

As for the story, you play as the new recruit to Nobel Team, an elite group of Spartan soldiers, brought in to replace the recently deceased Noble 6. Apparently Noble 6 was popular and the team resents you for coming in to replace him, but that is all quickly forgotten once the first cut scene is over.

Meet Noble Team's Weird Guy, Quiet Guy, and Big guy.

Noble Team themselves are filled with exactly the sort of people you would imagine; there’s the big one, the quiet one, the crazy one, the by the books leader one, and the girl one. The voice acting and script do not go a long way towards humanising these characters – they are about as deep as your average blockbuster heroes. That probably will not bother a lot of people, but I found that the lack of any real characterisation made the moments when Bungie were trying to pull on my heart strings completely ineffective.

The story itself is utterly generic but will doubtlessly please hardcore Halo fans. At first your task is to defeat the Covenant, but as it quickly becomes clear that it is only a matter of time before they obliterate the entire planet, you then are tasked with evacuating the entire planet. In some ways the story is a bit like the movie Titanic; you know they’re blissfully heading towards a gigantic iceberg and a watery grave, and the rest of the story is just fluff.

Having said that, this is a video game and not a movie, so how does it stack up in terms of gameplay? Frankly the game play side of the game is brilliant. The controls are smooth, the shooting has a nice weight to it without being too weighty, and the enemies are almost perfectly balanced in terms of artificial intelligence.

There are a number of new abilities that can be used by the Spartans, including the ability to sprint, to use a jet pack, and to form a temporary shield that makes you impervious to harm in exchange for removing your ability to move. These upgrades can only be selected one at a time, activated by pressing the left bumper, and you have to switch them over manually, but can be a real game changer if used tactically.

The space battle section makes a nice change to the typical run and gun sections of the game

There are a wide variety of different ways to approach most situations in Reach, while it is more than possible to just run and gun your way through each level you would really be missing out on what the game has to offer. There are a number of vehicles that you can jump in to, be it a stationary vehicle, or one you have stolen from the enemy, which can easily turn the tide of battle. Some levels allow you to take a stealthy approach, which gives you the perfect opportunity to perform the new execution stealth kills, while others even launch you in to space to engage in vehicular space battles.

My only real gripe is that, ironically, playing the game through in single player can be a bit of a grind, even on the default difficulty. While you will spend most of your time in the game working with the other members of Noble Team, in general they do not tend to actually help you very much. This is reflected by the way The Covenant battle against you; for the most part the strongest enemies will focus on attacking you – almost as if they know that you are the only character that is really alive – with your Noble Team friends acting as backup at best.

The enemy intelligence is particularly impressive, they will not react to any given situation in the same way twice. While the small grunt enemies tend to lose their nerve when you deplete the enemies forces, stronger enemies will stand their ground and become more defiant, ducking and dodging, or hiding behind rocks to allow their shields to recharge. In some ways the more advanced enemies feel like you are playing against human controlled characters in the most intense situations, particularly on the higher difficulties.

The Covenant Elites are the smartest enemies in the game.

My only real criticism of the enemy intelligence is that they know that the best tactics tend to be the cheapest, such as spamming grenades. This can be quite frustrating when playing the story mode on your own, as dying from cheap death after cheap death will force you to restart from the last checkpoint over and over and over again, until you are fortunate enough to reach another checkpoint. As such Halo Reach’s campaign is at its best when played in co-op with up to three friends, with the game supporting two player split screen co-op and four player online co-op. Online c0-op is never more than a button’s press away at any time, with the seamless shift between single player story mode and multiplayer story mode being worthy of particular praise.

Playing four player co-op can make the game a little too easy even on the highest difficulty; when one player dies they can almost immediately respawn so long as one of their team mates is in a safe position. You could argue that this is merely a reflection of forming an elite band of Spartan soldiers, and is quite empowering, but I would recommend playing the game on Legendary on your own if you want a real challenge.

This leads us nicely in to the next big part of the game…

- Luke Mears

Multiplayer

Whether it falls short or not, you cannot deny that Halo: Reach’s campaign is the deepest and richest campaign in a Halo game to date. However with this being Bungie’s last Halo game, the developer wanted to go out with a bang and thus Halo: Reach’s multiplayer is very much in the same vein as the game’s campaign, feature packed and full of depth. In fact it’s pretty much the gaming equivalent of the way your mum would drown your Sunday dinner in gravy for you at the dinner table, except replace your mum with Bungie, the Sunday dinner with Halo: Reach’s multiplayer and the gravy as features, it is a 100% feature fest, so excuse me if I skim over a few things, there simply just isn’t enough space on webpage.

