Bungie: "Halo: Reach for us is not Halo 4"

By Robert Purchese Published 22 January, 2010

A standalone title in more ways than one.

Bungie has reaffirmed Halo: Reach as a standalone entry for the series, stating that both spiritually and in terms of content, "Halo: Reach for us is not Halo 4."

"It's not a continuation of the Master Chief story, nor is it the start of a new trilogy. For us, it's a completely standalone game," executive producer Joseph Tung told the latest issue of Edge Magazine.

"We desired to make a standalone title, something that is the culmination of a decade of our efforts building halo titles," creative director Marcus Lehto added.

Of immediate note will be a darker, more gritty world where enemies are scary rather than animated children's toys. Bungie's built the Elite - the main enemy - "from the skeleton up".

Also, characters will fight without helmets or take them off to talk, which has provided Bungie with a chance to use motion-captured acting for the first time. Even weapons are heftier and more brutal, and plasma guns will leave burning residue on armour to reflect their murderous intentions.

Halo: Reach also distances itself from Halo 3 in terms of technology, which has been gutted and rebuilt to achieve more. "We are definitely bending the Xbox as far as it'll bend," added campaign lead Chris Opdahl. There'll be co-op and multiplayer to prolong the experience, just like in other Halo games - but Bungie's also got something else up its sleeve to keep you coming back for more.

"Without giving anything away, there's certainly some cool stuff we're doing in Reach that will encourage people to replay the campaign. There are going to be some big surprises in the campaign..." said a teasing Joseph Tung.

Halo: Reach will be released this autumn exclusively on Xbox 360, and Microsoft's already expecting it to be this year's Modern Warfare 2.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 2 years ago

    I'm really excited to see how far this can push the 360 from a technical point of view...

    Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel were among the best looking games of their generation. But Halo 3, even though I think it's the best game in the series, didn't really look that great technically. Artistically? Yes, but not technically.

  • Empedocles #2 2 years ago

    Yawn...

  • LiveForever #3 2 years ago

    Will it be the first game running real hd res? lets hope so.

  • Eraysor #4 2 years ago

    Of course it's not Halo 4, it's Halo 0 if anything.

    (Chronologically anyway!)
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 14:34

  • Sir_TimAlot #5 2 years ago

    Its " Halo 3 '4' "

  • schnide #6 2 years ago

    About time they made the enemies scary - the grunts particularly are kids' cartoon characters. Could be great, enjoying ODST.

  • TonyCocaCola #7 2 years ago

    ODST really surprised me. I got it as a xmas present, gave it a go and was hooked.

    Looking forward to playing this.

  • seasidebaz #8 2 years ago

    "We desired to make a standalone title, something that is the culmination of a decade of our efforts building halo titles," creative director Marcus Lehto added.

    Marcus Lehto needs to do his homework. They started making Halo over 18 years ago.

  • darkmorgado #9 2 years ago

    @Anthony_Daniels

    Oh do piss off, you juvenile anal wart.

  • darkmorgado #10 2 years ago

    @seasidebaz,

    Are you referring to the ethereal and unconfirmed links between Halo and Marathon?

  • KujiGhost #11 2 years ago

    Something up its sleeve? Play the campaign from the Covenant's point of view perhaps?

  • darkmorgado #12 2 years ago

    Something up its sleeve? Play the campaign from the Covenant's point of view perhaps?

    Or perhaps multiple routes/ branching storyline?

  • seasidebaz #13 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado:

    No, I'm referring to the start of work on Halo, I read it on Gamasutra somewhere I think. The info came from a Bungie employee.

  • tachometer #14 2 years ago

    More space marines? wow, someone doesn't have a very good imagination!

  • darkmorgado #15 2 years ago

    @tachometer

    It's a Halo game. Space marines are intrinsic to the series. Wouldn't be Halo without them. What would you rather, a housewife going up against the covenant with a frying pan?

    EDIT: Actually, that might be fun. Someone make a L4D mod!
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 15:04

  • Eraser #16 2 years ago

    "Of immediate note will be a darker, more gritty world where enemies are scary rather than animated children's toys."

    I'm absolutely not the type that'll choose hard, bloody violence over colorful happiness in a video game without thinking about it, but the childishness of the Halo enemies of old was really wrecking the whole experience for me. I simply could not get the feeling of epic grandness from it because all the time I felt like I was shooting carebears with party poppers as guns.

