Editor’s note: This review was written by James Hallowell, a student at Full Sail University. James believes videogames are a major source of entertainment and knowledge. He would love to be a part of something others would enjoy and learn from. Before James decided to pursue his dream of becoming a game designer, he took classes in computer-aided drawing. He then went to Porter and Chester to further his knowledge and skills in drafting. Drafting requires attention to details and perfection. These skills also play a critical role in designing a game. For the majority of his professional life, James has worked in sales and customer service. He expects the best from himself and won’t accept anything less than perfection. James is excited to put his talents to use in the game industry.

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter made by Bungie for the Xbox 360. This game has built off the original Halo and other previous Halo games to become the most complete version yet. Halo: Reach contains many new features that make the game much more interesting and enhances both the offline and online play.

One of my favorite new features is the armory. This gives anyone who plays the game the ability to customize their Spartan’s look and gives the player a personal connection to their character. Another addition I believe will diversify gameplay online is Spartan power-ups. This gives players more options in strategies, but they also must be wary of their opponent’s power-ups. With abilities like the jet pack, people are able to get to new locations that are otherwise inaccessible. Another ability is armor lock, which allows you to be invulnerable for a set time. I personally think these power-ups give a new dimension of gameplay and promote teamwork. With abilities like these, teamwork is essential to take down someone who is in an in inaccessible area or behind a shield.

The campaign storyline is, in my opinion, the best one in the Halo series. In previous versions of Halo, you could find hidden skulls to alter your gameplay in campaign, but in Halo: Reach, there are data pads that give information toward where the Halo series might go next. The storyline alone rivals the rest of the Halo series, but with the added information you learn about past games and about future projects, it becomes my favorite.

When I first got Halo: Reach, I started the campaign right away. I ended up playing for 10 straight hours because I had to see the complete story right away.

The details and fluidity of the game amazed me. The storyline flowed perfectly and kept me enticed and entertained throughout. The cutscenes in this game were some of the best I have seen in any game. I would suggest that everyone watches the cutscenes because it gives valuable information of this storyline and also will give you information on the other Halo games already out.

The story starts as you are landing on planet Reach with your custom Spartan and new team of five other Spartan team members. As you progress through the story, you find that each character has an in-depth and detailed background story. Originally, you land because communications have been lost to the colony, and it is believed rebels have attacked the base. As you progress, you find the Covenant is searching for something on the planet. It is your job, and the job of your team, to find what they are searching for and keep it out of the alien’s hands.

The multiplayer has been the bread and butter of past Halo games and Halo: Reach’s online multiplayer is the best to date. One of the downsides of previous Halo games was the inability to decide on what game you want to play. Now players have the option to vote on the game type and map, which gives them an option they didn’t have before. This is one of my favorite additions to multiplayer play because now the majority of players won’t get stuck on a map, or type of game, they dislike.

Another smart addition I love is challenges for online gameplay. There are two different types: daily and weekly. These challenges keep online gameplay fresh and gives players something to aim for. When a challenge is completed, it gives credits for leveling up your rank or to buy armor. With this bonus, more people play the required play set to achieve the challenges, and this also helps with lowering the wait time so I can get into my matches faster.

Unfortunately, there are no perfect games, and I’m not going to tell you this is one. There aren’t any major problems in this game, but there are some minor flaws. Like most first-person shooters, or just shooters in general, there are some problems with spawn points. The online multiplayer is not totally affected by this issue, but when it comes to playing a game of swat or snipers, it gets frustrating getting spawn killed. Other than that, the only issues I have with online play is not being able to go more than one round in firefight and not being able to match up online with other people to play campaign. I have already spent countless hours playing multiplayer, and this plays like Halo 3 on steroids.

Other than some small flaws, in my opinion, this game is great. There are no major glitches, such as “super jumps” in Halo 3, or many gameplay issues. Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of Halo, first-person shooters or storylines. Halo: Reach is a game you can play multiple times without getting bored because of all the different ways you can play.