With a tried and tested formula, Halo: Reach has all you’ve come to expect from multiplayer in Halo games, Slayer, Capture The Flag, SWAT, Oddball, they’re all there along with some perfect weapon balance (complete with brand new weapons and armor abilities), and some brilliant matchmaking. However, Reach sees a whole load of new game modes join the franchise including Generator Defense (pretty self explanatory), Headhunter (players headshot opponents and collect their flaming skulls), and Invasion (objective based game with one team defends objectives, whilst one team attacks until either time runs out or the attack team completes their final objective), bringing the variety of game modes up to staggering proportions.

Reach sees a whole host of brand new game modes added to the mix, including Stockpile

But Bungie haven’t stopped there. As a developer known for their stats tracking, Bungie have used statistics in a way no developer has done before. As players play a variety of different game modes in order to earn credits to buy tons of different items in the armoury to customize their character (which serves as the core of the game’s deep customizable options), players are given personalised daily and weekly challenges, and commendation challenges in order to earn even more credits, giving the impression that the game is tailored to the player and adding even more incentive to play the game. Reach’s brand new Arena playlist also shows Bungie’s statistic prowess, with the more competitive player being given a rating based on their 3 best games that day, resulting in (after a weeks worth of ratings) the player being assigned to their own division based on their collective ratings, allowing players to duke it out in their own online leaderboards until that season ends, in which all leaderboards and ratings are reset.

Daily and weekly challenges further enhance the games addictive nature

There is just so much to do in Halo: Reach, but that isn’t even the half of it. How about the way in which your last 5 matches are recorded for you, allowing you to go back and watch your previous games? Or the extensive customizable options for custom games? Everything from the weapons in the game, down to the handicap damage each team can take, the level is detail is astonishing.

But whilst Bungie have introduced so many new things to Halo players that makes Halo: Reach jam packed with features, they have also gone back and evolved some of the franchises old features too. Forge in particular has taken on a dramatic transformation from Halo 3. The level of detail and scope has been ramped up to epic proportions in what Bungie are now calling Forge World. The tools at the disposal of the creator in Forge World are so much more advanced and powerful, and the way in which the mode allows users to switch from one location to another seamlessly is the definition of sandbox, you just walk, drive, ride or fly there, simple.

Forge World takes player level creation to unprecedented heights

Firefight mode is an entirely different beast all together this time around too. Whilst local Firefight mode is still there (however, just like the custom games, there are far more options and parameters players can set to tailor their Firefight modes to themselves) matchmaking in Firefight mode is now a reality, giving you the ability to jump into Firefight matches with strangers online. Players are now also able to as Elite in Firefight too through it’s Survival mode with 2 Spartans fighting off the waves of Covenant, with the other 2 players playing as Elites. However, there are a few issues with Firefight mode; you only have a 10 minute time limit and the matches are set on heroic difficulty, which will annoy some.

The whole package is then topped off with the brilliant Bungie Pro which now allows users to not only share videos and photos, but also maps made through Forge World or custom game types, encouraging creativity and bringing a close knit community even closer together.

Quite simply put, Bungie have packed more features and more gameplay into Halo: Reach multiplayer than other developers put into a single game, and by doing so not only have they created the perfect send off for their involvement in the franchise, but they have also created the definitive online FPS experience on a console. Do yourself a favour and pick up this game, even if it is just to experience it’s online multiplayer, it’s worth the £40 alone.

- Kieran Roycroft

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 Halo: Reach is certainly the best looking Halo game to have been released, however Reach is only really a small step up from Halo: ODST. In a market where graphics are constantly being pushed further with the likes of the Crysis and Gears of War series, Halo games have always taken a backseat and Reach does nothing to rectify that situation. That being said the game still looks beautiful.

Sounds: 4/5 In terms of soundtrack, Halo: Reach as a brilliant score, which is what you’ve come to expect over the years from the Halo franchise. However  the voice acting, for the most part, is fairly generic and bland, particularly the members of Noble Team.

Story: 2/5 Thoroughly generic blockbuster styled narrative all the way through. There are several moments where the writers have attempted to humanise the members of Noble Team, but the lifeless voice acting stops it from being effective.

Gameplay: 5/5 Whilst Reach’s gameplay is still your typical Halo experience at its core, Bungie have really stepped it up and introduced brand new elements in order to keep Reach feeling fresh and new. Yes it feels like your typical Halo game, but the introduction of brand new modes, armor abilities and new experiences through challenges, The Arena and Forge World, takes the typical the Halo experience to new levels.