  • retr0gamer #17 2 years ago

    Halo yawn

  • Nithron #18 2 years ago

    Didn't they say the enemies would seem bigger and scarier in ODST, due to you being a normal dude?

    Then it came out and was exactly the same as Halo 3.

  • miiiguel #19 2 years ago

    Then it came out and was exactly the same as Halo 3.

    No they are bigger in ODST, relatively, of course.
    About some of the comments, Halo must be the only title in the universe where ppl who are not interested in the game have this urge to make the "uninterest" a public anouncement, which nobody cares. Realy.

    Look at me! at me! I don't want/like Halo, spacemarines, yawn, and stuff! At me!!!!
    Edited by 2 at 22/01/10 @ 15:51

  • Restart #20 2 years ago

    I love news stories like this, it's a great opportunity to ignore all the 12 year olds on here.

  • mega7ech #21 2 years ago

    "Look at me! at me! I don't want/like Halo, spacemarines, yawn, and stuff! At me!!!! "

    Ha ha! That made me lol! But is also true! Be off with you all you Halo(pretend)Haters!

  • Felwyn #22 2 years ago

    spot the difference


    [link url=http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/ar ticles//a/9/1/4/7/2/6/reach630.jpg.jpg
    ]http://im ages.eurogamer.net/assets/artic...[/link]

    [link url=http://images.eurogamer.net/asset s/articles//a/6/5/5/2/9/0/ss_preview_2.jpg.jpg
    ]http://im ages.eurogamer.net/assets/artic...[/link]


    no comment

  • MaFlippinHeadHurts #23 2 years ago

    this game has the potential to be amazing. The more I hear about it the better it sounds

  • mega7ech #24 2 years ago

    ^ Ones star wars, ones Halo?!?

  • Felwyn #25 2 years ago

    yeah that's about it

  • mega7ech #26 2 years ago

    Well that was a good game!

  • Felwyn #27 2 years ago

    It was! If only it was called halo: republic commando maybe we'd have a sequel :p

    But seriously when will the halo franchise bring something new to the genre instead of rehashing other games and packaging them with PR hype?
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 16:46

  • darkmorgado #28 2 years ago

    @Felwyn

    Halo brought a lot new to the table when the series started. Two-weapon limits, recharging health, focus on cinematic story-telling, you could argue it started the trend of Trilogy games. Name one FPS since Halo that hasn't taken ideas from it.

    So, if anything, it's all the other FPS's that are derivative, not Halo. You could argue it is derivative of itself, but then we start falling into some bizarre chicken-and-the-egg philosophical argument, all our heads would explode, and the universe would end and be reborn as a tub of cream cheese.

  • MeBrains #29 2 years ago

    miiguel: compare to: PS3 must be the only console in the universe where ppl who are not interested in the machine have this urge to make the "uninterest" a public anouncement. together with its games of course...

  • coolbritannia #30 2 years ago

    Hal0. You know it makes sense. I love every single halo title, even wars, so this is my most wanted of 2010.

  • Golgo #31 2 years ago

    i imagine this year's modern warfare 2 will be treyarch's whatever warfare x.

  • monkfishjoe #32 2 years ago

    @ Darkmogado, @Felwyn

    Don't forget the '30 second loop'. The micro battles that repeat with the variations that make the game so fun. THey've been there from the beginning, but were at there best in Halo 3 due to the fact that the enemies weren't scripted (in terms of their start positions).

    The Halo series has always had the best (most interesting) AI of any FPS which makes the game replayable and great. MW2 on Veteran was a chore of learning enemy positions and movements (after dying for the x time). Halo 3 on Legendary however was a fantasic - always changing and feeling like a different game on each difficulty setting. I can't wait for Reach

  • oerhoert #33 2 years ago

    <em>"Of immediate note will be a darker, more gritty world where enemies are scary rather than animated children's toys."</em>

    OH NOES, everybody else is doing dark and gritty! We need to do dark and gritty! Because that will make it so much easier for our brand to retain its uniqueness and flavour! Hey, wait...

  • coolbritannia #34 2 years ago

    I know everyone's going the dark and gritty route here, but honestly, those screenshots don't look that far removed from ODST in terms of artistic direction. Halo at it's grittiest is still pretty day glo, and I like that. What I like best however, is that the Halo 1 Covenant U shape transport is back. Love that thing.

