Okay, I'm only an average player. Big fan of the game. (I bought an xbox just for Halo) I came into the fray late, not getting Halo CE until early '09, and got a 360 this year right after Christmas. I've played enough to consider myself a vet - all campaigns completed solo legendary (yes, including Wars lol) reached a highest skill of 40 in Halo 3, with 743 xp and an average k/d ratio. (1.04 ranked, 1.31 social) All Halo achievments unlocked except the two rank ones here in Reach. I'm a warrant officer greade 2 in reach so far, with k/d ratios of 0.94 for Invasion, :/ 1.00 in competive, and 1.10 in Arena. So: this isn't a review from a great player, but is from an average vet who knows the game and is a big fan. Campaign - I have been extremely impressed by the campaign. Elites make it challenging again, Brutes in 3 and ODST where dumb, reckless, and had crappy overshields. Oh, and you could run circles around them in CQC. As long as you had a BR in Halo 3, you could tear through the campaign on Legendary, it only got challenging when you ran out of ammo lol. Now, the storyline - it had something that's been lacking since halo 1 - you feel more connected with the purpose of your missions. Halo 2 and ODST where a lot of ''fight and wander on to the next area''. (Especially ODST) the Noble 6 character turned out ok, I was concerned he'd be another rookie like ODST. Another thing that Reach has, that only CE has in the same way, is level variety and stimulation. 2, 3, and especially ODST got rather repetitive at times. This campaign in Reach, you're contantly doing something new, each level has that special variety to it. Nice storyline, and the ending was awsone for anyone who has played through the entire series. Overall, the Halo reach campaign is excellent, having the quality that's been lacking since Halo 1 and 2. Matchmaking, playlists, ranking system - The armor abilities have turned out alright, they are balanced out well, no one ability overpowering and overused then the others. There's been some complaint about armor lock, but fact is it's often useless unless you use it in sync with teammates who can come is and give supporting fire. My only real complaint is the radar jammer that comes with camouflage, annoying as hell. I was hoping they would remove that portion of it after the beta. Bungie did take radar jammers out of Halo 3 matchmaking for a reason, excellent move on their part. Swat has been screwed up somehow, it was good in Halo 3 but now headshots don't kill half the time. I think it's the DMR, and/or the health system. Well, I liked swat in Halo 3, now I hate it. I feel like I'm some CoD game while playing swat. (And that's a very bad thing) I'm getting sick and tired of everyone voting swat in team slayer, now because of swat and other non-standard slayer game types, I've been sticking to Arena. I would hope the swat gametype is edited some time, maybe damage modifier or extra headshot damage. until such happens I won't be touching the swat playlist and I'll be glad to have it the hell out of team slayer. Another complaint on a similar topic - Why, why infection is rumble pit??? I don't mind playing infection, but I would like to play some free for all thank you very much, not have everyone vote infection every time. Overall, until the update is out, I'm sticking to arena to get my fix of standard slayer games. headhunter, neat but annoying as hell lol. The ranking system, I'm missing the Halo 3 highest skill and xp, but I'm okay with it. Overall, tweak the playlists and I'm very happy with matchmaking. Forge - I've been focused on just playing matchmaking, but I know how amazing it is and look fowards to playing awsome created maps and having a little fun making stuff myself. Maps - Boardwalk - Bad except for team doubles. Countdown - like it. Powerhouse - decent. Reflection - I played hundreds of custom games here (Ivory tower) with a friend before he got xbox live, so... my opinion here is biased :) Spire - only played snipers and invasion here so far - it's terrible map for snipers, I'll see how it pans out for slayer. it's cool to have such a high elevation on a map. Sword base - I like it. Zealot - Like itt as well. The cage - I like the map layout, but why make a map from forge? Pinnacle - I never liked this map much on Halo 2 in the first place, ehh Hemorrhage - Once the tanks are taken out making it possible to get on a vehicle without being blown to shreds, it'll be a nice BTB map. Paradiso - Everyone seems to hate this map so far, I haven't been too crazy about it ether. but so far I like it better then Isolation. Asylum - I like it. Weapons: DMR - I'm missing the BR but this weapon serves the same purpose, and it's better for balanced matchmaking purposes. AR - Seems slightly downgraded but I'm not complaining. With it and the DMR downgraded all the weapons are more balanced. Plasma pistol -the PP in the beta was the same as in ODST - excellent homing ability. I'm glad that didn't carry into the game, it would have made it over powered. Needler - was too good in the beta, and at first glance it seems to have been downgraded too much. But, as you use it a bit more, you realize that it just takes a little more skill to use, keep the crosshairs on your opponent and you've got the kill. Plasma repeater - finally, I can use a plasma rifle with the speed, accuracy, and range the covenant always seems to have been able to do. Okay, so it's not actually a plasma rifle, but you get my point. it's nice to have an equal covenant equivalent to the AR. Focus rifle - usefull, but... why take out the beam rifle? The campaign wasn't the same without those beam rifle jackals. Oh well. Concussion rifle - Brute shot replacement, obviously, it does it's job. Needle rifle - yes! This weapon is much more confortable to use then the carbine. Nice addition. Shotgun - Nice to see it do more damage in close range like in Halo 2. Balances it out with the sword nicely. Grenade launcher - Before I realized you could hold down the trigger to time the grenade detonation, I found this weapon rather useless. But, knowing what I do now, it's a pretty awsome and fun weapon, a nice addition to the game. Target Launcher - funfunfun. Especially around a covie dropship :) Frag Grenade - A bit more powerfull then before, but not enough to where I notice too much of a difference. Yes, the grenades are annoying as hell, but hey, they've always been. Fuel rod - Ahhhhh so annoying in campaign and firefight, That's all. Overall analyse: yes, there are changes from Halo 3 that make us miss the game, make us angry, ect. But with some playlist tweaks matchmaking will be good as ever. It is, after all, Halo. With a forge world with unlimited possiblity, new matchmaking and ranking sytem and maps and AA's and weapons and gametypes, customizable firefight and firefight matchmaking, amazing campaign and soon to arrive campaign matchmaking, opne thing is certain - us halo fans will be kept busy with this game for years to come. [Edited on 10.01.2010 6:19 PM PDT]