Heads up fellow “Halo” fans, we’ve got some word on just how Bungie will be celebrating the upcoming Anniversary (November 15). Pre-order incentives include: Master Chief Xbox Live Avatar Armor, let us assume this will be gender neutral and not a case of the guys being able to purchase / wear this and us female gamers being screwed once again. As well as the armor comes the Grunt Funeral Skull, an in-game modifying skull that changes the rules of play in multi-player. Let’s expect to hear more come this weekend when 343 Industries hit Comic-Con, full details about that and the other stuff in the full press release below.

Pre-order “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” to Unlock Your Inner Master Chief and Pay Tribute to the Lovable Grunt

Join 343 Industries for a special Comic-Con “Halo” Universe panel on July 22

Ten years ago “Halo: Combat Evolved” launched around the world and defined both the shooter genre and a generation of gamers. Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries are celebrating this epic milestone with the launch of “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” for Xbox 360 on 15th November and inviting fans to join the landmark celebration with a set of special pre-order bonuses*:

· Master Chief Avatar Armour – Heroes never die, and to honour the 10th Anniversary of John 117, you will finally be able to transform your Xbox LIVE Avatar into the iconic hero by outfitting it with Master Chief’s signature MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour.

· “Grunt Funeral” Skull – An exclusive, game-modifying skull that changes the rules of the game for an explosively humorous experience, “Grunt Funeral” sends “Halo’s” most lowly and lovable enemy out in a blaze of glory. And plasma. And then more glory. Once the skull has been activated, every grunt’s methane tank will explode like a plasma grenade when killed. Watch out for the grunt chain reaction!

Be sure to check out the latest “Halo: Anniversary” behind-the-scenes feature on Halo Waypoint and HaloWaypoint.com for in-depth developer commentary on the creative process behind developing one of the year’s most highly anticipated games.

To learn more about the “Halo” series and the expansive fiction it helped inspire, drop by 343 Industries’ “Halo” Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where the creative minds behind the franchise will be delivering exclusive insights into the “Halo” universe, answering fan questions and more.

“Halo” Universe Panel with 343 Industries
San Diego Convention Center, Room 6BCF
Friday, 22nd July, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Frank O’Connor, Kevin Grace, and others from 343 Industries, as well as special “Halo” guests Greg Bear and Karen Traviss, discuss the first 10 years of “Halo” and offer a sneak peek into what’s next for this exciting sci-fi universe.

Developed by 343 Industries in collaboration with Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity, “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” immerses you in an authentic, next-generation re-creation of the award-winning campaign and genre-defining multiplayer that revolutionized the first-person shooter genre. Featuring a bounty of new features, including cooperative play over Xbox LIVE**, a bundle of some of the most beloved multiplayer maps in “Halo” history reimagined, a Classic mode that lets you play the original version, new challenges and a new story to uncover, “Halo: Anniversary” launches exclusively on Xbox 360 for an estimated retail price of £34.99 on 15th November 2011.

Gay Girls Who Game host Angela is a self admitting Halo fangirl. She’s bought every game since launch in whatever the mega edition is (other than that RTS title Halo Wars). You will know she is a Halo fangirl from the opening squeal she lets out consisting of “a game I’ve been hangin out for!!!!!!” at the beginning of the review. You may recall Halo: ODST was a bit of a disappointment for Angela, and now the words “First Things First: Male or Female” have redeemed Bungie and once more made them gods, at least in this reviewers heart. Shame about the length… but that isn’t everything. Halo: Reach manages to score the Lara Perkins L Word rating.. not bad!

To see the review skip to around 23mins 50secs in.

For a full written review of the campaign part of Halo: Reach click here.

Halo has put out there weekly update and there’s some Halo: Reach matchmaking news tucked away in there. Rather than padding out the post, here’s what was actually said: “Generally our playlist updates fall on a monthly cycle but sometimes there are exceptions. Take this month, October, for example. We just did an update this past Tuesday and we’ve got another one teed up for approximately 10/19 (pending final testing and review). This next mid-month update will include the addition of the Campaign Matchmaking playlist along with quite a few other tweaks and improvements to existing playlists. The final changes are subject to change and pending final test review but it’s our hope to roll out a dedicated Infection and Snipers playlist amidst a slew of other changes.”

If you want to see the full thing, head over to Bungie’s website.

And so it ends, at its beginning. It’s September 2010 and time for another Halo review, this time in the form of Halo: Reach, a game set chronologically as a prequel to the first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved. In some bittersweet twist Halo: Reach is also the swan-song title for Bungie. The story follows Noble Team, a kick ass group of Spartans dealing with the Covenant invasion of the UNSC outpost on Reach. You play a member of this team known as “Noble Six” aka Spartan-B312.

