Halo Reach First Impressions

Spartans stand tall--on the ground and in space--in this game play look at Halo Reach direct from Microsoft's 2010 E3 press conference.

Halo Reach is without a doubt one of the most anticipated titles for the Xbox 360 in 2010, and Microsoft didn't wait long into their E3 press conference this year to unveil some more details about the game. Bungie creative director Marcus Lehto took to the stage to tout the success of the recent multiplayer beta (more than 2.7 million players), but more importantly showed off a section of the single-player campaign which featured some of the action gamers can expect when the game ships in September this year.

As a recap, Halo Reach focuses on events that occurred before the first Halo game, specifically on the planet called Reach that has become the last line of defense for humanity from invading Covenant forces. Reach is also where the Spartan program was developed (the same program which made Halo series protagonist Master Chief). The 2010 E3 demo began with some views of outer space, with a slow, lingering shot of the planet Reach. The demo then zoomed above a mountainside, where a Hornet-like drop ship was in flight before dropping off four Spartan warriors (including what looked like some of the characters glimpsed in the Reach trailer released late last year).

The game's HUD looked quite stripped back, with a map on the lower left, shields along the top and weapon and ammo indicator in the top right. The Spartan being played during the demo was sporting a battle rifle, and soon had to make use of it as hovering Covenant ships began to eject drop pods with Elite Covenant soldiers. The action here was pretty frenetic , and there seemed to be some extra armor abilities in play (the demo tester seemed to sprint at one stage). The Covenant were attacking a human base near the top of the mountain, and the group of four Spartan soldiers had to battle their way up to the installation. At the top, a sizeable group of Covenant had taken hold, with quite a few Jackal enemies sporting shields were camped. The Spartan in the demo then pulled out the grenade launcher-type weapon which was seen in the multiplayer beta—this weapon could either explode its projectiles on contact, or could be held off until it bounced into a more advantageous position, as the demo showed when the Spartan launched a projectile but waited to detonate until it bounced under the shields of some Jackals.

Once the Spartans were inside the base, we were treated to a close-quarters execution kill, with the main Spartan soldier sneaking up behind an Elite, stabbing it in the back before finishing it with a brutal strike to the neck (all with the camera zoomed out to third-person perspective to view the action). Over the in-game comms, the Spartan soldier was ordered to "get to the Sabre before the Covenant wrecks it". The Sabre turned out to be a multi-stage rocket, which the Spartans quickly boarded.

The Sabre then launched straight up, eventually breaking the atmosphere of Reach and flying into space. At this stage, the Sabre's booster rockets ejected, leaving a much more manoeuvrable ship which then flew directly into a Covenant fleet, lasers firing at every enemy it saw. That's right—space combat looks to be one of the big new additions in this latest Halo offering.