So the time has come for me to tell you all about the Halo 3 beta. Before I do, lemme give a little background (check here for more posts about games):
Halo came out originally for the Xbox. In short it quickly became one of the most popular games of all time. It revolutionized first person shooting genre on consoles, it had a epic storyline, fantastic graphics, addicting gameplay. A perfect storm of a killer-app (a software so great it proves the value of the underlying technology, in this case the original Xbox).
Halo 2 came out something like 3-4 years ago, again on the original Xbox. It was a fantastic game in it’s own right. It brought Xbox Live into the Halo equation as well as the fantastic concept of dual wielding guns (FPS games are all about innovation nowadays). It was a great game but not much more (in my opinion at least). The story was a bit more boring than halo 1, the multiplayer was not as unanimously loved by everyone but overall it was still the same fantastic game as number 1. Don’t get me wrong, it IS a fantastic game.
Now, Microsoft is bringing us Halo 3 4 months early (September release for the final game at the moment) in the form of a public beta. You can get in buy buying Crackdown (another good game) and downloading it through the main menu in Crackdown. It’s available for about a month between middle of May to middle of June. Thousands are playing already and about a week ago I bought Crackdown to get in on the action and report back here! So without further ado, here is my thoughts:
Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta
Introduction
I love this game already. I’ve played only for about 3-4 hours or so but minus the first 2-3 minutes of initial awkwardness from my longtime vacation from Halo in general, I quickly got my bearings back. This game is the same thing we’ve loved for years but shinier and BETTER. Everything I’ve loved about both of the last 2 games are present…. except now in beautiful Xbox 360 renderings. The movement is smooth, the graphics are vivid and detailed, the controls are natural, and overall it just feels really polished. To think that this is not the final version is just even more titillating (whatever that means!). I think this game is an instant classic before it’s even released. Great job Microsoft. Now, onto the specifics…
Look and fee
The Graphics are nothing short of next generation. I think they aren’t as shiny/grainy as Gears of War and thus there are a few complaints about that but I think the look and feel is perfectly appropriate considering how many people would bitch and moan if they changed the style of the graphics. After all, its not always about the graphical prowess and more and more lately, its all about the style. Case in point in Grand Theft Auto vs Saint’s Row. Still, the graphics are GREAT! A huge step up from Halo 2 ( I even did PIP on my TV and did a side by side comparison). I think a good way to put it is that, Halo 2 had such a good sense of graphical style that you don’t really notice the graphics aren’t the best in the world. Instead you just fill in the blanks with your head. Halo 3 fills in those blanks; so right off the bat you see this game you’re like “Oh, this is Halo 3? It looks kinda like Halo 2!” Until you see Halo 2 again, then you’re like “WOW, thats a LOT better!”.
Sounds
Not too much to say about this, music and sound effects have always been perfectly good in the Halo series, and nothing in this beta suggests otherwise. I noticed some more new “Death Groans” – which are the sounds you make when you get killed in different ways. Some are pretty funny. Sweet new iteration of the halo ambiance music too, can’t wait to hear the whole theme on like electric guitar or something!!!!#@!#
Vehicles
The mongoose is the new vehicle that I’ve seen in the game. It is like a small warthog. Faster, more maneuverable and as far as I can tell, only fits 1 person. Great for running flags I imagine, but not too useful for the smaller maps available in the beta. Everything else seems about the same. The Ghost looks cooler than before, but maybe a little weaker?
Maps
We get to play 3 maps in the beta. They are all pretty cool. My favorite is the snow one and my least favorite is the huge Valhalla though I’d admit I haven’t played that one as much. They are all very pretty, detailed, simple (and yet complex enough as well) enough to memorize and have fun playing after just a few games. I’m sure all the improvements with Xbox Live since the last system will make any big map mistakes bungie makes a non issue with Halo 3.
Weapons
The weapons are not really the focal point of the game. I mean obviously you shoot and kill everyone with weapons and whatnot, but this game feels more like they fine tuned all the weapons rather than created any drastic new ones. For instance, the Covenant/alien side was missing a decently powered, dual wield-able gun (the human SMG) and now they have it with the Spiker (2 of which is an excellent combo) Most of the other weapons are more or less the same, the assault rifle from Halo 1 is back and much more solid of a weapon too. I’ve got absolutely no gripes with Halo 3’s weapons. Spartan Laser? Yes it is as cool as it sounds.
What’s New? Items, Stats, Ranking, MORE!
This is where Halo 3 really ups the stakes…
Items are what the mysterious X button now activates. So far there is the portable jumper, the bubble shield, and the energy dampener. They all do exactly what it sounds like they do (a portable “push upper”, a shield that blocks all fire but allows people to pass through, a field that kills all shields). I kinda think that these are things that are gonnna be a real treat for the advanced players when they start to really get used to having them around. When you suck, it’s not super easy to find great uses for these items right off the get go but after a while you definitely start to get a feel for how powerful these assets can be to your CTF team for instance or other gameplay modes.
Another really cool feature is the stats - in short you can go to bungie.com and see your ranking much like in some CS servers out there. You can see the games you’ve played, your score for those games, what weapons you used, games played, times played…etc. From your rankings you can also explore the rankings of other players which is really cool because it gives the game a much more involving feeling. It creates meaning to how well you do and allows you to see your improvement in numbers. Very cool. If they can really master this area, this type of feature could really revolutionize online gaming for consoles by stealing even more of the players’ mind share even when they aren’t on their console.
Ranking is similar from Halo2 but the user experience seems to be much improved. You are matched up much faster, the menus and pop-ups are all lightening fast, and the ranking system is very simple and clear. I didn’t actually do too much halo 2 on live but this is definitely nice.
Bottom Line
This game is awesome. It’s ready to be released as it is and including the few bugs and annoying factors it is probably already one of the best games on 360. To think the final game is going to look and feel even better (provided MS actually makes use of whatever data they are gathering from this beta) is very exciting to me. I play this almost everyday for at least like 15 minutes and honestly, its great fun! If any of you are on Halo 3 beta, FIND ME my gamertag is “AoKUSA Vash“.
Have fun all and enjoy the screens below!
Also a song with Halo in the title: OH YEAH!!
Halo by James D. Stark
