History Videogame / HaloReach

** Elite Ultras are a lot less durable than they were in ''Halo 2'', only having about 150 shields and 125 health (compared to 100 of each for Elite Minors) rather than the 300 shields and 300 health they had in ''Halo 2''. However, they're also a lot faster and more agile than they were in ''Halo 2'' as well, and tend to appear in greater numbers and carry explosive weaponry. Overall they're much more like EliteMooks than the BossInMooksClothing they were in ''Halo 2''.

* ArtEvolution: Compared to the original ''Halo'' trilogy, this game features a noticeably muted color palette to better resemble war footage, with environments either [[UsedFuture weathered with time] or [[SceneryGorn in the process of being destroyed]] compared to the more carefully maintained environments. The Mjolnir armor and its' variants shown in previous games was designed to be very slim, form fitting and self-contained. This game shows them with a number of [[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack tactical additions]] including raised shoulder pauldrons, ammo belts, supply pouches and tech add-ons. The InUniverse explanation is they are heavily modified from the standard, with Halsey even saying with contempt "What have you done to my armor?"

* ArtEvolution: Compared to the original ''Halo'' trilogy, this game features a noticeably muted color palette and a more intricate level of detail when it comes to the designs of environments, weapons and armor.

* RecycledINSPACE: The Battle of Thermopylae IN SPACE! Or the ''Film/SevenSamurai'' IN SPACE!.

Averted somehow, now in season 8 of the Master Chief Collection, you can change the body type and voice type.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfSce: During the glassing of New Alexandria, Kat exclaims that it produces a radiation flare of “40 million roentgens!” Even if that was reduced to a per-hour calculation, that would still be ridiculous. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster produced only twenty-thousand roentgens/hour at its peak, and that was the worst nuclear disaster ever, with fallout spreading over the vast majority of Europe. A radiation flare of that magnitude would have killed everyone on Reach more or less instantly.

** The team's dossiers explicitly state that each member of Noble has a preferred weapon, but with the sole exception of Jorge, everyone at some point or another chooses to utilize a different weapon, with Carter and Kat being particular offenders, as supplementary materials state they prefer the DMR and Pistol respectively, only to break out standard assault rifles for about half the missions they appear in.

** According to Bungie, Reach's Legendary difficulty is harder than any other ''Halo'' game. And of course, you could always turn on all the "Gold" skulls and go for the semiofficial "Mythic" difficulty.

* PurelyAestheticGender: It doesn't matter what gender you make Noble Six.

* UnwinnableByMistake: A bug with the elevators can cause you to get stuck in a tower in "New Alexandria".

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: In addition to imported species thanks to human terraforming, Reach is depicted as having some pretty noticeable native creatures, such as the ostrich-like moa and the massive killer primate-things, the Gutas. Problem is, Epsilon Eridani, Reach's parent star, is only about 800 million years old at most. Reach probably shouldn't have ''any'' native life yet (or at least nothing more advanced than primitive single-celled things). Possibly HandWaved by the presence of Forerunner structures, implying they introduced non-native species at some point.

* DummiedOut: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]/"dummied-in", as some of the features added into ''Halo: Reach'' were things that Bungie planned to add to previous ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' titles, but got dummied out back then. For example, both low-gravity levels and the sprint feature were [[WordOfGod discussed in a magazine interview]] by Bungie prior to the release of ''VideoGame/Halo2'', but they never made it into that game; with ''Reach'', they were finally able to add those features in without having to cut them out later.

* ADayInTheLimelight: When you play the co-op campaign, player 2 is absent from cutscenes and technically [[CanonForeigner doesn't exist]] in ''Halo'' canon. But [[spoiler:if at the [[LastStand Lone Wolf]] level, player 2 survives longer than player 1, (s)he gets the [[DyingMomentOfAwesome final death scene]] instead... Of course if you're playing over Live, this is where the game [[GoodBadBugs glitches out]], picking a white helmet at random and showing it on everyone else's screens in the final cutscene.]] (S)he also gets an [[http://kotaku.com/5587509/theres-a-seventh-member-of-halo-reachs-noble-team action figure]].

