Halo: Reach

"From the beginning. You know the end."

- Tagline seen in the Reach announcement trailer.

Halo: Reach is an upcoming first-person shooter video game set in the Halo universe and direct prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, developed by Bungie, LLC. It was announced by Joe Staten during Microsoft's Media Briefing at E3 2009 in Los Angeles, California; Reach is set for release on September 14, 2010 in North America and Europe, with the Japanese release a day later.

Development
"Where there will be a full three-year cycle, it's got all-new tech, akin to the change from Halo 2 to Halo 3, not like ODST, which is just built on top of the foundation."

- Bungie Community Manager, Brian Jarrard.

Reach has been in development since the completion of Halo 3, in the tradition of a full three year cycle, and will use a completely new game engine created specifically for the game. It was confirmed in October 2009 that Martin O'Donnell, Bungie's lead composer, had begun casting voice actors for Reach. Reach 's environment architecture, cinematic script, and most in-game encounters have been either completely finished or polished; in addition, many properties of Reach have been placed in the game and are currently playable. The Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta, used to gather information and tweak gameplay features in the game, ran from May 3 through May 20, 2010. As of June 2010, the soundtrack of Halo: Reach is nearly finished, and the Zero-bug release milestone in the game's development was on June 24, 2010.

Setting
Halo: Reach takes place in late 2552, during the Covenant invasion of the Human colony world Reach, which also serves as the main military center of the UNSC. The game follows Noble Team, a six-man special operations unit of SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III commandos. The player assumes the role of the team's newest member, SPARTAN-B312 or "Noble Six" and will be defending Reach from its ultimate downfall at the hands of the Covenant. Over the course of the campaign, the players will visit various locales on and above planet Reach, including civilian pioneer installations in the countryside and high-tech UNSC bases, as well as a segment of space combat in a Sabre fighter.

Gameplay
Halo: Reach will feature many new additions to the Halo sandbox, while still retaining the core gameplay. The health system will be similar to that of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3: ODST, and the player's energy shields will recharge slower than in Halo 3. The HUD will highlight environmental features and overlay information about them, and the Motion Sensor display will be three-dimensional. Halo: Reach also introduces a refined Equipment system known as "Armor Abilities". Pieces of equipment will now be selected on re-spawn and they will be reusable, with a cool-down time between uses. A new assassination system will also be featured, in which holding down the melee button will trigger a context-sensitive, third-person assassination animation, but does not replace the old-instant-kill assassination.

The weapon selection has been streamlined from that of Halo 3, so that every weapon has a specific role. The number of different grenade types has also been reduced from that of Halo 3, and Incendiary Grenades and Spike Grenades will not be returning. Human weapons all hit more or less instantly after pulling the trigger, giving them a more powerful feel. There will no longer be dual-wielding available in Halo: Reach, following the same path as Halo 3: ODST.

Players will be able to personalize their character's armor, and the appearance will be consistent across campaign and multiplayer. Reach also includes the ability to select your character's gender, with male and female each having a separate character model. Like in Halo 3, the armor permutations will only be aesthetic and not affect gameplay. While the rest of Noble Team will accompany the player for most of the game, Halo: Reach will not feature any kind of tactical squad mechanic. Much like Thel 'Vadam in Halo 3, the rest of the squad will fight alongside the player, but will not require any assistance. The levels will be more open and teleportation in co-op will be far less strict.

As seen in the E3 2010 trailer for a small section of the Halo: Reach campaign level Long Night of Solace, dogfights in space are an added element to the game. The space battle in Reach will be the first and only space level played in the saga.

Engine
Bungie is using a completely redone version of the Halo engine for Halo: Reach, with no component left untouched.

The environments, while larger than in the previous games, will be far more detailed. The graphical effects have been drastically improved, allowing for a new atmospheric effects system and more dynamic lighting for dramatic shadows and moving light sources in interiors. Rain and fogging effects will also be improved. Halo: Reach also features a new animation system, which smoothly blends movement between standing, walking and running as well as jumps, grenade throws and firing. The facial animation system has been completely revamped, including motion capture. Weapon effects will be amplified to be more powerful and visceral than before, giving the effects a more serious tone. Human weapons will sound more powerful and emit smoke and showers of sparks. Plasma bolts will now burn through material as they hit, and explosions will throw clouds of dirt and debris around.

