'Halo: Reach' featured online space combat

Early versions of Halo: Reach featured a dedicated space combat mode in multiplayer.

It was to be similar to the Long Night of Solace level in the campaign, which sees players battle Covenant ships in space.

"We joked about it from time to time and even had a rough version of it working very early on in development," said creative director Marcus Lehto to Game Informer (via CVG).

"But the mechanics of it were pretty silly 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."

The game's first map pack will be available to download from tomorrow.

> Click here to read our review of Halo: Reach