While Forge in Halo 3 was specifically made for map creation and editing, there are some players who always approached it from a different angle... and that continues in Reach:

Pure Evil (by NCEW)

Death Star (By Meka crispy)

What is that thing?! (by xMethodosx)

Stonehenge Massacre (by Magic Spud)

Awesome work, keep it up, guys! 

There's a ton about Halo: Reach I love, but one thing in particular has taken me by surprise: Challenges.

Challenges come in two flavors, Daily and Weekly, and you can access them by pressing the Start button on your Xbox LIVE-enabled profile and by navigating to, yep, you guessed it, Challenges.

You can also find their home here, if you're not near your console.

Bungie's updating these regularly with objectives you can complete for Credits, the money you spend to buy fancy new things for your armor in Reach's Armory. I have yet to spend any of my own hard-earned Credits (holding out for confetti!), but that has not curbed my addiction to Challenges. Every night, almost immediately after I log in, I dive right into the Challenges menu to get an idea on how I should be gearing my playstyle for the evening, or I simply make a run for one of the higher Credit challenges right off the bat. And being a fan of the entire breadth of the Reach experience, it's great to see Campaign and Firefight getting lots of love, in addition to Multiplayer.

Hats off to the folks at Bungie who implemented this new tool and who feed its content regularly! Well done, I'm hooked!

My next Challenge: Play excessive quantities of Reach again tonight without angering my better half. How many credits would that be?

If you enjoy mixing your video games with sweet and savory treats, you'll love these Halo: Reach sugar cookies. Conocted by the talented pastry chef over at Daydreamer Desserts, their primary ingredients consist of butter, powdered sugar, egg, flour, and vanilla. If you happen to have those things somewhere in your general vicinity, there's an easy to follow recipe (complete with pictures!) so you can attempt to make your own batch. Otherwise, simply join me in drooling over the visions of various confectionery delights that are undoubtedly dancing in your head now!

Halo: Reach Sugar Cookies by Daydreamer Desserts

Came across a few striking Forge World remakes over the weekend including impressive, early versions of Lockout, Hang ‘em High, The Pit and Foundry. I’m sure there will be others down the road when folks get used to the enormous toolset Reach offers this time around, but to see this level of quality this early is pretty impressive.

My favorite so far has been the many attempts to recreate the Halo: Combat Evolved classic, Damnation. Most are works-in-progress, but you can see where they're going, like this one for example, which definitely captures the atmosphere of the original:

Purgatory, by Jimmy2do:

I recommend that you give it and the others a look. And even more than that, give Forge World a spin yourself. Reach’s Forge represents something particularly remarkable this time around—easy to use, but insanely powerful. Plus, it's just a lot of fun to kill time in.

Evan 'Antithesis' Kirkpatrick is a Halo fanatic who finds himself partial to creating incredible works of art out of clay. His Halo-themed sculptures—which span back to the days of Halo 3—are nothing short of spectacular, and his latest batch of Noble Team figures are no exception. Go bask in the glory that is Carter-A259, Catherine-B320, Jun-A266, Emile-A239, and Jorge-052, and perhaps you'll even find some inspiration to make your own!


Antithesis: Halo Sculptures

Gamepro went out and talked to actual scientists and various other engineers about the science of Halo: Reach. The result?  Well, see for yourself.

GamePro 9/16