Halo: Reachs engine will be able to support up to 40 active AI characters and 20 vehicles on screen at once, twice as many as compared to Halo 3s. In addition, faraway battles between AI characters will follow automated behavior models, which convert into scripted behaviors as the player gets closer, and finally in full AI.

Design
Bungie has taken a new design direction with Halo: Reach, aiming for a more somber and gritty atmosphere. In many ways, the character designs, especially those of Sangheili and Human personnel, harken back to Halo: Combat Evolved. Models for enemies and allies boast remarkable levels of new detail in form of higher-resolution textures and more polygons. Enemies and allies will have more individual features to denote ranks and provide more visual variety. The Covenant will speak in their own languages, and feel more alien and threatening in general.

As of now, it has been stated that the Halo Theme will not be available in the game, but there may be some foreshadowing of Halo themes.

Multiplayer
The Multiplayer mode in Halo: Reach will feature many familiar game types from the previous games, as well as completely new ones such as Invasion and Headhunter. The co-operative Firefight mode will also be returning from Halo 3: ODST, with much more customization options than before. Many brand new multiplayer features such as "The Arena" matchmaking system are also introduced.

Maps
The exact number of the multiplayer maps in Halo: Reach is still unknown, but the following maps have been confirmed:
 * Beachhead

Characters

 * Carter-A259
 * Catherine-B320
 * Edward Buck
 * Emile-A239
 * Jorge-052
 * Jun-A266
 * SPARTAN-B312
 * Urban Holland

Events

 * Operation: TORPEDO
 * Operation: GUARDIAN LANCE
 * Fall of Reach
 * Operation: UPPERCUT

Locations

 * Epsilon Eridani System
 * Fermion Remote Scanning Outpost
 * Reach
 * Moons
 * Csodaszarvas
 * Turul
 * Unnamed Sabre launch facility
 * Manassas
 * New Alexandria
 * Sword Base
 * Lambda Serpentis System
 * Jericho VII

Organizations

 * Covenant Empire
 * Covenant Army
 * Covenant Navy
 * Fleet of Particular Justice
 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Army
 * Army Military Police
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * VMX-22
 * UNSC Navy
 * Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet
 * Logistical Operations Command
 * Naval Special Warfare Command
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * SPARTAN-III Program
 * Noble Team
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Beta-5 Division
 * Sabre program
 * UNSC component commands
 * Naval Command
 * Unified Ground Command

Species

 * Human
 * Huragok
 * Jiralhanae
 * Kig-yar
 * Skirmisher
 * Mgalekgolo
 * Sangheili
 * Unggoy
 * Yanme'e

Vehicles

 * Anchor 9
 * Assault Carrier
 * C709 Longsword-class Interceptor
 * CCS-class Battlecruiser
 * Civilian vehicles
 * Covenant Corvette
 * Dropship 77-Troop Carrier
 * Halcyon-class Cruiser
 * Marathon-class Cruiser
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
 * M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle
 * M808B Main Battle Tank
 * M831 Troop Transport
 * Orbital Insertion Pod
 * Sabre
 * Seraph-class Starfighter
 * Type-25 Assault Gun Carriage
 * Type-25 Troop Carrier
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier
 * UH-144 Falcon
 * UNSC Frigate

Weapons

 * AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun
 * Combat Knife
 * Concussion Rifle
 * M6G Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade
 * M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * M41 SSR MAV/AW
 * M45 TS
 * M319 Individual Grenade Launcher
 * M392 Designated Marksman Rifle
 * MA37 Individual Combat Weapon System
 * SRS99 Special Applications
 * Target Locator
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer
 * Type-25 Carbine
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
 * Type-31 Rifle
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
 * Type-42 Directed Energy Support Weapon
 * Type-51 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved
 * Type-52 Special Applications Rifle
 * Type-52 Guided Munitions Launcher/Explosive
 * Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galileian Nonlinear Rifle

Equipment

 * Active Camouflage
 * Antigravity Pack
 * Drop Shield
 * Evade
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V
 * Mark V(B) MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/CQC variant
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/EOD variant
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/FJ/PARA variant
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/MP variant
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/R variant
 * Orbital Insertion Pod
 * Sangheili Combat Harness
 * Special Operations Harness
 * Sprinting
 * Unidentified Human Jetpack
 * Unnamed Shielding Attachment

E3 2009 Announcement
Shortly after the Halo 3: ODST E3 2009 Trailer premiered, it was soon followed up by the first official announcement trailer for Halo: Reach.

