It’s been a long time since I played Halo: Reach. The culmination of the Halo franchise under Bungie’s direction came out over a decade ago. Yet, when my friend and I were searching for something to play, it was the first thing we thought of.
Halo: Reach stands the test of time. It’s just as much fun now as it was ten years ago. That’s because the magic of Halo is that it’s a game, and a franchise, that you share with friends. I remember Halo as well as I do because of the experiences I had with friends while playing them. Now, I’ve returned with my best friend for a whole new set of experiences.
My friend has played a few games with me by this point. We’ve gone through Persona 5 together, and while he enjoyed it, he didn’t love the intricate fusion system. I, on the other hand, love intricate game systems and creating intricate builds. When it comes to first-person shooters, however, my friend excels. I… do my best.
When my friend suggested returning to Halo: Reach, I agreed immediately. That’s because playing Halo is not about being good at shooters. It’s about the experiences you have along the way. I love sharing games with my friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed our return to Reach.
Road Trip with the Boys
There is a lot of travel in Halo: Reach. In many of the missions, you travel from one destination to another, fighting small skirmishes on the way. This perfectly suits the narrative that Reach sets out to tell: a planet at war, slowly overwhelmed by the invading Covenant. You wouldn’t know it from the way my friend and I talked as we played.
Halo: Reach is a road trip! The journey happens in different legs and you’ll have to switch vehicles many times, but it’s a road trip, nonetheless. Just like any road trip, it’s not the destination that matters but the journey. Our journey was quite memorable. We jumped a truck over an impossible gap, found a valiant steed in a motorcycle, and toured the entirety of Reach. Along the way, we had experiences that we’ll remember for a long time.
Gauss-Hog My Beloved
There are many vehicle models to choose from when deciding to travel in Halo. Some prefer the thrilling speed of a Ghost, others might suggest the durability of the Scorpion. But when you want to travel in style, look no further than the M12G1 Gauss Warthog, AKA the Gauss-Hog.
I’ll be honest, before this most recent playthrough, I had no idea this vehicle even existed. During the opening missions, while traveling to destroy cannons and dropships my friend insisted we switch from our Warthog to another one we just passed. It was only once I climbed into the back that I noticed the weapon was different.
Once we got on the move, I quickly realized the Gauss-Hog is simply built different. The cannon melted through normal enemies and made quick work of other vehicles. I cackled with mad delight as we slaughtered our way through the Covenant foes… right up until we hit a roadblock that stopped the Gauss-Hog in its tracks.
We refused to be deterred. We then spent the better part of a half hour demolishing the barricade with the Gauss cannon and running it over bumps in order to jump it over the barricade. The Gauss-Hog was simply too powerful and too much fun to leave behind. Our reward was getting to ride the Gauss-Hog into battle against two hunters in an enclosed arena. We both lost it as the might of the Gauss-Hog utterly trivialized a normally brutal fight.
The Gauss-Hog was just as much time to use the second time around, when we replayed the mission. This was due to a… disagreement that caused me to boot my friend from the mission. Rather than play the mission alone, I exited the game as well, but due to the checkpoint system, we were forced to reload before the vehicle barricade. The Gauss-Hog united us once more as we spent more time crossing the divider.
Even a decade later, the Gauss-Hog showed there are still new things to learn from Halo and still wacky experiences to have. Part of the reason our Gauss-Hog became so iconic is because we found a way to keep it after the game tried to separate us from it. Halo is simply one of those games where you can have fun because of the jankiness of the game. This was one of those times. Riding the Gauss-Hog into an enclosed arena it definitely wasn’t supposed to be in was a ride I won’t soon forget.
You’ll Always Be My Wingman
When Halo: Reach wants to deliver a spectacle, it takes to the air. So my friend and I took our road trip to the sky! Midway through the game, we were asked to fly into space to destroy a Covenant ship. Later on, we were tasked with flying rescue helicopters to complete final objectives as Reach fell.
While I’m pretty bad at driving vehicles in Halo, flying the Sabre again brought a smile to my face. The Long Night of Solace mission is special in the Halo franchise as it’s the first time you get to actually pilot and fight ships in space. My friend and I raced around each other, exploded, respawned and genuinely had a great time. To say my friend is an avid fan of flight combat is an understatement, so it was genuinely heartwarming to share this piece of Halo history with him.
