Well I finally got round to picking up another Xbox 360 after picking up an elite for the fantastic price of 124 euro. The reason ? well mainly for Halo Reach and the chance to play the multiplayer beta that comes with ODST. It's funny as Halo as a franchise frustrates me more than any other game in so far as it has amazing potential which never seems realised. Yet no other game can get me as excited as the announcement of a new entry in the series. The first game sold me, like so many others, on the original Xbox all those years ago and it was one level in particular that blew me away. The Silent Cartographer has to be one of the all time greatest levels in gaming history and ever since I've longed for a Halo game that could recapture that magic. It was with great expectation then that I loaded up Halo Reach for the first time, even though its multiplayer only I hoped it would give some sense of what I could expect from the campaign in terms of gameplay, graphics, sound etc. I was disappointed. It played just like Halo 3 in my eyes and since that game was released things had changed. It felt old and slow compared to the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield and the lack of one hit kills due to the shield system left me feeling incredible frustrated. Essentially like every other Halo game since the release of Halo 2 I was once again disappointed. But then I decided to play the ODST campaign itself and any doubts I had about the quality of the single player in "Reach" were expelled. In short ODST is the best Halo since the original with a great atmosphere, compelling story, stirring soundtrack (it really is lovely) and lots of wonderful little moments that stir the imagination. Although it looks dated the core game is a fantastic foundation for the next game in the series and the technological improvements as seen in the multiplayer beta means the next Halo game just might be the full package in terms of its campaign.