I just finished Halo: Reach last night. With all sincerity and honesty, I personally don't believe it lived up to the hype. Maybe that has to do with me intentionally hyping it up myself. Nonetheless, I don't think it exceeds Halo 3's logo, "Finish The Fight."

I do admit, this game is excellent - if not one of the greatest Xbox 360's titles to be released, but I felt shorthanded. I've read blog posts here speaking on this game and its intense battlefield skirmishes, but it wasn't as full-fledged as I imagined. The plus side of it all is that it wasn't repetitive - and the landscapes and textures weren't as bland and lenient as Halo 2's. There's a lot of open-environment to discover and various places that you can travel to in order to reach the same destination. You're not necessarily subjected to one path-way.

I finished the game on Heroic, and that took me roughly 7-8 hours. The A.I. was great, but the enemies were lacking in strength - especially the brutes and elites, which could be taken out merely with a few head shots of your battle-rifle. I'm restarting the campaign on Legendary, and I'm hoping to get a thorough challenge. Hopefully, Kati will want to attempt to play cooperative with me; that'd be really exciting.

The storyline and plot of the game was really understanding, but I didn't get a feel for the Noble team as much as I wanted. I conceived the notion of being emotionally attached and involved with the characters, such as Kat, Emile, Carter and Jorge, and though there were moments that touched my heart, I was always saying to myself, "I really don't care." Nonetheless, it was an epic journey with a destructive conclusion that was satisfying on many levels.

As the story goes, I began to accept the defeat ahead of me. The days grew longer and hopeless, yet Noble team willingly risked their lives in order to have a more beneficial world in the future. If you consider the reality of it - this has been done countless times, and each time it had significance to all human beings. Knowing your fate as soon as you begin is a tough decision to accept, and once you do - all you can do is make it worthwhile and try and attempt to create a better future.

Spoilers!

The very last mission after the credits roll around and you see the Pillar of Autumn taking off without you is breathtaking. The mission: Survive. Unfortunately, you cannot - regardless, due to lack of ammo and ultimately nowhere to go. That part of the game was depressing, yet rewarding at the same time. Taking off your Spartan helmet with a gun shot through its visor, and taking one last final stand against the Covenant; one man against all, odds are against you, deserves an amazing amount of credo and praise.

Overall, the campaign was very good. Not the best, but gratifying to say the least. Bungie did an excellent job with their latest and final Halo title, and I am well pleased. Halo is not the same without Master-Chief, but it's still a darn good journey.

Final score: 8.5/10.