Geekscape Reviews: ‘Halo: The Fall of Reach’

The Halo franchise is quite expansive. Spanning over numerous books, comics, video games, two live-action series, and animated shorts, Halo has grown to be a cultural phenomenon that’s hard to stay away from. I was a little over ten years old when I first played Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. Being so young, I skipped over the DOOM craze and had dabbled in Star Wars: Dark Forces on my family’s old Macintosh. Halo was my first real FPS and it was also the first world in which I totally immersed myself in. In doing this, I eventually made the trip to Barnes & Noble in an attempt to find novels based on the game’s lore. I was successful and ended up buying the box set, which included The Flood, First Strike, and The Fall of Reach.

It was a story that delved into a time before the Master Chief became, well, Master Chief. It opened the door to new worlds in the Halo universe, new characters, some of which I waited fourteen years to see in a video game. Just as Halo 5: Guardians, Blue Team plays an integral part in The Fall of Reach, so it made sense to release the animated adaptation of The Fall of Reach alongside Halo 5.

This animated adaptation of The Fall of Reach chronicles the Spartan II’s upbringing from the time of UNSC conscription to the end of their first mission against the Covenant. The adaptation tries to play well with Eric Nylund’s words, but just like every adaptation, there’s just something missing. However, most of the fan-favorite scenes from the book are included. Having read the book numerous times, I can say this was enjoyable to watch. With each key scene, it was like remembering a part of my childhood spent in those pages.

The story is separated into three chapters that center around John 117. Through this, we see the Master Chief become who he is by the time Halo: Combat Evolved rolls around. More importantly, we see just how he brings Blue Team together. The chemistry between Chief and Blue Team was never really shown or talked about before Halo 5. Seeing how John interacted with Kelly, Fred, and Linda was nice and adds to a much needed Master Chief story for Halo 5‘s campaign.

The animation leaves more to be desired. Some of the story’s key moments were lost on me because of the animation. However, this may not be the case for everyone. While I’m sure a lot of hard work was put into this, it’s hard to judge it when other installments in video form to the Halo lore have been better. The inconsistency in quality over the course of fourteen years gets to you. This problem was bound to arise when you have so many different artists and studios working to create an expansive world such as this one. Not only that, but with each artist comes a different vision of the universe. I just didn’t happen to enjoy this one too much.

The Fall of Reach was produced and directed by SEQUENCE, which is also responsible for creating the terminals found in Halo 4 and Halo 2: Anniversary. This 65-minute take on the novel makes this SEQUENCE’s most ambitious project to date.

It’s hard to gauge the demographic that The Fall of Reach was intended for. If it was for the fans, this animated take on a beloved tale lacks in a few key departments. If it was for newcomers to the Halo franchise or Halo lore, then this seems like a suitable crash course in how the Spartan II’s came into being. For those of you interested, the official synopsis is as follows:

Based on the Halo novel of writer Eric Nylund, the 65-minute feature tells the dramatic tale of the origin and intrigue behind the SPARTAN program that propelled characters like the Master Chief and Dr. Catherine Halsey into the pantheon of Halo lore. The story reveals the events that brought Master Chief and Blue Team together, including their Spartan training and their daring mission to strike back at the Covenant during the first days of the deadly alien invasion. 

Overall, I would say Halo: The Fall of Reach is a good buy for anyone looking to buy a gift for a die-hard Halo fan. If you’re a collector of all things Halo, you shouldn’t feel too guilty about picking this up either. If it were up to me, I’d have everyone read the novel by Eric Nylund before taking a swing at this animated feature.

Halo: The Fall of Reach is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.