In Halo: Reach you're Noble Six, the new guy -- the sixth man in an elite team of Spartans. So what's it like playing Halo alongside five other AI-controlled super soldiers? The truth is you aren't always flanked by a full team of the illest killers humanity has ever engineered. That would just be unfair.

Instead, Reach often pairs you with just one of your new pals at a time. Such is the case in "Nightfall" and "Tip of the Spear," the fourth and fifth missions of the campaign, respectively, which showcase what executive producer Joe Tung calls the game's "breadth of experience." Realizing this phrase only vaguely suggests what might make Reach special, Tung offers a more precise comparison of the two missions: "They're different in tone."

Your objective in Reach, as in any Halo game, remains largely the same throughout: eliminate hostiles "by any means necessary" -- words barked in a trite line of dialogue during Tip of the Spear that rather neatly sum up what this game is all about. Of course, your means are never quite the same.