Woove staff writer Emma Briscoe reviews the newest release of online game Halo.

The midnight release of Halo: Reach on September 14, 2010 marked another important stride forward in the online gaming industry. Making over two hundred million dollars net profit within twenty-four hours following the release, Bungie has produced its last epic Halo title. Of course there will always be more, but Microsoft is officially passing the torch to another (currently unspecified) studio.  But why all the fuss over the fifth Halo title released since 2001? Though many denounce the Halo series for its redundancy, Halo: Reach breaks the mold in a variety of ass-kicking ways and is assuredly worth the sixty-dollar cost.

You play as Noble 6, a replacement soldier for Noble Team, stationed on the planet Reach. A Spartan warrior, you have been charged with a slew of near-impossible tasks. Noble Team is dynamic and the characters are memorable. Besides, how could you not be intrigued by a bionic-armed Russian woman? The plot has a very desperate tone, as Noble Team constantly faces disaster in hand with death.

The major difference I’ve observed between the previous Halo campaigns and Reach campaign is the overall magnitude of enemy encounters. Rather than sprinkling the countryside with random grunts and jackals, the Covenant has decided to use the BFGs. No more random skirmishes you can run headfirst into, guns blazing. Instead, Noble Team will be inundated en masse by what seems like hundreds of Covenant. And just when you think you’re done, the distant whirr of a Covenant drop ship looms just over the horizon; the piercing battle cries of the grunts and the fierce growls of the Elites echo off the mountainous Reach countryside for yet another round of balls out combat. Bungie even saw it fit to include a section involving flight simulation. Granted, the shift from first person shooter to opening a can of interstellar whoop-ass is a bit tricky, and the mechanics are a little awkward.

Bungie invested some serious thought in its development of the online multiplayer option. There are more supplementary combat options, all of them rechargeable-that means a variety of new ways to kill the guy that spends the twelve-minute match describing his inappropriate relationship with your mother. Spartans can sprint, they make a hologram of themselves to attract enemy fire, boost away with a jet pack, secure immediate safety with armor lock, or use active camouflage to become transparent.

Halo: Reach has much more to offer than combat upgrades and a tearjerker storyline. Fans will notice the new progressive credit-based leveling system, new maps (and reworked classics), daily challenges, superior graphics, a dynamic cast, and many more advantages exclusive to Halo: Reach.  The future of the Halo series is questionable, but there is no doubt that Halo: Reach excellently portrays Noble Team’s sacrifice, but one of the most solid multiplayer games in the history of online gaming.