In one week, the final Halo game from Bungie will be released, and we will all finally get to see the downfall of planet Reach up close and personal. Just like the planet, Bungie is closing out their series of Halo games with a bang, filling the game with many improvements and new features.
Game Versions
- Standard
- The normal version; just the game and manual
- Limited
- Contains the Standard version, plus extras, in special "ONI" packaging
- Artifact Bag containing Dr. Halsey's journal, and other items detailing the backstory
- Code for an unlockable Elite armor variant for use in multiplayer modes
- Legendary
- Contains the Limited version, plus extras, in special "UNSC" packaging
- 2+ hour developer commentary/playthrough video with the development and design teams
- Hand-painted Noble Team statue (roughly 10" tall)
- Code for an unlockable Flaming Helmet armor effect for multiplayer modes
- Limited Edition Console
- Special Silver 250GB Xbox 360 S console with Reach graphics
- 2 silver Halo: Reach controllers
- Contains the Standard version of the game
- Code for an unlockable Elite armor variant for use in multiplayer modes
- Video Unboxing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRW8R-rvWM
Game Modes
- Campaign - 2 player co-op local / 4 player co-op LIVE
Play through the story mode of the game. The Covenant is invading the planet Reach, home of the Spartan program. You play the part of a Spartan in Noble Team, as they fight to save the planet. As a prequel to the original Halo trilogy, experience the story that leads right up to the beginning of Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Reach - A Spartan Will Rise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs2TPo7z0sM
- Multiplayer - 4 player co-op local / 16 player co-op LIVE
Up to 16 Spartans and Elites battle it out across a variety of levels and game modes. This is the classic Halo experience, but improved with new game modes, weapons, abilities, and vehicles. Improved net-code and an all-new party system will make the experience even better.
Halo: Reach - Quicklook (SWAT on Countdown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMwQ5wDGypY - Firefight - 2 player co-op local / 4 player co-op LIVE
First seen in Halo 3: ODST, Firefight mode has been expanded in GREAT detail for Reach. The core game is the same (Fight off the waves of Covenant, score lots of points), but now Bungie have opened it up to tweak with Custom Options, as well as a Versus mode. What was a fun, but limited, mode before, will now be a mode that many people will find themselves spending much time with.
Halo: Reach - Firefight (Versus on Overlook)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBTwAdvfnXg - Forge - 4 player co-op local / 8 player co-op LIVE
Like Firefight, we have seen Forge mode before, but it also has received a MAJOR overhaul for Reach. You can go in a create new game modes, levels or a combination of both for your own unique experience. Bungie is including the map "Forge World" with Reach; a huge, expansive level with tons of varied terrain and areas for players to create with.
Halo: Reach - Forge World ViDoc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xroCdp9ykTg - Theater
First seen in Halo 3, this mode returns in Reach, largely unchanged. All of your gameplay experiences, from any mode, can be watched in the Theater mode. You can view these from any angle, and at any speed. While watching these replays, you can pause at any time to take screen shots, or even record a gameplay clip. These files can then be rewatched at any time in the game, or you can uploaded them to your bungie.net profile page, where you can view and share them.
Player Investment
- Credits
Gone is Halo 3's XP system. Now, no matter what mode you are in, or what your are doing, you will be earning Credits for your actions. Play Campaign on harder difficulties, you'll get more credits. Defeat a large number of enemies in Matchmaking, you'll get more credits. And so on - Commendations
Nearly every action you do is tracked in Reach. Many of these are grouped into Commendations, which will give you bonus credits when you level them up every time. For example, getting a large number of headshot kills. The more you get, the higher your headshot Commendation goes, the more credits you get. - Challenges
In addition to the Commendation credit bonuses, Bungie will also be offering up Daily, Weekly, and even longer Challenges for players to complete. These might be something like "Complete a Campaign level on Legendary difficulty", or possibly "Kill 50 players in Matchmaking in a day". These will be constantly changing and evolving, offering players even more ways to earn more credits. - Rankings
As mentioned before, you're visible rank is no longer tied to your player skill. You "rank up" simply by earning more credits. But, since this can be done across all modes, you will no longer be penalized if you don't play multiplayer as much as other people. Your "TruSkill" player ranking, which uses your actual skill tracking, is still used to match you up with other players, but that number is invisible to the player. - Armory
As you earn all of your credits, across all of the different game modes, you will be able to spend them unlocking different armor pieces for your Spartan. These are all just visual changes; no items unlocked give any player an advantage over someone else who hasn't unlocked the item. The amount of different pieces that can be unlocked is HUGE, and will lead to a much wider variety of player looks when playing online. - Consistent Look
The Spartan character that you use and customize will be "Your" persona across all of the various game modes, be that Campaign, Firefight, Multiplayer, etc. In Campaign, for example, since Bungie renders the cutscenes in-engine, you will see your personal Spartan character in the cinematics. The Elite characters are slightly different. You don't unlock various armor pieces for them, rather you just unlock entire looks based on their rank (Minor, Ranger, General, etc). You will use these unlocked looks in any mode where you play as an Elite character.
Bungie.net
- File Share
Returning from Halo 3, the player's File Share will be used as their personal storage space for all of their own individual content they want to share. That can be any screen shots, film clips, map variants, game types, etc. You upload these from within the game, after which they can either be accessed in-game or online. - Profile
Your personal profile can be reviewed and updated from here as well. You will be able to go in and see your own personal stats from across all game modes, from every game you have ever played. This is much like it was in Halo 3, but with the level of stats going even deeper. - Game History
Like your personal stats, your game history will be a deep and expansive area for you to review. You can see all of your kills, deaths, wins, losses, etc. Bungie also keeps track of heat-maps for every game area, so you can review your matches, see where you played well or not, and attempt to learn and improve. - Custom Content
With the improved content tagging and filtering options in Reach, it will be easier than ever to find custom content. Players can upload a new Firefight variant, for example, and tag it with specific keywords. This makes for much easier searching and exploring of all the new content that players will be uploading every day.
Screenshots
- Campaign
- Firefight
- Multiplayer
