http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177702Halo: Reach, Bungie's upcoming new entry in the mega franchise, doesn't have the number 4 in its title for a reason: Canon-wise, they don't officially consider it the fourth entry of the Master Chief's saga.
"It's not a continuation of the Master Chief story, nor is it the start of a new trilogy. For us, it's a completely standalone game," said executive producer Joseph Tung to Edge Magazine (via Eurogamer).
Creative director Marcus Lehto explained further: "We desired to make a standalone title, something that is the culmination of a decade of our efforts building Halo titles." So while it may not technically be the "real" new entry in the Halo series, it appears that doesn't mean it'll be another more expansion-style offering like Halo 3: ODST, as Bungie says they're pushing the Xbox 360 harder than ever with Reach.
"We are definitely bending the Xbox as far as it'll bend," said campaign lead Chris Opdahl. That includes rebuilding the Elites from "the skeleton up," as well as having characters interact without helmets more often, allowing Bungie to use motion-capture acting for the first time in the series. And of course, there was the usual mysterious tease to keep fans hooked: "Without giving anything away, there's certainly some cool stuff we're doing in Reach that will encourage people to replay the campaign. There are going to be some big surprises in the campaign," Tung said.
Could Bungie be taking a page from the BioWare playbook and building branching campaign paths? Hopefully we'll find out more soon, although the big Halo: Reach reveal may not come until E3 takes place in June.
