How is Halo: Reach on PC Compared to Xbox?

Halo: Reach is a very special game to me. Since I started gaming in early 2010, it was the first major Halo release that I got to experience. For many years following its release, me and my friends would constantly play it all the time. Playing co-op through the campaign many times, fighting together in online matches, messing around in forge, and so on. It was my true entry into this legendary franchise and I could not be happier that this game was the one that brought me in. I have since played every mainline Halo game and have greatly enjoyed them all (yes, I even enjoyed my initial playthrough of Halo 5: Guardians).

Naturally, I was elated to learn about the release of the Master Chief Collection on PC. Even more so to learn that Halo: Reach, despite not featuring Master Chief at all, would be making its debut in both the Xbox and PC versions of the MCC. Getting to finally play the franchise that I love again on my now go-to gaming system was a dream come true.

Yesterday, Halo: Reach finally launched onto Steam. Going in, I did have some notable concerns. I was selected to participate in the third and final flight for Halo: Reach which started in late October and lasted through the first half of November. While I found myself playing the classic game I knew and loved, I suffered from notable connection issues with online matches and aiming felt somewhat slippery.

But that was just the flight and what’s more important is the release. I have now played 3 campaign missions on Legendary in co-op with a friend, 3 matches of PvP online, and 1 round of Firefight. I am going to be giving my first impressions of the full PC version of Halo: Reach, primarily from the perspective of how well this game works as a PC version more than my impressions of the game itself.

While I am going to talk more about Reach from the perspective of being a PC port, it would be unjust to not talk about the game itself just a little bit. I also need to mention some things specific to the MCC version of Reach. To summarise it quickly: it’s excellent. For Bungie’s last Halo game, they really hit the nail on the head with the story, campaign, multiplayer, and everything else. Thankfully, 343 Industries have done little to change this core experience in the MCC.

Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original Halo trilogy. It tells the story of the Battle of Reach, one of the largest and bloodiest conflicts of the Human-Covenant War. Specifically, you are Noble Six, a member of NOBLE Team as they fight to repel the Covenant invasion. While the ultimate outcome of the game would be known to you already if you had played the original trilogy before Reach, the story still manages to be surprising and engaging as you watch the journey that NOBLE Team undergoes throughout the relatively short campaign.

The gameplay is, in my opinion, some of the best in the franchise. The gunplay is for the most part unchanged from other Halo titles. One change I was never a personal fan of was the replacement of the Battle Rifle with the DMR (mainly because I sucked with it, though that’s no longer an issue for me on PC) but this did very little to my overall enjoyment. The gameplay was enhanced with being able to have a single equippable ability such as a standard sprint, being able to lock your armor to avoid damage, being able to turn on active camo, and even fly with a jetpack. The Covenant are also extremely varied, with most races having several variants you can encounter throughout the game. Most notable of which are Reach’s Elites which are easily the most brutal and unforgiving that the Sangheili have been in the entire franchise, especially on Legendary difficulty.

A full suite of multiplayer modes are provided. Of particular note was Invasion, a special 6v6 gamemode of asymmetrical warfare that pitted spartans against elites. It was a unique and compelling mode, definitely my personal favorite among the playlist offerings. Firefight also made its return from Halo 3: ODST and was just as fun here as it was there. While pretty simple in concept, there is a lot of satisfaction to gain from quickly defeating a horde of Covenant to hear the announcer say “Killionaire!” in the wake of your destruction.

Finally, there’s also Forge and Theatre modes. Forge allows you to build and share your own custom maps and game modes. While nothing as extravagant as full terrain tools are provided, you are able to place many objects within a selected map as much as the limit allows. Reach enhanced on Forge by creating a map specifically for it: Forge World. A blank world space featuring plenty of room for one’s own original creations. The possibilities are practically endless. Meanwhile, Theatre mode simply allowed you to rewatch past matches and save them as clips to share. A simple mode, but one that was highly loved within the community.

Everything overall led to Halo: Reach being a brimming package. I haven’t even mentioned the extensive customization options which are easily the best in the series, allowing you to make your spartan look the way you want it. On the merits of the game itself, Halo: Reach is an easy recommendation.

Specific to the Master Chief Collection

There are some things that need to be mentioned about the core experience of Halo: Reach within the MCC.

The main thing is the new progression system for the game. In the original, you earned experience and credits for every activity in the game (even a very minuscule amount for Forge). As you ranked up, new customization options would become purchasable with your credits. In the MCC, progression is handled by seasons. As you level up, you will earn a season token that you can use to redeem the next tier in the season. The current season, season 1, is focused entirely on the original pieces for customization in Reach.

What is important to mention is that unlike in games such as Fortnite where seasonal content is only available during that season, you are able to complete seasons as your own pace and retroactively complete them as the seasons progress. So they’re less seasonal content and more progression that is unlocked on a seasonal basis.

I do not know if I am a fan of this change yet. While the concept of seasons is not something I am a big fan of, it’s not like I am time-gated in obtaining it and once the other Halo games are released, playing in their modes will also award progress. You should look at this system and make your own judgments as to whether or not you like it.

Modding for the PC version is also available. Official mod support is on its way and in the meantime, the option to launch Reach without the anti-cheat enabled is available in order to play created mods now. I am very excited to see what sort of mods are created for this game and am looking forward to trying them out.

The final thing to note is that at the time of publication, Forge and Theatre are unavailable. They will be added eventually but there is no current release date. If you were looking to purchase Reach again for either of these modes, I would advise waiting for now and keeping a lookout for any announcement about these modes.

The controls were my other big concern with the PC version of Halo: Reach. It’s somewhat tricky to explain, but aiming in the flight felt somewhat floaty and slippery. I would move my mouse to aim for an enemy and end up going past them or missing an otherwise simple headshot.

I am very happy to report that this is definitely not the case in the full release. Aiming with the mouse now feels tight and precise. Pulling off accurate shots is satisfying and feels rewarding to see a row of grunts or jackals fall before you in just a few well-placed pistol or DMR shots.

The other controls are absolutely fine as well. The gameplay style of Halo translates well on PC (as it should given it is an FPS) and everything works as intended. Depending on how you play other FPS games, it may take a while to get used to not pressing 1 or 2 to access weapon 1 or 2. Instead, 1 is used for switching weapons and 2 is used for switching grenade. A few times, I would find myself pressing 2 hoping to switch to my backup weapon only for nothing to happen since I was actually just rotating my grenades.

Vehicle controls are the same as they’ve always been for Halo. If you didn’t like vehicles on Xbox, you won’t particularly like them here either. Though that is not really the fault of the PC version and more just the fault of Halo overall.

I don’t think there’s much more that needs to be said about Halo: Reach on PC. My first impressions were simply stellar. My two biggest fears from the beta, the slippery aiming and the connection issues, were swiftly put to rest shortly after I started playing and what I found was the same classic Halo: Reach experience that I loved to bits on the original Xbox 360 version and still love today. Not much can match the nostalgic feeling of playing this classic Xbox title but now with getting to use keyboard and mouse. While the graphics option and key binding issues are notable, they are hardly enough to detract from the overall experience.

So in conclusion: Is Halo: Reach on PC worth a purchase? Absolutely! 343i have done a great job of porting this game to PC and Halo itself definitely works fantastically on PC. I know that I am more than excited to get to experience the remainder of the Master Chief Collection as it comes out on PC hopefully over this coming year. After their showing with Reach, I am confident that the rest of the games will perform just as strong. 

PC gamers have waited 12 long years for this franchise to return and first impressions make it look like that is was well worth the wait.