Upon recently completing my collection of Halo (console) games collection, I can’t help but to notice the decline in MP. As much as we don’t like it, gone are the good old days of old Halo MP. I returned to Halo Reach, and I noticed a seemingly constant population. You can always find a game in Team Slayer. Sure, MLG, Arena, and ZB are gone, but so are our BR and DMR starts. I recently started dabbling in Halo 5, and believe me, you WILL find a game faster in Reach than you will Halo 5. Now, the MCC was a beautiful gift given to us by 343, and we thank you for that. But why exclude Reach. Why not re-boot it. I made it to Commander Grade 3 again, solely in MP matchmaking in Reach. And this has happened since around Thanksgiving time. I find it more and more common, to find old Reach fans returning to the hallowed grounds of SwordBase and Countdown. I do play Halo 3 ranked in MCC, arena and hardcore. But for people like myself, that like to switch it up from HaloCe-Halo 5, it doesn’t seem fair to exclude Reach. After all, community MLG died with Halo Reach. Gone are the days where you would select MLG, and find yourself immersed in a completely different feel. I do understand that GameBattles does its part. And blessed we are for those that made that possible. But if I am still able to find a game in Halo Reach, generally faster than I do in any other current Halo MP game, why is it that Reach is thrown under the rug. My first MP matchmaking game was on Lockout in Halo2. Way back; farther than I’d like it to be! While Halo 3 has never been forgotten, Halo Reach reigned for more than half a decade. There is a silly amount of inheritors running around the “virtual battlefield”. Now, I love Halo, and basically refuse to play other games. I even have a sprocket and crescent moon (single crescent) tattoo. Like a logo you can make. But I want to voice my opinion in that I believe that Reach should be added to MCC. Bungie had kept it fresh, with different challenges (I didn’t really care for them), different maps, different playlists, and still honoring those that wished to keep it a little more competitive. I miss the BR start. I miss BXR. I miss DMR start. I miss the old days, but there’s no reason that Halo Reach should be left in the dust. I remember running into Ogre 2, Snipe3down, and Pistola in Reach. There was something about those MLG and Arena days that felt amazing. I love Halo, as aforementioned, but Halo 4 and 5 don’t feel like the old Halo games. Even Reach was noticeably different, but not exactly horrendously different. I have heard many a grump complain about Halo Reach, and how it wasn’t Halo, but I ask people around me and they say that Halo Reach might have been the last great Halo game. Bungie did what they did best, and they left an amazing legacy that left millions amazed.
No one hates the armor abilities more than I do. I could care less for sprint, I like 110% speed. But I’d rather have sprint than all the other BS. But if they brought back Reach and some of its competitive playlists, it would be a whole lot better than some of the silliness we’ve seen in the past 4 years. The other day I played an MLG 1v1 on Sanctuary, and I suddenly was transported back to a time where things were a little more simple with Halo. I’ll admit, it was weird adjusting from Halo 1,2, and 3 when Reach had dropped, but I don’t feel like I’m playing Halo when I play Halo 4 and 5. At least bring Reach back. “Remember Reach” if you will.
Reach is one of the most requested additions so you never know… I’d be pretty happy if they added it as well. Really, it makes sense to add it too. ODST is not a Chief-focused story and neither is Reach, but both stories play a big role in Chief’s story.