Halo: Reach presents fans’ first opportunity ever to explore other Spartans, besides the Master Chief, outside of the Halo novels. The members of Noble Team include five Spartan IIIs – including the playable character, Noble 6 – and one Spartan II, all of which are unique to the game, having never been mentioned in any prior Halo lore.

The Halo: Reach multiplayer Beta test, held last March, was Bungie’s second such experiment. The first one was for Halo 3, and it required players to purchase Crackdown, a totally unrelated title, in order to play. Reach‘s Beta, on the other hand, only required players to own ODST, which most Halo fans did anyway.

The end of Halo: Reach‘s fourth mission, Nightfall, revealed that the Covenant are invading the agricultural planet in greater numbers than anyone could have predicted. By the start of next mission, Tip of the Spear, the war for Reach has really begun.

Inching along a midnight­dark ridge, my Spartan brother beside me, I think to myself, “I’ve done this before.” The thought makes me giddy, and memory sets in to make me fall in love with yet another Halo game.

For some, few things elicit more excitement and sweet remembrance than the sizzle of a crackling blue plasma grenade or the distinctive, smoky trail of a sniper round betraying the location of a distant fellow player. Plenty of gamers made the jump to the Xbox generation of consoles without many expectations, having only recently begun to grow tired of shooting the crap out of one another in Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark on the N64.

In Halo 3, Bungie introduced the Forge so that players could customize their multiplayer experience. It provided the tools necessary to adjust which items and weapons appeared on a map, where players spawned, what their objectives were, and more. On levels released as DLC post launch, creative players could even use pieces of geometry, like walls and ramps, to alter levels to an even greater degree.

Three comrades and I are holed up at the top of a heavily fortified slope, brows dripping sweat and hands white ­knuckled, clutching our weapons (controllers) as if they were our frantically beating hearts themselves. I hear the beat of Covenant war drums in the distance, and several Phantom drop ships enter my field of vision. They spread out in front of me, coming to a hovering stop high off the ground at strategic points throughout the battlefield. From the insectile hulls pour dozens of majestically bestial Elite, their mandibles snapping wildly in anticipation.

In part II, we talk about the future of Bungie, Halo and the Master Chief, character cameos in Reach, space battles, and more.

Bungie’s Community Director Brian Jarrard is a serious authority on all things Halo, be that the subtleties of Reach‘s campaign narrative or sweet custom Firefight scenarios like “SN1PERTIMEZ.” That’s why we were so excited to get a chance to chat with him last week in San Francisco.

Bungie, I swear to god, you have been too good to me all my life.