Bungie's final hurrah to the iconic series they created, Halo: Reach's prequel storyline, while treading familiar ground to the developer's previous efforts, offered a way for the company to shake up the franchise's iconic gameplay one final time before they moved on. Reach just edges it over Gears 3 simply because it managed to innovate and modernise the ageing gameplay that the series had stuck to for almost a decade at this point. Shaking up the way multiplayer operated, and introducing features such as perks and classes, Bungie was able to re-energise a classic game for a modern audience, setting the franchise back onto a course of relevancy that's kept Halo burning strong to this very day. While it might not have been the finale many players wanted from Bungie, Halo: Reach's emotional narrative managed to humanise a franchise that for so long felt impenetrable, and offered a surprisingly downbeat but a suitably explosive and poignant ending to the developer's reign over the series as a whole.
Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.
