Review: Halo: Reach
On a Halo episode of Game Bites, I declared that Halo: Reach was my favorite Halo. I wish I could go back and not only change that statement but slap myself in the face for even making it. Yeah, it was that brutal to play.
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Reviewed on Xcloud.
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Halo: Reach is a story about the fall of the planet Reach. It’s a story that, if you know any of the Halo lore, then you know it’s not going to end happily. The ending is still very powerful but the journey to get there was a chore.
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The campaign is set across twelve missions, varying in objectives and length, but at its core, it was for the most part: go from A to B and kill everything on your way. These missions all overstayed their welcome and seemed to drag on in a way I did not remember.
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Reach did throw some different missions in to break up the monotony, but they, too, overstayed their welcome. An example of this is when you are put in the cockpit of a spacecraft and are in space dog fight battles. You fight off waves of enemies and just when it felt like it was enough, here comes a bunch more waves. It was a game that needed to be saved from its self but didn’t know how.
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The controls, although a product of its time, still feel great to play. Besides the occasional accidental grenade throw, since all my FPS instincts tell me the left trigger should be to aim down sights. Running around and shooting enemies, and getting up close to melee, felt great throughout; it was the only thing keeping me going through its roughly eight hour campaign.
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Reach is basically to the Halo series what Rogue One is to the Star Wars series: a story that didn’t need to be told, but unlike Rogue One, this one just didn’t have too many positives. The last mission still holds a lot of weight, and was the standout moment of the game, but wasting 8 hours to get there was not worth it.
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,Verdictn
Before jumping in I thought this was my favorite Halo. After playing, I don’t know what I was thinking. With levels that seem to go on way too long, bland environments, and telling a story I don’t know we needed, Halo Reach was a boring campaign to revisit. By today’s standards, I have a hard time recommending this one.
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Final Score —3/10–
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n*campaign only
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Halo Rankings so far
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- Halo CE 5/10
- Halo Reach 3/10
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We talk a lot about Halo over on Game Bites, the latest entry in The Spinchoon Podcast Network (check out Flix & a Six). Be sure to check out my thoughts on Baseball Superstars, Super Bomberman R, and my Monthly Mobile Gaming Report. We also started a new review series on The Spinchoon: Game Club. Check out our first entry on Sleeping Dogs here As always, check us out on Twitter @TheSpinchoon and I’m @Big_Broons
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