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Three new Halo: Reach maps will be downloadable to all - for free - on Tuesday, November 30. But why wait to see what's in store? We flew to Bungie's brand new headquarters near Seattle to bring you back custom gameplay footage of each map: Anchor 9, Tempest and Breakpoint. Take a look...

Back in 2007, Bungie invited us to finish the fight. But in 2010 it looks like we’re going to be starting it all over again, as we look back to the events that lead to the elimination of the Spartan super soldiers, the destruction of a colonised planet and the galaxy-spanning war that took Master Chief three whole games to finally put an end to.

You've heard the haters: "Halo never changes." Halo 2 was just Halo 1 moved online. And Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with slightly prettier graphics. And ODST is just Halo 3, minus Master Chief and plus a smoky saxophone solo.

While this complaint ignores some major, game-altering additions over the years, you can't say it's entirely wrong. The basic Halo multiplayer formula hasn't evolved that much since 2001, for better or worse. Until now.

Halo: Reach is different. In many ways, drastically so. Here are the 11 improvements that will shock and surprise you most...

Earlier this week, I finished Halo: Reach. I met every new character, fought through every new environment, fired every new weapon and piloted every new vehicle. I've seen how the war between humanity and Covenant begins, and I know how the story of the Spartan Noble Team ends.

But I'm not here to boast… I'm here to share. Although our review can't post until Saturday, September 11, the folks at Bungie and Microsoft are allowing us to talk about two of the game's campaign missions now. Even more exciting? We recorded gameplay from both...

Bungie has finally released concrete details on what will arguably be the biggest game on 360 this year, Halo: Reach. In the latest installment in the award-winning, mega-selling series, you’re back in the armour of a Spartan and the story rewinds to the early days of the momentous human/Covenant conflict.

When Bungie called the first Halo ‘Combat Evolved’ they weren’t pissing about. Eight years after it was released it’s easy to forget just how different the first Halo was, with expansive environments, smart AI, and inventive sandbox combat. It doesn’t feel so different now that every first-person shooter has copied it, of course, but that’s all right because Bungie are coming back to evolve combat one more time and give everyone else something to copy for the next eight years.

I’ve never liked Halo. I’ve never liked it at all. In fact I’ve always found it to be utterly pointless. And I know I’m not alone. I know a lot of you feel the same way about Microsoft’s plasma-spraying juggernaut, despite the years of quadra-hype.

So having played through the same Halo: Reach multiplayer content as Charlie (check his preview first if you want the exhaustive run-down of what's new), I decided to write a preview just for you, my noble, sensible, Halo-hating brothers and sisters. And trust me, you are going to find it interesting.

The mission begins on a beach… but not just any beach. Noble Team, the squad of elite Spartan soldiers sent to save the planet Reach, has just air-dropped onto a swath of sand so long and so wide, and surrounded by such epic scenery, that the double Scarab battle near the end of Halo 3 immediately feels tiny and cartoonish by comparison...

Recently we were lucky enough to visit Double Fine's offices to play Tim Schafer's latest creation with none other than the man himself. We're glad he was there to guide us too, because Happy Action Theater is different from any party game we've ever played...