Reach had MP space combat

As part of an interview with US magazine Game Informer, Bungie revealed that it was working on a space combat multiplayer mode early on in Halo: Reach's development.

Reach's creative director Marcus Lehto explained that despite the developer achieving a rough version of the the mode, it was ultimately ditched as the gameplay wasn't up to scratch and other elements in development took priority.

"The mechanics of it were pretty silly," Lehto explains, "and we very quickly realised that the resulting gameplay experience wouldn't hit the bar we were aiming for, nor justify the amount of work required.

With so many features and so much content already committed, Reach was an incredibly ambitious project on an already aggressive schedule."

In the end the space combat instead remained a component of the main story campaign as part of the Long Night of Solace level.

The interview comes on the eve of the Noble Map Pack release on Xbox Live, which you can see videos of here.