You can customize your Spartan from the get go, once you’re good to go, you’re introduced to your fellow protagonists: Noble Team, a UNSC special operations unit. Each member of Noble Team has a specific skill set and each is fleshed out just enough for you to form a little attachment to them. Noble Six consists of: Carter-A259 tough ass leader, Kat-B320 second-in-command and a lady who dings the gaydar, Jorge-052 heavy weapons specialist, Emile-A239 cool dude and assault specialist and Jun-A266 the marksman.

Finally we get the choice and it rocks!

So to the gameplay
It could be argued that the on foot gameplay of Halo really hasn’t evolved that much over the years, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it. The run and gun sections are exactly what the Halo fan expects and Halo: Reach doesn’t disappoint, though the more cynical may well argue it lacks originality. The only notable difference to the on foot sections is the lack of dual-wielding (which isn’t missed) and the addition of the different armor add-ons, like the rather cool Jet Pack for short range leaps and the Armor Lockdown. The only issue with these was accidental usage, though I suspect that was more down to user incompetence than any actual controller layout problems. Where Bungie has excelled is in mixing up the gameplay so it isn’t only run and gun, Noble Team take part in heroic last stand battles, including space battles and the usual array of land vehicle shenanigans.

Graphics and Sound
Halo: Reach features graphics that have definitely evolved. Environments are lush, character models emote and this is all whilst keeping in with the overall feel of the Halo franchise. As usual the audio in Halo is superlative, with an orchestral soundtrack that kicks in at the right moments and never fails to raise a smile as that well known Halo riff begins. The voice work in Halo: Reach too is top notch, featuring the likes of Jen Taylor, Alona Tal, Jamie Hector and Sunil Malhotra. Add to this secondary characters voiced by the likes of Zachary Levi, Greg Grunberg and Nathan Fillion and you’re speaking voice acting first class.

Meet Kat

Female Gamer Angle
You may recall I made the unmitigated error of – shock horror – suggesting the female character of Veronica Dare in the last Halo title was sub-par, a suggestion that warranted death threats according to some Bungie forum good ole boys. Well that was a year ago and this is a new game that once more features some female character input from Bungie, but did they drop the plasma grenade again like they did with Dare?

In short, not they didn’t, so let’s say it, thank you Bungie. The first screen on Halo: Reach states “First things first: Male or Female” and this is for the player character in the campaign, yes, finally Bungie gets it right and was it really that hard? Did the world crack asunder swallowing us all, no. This addition truly made this game my favorite Halo title and that’s saying something. Running around wiping out covenant scum as a kick ass female spartan is amazing, sure it doesn’t change anything in the gameplay, it’s just the character model and at times a few bits of voice work, but this addition is about so much more than that, this addition is about fairness and choice.

The addition of this choice changes nothing in the game and this is something other developers need to take note of. These are fantastical worlds and should not be based on our own social norming. Female Spartans exist in the Halo universe and therefore should be playable and this should change nothing in the overall game, other than the aforementioned character model to a degree and voicework. Well done Bungie for ‘getting’ it.

As well as getting to play Noble Six, or just Six (which is a hoot for a BSG fan of course), Halo: Reach is awash with female goodness, not least of all in the form of Lieutenant Commander Kat (Catherine-B320) a female spartan who more than dings the gaydar (well we can dream can’t we?). Kat is a great female character because she falls away from that semi-naked, overly feminized version of the female games character we so often see. Kat is a hard ass and the only downside of the character is the silly ass-wiggle she sports, other than that, she’s a cracker!

Two other major female characters make an appearance in Halo: Reach, though for storyline reasons we’re only covering them in the spoiler section at the bottom of this review.

Hooyah! Let’s kick some Brute ass!

So what’s the upshot?
The upshot is Halo: Reach gets almost everything right. The addition of gender choice is merely the icing on the cake of an otherwise wonderful game. At around 9 hours long in campaign mode, Halo: Reach features a great story that brings to light some sweet detail from the Halo universe all wrapped up in plenty of the firefights Halo fans have come to love. If you’re a fan of multiplayer, needless to say the campaign is merely the beginning of things, given Halo: Reach features fully fleshed out multiplayer that fans will no doubt be playing for years to come. All in all Halo: Reach has taken the original Halo formula and added just enough spice to make it feel fresh and new.

