There’s no doubt that Halo: Reach is one of the best FPS titles we’ve ever seen in the history of the FPS genre. The game officially hit the shelves on September 14th, 2010, and capped off the original Halo games by developer Bungie. It was the story that kicked off with 2001’s Combat Evolved ended in 2007 with the release of Halo 3, but Bungie also gave us Reach.
Reach completely shook up the Halo formula, though the attention remained on its phenomenal campaign. Placing players in the boots of spartan named Noble Six, Reach invited gamers to buckle up for an emotional, and action-packed set of challenges. Halo: Reach was truly a generational hit, but it was also the reason why another great Halo game didn’t receive the love it deserved from Bungie at that time.
With three Master Chief-based mainline entries, the Halo franchise knew it had to switch up the formula. Bungie decided to do that in 2009 by delivering us Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars, which took the iconic series in direction. While Halo Wars was a completely different experience altogether, ODST brought a familiar but new take on the FPS formula.
Instead of placing players in the shoes of Spartans, Halo 3: ODST allowed them to take control of a slightly less armored and powerful team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Throughout the game’s main campaigns, gamers must take control of each member and battle their way out of New Mombasa.
The fresh take on the Halo franchise didn’t differ in terms of gameplay but brought a completely new tone to the franchise. However, the common critique at the time of Halo: ODST’s release was a short 5-6 hours campaign.
Many expected that ODST’s successful release would be followed up with DLCs and expansions that added to the story or brought additional content for players to experience. However, that didn’t happen because the developer was developing another game at the time, Halo: Reach.
By the time of the game’s release in 2099, Bungie had already shifted its resources towards developing Halo: Reach, which meant that there was a lack of resources for additional expansions to the game.
It’s a shame that Bungie missed a huge opportunity by not bringing an expansion for Halo 3:ODST, as the game’s unique setting and characters had sky-high potential for further development. It would’ve certainly added to the game’s longevity and allowed it to stand toe-to-toe with the mainline games.
It’s fair to say that the Halo franchise wasn’t the same after the release of Halo: Reach. 343’s time in control of the series has been a rocky one, with gamers absolutely despising the direction the developer took with Master Chief’s adventures. Even the latest Infinite, which was supposed to be a spiritual reboot, ended up being a major disaster.
Recently, it was revealed that major changes are coming to the franchise, which will transform its very core. There was a shocking rebrand for 343 Industries to Halo Studios, showing a new level of dedication to the series after it took it over from Bungie in 2012.
Another huge change for the future of Halo is that all the next entries in the series will be developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. This state-of-the-art engine is known among industry veterans for its phenomenal performance.
The switch to Unreal Engine 5 will certainly streamline the development of future Halo games and boost the atmosphere visuals that the franchise has always been known for.
Halo Studios also revealed the Project Foundary, which is an ever-evolving framework that will be a guiding light for all the Halo titles going forward, allowing the developers to experiment and fully utilize the latest features in Epic Games’ engine. That’s not all; it’s also confirmed that there are multiple Halo projects in development.
With all these changes, who knows, we might get another generational hit like Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST. Only time will tell the future of this series.
With that said, do you think Halo 3: ODST should’ve been given more expansions? If so, let us know in the comments below.
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