  • rommy667 #35 2 years ago

    Halo 1 on xbox1 kicks the crap outa any of the most highly OVER RATED crap version of the game on 360 i dont get how they messed it up so much......

  • man.the.king #36 2 years ago

    @Eraser

    "...the childishness of the Halo enemies of old was really wrecking the whole experience for me. I simply could not get the feeling of epic grandness from it because all the time I felt like I was shooting carebears with party poppers as guns. "

    rem acu tetigisti, as Jeeves would say! That is one of the major reasons why I wasn't wowed by the Halo series. And the absence of that is why I might give ODST a shot when my wallet allows. Reach, I'll probably get regardless.
    Edited by 3 at 23/01/10 @ 02:02

  • man.the.king #37 2 years ago

    @MeBrains

    Looks like some people have trouble accepting reality. I mean, both you and miiiguel had posted factually correct statements, one got super-upped and the other, super-negged. I have no delusions as to what end of the voting spectrum this particular post is going to wind up on, as well.
    Edited by 2 at 23/01/10 @ 07:01

  • Sunyavadin #38 2 years ago


    Are you referring to the ethereal and unconfirmed links between Halo and Marathon?

    I think he's referring to the one exceedingly old, pixellated screenshot of a top-down Halo, with a flood form barely recognisable, dating back to when it was bungie's plan for the game to be to Myth what Starcraft was to Warcraft.

  • Lunatic4ever #39 2 years ago

    Sounds great but then again..its his Job to make us believe that its going to be awesome :D

  • Lukus #40 2 years ago

    Hmm, making the Covenant scary might take away some of their character. The grunts anyway. They provided some funny moments, not to mention a small sense of guilt when you blew them away.

    Anyway, Elites were always scary to begin with.

  • darren1976 #41 2 years ago

    Looking forward to this. Have played all the Halo's (incl Wars) and enjoyed them all. ODST was enjoyable and I liked the different approach but I did think the gfx engine was looking a little tired although the lighting and art style were a step up. Hoping Bungie are accurate when they say they have rebuilt the engine. It doesn't have to unbelieveably great but I want to see a First Party really push the 360 at this stage in its life and see what the old girl can still do ;-)

  • RedSparrows #42 2 years ago

    Never quite got the dislike for the 'silly' grunts. Most of the time they weren't, and all the human weapons are meaty and nasty - the needler, nevermind that iit's pink, is a horrible weapon.

  • JahB #43 2 years ago

    Halo brought a lot new to the table when the series started. Two-weapon limits, recharging health, focus on cinematic story-telling, you could argue it started the trend of Trilogy games. Name one FPS since Halo that hasn't taken ideas from it.

    two weapon limit: system shock, deus ex, counterstrike
    cinematic storytelling: half life
    recharging shields: tribes

    i'm the first to argue halo's a good game, but please don't feed the trolls with nonsense like that. halo, for all its awesomeness, took stuff that had been tried and tested on PC FPS games and brought it to a console, but it didn't invent any of it.

  • subtlesnake #44 2 years ago

    "Halo brought a lot new to the table when the series started. Two-weapon limits, recharging health, focus on cinematic story-telling, you could argue it started the trend of Trilogy games. Name one FPS since Halo that hasn't taken ideas from it.

    two weapon limit: system shock, deus ex, counterstrike
    cinematic storytelling: half life
    recharging shields: tribes"

    i'm the first to argue halo's a good game, but please don't feed the trolls with nonsense like that. halo, for all its awesomeness, took stuff that had been tried and tested on PC FPS games and brought it to a console, but it didn't invent any of it."

    I really don't see why it matters either way. What counts is that these features were used to create a set of gameplay mechanics ('30 seconds of fun') that felt fresh and unique at the time. There was no game on the PC that was comparable.
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/10 @ 21:43

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #45 2 years ago

    What about switching between Vehicles from first to third person view (genuine question as I cant think of any example before then, because I wasn't into FPS much before Halo)

  • RedSparrows #46 2 years ago

    Did Deus Ex have a two weapon limit? Wasn't it more 'what you could fit in your inventory'? I remember having a launcher, a rifle, a sniper... etc

    What people either get or don't get with Halo is the core combat and the variety it offers, which is better, for me, than almost any PC shooter I've touched. Fair play either way. I happen to love it.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/10 @ 02:19

  • ReapingAngel #47 2 years ago

    First of all, I love the Halo universe and no, I didn't enjoy ODST. Halo 3 was, for me, an excellent game that not only finished the trilogy but also paved way for a new trilogy (granted if you have finished the game on Legendary and have seen the extended ending). I love the sound of Halo: Reach being treated as a standalone game. Hopefully, it was be longer than ODST and will be more epic than Halo 3. Having a darker and gritter version is what Halo should have been in the first place. The series is definitely going in the right direction.

