Halo Reach Thread

[Boz]

For those who don't really get what Halo Reach is about - this is what book/story is about:

Halo: The Fall of Reach is a 2001 science fiction novel by Eric Nylund based on the Halo series of video games and acts as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. It is set in the fictional Halo universe, taking place in the 26th century across several planets and locations. The novel details the events which led up to the game and explains the origins of the SPARTAN II super soldiers, narrating the story of the series protagonist, the Master Chief.

The Fall of Reach takes place in the Halo universe and spans several decades, beginning in 2517 describing events up to 2552. In the Halo universe, traveling faster than the speed of light is possible through slipspace, another dimension where special relativity does not apply. This has allowed humans to colonize hundreds of other planets which are controlled by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). Feeling repressed by the UNSC's heavy-handed rule, some colonies revolt; fearing rebellion will tear the UNSC apart, military leaders approve the SPARTAN Project, a secret squad of super soldiers to quietly suppress rebellion.

The protagonist of The Fall of Reach is Master Chief, detailing his conscription and training while other characters who will later play a large role are introduced. Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creator of the SPARTAN Project is introduced alongside Jacob Keyes when he is a Lieutenant although by the end of the book he has been promoted to Captain. Franklin Mendez is the trainer of the Spartans teaching them their physical combat skills while an AI named D?j? teaches them military history and strategy. Cortana, Master Chief's AI companion through much of the series, is also present as Dr. Hasley's aide in the lead up to the Spartans' mission.

THE PLOT:

The story opens with the civilian Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lieutenant Jacob Keyes traveling to meet John, a six-year-old boy. Dr. Halsey reveals to Keyes that John is one of 150 children who possess rare genetic markers making them suitable for conscription into the SPARTAN-II program, a secret experiment with the aim of creating super soldiers for the UNSC to quell rebellions.

Seventy-five of the children are kidnapped by operatives of the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced by clones engineered to die of natural causes shortly after. From this point on, the recruits are known only by their first name and a three digit number. John-117 and the rest of the children are drilled and trained by Franklin Mendez and John demonstrates leadership of his fellow Spartans leading to his promotion to squad leader. In 2525, the Spartans undergo a series of surgical enhancements which turn them into highly efficient super soldiers at the cost of crippling or killing more than half of the original seventy-five.

The Spartans are also equipped with powerful MJOLNIR battle armor, designed to respond as quickly as the soldier's thoughts. John-117 is given the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer.

The Spartans are highly successful, but they experience a priority shift after a collective of alien races known as the Covenant begin obliterating human colonies, declaring humanity's destruction as the will of the gods. Mendez leaves the group to train the next generation of Spartans as John and his comrades first face the Covenant.

By 2552, the war against the Covenant is going poorly. The technological superiority of the Covenant means that space battles heavily favor the Covenant, and the UNSC can only win engagements by suffering tremendous losses. To prevent the discovery of Earth or other human colonies, Vice Admiral Cole creates the "Cole Protocol", which forbids direct slipspace jumps to Earth or any other population center and mandates the destruction of a ship before it can be captured by the Covenant. Jacob Keyes, now commander of the destroyer Iroquois, discovers four Covenant ships arriving at the Sigma Octanus System, and single-handedly destroys three of them; his heroics earn Keyes the rank of Captain. The Covenant proceed to overrun Sigma Octanus IV, searching for a mysterious ancient artifact. Despite a costly fight, the humans manage to repel the Covenant, and Keyes intercepts a coded Covenant transmission from the surface before the Covenant retreat.

The Iroquois heads to Reach, unwittingly bringing a Covenant tracking device with it.

Soon after, Keyes is given the command of the UNSC cruiser Pillar of Autumn for a secret mission; the Spartans are to capture one of the Covenant's religious leaders, a Prophet, and barter a truce. Dr. Halsey also introduces John to the artificial intelligence Cortana, who would assist the Spartans by residing in their MJOLNIR armor.