Longevity: 5/5 Whilst its campaign may not keep you coming back for more (although completing it on Legendary will keep you occupied for a while) it’s the multiplayer that shines. With Forge World and Custom Games, plus Bungie Pro, you have a limitless amount of potential. Factor in the obvious DLC that will support the game post launch and you’ve got yourself a game that is going to keep you revisiting time and time again.

Overall 4.5 Covenant Fleets out of 5

[starreview tpl=16]
Halo: Reach has delivered the definitive online multiplayer experience on any console, with ideas and creativity sure to shape the online gaming landscape for years to come. However it’s the lack of emotionally engaging story that stops this game becoming a perfect 5. With that being said, Halo: Reach is very much a step in the right direction and sees Bungie has left the franchise on a high.

No-one

The suggestions are in and the shortlist has been drawn. The three titles in the running for the coveted prize of The Newb Review Game of the Year 2009, as voted for by The Newb Review staff are:

Warning: Don’t ever watch developer videos. This year I did exactly that and ended up buying a game that, prior to watching these videos, I had no interest in. Luckily, this game turned out to be undeniably one of the best games to have come out this year; Borderlands. Along with Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is truly refreshing to see two brand new Intellectual Properties duking it out for Game of the Year, especially in an endless sea of sequels, prequels and trilogies. This serves as a great testament to the brilliant year the games industry has had this year.

So what is it about Borderlands that makes it so great? Well it’s not really like anything you’ve played before for starters (the closest I could compare it to is probably Fallout 3). The notion of combining true RPG level-up elements with a first person shooter made me a little dubious at first, but Borderlands pulls it off in stunning fashion. The main reason why Borderlands is so great is because it is just fun to play. Yes, the story is minimal at best, but there’s no better experience than partying up with three of your friends to go around the Borderlands universe and just shoot stuff.

- Crofterz

As a general rule, Super Hero games tend to be pretty bad. For every Spiderman 2, there are half a dozen Superman 64s out there. So you can understand why a number of gamers were sceptical about Arkham Asylum’s potential when it was first announced. How wrong they were. This game blends light detective elements together with an intuitive combat system and a powerful stealth mechanic. However, this is unlike other stealth games. If you are caught, it isn’t the end of the world; you are, after all, controlling the God Damned Batman, with the ability to pummel all opponents into a fine paste using nothing but your bare hands.

The story is written by long-time Batman writer, and key architect of the fantastic 90′s Batman Animated Series, Paul Dini. He brings with him the key voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (playing Batman and The Joker respectively), making the game a truly authentic Batman experience. Throw together a reasonably long story mode, a number of collectible objects and upgrades, as well as The Riddler’s riddles and a challenge mode that allows you to compare your combat or stealth skills with the rest of the world and you have one of the best games to come out this year.

- Mightyles

This title is a celebration of the development of a truly original idea. Ubisoft have taken the first Assassin’s Creed and thrown a bucket load of improvements at it in the hope that most of them stick. Thankfully, it seems to have worked! Whilst by no means a perfect game, Assassin’s Creed 2 has proven to be a vast improvement on its generally well-received older sibling, and looked set to be the biggest seller of the year… If only it weren’t for the FPS gargantuan that is Modern Warfare 2.

Little errors and glitches littered here and there are insignificant foibles in comparison to the wealth of gameplay features that Ubisoft have implemented to perfection. The story is compelling and immersive and whilst there is still perhaps an ounce or two of repetitiveness, (the major complaint of the first game) added variety and new RPG elements such as building up the Auditore Villa stave off boredom in fine fashion. The climactic ending presents something of a cliff hanger that will keep the forums buzzing right up to the release of the next in the series. We can only hope they can improve the same amount for Assassin’s Creed 3.

- tom01255

Honourable mentions…

Now, with so many great games coming to every console this year, NewbReview didn’t think it fair to concentrate on only three titles and forsake everything else. Here’s the NewbReview team with their honourable mentions for 2009.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

When it was announced that Grand Theft Auto was coming to the Nintendo DS, not many people could say they weren’t surprised. And, even upon release in March, the DS audience were still not ready for this game, as evidenced in the poor sales following this extremely well reviewed and generally awesome title.

In a welcomed return to the top-down view, Grand Theft Auto seemed to do almost everything right. It was beautiful on the underpowered DS, the gameplay was true to the series: new and old, and the driving actually controlled well! One of the best games on DS.