    Also, for all of out there who hate Halo or think Halo has lost its touch. You might hate it but the fact is: you will play the new Halo: Reach in some form. Whether you get it as a Christmas gift or buy it on release date. So, LOLs on you all.

  • darkmorgado #48 2 years ago

    two weapon limit: system shock, deus ex, counterstrike

    Erm, System Shock and deus ex didn't have a two weapon limit, they had a limited inventory and you could certainly fit more than a couple of weapons in there at any one time.

  • smelly #49 2 years ago

    "Halo: Reach for us is not Halo 4"

    No.. it's "Halo 6" isnt it?

  • WinterSnowblind #50 2 years ago

    Halo 3: ODST was an expansion, so it wouldn't count as a numbered game and Wars is a completely unrelated spin-off which is arguably even canon.

  • smelly #51 2 years ago

    >Halo 3: ODST was an expansion

    That's funny? I was sure it wasnt sold as one? So you mean i can go and buy it for a cheap price and i need the original halo 3 to play it? Or is it a full price stand alone product? (i was SURE it was the later.. but i stand to be corrected)

  • tnt_2008smum #52 2 years ago

    i see silly smelly is trolling again!

    why don't you give it a rest and go waggle your Wii mote instead!

  • geeza2020 #53 2 years ago

    I really struggled to get into Halo 3, i found it far too similar to the earlier two for it to really grab me. Bungie are going to have to pull off something spectacular to bring me back to the series.

  • darleysam #54 2 years ago

    So very much looking forward to this.

  • smelly #55 2 years ago

    Oh yes.. im trolling. Someone said ODST was an expansion pack - when it wasnt... And that makes me a troll.

    *sigh*.

    I'll look forward to halo 6 as much as the next man.. before i realise it's pretty much the same game as the previous 4 (halo wars doesnt count as it actually showed some originality).

    And just because i'll argue against 360 trolls who go into every wii thread telling everyone who crap the wii is.. doesnt mean i dont own and play the 360 more than i do my wii... But of course.. go on thinking im a troll.. it'll make you feel better when playing halo 8.

  • smelly #56 2 years ago

    And regardless of whether or not you think i'm a troll. 5 sequels (or games in the same "franchise";) is still a lot for a short period of time. Hell they may as well go the whole hog and release yearly updates like EA or go the nintendo route and release halo kart, at least then there'd be some variety ...

  • subtlesnake #57 2 years ago

    "And regardless of whether or not you think i'm a troll. 5 sequels (or games in the same "franchise";) is still a lot for a short period of time."

    If we're talking about Halo as an FPS franchise, then, including Reach there have been 3 'full blown' sequels in 9 years, and ODST. So we've had to wait three years in between each major update, which is hardly a short amount of time. Maybe you feel ODST is nothing more than a quick 'cask in', but if so, it only underscores the need for a proper sequel.

    If such a sequel can improve further upon Halo 3's mechanics - by offering larger scale set pieces and by making the player feel more vulnerable (with the addition of a health bar plus slower recharging shields, and the return of the Elites) - while, at the same time, continuing to offer greater variety in level and mission design (an area of continuous improvement since Halo 1), then I see no reason not to get exited about it.

    The imaginary number at the front should make no difference at all, if the experience is compelling. Do you think Nintendo should stop making Mario games because there have been too many of them?

  • tnt_2008smum #58 2 years ago

    @subtlesnake

    You are wasting your time with smelly as he is a silly little trolling fanboy hypocrite who can’t seem to understand that different people like different games.

    The silly little man pops up in every Halo related thread with his sad attempts at trolling and then sulks when people call him out.

    What is it about Halo that seems to bring out the worst in these type of people!
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/10 @ 12:20