The level design and combat in the single player I feel was meant to be played competitively with a Co-op partner... as it's the equivalent of firefight but you move through various sets underlined with a narrative of some sort. For this reason: this is why the campaign contains a lot of MP and firefight maps seen within in other playlists.
The same areas and level designs correlate between the campaign and the MP/firefight portion: [i]is it Multiplayer ripping maps off of the Campaign? Or the Campaign ripping maps off of Multiplayer?
In my opinion it's neither: each part of the map and level were designed in such a way that it allows a great deal of comprehension and accessibility in moving throughout the map, these design elements I think should be treated as a universal and independent entity that allows for the best gaming experience possible.
AND... I actually enjoy the multiplayer. I have more to say about that- but it would go on and on.
The Multiplayer varies a lot from one playlist to another, while this in and of itself isn't neccessarily bad, it does however compartmentalizes the overall experience into various different selections... so chances are, that any two typical fans of the game will most likely prefer to play a specific playlist over another; which then makes it harder to feel like your a part of the community (because the criteria to determine one's skill is varied and sporadic considering the very nature of the game) so people who are looking for a steady focused community will most likely have a hard time finding one here.
What makes Reach a little more different is the feild of view, and what is contained in that view that makes the difference Reach and the other Halos. Before we didn't have to accomodate sprinting, but now we have that at our disposal levels tend to be expand more horizontally... making it harder or less likely for someone to succeed in manuvering around obstacles (also the Jet pack is accomodated... in more subtle ways however). There were certain levels that got this combination down just right, and it was an overall worthwhile experience to pretty much anyone who decides to play it.
The game is meaningless to newcomers: and by that I mean that if someone decided to pick up the game today, and start playing it from the beginning... I would imagine they would be immediately overwhelmed by the vast difference of ranked and skilled players in Halo Reach. I doubt they would want to play purely just to grind through the ranks considering their efforts would be borderline meaningless and overlooked: so why bother?
My gripes with Halo Reach is one part technical detail and another with Art direction as a whole...
The movement doesn't have inertia, so when you come across an obstacle your vision is jerky/squirrely (and the Spartans feel like plastic)... that with the art direction of the game: It feels like playing Legos in real life. That's the one thing I feel is holding this game back from having a more emmersive experience.