2009 VGA Trailer
At the 2009 Spike TV Video Games Awards, the first official in-game trailer was shown. This 2:36 video was an opening cinematic that showed a glimpse of the new characters and graphics.

Once More Unto the Breach
The Once More Unto the Breach ViDoc focused on the graphical and gameplay changes to the game between Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. This 7:45 video showed the development of the series over the years.

Carnàge Carnivàle
The Carnàge Carnivàle ViDoc focused on the new multiplayer in Halo: Reach. This 8:20 video shows the many gameplay enhancements that have been added.

E3 2010 Demo
On June 14, 2010, at E3 2010, Bungie released a demo displaying a section of campaign in Reach. It introduced various new vehicles, and the new feature of space combat. A shorter gameplay trailer of the same level was also released.

Firefight 2.0
On June 16, 2010, Bungie released a collage of clips from Halo: Reach's Firefight feature.

Birth of a Spartan
On April 26, 2010, a website was created by Microsoft as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote Halo: Reach. At first, the site merely consisted of a teaser image which showed the UNSC emblem washed out by static, with the words "Augmentation Begins April 28, 2010". On April 28, both the standard and extended versions of the Birth of a Spartan live-action trailer were released.

Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta
The Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta was a phase in the development of Halo: Reach, produced by Bungie Studios and organized by Microsoft. The beta was made available to those who bought Halo 3: ODST and it was released from May 3 through May 20, 2010.

Merchandise and Promotions
Halo: Reach is set to be released in three different versions. The Standard Edition comes with the game disc and manual. The Limited Edition is cased in an ONI "black box" and includes an exclusive Sangheili armor set for use in multiplayer modes and an artifact bag containing Dr. Halsey's personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long-held secrets of the Halo universe. The Legendary Edition contains everything from the Limited Edition along with extra SPARTAN armor effect for use in the game, along with an exclusive hand-painted and -numbered Noble Team statue by McFarlane Toys in UNSC-themed custom packaging. Those in North America that purchase Halo: Reach on launch day will receive a new variation of the coveted MJOLNIR Recon Armor. Those who live outside of North America must pre-order the game in order to get the armor variant.

A new comic book series, titled Halo: The Fall of Reach - Boot Camp, will be released alongside Halo: Reach. Boot Camp is a graphic novel adoption of the original Halo: The Fall of Reach.

The launch also brought the proposal for merchandise, such as action figures. McFarlane Toys had announced that they were planning to release a series of Reach 5-inch scaled figures in December 2010.

Trivia

 * It was previously known as "Halo 4" by Microsoft Game Studios and 343 Industries marketing teams during the ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A viral campaign.
 * Early on in the game's development, before coming up with the idea of a prequel for the Halo trilogy, Bungie considered making a follow-up to Halo 3, with John-117 as the protagonist.
 * In a couple of interviews with Worthplaying and G4, Brian Jarrard and Joseph Staten respectively hinted that Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, one of the main characters in ODST, may return in Reach. In another recent E3 interview with G4, Brian Jarrard confirmed that one of main characters from Halo 3: ODST will be making a cameo appearance in Halo: Reach, further hinting at Buck's possible appearance in the game.
 * On the project page for Reach, located in the "Multimedia" section, the soundtrack to a couple of Reach trailers called "Lone Wolf" and "Uphill, Both Ways" by Martin O'Donnell, are available for free for download from Bungie.net.

External

 * Bungie.net: Official Halo: Reach project page
 * Welcome To NobleTeam: Viral Campaign