Halo: Reach

By the time you read this, I should be finished with Halo: Reach. As it stands, I'm only two levels away from completing this beast, and I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying it. A while back I was playing through Halo ODST and can safely say that while enjoyable, was quite disappointing. I can say this now, because I've been playing Reach and the two really do stand apart. Perhaps it's the fact you get to play as a Spartan, and you're surrounded by other Spartans. These genetically modified superhumans are fantastic; when you pull of nutty moves it's not implausable. You recruit "regular" marines throughout your journeys, but you don't command them. They simply follow you and act as cannon fodder, and they love you for it. When you die, they freak out, as they know their time has come too since the almighty has fallen. The levels are tightly designed and actually interesting, and there's some great vehicle combat too. The level design is a sticking point for me as I feel as though I got off on a bad start in my Halo experience, running through numerous levels of generic hallways and fields. I'm glad to see the Bungie team moving away from that; it creates a much more compelling experience.

Let's back it up though.

Whenever I visit my friend down south, I'm bombarded with jealousy as I have to sit within feet of dozens of special editions of video games. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I absolutely love these things and it's what I've dreamed of since I was a child. Not until the last generation have we gotten so much care put into the packaging of video games. So, being somewhat broke, I can't buy all the editions I would like to; instead, I selectively pick and choose, running releases through a filter of which I myself can't comprehend. One of the criteria seems to be my enjoyment of the game, for good reason. But it's also dependent on how much I owe the series. For instance, I bought the Fable III special edition because I haven't invested very much in the series already. I owe it to Fable to pick this up to show my love or whatever. Halo has been up and down for me, but generally, I like the games. It is, after all, why this blog site was initially started and it got me subscribing to a gold membership on Live at the very beginning of it all.

I'm perusing my favourite game sites and see Halo: Reach heavily discounted on Amazon.com. Brought down to a very reasonable price, and I bite, placing my order before fully thinking of it. The automaton known as Game Buying Ryebone took hold and yeah, it was scary. But reason came through and I decided to look at the Canadian version of Amazon. It wasn't any cheaper (a little more, actually) but factor in taxes, S&H, and you were looking at about the same price. So, I cancelled the US order and placed the CDN one instead, and my package of Halo delight arrived two days later. I can get into the specifics of the edition itself but all I'll say is that Reach is one of the best out there. The packaging - like the level design - is tight. The artifacts and documents are very neat, and as a bonus, it doesn't take up much space on the shelf and what space it does take up is quite presentable (as much as I love that giant tin of Assassin's Creed II, it looks bonkers sitting anywhere). Little did I know the package would be such a precursor to how good the game inside actually is. And in typical fashion, it would take me nearly six months after buying it, to actually play.

OK, so after writing this up, then going home and (almost - I need to fuel my body first) immediately hunkering down for a night of Reach, I finished it. Probably wasn't even an hour later and I was watching the credits. Disappointed a bit, only in that I wanted it to keep going. Then all of a sudden it was back on: the eleventh "level" where you basically have no choice but to die. You can hold out as long as you like, but it gets crazy as swarms of enemies are devastating you. Absolutely brilliant were the broken visor effects and I guess, the epic-ness of the situation. Its reminding that you knew the ending before going in. I sort of knew, but I don't really follow the stories in Halo. Reach was the beginning of the major assault on human forces - or something - and was the first to fall. Even the back of the game case indicated as much, as did the beginning of the game as it opened and closed on your broken helmet.

So, going back to the special edition stuff, have I paid my respects to the Halo franchise? I have just about all the core games, I believe. I even bought the special edition of Halo 2 way back, although that was more because it was on sale dirty cheap and it would be completing my (original) XBox steel book series. The legendary edition of Reach was a monstrosity of an edition, including some giant statue of the Noble team from the game. I didn't understand it at first when I saw a teenager receive it for his birthday at the other end of a restaurant. He pulled it out of the box and everybody was watching - as well they should - and the look of sheer excitement in his face made me a bit jealous for those days when I could get crazy-excited like that. I wondered why you would want such an intricate statue without the Master Chief in there, but now I see the point a bit more clearly now. You have to appreciate that they release various levels of special editions for these games so it gives us "intermediate" gamers a chance at something special without going ridiculous. My experience with Reach all but guarantees I buy the next special edition Halo game that comes out.