Before the mission can begin, however, Reach is attacked by a massive Covenant fleet. John and Cortana reach the Pillar of Autumn, but most of the other Spartans are presumed killed as the Covenant vitrify the surface of Reach, turning the landmasses into glass. Cortana initiates a slipspace course based on the ancient glyphs intercepted by the Covenant at Sigma Octanus, the course takes them to a massive ringworld known as Halo, setting the stage for the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.

E3 2009 Teaser:

Official world premier of Halo Reach engine (VGA 2009):

Marty and Curtis talk about the Reach debut and the upcoming beta. (VGA Interview):

HD screenshot:

There are some leaked screenshots out there of the actual gameplay but they are very poor quality so i didn't include those. If you find any footage of real Halo:Reach stuff post here and I think any discussions about the game should be in this thread so we don't open multiple threads.

UPDATE 01:

Planet: Reach (excerpt from CAA FACTBOOK [l.update 12.7.2535])

• Length of day: 27 hours
  
• Length of year: 390 days (local)
  
• Gravity: ~1.08 g
  
• Natural satellites: [2] Csodaszarvas, Turul
  

Reach is the 4th largest planet in the Epsilon Eridani [K2 Orange-red dwarf] system, second closest to ε Eridani. Stable for planet of its age [<1B years]. First planetary confirmations were in early 21st century.

Reach is the location of the UNSC's largest and most active shipyard. It is also where the UNSC's most elite troops, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, are trained. Reach is also the largest non-automated exporter of titanium. ε Eridani's superior interstellar jump point has been the most active S-F space transfer zone (arrivals and departures) for over thirty years, with ε Eridani's inferior IJP and Sol's superior IJP regularly trading second and third place spots.

• Population: 703,341,500
  
• Largest Cities: Manassas, Quezon, Ezhtergom
  

The Spartan Project: (excerpt from CAA FACTBOOK [l.update. 5.21.2547])

The members of the Spartan Program are elite military operators recruited from all corners of UNSC governed space. Each of them is a highly decorated veteran with literal decades of combat experience and an unwavering commitment to the defense of mankind. In order to aid them in their goal, they are armed with the absolute bleeding edge in military technology--the Mjolnir powered assault armor.

More to the point, the Spartan super-soldiers are the only men and women alive with the extensive training and physical wherewithal necessary to harness the full potential of this highly specialized equipment.

REACH Defenses:

Military Power: Reach (excerpt from CAA FACTBOOK [l.update 1.5.2550])

• Total Available Military Manpower: 385,421,100
  
• Total Land Assets: 58,430
  
• Total Naval Assets: 1,209 (T); 75 (X)
  
• Total Air Assets: 11,050
  
• Serviceable Airports: 1,246
  
• Defense Budget: cR. 38,287,000,000 [2548]
  

While Earth is rightly seen as the UNSC's commercial, political, and cultural center; Reach is undeniably the hub of its military power.

The ε Eridani fleet is a full strength Carrier Group with the supercarrier UNSC Trafalgar at its core. The planet itself has a semi-mobile array of 20 Orbital Defense Platforms, and they are in turn defended by multiple wings of single ships and tactical multi-role craft.

Edited December 18, 2009 by Boz

[Ligan]

I wonder if Reach will focus on the book or on a different story.

[The Teej]

So wait, is Reach about what happened on Planet Reach, or is it exactly like the book?

[PL_ Veteran]

The book's canon, right? They can't ignore the events.

[XmoshiX]

Nice to see Spartans without their helmets on.. this will be interesting. :)

[Boz]

I wonder if Reach will focus on the book or on a different story.

Obviously it will.. maybe not 100% of everything but the fact they advertise it as "Falls 2010" it will be about what happens to Reach planet as described in the book and events that happened there. In Halo 3 ODST they yell in one of the missions "It's Reach all over again". So Reach is definitely going to fall in the game which will show the death of all Spartans but Master Chief who was dispatched to the secret mission leading to Halo 1. My thoughts at least.

[Ligan]

Obviously it will.. maybe not 100% of everything but the fact they advertise it as "Falls 2010" it will be about what happens to Reach planet as described in the book and events that happened there. In Halo 3 ODST they yell in one of the missions "It's Reach all over again". So Reach is definitely going to fall in the game which will show the death of all Spartans but Master Chief who was dispatched to the secret mission leading to Halo 1. My thoughts at least.