U-Haul Rating
Halo: Reach is the hot girl you meet at a rally somewhere. She’s good looking, sweet voice and you know if nasty aliens invaded she’d grab the nearest nail gun with a hooyah! Move her on in, it might be a short love affair, but it’s one hell of a ride.

Halo: Reach gets the Bette Porter L Word rating. It’s stylish, hard ass, but with heart. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn close. It also shows us that women can wear suits and work as well as the guys. Bette Porter kicks ass and so does Halo: Reach, a must have for any Halo fan.

Review Notes With Spoilers!

Don’t read this unless you’ve completed the game or spoilt the story by reading about it elsewhere, you have been warned. – The other female characters who appear in Halo: Reach are of course Dr. Halsey and Cortana (both voiced by Jen Taylor, though Cortana doesn’t say much this time around). As a fan of the Halo games from day one, it was great to see Halsey taking part in such a big way and the Cortana twist was awesome. One thing I wasn’t overly feeling in Halo: Reach was the final Lone Wolf level, it felt, tacked on and though the closing cinematic was clearly there to make an emotional impact, I felt kind of cheated in a way. That said, for those of you who like the whole trying to stay alive as long as you can thing, you no doubt enjoyed it, for me it seemed a little pointless. If you mention these points in the comments PLEASE remember to pre warn people with a SPOILER warning.

The Xbox team know how to do their marketing, though to be honest, the crowd at Trafalgar Square did look a little light on the ground. Still it didn’t stop one cheeky Halo soldier from taking to the skies on a jetpack. The video is below, showing the stuntman in question chatting about the addition of the armor making the flight a bit more tricky, though it goes off without a hitch. Director of Xbox and Entertainment Stephen McGill certainly seemed to enjoy the flight. Check it out below.

Looks like the new Halo title – Halo Reach – will indeed get a female character amongst its macho squad. Flying in the face of rumors, most of which suggested Halo Reach would feature two female characters, in the form of Linda and Kelly (from the novels), we get just Kat. You may recall we covered this a while back and thought the character in the Halo Reach trailer was one Kelly-087, well now she’s been listed at the Halo Reach site and it’s Kat and not Kelly at all (so we stand corrected). Below is her brief in the personnel section, all of which is below for your delectation.

KAT
Lieutenant Commander
Full Name: XXX, CATHERINE
SERVICE #: S-320

* Unit: SPECWAR/GroupTHREE/NOBLE
* (P)MOS: 18E
* Enlistment Date: CLASSIFIED
* Location: CLASSIFIED

* Gender: F
* Birthplace: MONASTIR, NEW HARMONY
* Birth Date: 30/01/2530

PERFORMANCE:
Exemplary combatant; brilliant cryptanalyst—there hasn’t been a system yet she hasn’t been able to crack. However, she does tend to dig a little deeper than mission parameters require on occasion—and there have been times when NOBLE’s proximity to classified matériel has made me rather nervous.

COMMENTS:
S-320 is an inspired tactician; this is certainly related to her ability to acquire and digest information. There are times when S-320’s ability to read a situation—even with what many would consider cripplingly limited INTEL—could be described as supernatural. Unfortunately even having MAGICAL INTEL can’t protect you against a fatal lapse of situational awareness. To wit: S-293 was KIA during an OP that S-320 had put together [22/04/2552]; S-320 is now convinced that S-293’s death rests solely on her own shoulders (S-259 is likewise convinced that he is solely responsible for S-293’s death). Eventually I hope to be able to get it through their thick Spartan skulls that Thom is dead because he chose to pursue a group of enemy combatants ON HIS OWN rather than wait for backup.

NOTE:
S-320’s refusal to resubmit her certification for the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA is more than a little frustrating. She says she submitted her certification papers on 04/08/2551 and refuses to budge. My records show that she qualified expert level with the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA [04/07/2551], but LOGistics/Matériel Command claim they never received said notification and state that unless they receive said certification in a timely manner the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA needs to be returned immediately. In the meantime there is no way for me to stop getting spammed from LOG/MC with reminders. This has been going on entirely too long.

Via [Bungie].

We’d hoped that Bungie would have added the option to play as a female ODST in upcoming game Halo 3: ODST, particularly given the full armor coverage and lack of voice work for the ‘rookie’. A new trailer however seems to state unequivocally that the playable character is male. To top it off it looks like the Tricia Helfer voiced character of Dare is going to take on a role in games we see all too often, the female leader who is undermined by her male subordinate and ultimately – no doubt – she’s proved to be wrong. This is really pathetic and assuming this is the case in the game on release Bungie should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Halo as a franchise has long had a strong female fanbase so treating ODST as yet another macho fest with peripheral only female characterization is lame.