The latest Game Informer graced my mailbox upon my return from work this afternoon, and despite the notable downgrade in paper stock, I was thrilled to find the cover feature was Halo: Reach.

Granted, we all already knew about this, but that didn't keep me from flipping straight to the middle of the issue. The only other thing I noticed on the way was an interview with Bobby Kotick, featuring a full-page photo of him that left me thinking, "That hair does not flatter his fat face at all."

Anyway, there were a lot of points that have seriously whetted my appetite for... whenever the hell Reach is coming out. Here are the items that grabbed me the most.

Spartan IIIs

The bulk of your party, including the main character, are from the Spartan III program, the cheaper and less tricked-out followup to the awesome, but labor- and cost-intensive Spartan II program. I mean, really, there's only so often you can get away with a massive kidnapping spree, elite shadow government agency or not. It's nice to see these guys get some spotlight time outside of the books, and seems like a perfect step to take after the trilogy and ODST.

While not as invincible as their bigger brothers, the IIIs are still a step up from your average dood, and have their own sort of power armor to boot, which makes them a great middle ground between Spartan II murderfests and ODST stick and move tactics and teamwork. I hope this really opens a much broader range of tactical options, and from some of the other things mentioned in the article, this seems to be likely.

Armor Abilities

Replacing equipment (mines, bubble shields, et cetera) from Halo 3 are interchangable armor abilites. Like equipment, you can only have one at a time, but rather than a one-time burn, these babies have a recharge bar. If anything, it sounds a lot like the Action Abilities from Borderlands, minus the customizability and leveling. The only ones mentioned were a sprint mod, that enables speed bursts, and good ol' active camouflage, but I'm sure there'll be plenty where that came from. Personally, I wouldn't mind a melee booster, and I could see the radar jammer getting the conversion to armor ability as well.

It's nice to see Bungie is putting more thought into the fact that war isn't just about what you have to shoot at the enemy, but how you go about shooting them.

Assassinations

Like a blow to the back of the head, but with pretty animations. Like something out of FarCry, holding the melee button and waiting for an enemy to pass you while in hiding will, if your stealth is successful, trigger an assassination kill. I'm pretty sure they're going to be unblockable, totally sweet, and I can't wait to see the reactions they get if assassinations are enabled in versus multiplayer.

Found Vehicles

It would seem that abandoned vehicles, civilian and military alike, are going to pop up here and there as you progress through the game, and this time around, they're all supposed to be drivable. Unless they're blown up, anyway. I love this idea, even if most of the vehicles turn out to still be less useful than the trusty Warthog or a good Scorpion, as it makes things feel a good deal more real, and keeps the gamemakers from turning every usable-looking vehicle into a burning scrap heap.

Kickin' It Old School

The shield and health system from Halo the first returns, which I welcomed heartily in ODST. I expect a tougher shield than ODST's stamina bar, of course. Another throwback is the trimming of grenade fat: no more incendiaries or brute stickies. The latter makes a lot of sense, as spike grenades are redundant with plasmas, and the Sangheili are the ones leading the charge this time around, anyway. Bungie's justification is that it cuts out a lot of distracting inventory management. I'm okay with that, because it's not like I ever use incendiaries anyway. When I do, I just end up on fire myself.

It's So Pretty! Comb Its Hair!

Judging by the screenshots, the graphical overhauls seen in the second trailer (the one from the VGAs, not the "hey here's a title look" teaser) are consistent throughout the entire game. The engine's been tweaked to handle so much more, and they've brought in some motion-capture work to increase the fluidity of the characters. Bungie even called in Image Metrics to help with the facial animations. If the name doesn't ring a bell, they've worked on many a game in the past (google it), and they made this:



I'm starting to drool a little bit, but there's still some stuff I want to hear. Tell me ODST's Buck (and maybe even Dare) show up, even briefly. A Master Chief cameo would be cute, but please don't let him hang around too much. And for the love of crap, make aerial combat a bit more interesting if it comes up.

I don't know about any of you, but I've already got a play-date for co-op on release day; Bungie has confirmed multiplayer parity with Halo 3, as in, all the modes that are out already, and they're throwing in some new ones. I'll see you in line at the inevitable GameStop midnight release.

(Seriously, if you're into Halo at all, find someone who has one of those Edge cards and steal their mag for a bit, there's plenty I didn't even touch on here. Make sure you have someplace to sit down. Bring lotion.)