Well yeah that's what I meant, that Reach would fall in both the book and the game, but the question is how they're going to pull off the story.

I'm really looking forward to Reach's campaign because of this.

[Boz]

The more interesting question is whether or not we will see the face of Master Chief :)

[Ligan]

The more interesting question is whether or not we will see the face of Master Chief :)

Heh, yeah. I almost spilled my drink when I saw him taking off his helmet at the end of Halo.

Then I died a little inside.

[Boz]

Well yeah that's what I meant, that Reach would fall in both the book and the game, but the question is how they're going to pull off the story.

I'm really looking forward to Reach's campaign because of this.

Me too.. I definitely expect this one to be very emotional because of what happens and I have no doubt they will intro us into Halo 1 at the end :)

With a bit dissapointing Halo 2 and Halo 3 in campaigns, I expect Bungie to really kick it up a notch this time around. ODST was a fresh approach to story telling in Halo universe from different perspectives. It wouldn't be a bad idea to follow through in similar fashion with Halo Reach. They really need to create that emotional connection we had with Halo 1.

I was dissapointed with halo 3 because it didn't have that visceral feeling of desperation and fight to protect Earth which was supposed to be the highlight of Halo story. But let's hope they rectify this in Halo Reach.

[Green_Eye]

The nature of the trailer and the image above suggests that this game is going to be some form of squad based game so my question is will we play as MasterChief alone or MasterChief and the squad?

Edited December 16, 2009 by Green_Eye

[Boz]

Interview about Halo Reach before VGAs.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/22881388001?isVid=1&publisherID=22717159001&videoId=57232868001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fgamevideos.1up.com%2Fvideo%2Fid%2F27382&playerID=22881388001&domain=embed&.swf

[Sethos]

A Halo game with a more dark, gritty and crisp graphical engine would certainly be a welcome change - That cartoon rubbish destroyed the series for me, the gameplay underneath was alright but the engines have always been a joke.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

WTF an official topic almost a year early?

Too early Boz, save it till about a month before launch :p

[Sethos]

WTF an official topic almost a year early?

Too early Boz, save it till about a month before launch :p

Why? At least we have a place to discuss any news or media released - Who cares when the release is.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Why? At least we have a place to discuss any news or media released - Who cares when the release is.

The GH tore me a new one for creating topics so early as when it came to release it was about 120 pages long and people complained information was scattered all throughout it and too hard to find. When new information is posted for a game this far off it's better in it's own topic so people don't wade through 30 pages of "can't wait +1".

Don't shoot me down, even Munky will back me up here, people done the same to him for creating topics so early so at the time the GH collectively decided to stop making official topics till nearer release, when everything is pretty much known and the main reason for the topic is to discuss our playing of the game.

[Sethos]

So a few members said they didn't appreciate early official threads and then I can't feel otherwise? I still distinctly remembering Larry in his time on staff suggested we made threads close to the release of games and so it became an unwritten rule. We've done it for some time now and I find it annoying, to be honest.

I hate when I see a piece of news, perhaps something tiny, a tweet by a game developer or a comment in a forum that doesn't really warrant a thread but you'd like to do some speculations or share you thoughts on it ... You are just left with nowhere to do it. Starting new threads each time a news piece is released is just as cluttered as having them all in one thread - So what if it reaches 8 million pages? It's an active discussion topic where the last few pages matter, it's not a wiki about the game.

That's just my opinion.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

So a few members said they didn't appreciate early official threads and then I can't feel otherwise? I still distinctly remembering Larry in his time on staff suggested we made threads close to the release of games and so it became an unwritten rule. We've done it for some time now and I find it annoying, to be honest.

I hate when I see a piece of news, perhaps something tiny, a tweet by a game developer or a comment in a forum that doesn't really warrant a thread but you'd like to do some speculations or share you thoughts on it ... You are just left with nowhere to do it. Starting new threads each time a news piece is released is just as cluttered as having them all in one thread - So what if it reaches 8 million pages? It's an active discussion topic where the last few pages matter, it's not a wiki about the game.

