I have played this game's campaign way too many times over the past year since the PC port's launch with friends, to the point where I straight up have several chapters memorized and burned into my skull, and also now can really see the most nitpicky flaws in each crevice with each run I keep doing.
After playing everything in MCC and writing this, I think I can say that Reach is probably the most consistent and well-rounded great campaign of the Bungie titles, but also NOT my favorite. The level design is consistently great and flows incredibly well, having a very good mixture of both close quarters combat as well as the larger more open arenas of previous games. I really like Reach's story and how it's set up right from the beginning as a tragedy, that you already know how it's going to end, combined with the fantastic cutscene direction. The characters are admittedly pretty half-baked and one-note, especially compared to ODST which did a far better job of giving its cast more clear personalities by comparison. I don't think even people who don't like Reach could argue against the ending being outstanding at the very least.
The core gameplay, is strange to describe. It's clearly the game that Bungie decided they wanted to experiment more with, as they had nailed that base core feel back with Halo 2 and 3 already, but I don't think all those new ideas really did Reach any favors. Weapon bloom is an annoyance and adds a level of RNG unpredictability that the previous games didn't have and didn't need (one that's especially awkward when considering MCC's multiplayer uses updated rules that reduce the bloom and makes the guns feel way better, while the campaign and Firefight do not).
Halo 3's limited equipment pickups have been exchanged for rechargeable player abilities which I think is where a lot of my issues arise from. There is no reason to use any ability other than Sprint because giving the player a movement advantage, even if it sounds small on paper, completely changes the dynamics of combat compared to previous games. It's easier than ever to outmaneuver and outrun enemies in Reach compared to all previous entries because of it; instead of having to make careful but quick decisions on the fly in the middle of combat like past games, you can now just go in guns blazing and run away if you get overwhelmed with sprinting. The rest of the abilities aren't as noteworthy because their use is so limited by comparison.
The second best ability is the jetpack because it also gives a movement advantage, albeit one that's far less useful because of Reach's lack of notable vertical level design besides the handful of sections where it's required to progress. Armor Lock is a joke because nobody will fall for it, not even the enemy AI in the campaign. Cloak isn't really useful in the campaign and you can only catch people off guard so many times in the multiplayer before they learn to keep it from happening, and the same goes with the Hologram. Honestly, while I still don't like them regardless, even Halo 4 I think does a better job with abilities because since sprinting is inherent to the player in that game, the abilities are designed better with small extras that are more often useful than not like Reach's are.
It's a weird game. I like it a lot, but it's not the one I could call a favorite despite how much I weirdly play the damn thing.
After playing everything in MCC and writing this, I think I can say that Reach is probably the most consistent and well-rounded great campaign of the Bungie titles, but also NOT my favorite. The level design is consistently great and flows incredibly well, having a very good mixture of both close quarters combat as well as the larger more open arenas of previous games. I really like Reach's story and how it's set up right from the beginning as a tragedy, that you already know how it's going to end, combined with the fantastic cutscene direction. The characters are admittedly pretty half-baked and one-note, especially compared to ODST which did a far better job of giving its cast more clear personalities by comparison. I don't think even people who don't like Reach could argue against the ending being outstanding at the very least.
The core gameplay, is strange to describe. It's clearly the game that Bungie decided they wanted to experiment more with, as they had nailed that base core feel back with Halo 2 and 3 already, but I don't think all those new ideas really did Reach any favors. Weapon bloom is an annoyance and adds a level of RNG unpredictability that the previous games didn't have and didn't need (one that's especially awkward when considering MCC's multiplayer uses updated rules that reduce the bloom and makes the guns feel way better, while the campaign and Firefight do not).
Halo 3's limited equipment pickups have been exchanged for rechargeable player abilities which I think is where a lot of my issues arise from. There is no reason to use any ability other than Sprint because giving the player a movement advantage, even if it sounds small on paper, completely changes the dynamics of combat compared to previous games. It's easier than ever to outmaneuver and outrun enemies in Reach compared to all previous entries because of it; instead of having to make careful but quick decisions on the fly in the middle of combat like past games, you can now just go in guns blazing and run away if you get overwhelmed with sprinting. The rest of the abilities aren't as noteworthy because their use is so limited by comparison.
The second best ability is the jetpack because it also gives a movement advantage, albeit one that's far less useful because of Reach's lack of notable vertical level design besides the handful of sections where it's required to progress. Armor Lock is a joke because nobody will fall for it, not even the enemy AI in the campaign. Cloak isn't really useful in the campaign and you can only catch people off guard so many times in the multiplayer before they learn to keep it from happening, and the same goes with the Hologram. Honestly, while I still don't like them regardless, even Halo 4 I think does a better job with abilities because since sprinting is inherent to the player in that game, the abilities are designed better with small extras that are more often useful than not like Reach's are.
It's a weird game. I like it a lot, but it's not the one I could call a favorite despite how much I weirdly play the damn thing.