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Halo 3 Beta May 15, 2007 John JCal Callaham |
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Summary: The Halo 3 multiplayer beta is going to be released soon and JCal gives you his impressions from his preview!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 4 ) |
As you may know, FiringSquad attended a New York City press event on Friday to play the Halo 3 multiplayer beta for the first time. After the event was over we got a code so we could download our own Halo 3 beta copy on our own Xbox 360 back home. The past weekend was filled with Halo 3 multiplayer frag fest time and as a result we have some more detailed impressions for you to check out before you grab the beta for yourself. Just as a reminder, Bungie has invited a number of fans to download the beta version (its scheduled to be available for download at midnight EST tonight) and if you bought the recent Real Time Worlds developed open world action game Crackdown you can also download and play the Halo 3 beta from Crackdown’s user interface.
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So what do we think of the Halo 3 beta? Well, if you like the first two games in the series there is no reason why you would enjoy the beta version of this game. Pretty much everything that was a part of the multiplayer features in Halo 1 and 2 is in this game. You have the slick art style. You have the classic Halo 1 and 2 weapons. You have one familiar vehicle to drive (the Warthog). You have three maps that certainly look and act a look like maps in the first two games. In short, Bungie knows that it most likely shouldn’t deviate too much from what worked in Halo 1 and 2 when they made Halo 3.
What about those of you who don’t care for the first two Halo games? Well it might surprise you to know that Bungie had added a few new bits that might change your mind about Halo 3. The main thing that’s changed are the new equipment bits that you can use to help you or hurt enemies. The grav-lift is the one new piece of equipment that isn’t really used for combat. Once you deploy it (you use the X button on your Xbox 360 controller) it falls a short distance away. You then go over it to get a boost up in the air. It’s useful for getting into places on the map that you might want to reach (perhaps a nice sniper spot) but its not useful for anything else.
| New toys | Page:: ( 2 / 4 ) |
The one new equipment item that is sure to be the most popular among players is the energy drainer. Deploy this baby and any enemies inside its circle will have their personal energy shield drained which make for some easy kills. You can imagine waiting for a bunch of opponents to get to one place, then throwing down the energy drainer and then throwing in a grenade to take out all of them in one spot. You have to be careful, however, as the energy drainer will also affect your own personal shield if you are inside its circle.
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One piece of new equipment we saw used but didn’t play with ourselves is the trip mine. Basically you lay down the flat mine as an approaching vehicle come closing in on you. If the vehicle goes over the mine..well, you get the idea. It’s perhaps the least impressive of all the new items for us as the mine can be easily avoided.
The new items definitely add some strategy to the normal frag fest that the first two Halo games turned out to be. Certainly special items are no stranger to PC users for games like the Tribes and Battlefield series but it’s refreshing to see that Bungie is willing to try some new ideas (for them anyway) to make Halo 3 multiplayer more lively.
As we said, the beta for Halo 3 does have a number of the classic weapons that Halo 1 and 2 had. You get three kinds of human rifles in the beta (assault, rifle and sniper). Several returning weapons can be dual wielded once again (sub machine gun, plasma pistol, plasma rifle). Oddly enough you can’t dual wield the needler gun in Halo 3 (one of our personal favorite weapons to use in that mode in previous games in the series). You also get the Brute Shot grenade launcher back in the game Covenant weapons from Halo 2 like the Carbine and Beam Rifle are back in the Halo 3 beta and the frag and plasma grenades are back as well and our personal favorite weapon, the shotgun, still makes a mess of enemies from close up. The Halo 3 beta does not include the Covenant energy sword, unfortunately.
| Weapons, levels, vehicles | Page:: ( 3 / 4 ) |
Two new massive weapons are in the Halo 3 beta. One actually isn’t new; the machine gun turret in Halo 2 is back but now you can rip it from its perch to use it as a two handed mini-gun with massive results. Your viewpoint switches to third person when this happens and your player movement is slowed considerable. This also happens with the new missile pod weapon. This massive new version of the game’s rocket launcher tracks your target once it is fixed and fires some devastating blows to your desired location. Again, your movement is slowed when using this so be careful you don’t find yourself in a sniper’s target hairs.
The beta has three vehicles that you can use in various levels. Two of them are familiar, the human two seater Warthog and the alien one seater Ghost hovercraft. The new vehicle is the human two seater Mongoose. This fast moving vehicle has no on board weapons but if you find a partner he or she can use their own weapons while you drive. The fast movement of the Mongoose makes it especially cool to use in, say, Capture the Flag mode. We think players will like this new transport a lot.
The three maps included in the Halo 3 beta are a good mix of small, medium and large levels. The small High Ground level is deceptive at first as it its multi-levels. It begins on a small rocky beach and then heads up a hill to a partially ruined human base with a large gate that separates the two parts. There are several ways to enter the base so we expect players will take some time to find their own routes. This is likely the best kind of level for an Assault mode.
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The second map is Snowbound, a more open level set in an Hoth style setting with lots of alien structures. The open area also has a number of underground levels as well, some of which have force fields that, like the bubble shield, players can walk through but weapons fire cannot get past. There are two large and tall structures in the middle of the level that are perfect for sniper attacks. This is a good Slayer mode level. One thing to keep in mind is that if you move outside the level too much alien automated laser cannons will fry you.
The final level, and our personal favorite, is Valhalla. This large open level is set in a peaceful forest and stream setting with two alien style bases on either side and a creek that runs between them. There’s also a wreaked human drop ship to one side. The main thing about this level that is unique is what is being called the “man cannons”. Basically both of the bases have their own grav lift that can propel players and even vehicles (if you have the angle right) massively into the air. It’s a bit nuts but we think that players will get a kick out of it.
| Matchmaking and final comments | Page:: ( 4 / 4 ) |
One of the coolest new features is the movie storage option. After a match is complete you can choose to store a movie showing off all of the game’s action from your viewpoint. The storage capacity of the movies is quite small (about 5 MB or so) so you should be able to store multiple movies. This feature will be expanded when the full game is released to include editing features like fast forward, reverse, other camera angles and more.
Our biggest disappointment with the beta are the graphics. While there certainly have been improvements between Halo 2 and 3 (better textures on the characters and vehicle models), it’s certainly not the leap in visuals that we would expect from transferring from the original Xbox to the higher hardware specs of the Xbox 360. There are some aspects we liked. For example the physics in the game have improved with better rag doll animations. In the Valhalla level you can even kill an enemy and see him or her fall into the creek and float away (along with other items). Microsoft still has a full six months or so to notch up the graphics and we think that should be plenty of time to do so.
Well, with the beta out in less than a few hours many of you will soon be able to play the game for yourselves. It’s going to be interesting to see what the reaction is and how Bungie itself will react to the comments made by players to the beta. The time period for the beta is only scheduled for three weeks so there is a limited time to get some play time in before Bungie likely goes into stealth mode before the final release of the game this fall.