That's just my opinion.

Fair enough but that opinion was drowned out by the majority at the time who didn't like having to sift through tens or hundreds of pages to find information. We are talking about a game here that's almost a year away, not even a few months. There's going to be so many blowouts of information, how useful are they when put on page 78 of this topic, which then explodes to 98 pages of talk, then a random person has to find out what page the info is on everyone is talking about....

We hardly know anything about Halo Reach, there's going to be a lot of heavy detailed topics/articles coming up for it, those deserve their own topics. It's far too early for an official topic IMO, and I'm sure you'll see most people agree.

[Sethos]

If you are looking for some information, some specific information, why the hell wouldn't you just google it or better yet - Take 1 minute of your time and ask in the thread. It's a thread on a forum where we can discuss the game and whatever news comes along, it's not the official wikipedia for the game that requires easy access to every piece of information on the game.

Official threads have worked fine before, all of a sudden a wave of whining passed by and now we have an even worse form of information sharing about games - I'd say we've taken a step backwards.

By the way, look through the thread and see who started the "Oh too early" wave ...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

If you are looking for some information, some specific information, why the hell wouldn't you just google it or better yet - Take 1 minute of your time and ask in the thread. It's a thread on a forum where we can discuss the game and whatever news comes along, it's not the official wikipedia for the game that requires easy access to every piece of information on the game.

Official threads have worked fine before, all of a sudden a wave of whining passed by and now we have an even worse form of information sharing about games - I'd say we've taken a step backwards.

We done it back then for the largely outspoken community and when Larry was in charge around here he agreed. Official topics were almost completely banished at one point. It's good to have some structure to work off or people just create official topics for anything and everything months/years early, promise to update them, hardly do then information is all over the place and easily missed/skipped.

I'll miss Halo Reach news if it's posted in here, as I won't be wading through pages of replies in what will arguably be the maddest official topic on Neowin in terms of it hitting hundreds of pages.

People don't want to use Google, what sort of reply is that? If that was the case why do we even bother posting anything in the GH? Just put a message up saying Goggle your gaming news, kthx.

The best use of an official topic is when you can buff up the first post with pretty much every ounce of public information a month/few weeks prior to release then use the rest of the topic for discussing the actual game/impressions/mini-reviews/asking for help.

[Sethos]

God, why does every discussion with you ending up in walls of text - I really can't be arsed replying to that **** :laugh:

I miss a lot of "separate thread" news, I prefer official threads. And these threads don't grow with 100 pages a day, check once a day and you're up to date and I might even catch a discussion on some news, if it had its own thread I wouldn't have bothered checking nor would that discussion have arisen. I only remember the same GH locals cramming this "rule" down people's throat.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

God, why does every discussion with you ending up in walls of text - I really can't be arsed replying to that **** :laugh:

I miss a lot of "separate thread" news, I prefer official threads. And these threads don't grow with 100 pages a day, check once a day and you're up to date and I might even catch a discussion on some news, if it had its own thread I wouldn't have bothered checking nor would that discussion have arisen. I only remember the same GH locals cramming this "rule" down people's throat.

If the above is a 'wall of text' to you then you really must of struggled at school :laugh:

[Sethos]

Huh. Huh. Witty.

Why not just ignore the thread, Boz wanted to do an official thread and you are the only one who seems to mind so far? It's not against the Neowin rules so leave it alone?

[Boz]

I don't know what the big fuss is AB. I saw several threads about Halo Reach.. I thought with the release of the trailer, the story and people who are not really aware of what REACH is to read up and get up to speed. There will be screenshots released now more often because Bungie opened on their site a media section and screenshots for Halo Reach.

The purpose of a thread about something on a forum is for people to discuss. I don't want to read through multiple threads about one game each time a piece of information is released and you can be sure that Halo Reach will be so hyped that there will always be something. I'm sure plenty of members share my feelings. Thus, purpose of 1 thread with all the news and whatever people stumble upon prior to release.

Beta is also coming so there will be a bunch of stuff circulating around.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

You know, you can edit the OP to add more information, screenshots, videos, etc. :|