It’s hard to believe that the Halo series started way back in 2001, and before Xbox Live was even around. The original game was so good and fun to play that people would drag their heavy original Xbox (anybody remember that big black box?) to their friends’ houses just to set up splitscreen and system link matches! Now, the Halo series has grown into a cultural phenomenon, bringing people together, tearing friendships apart, and creating a brand that even non-gaming parents can recognize.

So is it such a surprise that Bungie put their all into what is supposedly their swan song to the Halo franchise? Not at all! The team spent months tweaking and adjusting everything, listening to their fans’ complaints and suggestions and even going as far as to hold the open Beta earlier this year. Now I’m a little late to this whole thing, but I’ve got to ask you: if you’re a Halo fan and you haven’t bought Halo: Reach yet, what are you waiting for?

Reach is the result of all the hard work the team at Bungie put into their games, and it’s quite obvious. From the new art style to the reworked weaponry and gameplay, everything about Reach is an improvement over the past Halo games. Quite possibly the biggest feat of all: even with all of the tweaking and new weaponry, it still feels very much like Halo.

Let’s get down to the specifics, for those of you who haven’t had a chance to play Reach. The campaign puts players into the armored boots of Noble Six, a Spartan-III newly transferred to Noble Team, a squad consisting of five other Spartans. The health system returns to its roots: with a shield and separate health bar, players will need to find a health kit if their health gets low. While this seems familiar to the recent ODST release, Noble Six is certainly more fun to play than the silent Rookie.

Probably because players can customize Noble Six, through a feature called “The Armory.” This is where you’ll use the credits you can earn through playing Campaign levels, Firefight, Forge or multiplayer to buy new pieces of armor to make your Spartan unique. This is similar to Halo 3, but far more expanded: there are now several different categories to customize and dozens of different armor pieces you can mix and match. You can even buy a voice for your character to use in Firefight!

So once you pull yourself out of the Armory and get back into the game, your male or female Noble Six joins the rest of Noble Team as they fight to liberate Reach from the Covenant in this prequel to the rest of the Halo games. Veterans of the Haloverse already know how this particular story ends, but it’s definitely a neat, if short, ride. The other members of Noble are likable, minus one, and even Noble Six gets a few good lines of dialogue.

Firefight returns from ODST, but is now even more expanded and customizable. Players can now pick from a variety of different types of Firefight, from the classic “fight until your lives run out” to the all-Grunt Firefight aptly named “Gruntpocalypse.” On top of that, you can adjust weapon loadouts, what spawns in the waves, how many waves spawn, etc. The options are staggering, and provides many fun hours of co-op time.

The contruction-oriented Forge mode also returns from Halo 3, reworked to be easier and allow players to create even more outrageous levels than before. Objects can now be adjusted more specifically, with a handy little “reset orientation” option for righting accidents. Structures can also be phased through each other and placed in mid-air, meaning no more stressful support building or fighting falling towers.

So you find yourself done with the Campaign and bored with Firefight and Forge, where do you go? Why, to Matchmaking of course! This is where the meat of any Halo experience is, and Reach certainly doesn’t fail to deliver. All of the old favorite modes return here, with a few new ones added for good measure. I won’t detail them all here, it’s more fun to go online and check them out for yourself. Trust me, it’s a load of fun, especially with the reworked weapons and new armor abilities.

And about those “armor abilities”: fans of Halo 3 may remember the equipment that debuted in the game, such as the bubble shield or the aggravating radar jammer. The one-time-use equipment is gone now, having been replaced with reusable armor abilities that perform the same function. The big difference here is now you can equip a certain ability and use it as long as you have it, though you have to be wary of the cooldown timer after each use. With new additions like the jetpack and healing drop shield, this is certainly a change for the better.

So in the end, would I recommend Halo: Reach? If the rest of this article isn’t enough of a confirmation, YES, I would recommend Reach to any fan of the series. Even if you’ve never played the games, Reach is a great place to start. With fun to be had in both single-player and multiplayer, Reach never stops delivering. It gets an A; and am I the only one who thinks that the Firefight voices would be amusing in multiplayer?

Cody Webb lives in Live Oak.