It's over-rated as any other Halo game (except 2), but it's one of the few Halo games, I actually think is good.
Story
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Halo: Reach is a prequel, and takes place shortly before the very first Halo game. You play as Noble 6, who just joined the Noble team on the planet Reach, one of the last human interstellar colonies, and the military hub of United Nations Space Command (UNSC). The game starts with the Noble team, investigating why a relay station went offline. Initially suspecting its human rebels (which is never touched upon oddly), the team discovers that the Covenant is behind it, and pretty soon, they'll be fighting to defend the planet of Reach.
If you played the previous Halo games, you'll pretty much figure out how it ends, but it's still a good concept. The story is actually a bit good, it adds a lot to the Halo universe, so fans will be satisfied, and it actually has that Star Wars feeling to it, where everything gets really dark and hope is completely lost, and then by the end, there's a small hope and leads up to a familiar scene from the first Halo., and the ending is pretty good too.
If only the story was more emotional. The characters are bland military types, and while they can be likeable, they're not exactly someone you'll cry and moan about if they would die, which is the main problem with the story, and besides the ending, the game story just isn't really memorable, but for what it's worth, the story is ok. It really sells on the whole defending planet feeling, but that's about it.
7.5
Gameplay
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Surprising, or unsurprisingly, the gameplay hasn't really evolved much over the last decade. What you get is the same old Halo that you've been playing for the last decade, with the same weapons, mechanics, etc. The game is still fun though, and though things haven't been changed, it still works, though it does need some adjust meant, given that enemies has shields that needs to get depleted before killed, but that only applies to the folks who's spend the last year or so playing Call of Duty.
That's not to say there have been some tweaks though. The magnum is back (useless information, I apologize), and dual wielding has been removed, which surprisingly won't be missed. There's also assassination kills, which is triggered by holding down the melee button when attacking enemies from behind, which doesn't really play any part, unless you want to kill someone in a stylish fashion.
Obviously, most people are probably interested in Halo: Reach for its multiplayer, and I have to admit, that the multiplayer is pretty awesome. This is where you can really see where most of the effort has been put into. There's many modes, including the standard Slayer (Deathmatch) and King of the Hill, with new modes like The Elite (Covenant destroy installations, Spartans defends) and Invasion (there the covnant has to find a navigation core and bring it to their ship, while the Spartans has to prevent that). There's so many modes and variations of them, that it you'll be playing for years and will face a lot of variety.
There have also been some tweaks and additions to the multiplayer as well. Players earn credits, which is spent on customizing your own character, as well as your standard leveling up system. It looks quite good, and it even shows up during the cut-scenes in the campaign, which adds more incentive to customize the characters. The only thing that the game needs is challenges, similar to those found in Call of Duty, but that's a minor flaw.
Other changes includes different load outs (or classes if you prefer), which also includes different power ups, like sprint, jet packs (which are pretty awesome), armor cameo and amour lock, which I wish weren't included. It doesn't really help in multiplayer, as your opponents will rather just stand and wait for the armor lock to go away. The melee attack has been downgraded too, which prevent one hit kills as soon as shields are gone, which is a good thing.
Furthermore, Firefight has finally gotten Xbox Live match making, which fixes the only flaw the mode had. Other than that, it's the same as in ODST, but I wouldn't have it in any other way. The forge mode has also been updated, but I never tried out this mode myself, so I can't really explain it. It is a bit disappointing that there's only 9 multiplayer maps though, which is a bit low.
As awesome as the multiplayer is, a game like this must have a single player campaign, that is able to stand on its own, and in an age where we're constantly treated to amazing variation and set pieces, Halo: Reach's campaign, feels like it was made several years ago. While the campaign does have one or two really good moments (and a more exciting car section), the campaign is a bit dull. It's usually about getting from one place to another, killing everything in sight, and there isn't a lot happening, and it doesn't really help, that the game's definition of great battles, is having you and your mates defending a certain spot. The campaign is a bit uneventful, and though it has a space battle section, it's ultimately too short and only add very little variety, but at least their controls works pretty well. And in typical Halo fashion, the enemies' AI is really good, while the AI for your mates is bad, though it's not as horrible as the previous Halo games... surprisingly.
The campaign is better than Halo 3 though, as Reach actually does have one or two good moments, but it's nowhere as good as the many FPS game over the last few years, like Bioshock & Call of Duty.
The difficulty is challenging, in a good way. Though there are a few places where you'll die several times, it'll never feel like the game has an unfair advantage against you. There's also an option to play the campaign through co-op, which is a lot of fun.
The campaign takes around 8-10 hours to complete, which is a decent length, but it'll take longer on Legendary (though you won't get a special ending, like in the previous games), and you'll defiantly return to the game, for its multiplayer.
8.5
Graphics
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Halo 3 didn't look as good, as once hoped, but Halo: Reach has noticeably improved. Things just look better, the weapons have more details and the lightning is just a lot better, and the physics does allow for some hilarious deaths in the multiplayer. However, it doesn't really feel like the game's pushing the machine, and in comparison to some of the other games available today, the game doesn't look as good. There isn't any visual bugs, but the frame can go down when things become to frantic.
8.5
Sound
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The voice acting is generally good, but a bit odd. No matter what happens, the characters never really speak in a emotional tone, even if they're about to die, which is ironic when the story lacks emotion. The music however, is excellent and reminds one of the finest soundtracks this year.
9.5
Overall
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So, is Halo: Reach over-rated? Yea… But not as much as Halo 3 & ODST. The campaign is better than Halo 3 and the multiplayer is as good as ever. However, the game is nowhere as good as some people will make it out to seem. The story lacks emotion, and the campaign is uneventful. That is the main reason as to why I think it's over-rated, but it's still a good game. Halo and Xbox fans will probably (or already have) buy the game. If your looking for a good FPS, then you can certainly do worse than Halo: Reach, but if your looking for a good story, go look elsewhere.