** Whip out the pistol for the first time, Noble Six will cock it. Pull it out again after that, he/she merely flips the safety off. And this happens until you pick up a new pistol or respawn. The Covenant pistol works similarly, with Noble Six flicking a switch on the side the first time and just pulling it out every time after that.

*** [[spoiler:Noble Six was told in the very first level that he/she was to stop acting as a "lone wolf" and be part of a team. He/she dies alone.]]

** Possibly overlapping with FridgeBrilliance; in [[spoiler: one mission, the player is thrown out of a Covenant ship by Jorge into space. He/She seemingly shakes off the re-entry with only a mild sprain or two. One would think "Hey, the Master Chief dropped from in atmosphere with a Foreunner plate protecting him, hit soft porous dirt, only survived by blind luck, and was still messed up for a while! What gives?" Well, if one pays close attention to the cutscenes, you can spot an armored pack on Noble Six's back, just before he/she's flung from the ship, labeled 'Re-Entry Unit'.]]

* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:The ending states this is what happened in spirit. Which means it's implied that Noble Six could have been one of the heroes/heroines of the original trilogy had he/she chosen to evacuate along with everyone else.]]

* FissionMailed: Noble Six's last objective is to [[spoiler: survive. (S)he doesn't, and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption can't]]]].

* IWorkAlone: Noble Six's rep. S/he's even referred to as the former Trope name "Lone Wolf".

* FamousLastWords:
** [[spoiler: Carter-A259, just before ramming his Pelican into a Scarab:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Emile:''' Hit 'em hard, boss.]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Carter:''' You're on your own, Noble. Carter ''out''.]] ''(boom!)''
** [[spoiler:Emile-A239: I'm ready! How 'bout you?!]]
** [[spoiler:Jorge-052: Tell them to make it count.]]
** [[spoiler:Noble Six: Negative. I have the gun. Good luck sir.]]

* LonelyPianoPiece: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_cF8UlwOZE "There Will Be Another Time..."]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:The deaths of Noble Team. Carter and Jorge both have a HeroicSacrifice, but it doesn't stop or deter the Covenant. Emile kills a Zealot, and is then quickly impaled from behind. Noble Six remains on the planet, and is finally overwhelmed and killed by the endless forces. Kat's death is the most brutal version of this. She may be a genius Spartan, but if her shields are down and she's not paying attention to her surroundings, she can be killed by a sniper round to the head like everyone else.]]

* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: Played straight in Spartan vs. Spartan multiplayer, but averted in the Spartan vs. Elite Invasion gametypes for the first time in the series; Elite shields regenerate slightly faster, their health will return to full given time, and they can dodge-roll, while the Spartans can take more damage.

* FromBadToWorse: First the missing patrol turns out not to have been captured by rebels, but killed by Covenant troops. Then you find a mysterious structure [[spoiler:that is some kind of teleportation and cloaking device, so you disable the shields and a UNSC frigate is send in to destroy it. While debris is still coming down, the frigate is shot to pieces by a colossal supercarrier that was just decloaked right above it. One level later the carrier is successfully destroyed, but not even ten seconds after that a massive Covenant fleet arrives that starts to completely wipe out all life on the planet...]]

* ForegoneConclusion: "From the beginning, you know the end."

* GameplayAllyImmortality: Noble Team is invulnerable in gameplay. Unfortunately for them, [[CutsceneIncompetence cutscenes exist]].

** They tell you that the large Tyrant-class AA-guns are completely invulnerable on the outside, this is an outright lie, as a great many speedrunner and vet alike know that it '''IS''' in fact vulnerable and can be destroyed from the outside, the rear-end of the gun's turret is especially vulnerable to concentrated heavy weapons fire.

* GoOutWithASmile: While we do not see the actual moment of death, [[spoiler: the last we see of Jorge is him smiling at Noble Six before throwing the latter off the supercarrier so they're a safe distance away when it's destroyed, telling them to "make it count"]].