Confessions of a Gamer's Girlfriend: My Afternoon with Halo: Reach

Again, Jess offers her newfound perspective on the gaming industry, this time behind the wheels of parting-Bungie's famous franchise. If you want to found out more, you can contact her via Facebook. I thank Jess again!

Home alone at my boyfriend’s house for an afternoon; I decided to check out Halo: Reach to see what all the fuss was about. Sure, I’ve watched him play it before. I’ve even done a little gameplay with a friend when it first came out. That said, I’m not the sort of person who can truly understand the inner workings of something unless I am left to figure it out on my own.

I’m told the game is the most fun if you play with a Live account. My boyfriend’s system is a Xbox 360, and he does subscribe to Xbox Live. However, I didn’t want my inexperience to mess with all his hard work. Instead I opted to use a guest account that was only local to his system.

Despite my eagerness to get right into the game, I opted to watch the full cut scene at the beginning. Though I found it interesting and well made, there were aspects that couldn’t be fully understood unless one had experience with the previous installments of the Halo franchise. 

Fortunately, I’ve heard many stories. So I think I did just fine.

Melee attack has always been my forte, so it was a small challenge adapting to the shooting style of the game. That didn’t last long. Within the first twenty minutes I had the controls figured out, and I was navigating the game without much difficulty.

The gameplay itself was quite interesting. The radar in the bottom corner of the screen was helpful for keeping on track and fighting enemies. There were also various ‘checkpoints’ to ensure I was going the right way and seeing the right things as well. The standard health and ammo count were also available on my screen. The ability to pick up alien weapons for use came in handy, seeing as there weren’t ammunition reloads readily available during gameplay (at least in the earlier part of the game I was playing).

The scenery was beautiful! Between shootouts there was plenty of creative and well thought out buildings and topography to explore. There was also these ostrich like animals running around which drove me to distraction! They were impervious to bullets, and it felt like they were ALWAYS in the way. That said, they added some definite realism and colour to the planet Reach. There is no planet in the universe that would only have ONE type of creature on it!

After two hours and a handful of firefights, I felt like I’d had enough. I am well aware people can get lost in this game for whole days at a time. That said, I’m sure much of the fun comes from playing with your friends, and I was alone. 

I foresee myself picking up the controller much more often when I move in with my boyfriend this May. I will absolutely have time for solo game play, as well as playing with friends. Will I play Halo: Reach again? Absolutely! However, to better enjoy my experience I will equip myself with some companionship on the battlefield. It can get awful lonely out there!