Halo Reach: What We Know So Far

And by crazy, we're talking large scale battle scenarios (via a recent interview that Edge conducted with mission lead Niles Sankey and campaign lead Chris Opahl). In that interview, Sankey notes, "We made a push into making the battles bigger than you've ever seen in Halo before. [...] In other games you'll see these great battle cut-scenes which you can't interact with. Here, we're really trying to stay true to Halo to have these epic battlescapes that the player does affect."

Interestingly, despite the somewhat dark premise creative director Marcus Lehto (in a different interview with Edge) notes, "The actions of you and Noble Team, the sacrifices and pain that you go through, ultimately enable the events that transpire through Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 2 and 3. Without your efforts that would never happen."

Meet Noble Team

A while ago, Bungie hired Christian Allen away from Ubisoft; this was a significant move because his main focus at Ubisoft was being the Creative Director for the Ghost Recon franchise. Even though Allen is no longer at Bungie, it's pretty easy to see why he was part of the Halo: Reach team: like Ghost Recon, Halo: Reach is less about a solitary fellow taking on baddies, and more about a squad of badasses taking on numerous baddies (though, don't mistake this for a tactical squad-control shooter; you still play as one character with the A.I. controlling your squadmates).

One thing to note about Noble Team is that it's mostly composed of Spartan-IIIs (for reference, Master Chief was a much more powerful Spartan-II); this means they're heftier and better trained than the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in Halo 3: ODST, but they individually don't quite have the sheer "one versus many" firepower of Master Chief. Here's a quick rundown of the six-Spartan Noble Team, courtesy of Bungie itself (along with gameplay and story speculations from us).

Commander Carter-259 (Noble 1): Team leader, and stand-up guy. He's one of the only two original members of Noble Team (since Spartan teams tend to be sent on suicide missions with high fatalities). Another interesting aspect of his profile is that he's charismatic and "capable of interacting with non-Spartans effectively," which is something we'll touch on in a bit. It also looks like he uses the new Designated Marksman Rifle: a middle-firearm between the sniper rifle and the battle rifle (per Game Informer).

Lieutenant Commander Kat-320 (Noble 2): Second-in-command of Noble Team, and a clear example of how the Spartan program has no gender bias. Her Bungie profile points out that she's a "brilliant cryptanalyst," which to us translates into possible moments where you'll be covering her as she grabs valuable intel. The Game Informer write-up also points out that she has a cybernetic right arm -- an example of her dedication where she literally lost a limb for the team. She wields a traditional Assault Rifle.

Warrant Officer Jun-266 (Noble 3): He's the badass sniper of the team. Though, don't take that to mean he's the archetypal silent sniper; his profile specifically notes that "he's chatty," which often "puts him at odds with noise discipline protocols." The profile also notes that he's been treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the past, which might flare up during the campaign. As you'd imagine, he's the Spartan with the spiffy sniper rifle.

Warrant Officer Emile-239 (Noble 4): Dude's got a big knife on his shoulder and a skull painted on his helmet. All that, plus the appearance of modified shotgun, tells us that he's likely a fan of close-quarters-combat. He's also the closest this squad has to a "crazy guy," as his profile notes "difficulty interacting with non-Spartans," along with numerous instances of excessive behavior against insurrectionists. He's also the kind of guy who collects Covenant gear as trophies.

Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052 (Noble 5): Two notable things to spot right away: he's a burly Spartan-II (a la Master Chief, and the only one in Noble Team), and he's packing a freakin' minigun. He's described as a consummate combat veteran, and also "vocal in his support of provincial self-rule; just as vocal in his condemnation of the separatist and insurrectionist movements." To us, that means there will probably be a lot of exposition and lore information delivered through this opinionated, burly fellow.

Lieutenant XXX-312 (Noble 6): The very mysterious "new guy," which happens to be you. His write-up repeatedly cites both his "lone-wolf" nature (even the debut teaser trailer comments that he has to adjust to team tactics for the squad), and his highly classified (yet deadly) background. He might not be Master Chief, but Bungie has already built him up with phrases like: "More akin to a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier," and "A lone-wolf assassin that has broken organizations and made entire militia groups disappear." In short, you're expected to make Noble 6 as badass as his reputation says he is.

Meet the old and scary Covenant

Since this precedes the original Halo, the Covenant will be a different mix of foes than in Halo 3 and ODST. The revealed races so far include the Sangheili (Elites), the Unggoy (Grunts), and the "Skimisher" Kig-Yar. That last one is a new foe within the same species as the "Jackals"; while the Jackals were those nimble dudes with the annoying sniper rifles, Skirmishers are the in-your-face grenadiers/close combatants. Their crazy visual design is indicative of the direction Bungie is going for in the enemy design, where the Covenant is still a mysterious and scary alien force that on the brink of glassing all of Reach.

Artist Scott Shepard even notes that the Elite has been made "significantly larger, with a greater sense of weight." Not only are the Covenant troops being redesigned, but so are their guns; there's now a Needle Rifle that, per Game Informer, "Combines the mechanics of the needler with greater flexibility and accuracy."

Other Random Tidbits

Civilians matter: When directly asked, "How extensively will insurrectionists/civilians/other non-military humans feature in the game, dead or alive?" writer Robert McLees quips (during the most recent Bungie Weekly Update), "More extensively than ever before." Lee additionally tells people to check out some of the images from Reach's concept art gallery for hints about civilian involvement.

The Warthog of the Sky: Not only is the Falcon a slick and streamlined helicopter/troop transport, but you can pilot it in campaign and in multiplayer, as mentioned in the same Weekly Update as the Civilian involvement tidbit.

Assassination tango: One new tweak that Game Informer notes is that, if you hold the melee attack button down while near a foe that's unaware of you, you perform a stealth kill rather than a typical "smack him in the face with the butt of your firearm." While Halo: Reach will not suddenly become a stealth game, the option to use it is nice.

Armor pieces are the new equipment items: In the same Game Informer story, Halo: Reach ditches items and uses modified armor pieces instead. Each armor piece grants the use of one specific ability (known to-date are Active Camouflage and Sprint), and while you can only equip one piece, you can swap them around on the field.

There're only two grenade types now: As Game Informer reported: "Spike grenades and flame grenades are out." Sandbox design lead Sage Merrill notes that Bungie is streamlining the inventory management (to prevent players from either constantly switching grenades or outright throwing the wrong kinds) back down to just frag and plasma grenades.

Multiplayer: The video below caused a bit of an Internet tizzy with crazy words like "leaked multiplayer beta" and "murder mode." Too bad it's a fake! We're still awaiting some real info, and can only make basic speculations such as "basically like Halo 3 multiplayer, with co-op, save films, and same standard modes as before." Some details have been noted, like how most human weapons are hit scan (no need to lead, the bullets go where the reticule is instantly) or that there's a "super secret game mode." Point is, keep holding onto your copy of ODST for when the Reach multiplayer beta actually begins, and don't take "leaked videos" like below at face value.