- Joefeesh

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Released way back at the beginning of June, Red Faction: Guerrilla has been one of the few games that have managed to cling on in the psyche of the Newbs in the office. Upon release it immediately entered the canon of fun-but-flawed games; the kind that gets a lot of things right, but doesn’t quite dazzle as it should. The characterisation is pretty flat and the story in particular is undemanding. However, the ability to destroy almost anything using a variety of imaginative weaponry has resulted in an enjoyable experience that’s worthy of note, if not quite reaching the echelon of a true Game of the Year contender.

- tom01255

Forza Motorsport 3

The sheer volume of content in this title would have made this a great Game of the Year contender. Given the quality of the previous game, I was sure this was going to be good. But I wasn’t prepared for exactly how much they would pack in to make this a worthwhile purchase.

The game comes on 2 discs and has over 400 cars and 100 tracks. And having played for countless hours, reaching level 50 and amassing over 5 million credits, I have not even hit 25% completion yet. I will be playing and enjoying this well into 2010.

- braindead_hero

FIFA 10

So everybody complains that we get one every year and nothing much changes. They say whoever is suckered into buying it each year is an idiot. However, following in the footsteps (pun intended) of Fifa ‘09, Fifa 10 is yet another massive step in the right direction for the franchise.

Fifa ‘09 took the crown back from Pro Evolution Soccer, introducing better controls and better modes; it really felt like EA went to town in ‘09. This game has taken the ‘09 formula and built on it, with even better controls and more polished modes. The best football game ever made, FACT!

- Crofterz

Left 4 Dead 2

I’m the first to admit I have a thing for zombies. It’s nothing sexual I assure you, so wipe that thought from your mind. The follow-up to last years Left 4 Dead, this game adds a bunch of new content, new maps, new survivors and new modes; all of which are incredibly well designed. The reason this is one of my favourite games of this year is how much fun it is. How can anyone get bored of fighting off the zombie horde? It’s also very polished; I had a much better time with this game over any other in 2009 by a fair amount. Valve truly are artists in crafting such a game and I applaud them for it.

- Braindead_Hero

Shadow Complex

As far as downloadable games go, Shadow Complex is impressive. It boasts a lengthy single-player campaign, expansive world to explore, and dozens of collectible items to boost your character’s performance. At the start of the game you play as Jason, a man who goes exploring in the caves outside of Washington DC with his girlfriend, only to discover a conspiracy to overthrow the US government. By the end you are a super-powered killing machine, capable of running on water, flying around the screen and punching enemies 200ft into the air. Shadow Complex is a fantastic blend of old school Castlevania-styled gameplay and modern day production values.

- Mightyles

Halo 3: ODST

Yes everyone complained, “Not another Halo game!” and I understand your frustrations, we have Halo: Reach on its way but please, Bungie, once Halo: Reach is released, no more Halo games, OK? It’s the fifth game based on the Halo universe but for me, ODST has been the most fun. A shorter, more interesting campaign and the brilliant new Firefight mode thrown in with the truly awesome Halo 3 Multiplayer is a recipe for success. Yes, it is yet another Halo game, but it’s the best Halo game for some time.

- Crofterz

So, the scene is set for an epic three-way battle between Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed 2. Who will come out on top? Don’t forget, you can let us know what your Game of the Year is in the comment boxes below or argue with us about how we’ve missed of Modern Warfare 2 in the forum.

Make sure you check back on New Years Day to see which title has been awarded the prestigious NewbReview Game of the Year 2009!

September as always been an exciting time to be a gamer as it’s usually the month in which all your essential gaming purchases start to be released in time for Christmas. However this year September is even more exciting as a new addition to the massively popular “Halo” series finally lands on Xbox 360.

Now if you haven’t played or even heard about the Halo series then I can only assume you been living in some sort of primitive cave or something as the “Halo” franchise is pretty much everywhere these days. You see “Halo” is Microsoft’s biggest franchise on Xbox 360, it’s week in, week out the most played on “Xbox Live” and because of this the franchise as been milked as if it were some large, grass chewing, cash cow in an attempt to make the most amount of money out of the franchise as possible.