During the last part of our airborne adventures, we piloted Falcons in the New Alexandria mission. I promptly forgot how to exit mine, and then accidentally jumped out midair not long later. Oops.
This mission was still a lot of fun. When I boarded my friend’s falcon as a gunner on the grenade launcher we were joined by an NPC-manned Falcon. This Falcon joined us in our airborne fights and at one point started shooting at something so far away we couldn’t see it… and actually killed it! We praised our NPC allies and cheered for their victory.
It was while clearing the entryway to a building with four Hunters that my friend calmly dropped the coldest line he’s ever said as I manned the grenade launcher. “Fire til the barrel melts.” It is a phrase that will live on in infamy and that we have already used in conversation after that experience. Halo: Reach creates the perfect setting to have badass and awesome moments with your friends. We couldn’t get enough of it.
Sniper Rifles Galore
When it comes to weapons, my friend and I are like fire and water. He prefers to use the UNSC weapons, picking up the weapons of humanity whenever he gets a chance. I vastly prefer using Covenant weapons, since I think they’re more fun. This means that we don’t usually fight over picking up weapons, since we have different favorites and different playstyles.
There is one fight we do have, however. A recurring argument we can never escape, because my friend can never admit that I am right. Simply put: anything with a scope is a sniper rifle.
DMR? Sniper Rifle. Covenant Needler Rifle? Sniper rifle. Pistol? Sniper rifle. Rocket Launcher? It has a scope, so it’s a sniper rifle!
Okay, so I admit I may have escalated once my friend got irritated when I referred to a DMR as a sniper rifle. My friend insists that only the sniper rifle is a sniper rifle. Nevertheless, with the exception of heavy ordnance weapons, I maintain that any weapon with a scope is perfectly valid to refer to as a sniper rifle. If it zooms and I’m going to use it to hit enemies precisely from afar, it is a sniper’s rifle.
Yes, this means I still refer to the magnum pistol as a sniper rifle. It has a scope, a zoom-in function, and I kill enemies a long distance away with it. Therefore, it is a sniper rifle.
Our argument got so heated that on two separate occasions my friend took matters into his own hands and shot my spartan dead. Unfortunately for him, I was hosting the game, so I promptly kicked him from the mission while laughing righteously over voice chat. It was the first of these times that caused us to restart before the barricade with our Gauss-Hog. Honestly, if you don’t kick your friend from the game at least once while playing Halo, are you even having fun?
The Story of Reach
As veterans of Halo:Reach, my friend and I both knew what to expect when it came to the story. We casually reminisced about the upcoming death of Noble Team, even bantered about it. Nevertheless, the story of Halo:Reach still hits hard.
Without much surprise, our favorite member of Noble Team seemed to be George who was still as heroic a decade later. We were still rocked as Covenant bombarded and glassed the planet. Despite everything, we still treated the final mission “Survive” with utmost seriousness and we both fought as hard as we could to last. I died first, ambushed from behind. My friend followed not much longer.
Not every moment from Reach hits as hard as used to. (I’m still pretty underwhelmed by Kat’s death.) However, when it matters, the moments land, even years later. I still saluted Carter’s sacrifice and still mourned our own. Even the fact that this story has remained in our minds for so long is a testament to how good it truly is.
The Beating Heart of Halo
Halo has always been about the moments you have while playing it. It’s about the experiences you have with your friends. Halo is a wonderful franchise, warts and all, and oftentimes it’s perfect because of its warts.
If you asked me to tell you what Halo is about, I’d have a few different things I could tell you. I could tell you it’s a game where you and your cousins shoot each other with rockets from across the map. I might tell you it’s a game where you and your mom will slog through five floors of enemies without a save point and cheer with relief after. This article is about making the argument that Halo: Reach is a game about traveling across a planet with a friend and annoying the crap out of each other along the way.
Halo: Reach tells an emotionally compelling story and is a ten out of ten game. My rating has nothing to do with the quality of Halo: Reach’s story and everything to do with the fun my friend and I had in it.
so many great memories in the halo franchise. halo 1, 2 and 3 are some of my favorite gaming memories
Glad I could bring back the good memories! Halo is a great series for unforgettable times.