A very fun game, but it's over way too quickly
Ok, so the story is extremely short. In fact, I think Bungie would have been wiser to pack this story and ODST together to give people more bang for their buck. I believe Bungie has officially given up on single player experiences and have switched mainly to multi-player. This would be fine by me if they didn't still try to pretend the story is the main attraction to the game. A little disclaimer on the package to let you know you'll get the majority of your enjoyment out of the multi-player, but there's an additional fun story mode as a bonus if you're interested. Oh well, the multiplayer is still as fun as ever and there's the additional Firefight mode that pits you and up to 3 friends againts wave after wave of enemies until you run out of lives. So far I've enjoyed this way more than the standard multi-player the rest of the game consists of. New maps offer nothing overly exciting. We've pretty much seen all these maps with different layouts before. The Forge returns with a vastly improved editing interface for those that wish to make their own map variations. All in all, for fans of Halo online you cant go wrong with Reach. I could do without, but I still play on occasion when I'm really bored.
The story this time around finally takes the reins from Master Chief and hands them over to more interesting characters. Nobody on your team is amazingly awesome, but it's nice to have some personality attached to your AI comrades. The inclusion of armor powers such as drop shield, sprint and hologram help spice up bot single and multi-player. There are no Flood this time around, which to me is a plus since I found the Flood to be rather annoying at parts in past games. The battles are all intense for the most part, though not as wicked as games like Call of Duty. Also battles take place on mostly familiar terrain with similar layouts to previous entries in the series, so don't expect much in new scenery or mission objectives. Still this game plays out sort of like a Halo's Greatest Hits in that every battle is pretty intense and bigger than the last. I would have loved to relive some of Halo's better moments though. There's cameos from Scarabs for example, but you don't get to take one down. Add to this that dual weilding is gone and you can't help but wonder if Bungie rushed this one out, or if tey're holding out to make $ off dlc.
There is a cool amount of character customization this time around. You can craft a spartan unique to you that will play in story and online modes. Items can bee unlocked through credits earned from various acts and modes of plays. Trying to unlock everything does add a little more gameplay, but going through all this trouble to customize a character you'll hardly see won't be for everyone. Still it does help you become more invested in Noble 6.
So all in all whether or not I recommend this game really depends on what you want out of it. If you want a good, solid multi-player experience I definitely recommend it, if you're like me and prefer story and single-player you should probably just give it a rental, or wait till it drops a bit in price.