However it would seem as if the udders have run dry as Microsoft seem to be desperately trying to inject more life into the series like some widow who won’t let go of her dead husband. Including the “Halo Trilogy” (Halo 1, 2 & 3) we now also have “Halo” action figures, a “Halo” movie in the works, a “Halo” anime series coming out and more interestingly a “Halo” spin off game called “Halo Wars”. “Halo Wars” is a complete departure from the “Halo Trilogy” and a game I would consider to be just made in order for Microsoft to cash in once again. It completely ditches the first person genre of the “Halo Trilogy” and instead goes into RTS (Real Time Strategy) like your “Command and Conquer” games and your “Age of Empires” games. Now I profess to being a huge “Halo” fan, I have the entire “Halo Trilogy” but “Halo Wars” seemed to come from more of a business decision than a “really cool idea” so I thought “you know what I’m not going to be brainwashed that easily!” although Mr. Ian French would hate me for saying that. However when news broke to me that a fifth Halo game that harked back to the first person shooter genre was in the works, needless to say I was in with the typical “Halo” fan boys or completely socially inept idiots as I like to call them, rejoicing and eagerly anticipating it’s release.

And finally this month it comes out and you know what? I CANNOT BLOODY WAIT! lololololol!!!!111

Because let’s face it, the sceptics are talking bollocks, they would have you believe that “Halo 3: ODST” is basically just the same as “Halo 1, 2 & 3” and that you an absolute d*ckhead for even thinking of buying it. Well you know sceptics?! YOU’RE BLOODY WRONG! “Halo 3: ODST” will be a completely different experience from the previous “Halo” first person shooters and here’s why.

You see first of all in “Halo 1, 2 & 3” you play as a character called “Master Chief” in which you then go around slaying various types of alien and thus saving everyone from extinction. Whereas in “Halo 3: ODST” you play some other character in which you go around slaying various types of alien and thus saving everyone from extinction! Well….OK…that argument might seem a bit weak however let me explain.

“ODST” puts you in control of quite a few different characters actually and it all centres around the story of a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or as I like to call them, just normal foot soldiers. The group is made of “Dutch”, “Romeo”, “Mickey”, “Dare”, “Buck” and “The Rookie” who serves as the main character in the game. Your group are busy fighting off “The Covenant” alien baddies in a city called “New Mombasa” which the alien horde are busy trying to take control of. However your group gets separated and “The Rookie” sets about finding what as happened to the rest of his squad. What really sets this game a part from the other “Halo” games is that when “The Rookie” finds out about what as happened to his team mates, you assume control of them and actually play out what happened to them along for some cool, none linear story telling which is completely different from previous “Halo games”.

Another thing that adds to a different experience is the distinction between “Master Chief” and an “ODST”. In “Halo 1, 2 &3” you run about as some kind of bad ass commando, who as super agility, super damage resistance and can pretty much use any weapon at their disposal like some kind of robotic version of James Bond. Whereas an “ODST” is far from the superior soldier that Master Chief is. This means that in “ODST” you will be less damage resistant, will have less agility and will only be able to use weapons you’ve been trained to use, which at first may seem like the game won’t be as good as the games in the “Halo Trilogy”. However I find the prospect even more compelling, no longer will you be able to run about slaying hordes of aliens at ease. This game sounds like it requires a bit more skill and thought when playing the game. Of course the “ODST’s” aren’t completely without their own little tools. A brand new HUD displays enemies better so you can see enemies from further away and come up with attack plans well in advance as well as other unknown perks. Add to this much better graphics and you already have the components are a different but still high quality “Halo” game.

And that’s just campaign mode. “Halo 3: ODST” also features a separate disc which is essentially Halo 3′s multiplayer mode with all the bonus DLC map packs as maps boxed with the game. Which seems a little pointless and lazy, I mean why can’t “ODST” have it’s own slayer matches with “ODST” soldiers pwning each other? And the inclusion of all the map packs is a bit of a sour blow for people who had to pay for them separately i.e ME! However the multiplayer features aren’t all bad as “ODST” sees the addition of a new multiplayer mode, brand new to the game called “Fire fight Mode”. Now the premise of this mode already as me wet with excitement and can you blame me?! The idea of a “Gears of War 2” type Horde mode adapted to the “Halo” universe may seem like some cheap addition at first however the idea of five “ODST’s” or a character called “Sgt Major Avery Johnson” which you only get if you pre-order the game, fighting off waves and waves of aliens in “New Mombasa” just sounds brilliant so eat that sceptics!

Price guide (prices correct as of 08-Sep-09)

• The Hut: £29.73 – with Halo Reach Beta access
• Zavvi: £29.95 – with Halo Reach Beta access
• Amazon: £29.96 – with Halo Reach Beta access and Sgt Johnson unlock
• Sendit: £34.89 – with Halo Reach Beta access
• Play: £34.99 – with Halo Reach Beta access and Sgt Johnson unlock
• Game: £34.99 – with Halo Reach Beta access