Halo: Reach - The Prequel

September 14th 2010 saw Bungie launch "Halo Reach" its final Halo game in the series and the most ambitious yet. Future Halo games will be overseen by the Microsoft subsidiary 343 Industries.

An all-new engine has been used in order to deliver the amazing detail to the characters and jaw dropping environments.

It is probably the most eagerly awaited release of 2010 and whilst all serious gamers would have had their editions pre-ordered it will be on the Christmas wish list of many a young teen who hope they can persuade their favourite relative that they are old enough to play the game, if they should happen to see the age rating!

The game is set on Reach in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a long standing war with the alien collective known as the Covenant. The events of Reach take place just before those of “Halo: Combat Evolved”.

By 2552 all most all of the interstellar colonies have been lost in the war and Reach is all that now stands between the Covenant and Earth. Reach is another interstellar colony home to over 700 million civilians but it is also the base of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) main military presence.

The game is a first person shooter and the player takes the role of Noble 6 the latest addition to Noble Team, a UNSC special operations unit composed of Spartans, elite super soldiers. The player is assigned to the team to take the place of Thom-293 who was killed destroying a CCS –class Battlecruiser.  Noble Team's leader (Noble 1) is Carter-A259, a no-nonsense soldier and his second-in-command, Kat-B320 (Noble 2),has a bionic arm.  Carter and Kat are the only surviving orginal members of Noble Team.  The other members are Jun-A266 (Noble 3) an assault specialist, Emile-A239 (Noble 4 ) sniper and marksman, and Jorge-052ma (Noble 5) a heavy weapons specialist.

There are two deliberate errors in the pictures used in this article. Can you pick them out?

The multiplayer component of Halo: Reach has handful of important and major differences to previous Halo games. .

• Power-up items have been replaced by Armor
• The player now has the ability to quickly switch on different enhancements such as jet packs, invisibility, super-speed and shields.
• When you play online, you'll earn points that can be spent upgrading your Spartan's look allowing you to adapt and change your character as you progress. Any changes you make will be visible both online and in the single-player mode.
• Firefight the multiplayer mode introducedn ODST where a player or a group of players fight against waves of computer-controlled enemies with increasingly difficulty has been enhanced and expanded for Halo: Reach offering customization that lets you decide who you will fight, what guns will be used, if you use God mode or unlimited ammo and so on. You can also play as a Covenant fighter killing Spartans.
• Forge World is the ultimate map building masterpiece in Bungie's Halo swansong. It is a huge playground for gamers where you can build anything and you make all and I mean all the rules.

There are 49 achievements for you to obtain that will give you a gamerscore of 1,000 if you complete them all. There are 23 Campaign Achievements, 6 Any, 4 Multiplayer, 7 Firefight and 9 Player Experience.

Campaign Achievements

25 -The Soldier We Needed You To Be

Completed the Campaign on Normal difficulty.

50 - Folks Need Heroes

Completed the Campaign on Heroic difficulty.

125 - Gods Must Be Strong

Completed the Campaign on Legendary difficulty.

150 - A Monument to All Your Sins

Completed every mission in Halo: Reach alone, on Legendary.

10 - We're Just Getting Started

Completed the 2nd mission on Normal or harder.

10 - Protocol Dictates Action

Completed the 3rd mission on Normal or harder.

10 - I Need a Weapon

- Completed the 4th mission on Normal or harder.

10 - To War

Completed the 5th mission on Normal or harder.

10 -You Flew Pretty Good

Completed the 6th mission on Normal or harder.

10 - Into the Howling Dark

Completed the 7th mission on Normal or harder.

10 - Dust and Echoes

Completed the 8th mission on Normal or harder.

10 - This is Not Your Grave…

Completed the 9th mission on Normal or harder.

10 - Send Me Out…with a Bang

Completed the 10th mission on Normal or harder.

25 - They've Always Been Faster

Cleared the 2nd mission without setting foot in a drivable vehicle.

25 - Two Corpses in One Grave

Killed 2 vehicles at once with the Target Locator in the 3rd mission.

25 - Banshees, Fast and Low

Hijacked a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.

25 - Your Heresy Will Stay Your Feet

Killed the Elite Zealot before he escaped during the 5th mission.

25 - If They Came to Hear Me Beg

Performed an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would’ve been fatal.

25 - Wake Up, Buttercup

Destroyed the Corvette’s engines & escort in under 3 minutes in the 6th mission on Heroic or harder.

25 - Tank Beats Everything

Finished the 9th mission on Legendary with the Scorpion intact.

25 - Lucky Me

Earned a Triple Kill while Jetpacking in Campaign, Firefight or Matchmaking.

5 - KEEP IT CLEAN

Killed 7 Moa during the 2nd mission of the Campaign.

10 -I Didn't Train to Be a Pilot

Killed 3 of the anti-aircraft batteries during the 8th mission.

Any Achievements

5 - Doctor, Doctor

Used a Health Pack to replenish life after taking body damage.

10 - That's a Knife

Performed an Assassination on an enemy.

10 - I See You Favor a .45

Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the M6G pistol.

10 - An Elegant Weapon…

Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the DMR.

10 - Swap Meet

Traded weapons with an AI ally in Campaign.

10 - A Spoonful of Blamite

Killed 10 enemies in Firefight or Campaign with a supercombine explosion.

Multiplayer Achievements

5 - Be My Wingman, Anytime

Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.

10 - Yes, Sensei

Earned a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.

10 - Skunked!

Won a game of Invasion in the 1st phase.

5 - What's a Killing Spree?

Earned a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking.

Firefight Achievements

10 - Crowd Control

Earned a Killionaire medal in Firefight.

5 - Knife to a Gunfight

As an Elite, killed 5 Spartan players in Matchmaking.

10 - Score Attack

Scored 15,000 points in Score Attack Firefight Matchmaking.

10 - Firestarter

Scored 50,000 points in a Firefight game.

25 - Blaze of Glory

Scored 200,000 points in a Firefight game.

75 - Heat in the Pipe

Scored 1,000,000 points in a Firefight game.

25 - Game, Set, Match

Completed a Firefight set on Legendary without dying.

Player Experience Achievements

10 - Make It Rain

Purchased an item from the Armory that required the rank of Lt. Colonel.

15 - The Start of Something

Reached the rank of Corporal in the UNSC.

25 - An Honor Serving

Reached the rank of Captain in the UNSC.

5 - A Storage Solution

Used the File Browser to upload a file to your File Share.

10 - A New Challenger

Completed all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.

10 - Make it Drizzle

Purchased an item from the Armory.

5 - Cool File, Bro

Recommended a file to someone.

10 - Lemme Upgrade Ya

Advanced a Commendation to a Silver state.

10 - One Down, 51 to Go

Completed a Weekly Challenge