Given the large number of Spartans and the planetary scale of the battle shown in the trailer, the prospect of large-scale battles instead of skirmishes looks promising. Another thing to note is that the promotional screenshot shows the silhouettes of a group of five unique looking characters all holding different weapons, which could mean this game is squad based in nature. This kind of gameplay could be carried out in a number of ways. Some have speculated that it could be a tease at some sort of Team Fortress type class system for the multiplayer and others seem to think it could be all the members of the squad that fight by your side in the campaign like in the Gears of War franchise. Either way, expect to see some specialized soldiers when more details for Reach come out. The last detail regarding Halo: Reach that many are discussing is the mention of a “winter contingency” in the trailer that was shown at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Many are confused as to what this means because nothing like this has ever been mentioned in all of Halo’s lore. Because of this, there is little interpretation that I have found that points to any particularly well-grounded meaning, so I will offer up my two interpretations as to what “winter contingency” could possibly mean.
The first, more basic, interpretation is that Halo: Reach will include a large amount of snowy environments. With games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2 showcasing a highly detailed, winterized aesthetic, the folks over at Bungie may simply be jumping on the bandwagon. However, I feel like this interpretation may be a bit too obtuse to really be what was being hinted at in the trailer. My second interpretation is that “winter contingency” is in reference to the initiation of tactics designed to withstand the ‘glassing’ of a planet. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘glassing,’ it means to bombard a planet with plasma weaponry until the surface geology is converted into a mineral called lechatelierite, which is similar to glass. What this could mean is that the next Halo game could occur slightly after the “Fall of Reach,” when the surface has been glassed and you could be placed in the shoes of the last arriving Spartan troops. This move would place players in the unique position of fighting a losing battle, and could give Bungie the opportunity to tell a more emotive tale of loss and regret. After all, Sierra-259 ended his transmission with ominous words of a man that seems to know his fate: “We’re not going anywhere.”
