I honestly was not happy at all with the storyline in Reach. I personally loved the Nylund books since they came out, and I'll admit, I was a bit biased as to who should have been in this game, Spartan-wise, in my opinion. But I've always been fond of the Spartan IIs...after all, I do dress up as Linda, go figure..(and to whoever mentioned Nylund's work being thrown out the window, props. I wasn't happy with the fact that next to nothing he wrote ties in with this game)
The plot in this game was just so..lacking. Especially the character development, I though. I know the Halo games aren't on the level of characterization like RPGs, (AceNat mentioned Mass Effect) but I felt nothing as each of the Spartans died. Maybe something when Carter said goodbye, but it was just like, eh. I remember when I played Republic Commando...when you have to leave Sev behind that really upset me. (And still does. Stupid Yoda...) The game felt like it was rushed, honestly. You run from here to there, and then everyone is dead. Boom.
I agree with Dogwizard about the cinematic where Noble 6 is watching everyone leave, and refuses to go down without a fight feel. That part did hit me. But more so in the way that it made me think of all the Spartan IIs that were currently on the planet. And are for a while..In First Strike, John goes back to meet up with everyone else, including Halsey, Fred, Kelly...(Forget who else was with them, off the top of my head!)
And to everyone going back and forth about Kat getting shot in the head, I think the people saying she would be alright are right. Linda "survives" being shot in the chest, back, and the head. I use the term survive loosely because she technically dies..John is holding her as she flatlines. The only reason she survives is because as soon as he gets to the Pillar of Autumn he throws her in a cryo tube, and later picks said cryo tube up, and then eventually Halsey revives her.
Just compared to canon from The Fall of Reach, everything seems so warped. I guess I just preferred the Nylund books more? I dunno. I did really like how they designed Reach, the planet. It very much reminded me of how I pictured it would be in the books. This was my opinion of the campaign, lol. Also, did anyone notice that Brutes were easier to kill that Elites?
Maybe I'm just bitter and liked the very original plot of Halo 1. After that it all seemed repetitive.