My Halo 3 Beta Impressions

I got into the multiplayer beta the way most people did: by purchasing Crackdown (a very fun game I might add). While there was a little hitch on the initial day of download I was very impressed by the download rate when everything was fixed and up and running. There is no intro movie, however, the opening screen shows a revolving earth with sections lit up corresponding to high population density. A very neat little background. I’ll get right into the gameplay and follow up with a breakdown of weapons and a few other nifty features.

The first thing you notice is that the graphics are nice. Everything looks very nice as it should and everything runs very smoothly. I have yet to encounter any frame rate drop. As it is Halo however, you immediately have to get to the killing. While the feel is still very “Halo” authentic it seems Bungie has really gone for a shift in the broader sense of game play. I have heard several people comment that it is different from Halo 2 in the sense that teamwork is essential for success, whereas in Halo 2 someone could charge ahead and have a decent chance of survival. This gels pretty well with my observations. The game types seem very well implemented for the three maps that have been released. The three maps being Valhalla, Snowbound, and High Ground. All three maps are loads of fun. My favorite map and game type is territories on Valhalla. Valhalla is the map with the “man cannons” which launch players to various parts of the map. Territories is the game type by which you score points by controlling certain areas for a set amount of time. It alternates between offense and defense and there are five territories that can be captured. While teamwork would be crucial for this style of game even in Halo 2, the makeover the weapons have gotten has made it even more so. It seems that it is much easier to die now. I will quickly go over the various weapons. Each one now has a role and none of them suck (like the needler from H2).

Assault Rifle – your default weapon packs quite a punch at mid to short range. Note, this is NOT dual wieldable.

SMG – no longer a default weapon, it seems to have a much greater capacity clip.

Plasma Rifle – this is actually a decent weapon, the projectiles move at a much greater rate making it much more difficult to dodge at longer ranges.

Needler – The New and Improved version. This kicks ass now, four to five needles can kill someone and they move extremely quickly.

Shotgun – the shotgun seems to have gotten a bit of a damage upgrade, it is not quite as useless at short range (as opposed to in the face range) and can kill people with a single shot to the chest instead of requiring a head shot as it used to.

Spiker – a short range dual wielder – generally makes a mess out of people.

Plasma Pistol – it’s exactly the same – devastating when dual wielded or followed up with a quick smack. I have also just been informed that this weapon when fully charged can stop a warthog’s engine and also drop an overshield.

Brute Shot – 6 round clip now and the grenades do almost no damage; unfortunately this is probably the only weapon that is garbage. I used to love this weapon.

Rocket Launcher – rockets move MUCH more slowly now, blast radius seems to have decreased as well.

Sniper Rifle – severely nerfed, the rate of fire has been dropped significantly, I personally like this much more.

Covenant Beam Rifle – mostly the same but with a smaller clip.

Covenant Carbine – I love this weapon, it may have gotten a slight power increase.

Battle Rifle – about the same as the carbine, there is some difference but fundamentally they fulfill the same role.

Spartan Laser – VERY fun weapon, this has the ability to one shot kill someone with a full overshield on, it also has a very long charge time and puts out a targeting laser which warns foes of their impending doom, difficult but satisfying to use.

Spike Grenade – a new grenade type, while the plasma sticks to people, the spike grenade sticks to anything, it is extremely satisfying to stick someone with this, it is very close range however.

Two new types of weapons have been added; these are heavy weapons. One is a rocket pod and the other is a dismantled turret. Both of these switch your view to 3rd person and decrease your movement and turn rate. Subsequently they are extremely powerful if wielded properly. The missile pod can lock onto vehicle without being able to see them and the dismantled turret just tears people apart. As a side note, the report of the dismantled turret can be heard everywhere on the map and has a properly fearsome effect.

So far I’m really enjoying the game. My first night was my honeymoon night in which I was playing against people of my skill level. Several nights ago I partied up with some higher level people and was teamed against people much superior to me. Subsequently I was slaughtered and demoralized. With that said, I believe the matchmaking still to be pretty good. At the moment the beta searches for people of similar skill level and then slowly expands the search until a game is found. The multiplayer interface is vastly improved over Halo 2. Things are much more intuitive.

After match stats are also a lot more interesting. There seem to be many different medal types now. From “kill joy” to “kill from the grave”. Kill joy is awarded for ending someone’s killing spree and kill from the grave is awarded for… well, I think it’s a bit obvious.

My final commentary will be on the films. I love replays, anyone who played Starcraft with me knows I’m a fiend for these things. I love watching games and commenting on them as the action unfolds and I also love seeing things from various angles. The film system for Halo 3 right now is rather primitive. All you can do is watch it from your view with no options to pause or rewind or any of that. Bungie is promising an extremely enhanced version of this sort of thing and I see tutorial films being shared amongst the community as a reality. One of the hardest things for a new player is learning a map and weapon locations. With this system in place I think it will help level the playing field a great deal as devious tricks will be much more quickly exposed and used by everyone as opposed to the 1337.

If you guys have any questions for me feel free to ask, I’ll be sure to respond to any commentary.