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Here is the place for everyone to talk over our impresions of Halo 3 BETA

Here is some pre-release hands on from
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Halo 3 Beta Hands-On Impressions And Direct Feed Movie Blow-Out
by Billy Berghammer
POSTED: 5/12/2007 4:38 AM

onight Microsoft hosted an exclusive Halo 3 Multiplayer event in San Francisco, and Game Informer Online was one of the lucky few who got to attend, play a number of rounds of the beta, get shot in the face, and walk away with a Friends and Family beta code to join the battle before the Beta officially launches on Wednesday. While currently the beta program will have around 15,000 people playing prior to Wednesday’s official launch, there’s plenty of fierce competition already out there to make you feel like a newbie.

The Multiplayer beta is comprised of three maps: Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla. Gamers will not have the ability to create custom matches, so basically you choose which game mode you want to play, and then cycle through the different maps and are presented with a specific game type such as Rumble Pit, Slayer, Team Slayer, Capture the Flag, Territories, and VIP. VIP is a new game type where each team has a VIP and teams can only score when they kill the opponent team’s VIP.


The first thing to note is the changes in the controls, which do take a few moments to get used to. The right and left bumper control picking up weapons with each hand (as well as reloading them), depending on whether or not you have a two handed weapon at your disposal. If you’ve only got one weapon, the left bumper cycles through your grenades, and the right bumper reloads. The right trigger shoots, left fires grenades, pressing in the right stick zooms, and pressing the left stick still crouches, and does that nifty little dance over corpses. The new X button functionality is what deploys what Bungie refers to as “equipment.”

Equipment adds another layer of strategy to the game with a number of different weapons and other useful devices. The new bubble shield is a lot of fun, and while you can’t shoot or get shot while you’re inside the bubble, having a rocket launcher or shotgun ready when it reopens can save you in a pinch. Need to get on top of a wall or a rooftop quickly? By deploying the new portable gravity lift you can utilize it as a temporary jump pad and get you and your teammates up to higher places that you wouldn’t be able to reach from a standard jump. The new missile pod is extremely effective against vehicles and locks on and will effectively take it out if landed. It’s a one shot, one use weapon so make sure your shot counts. Trip mines act as landmines and can take out a vehicle if driven over. Trip mines can also kill a person if they walk on top of it, but players will be able to hear a pulsating beep when nearby to warn them that there’s a trip mine in the vicinity. The power drainer is most likely my favorite new weapon which wipes out anyone’s shield that’s nearby when detonated. You’ll want to toss it with a running start to get it far enough away from you so your shield doesn’t get knocked out as well. There’s nothing like tossing a power drainer into a crowded enemy base and following it up with a grenade to wipe out the lot.


Bungie has not only added quite a few weapons to the mix, but has tweaked a number of old favorites. It’s important to note that while you didn’t quite know what you were up against when you came into an encounter, you can now visually see what a player is carrying in their hand, as well as their secondary weapon which is prominently strapped to their back. The spartan laser gives players a chance against vehicles, however it has a primer time of 4-5 seconds and you can see it charging so you’ll have to plan accordingly. The brute spike rifle shoots nails that will tear someone to shreds within moments. New support weapons have also been added, and the one in the beta allows you to tear a machine gun turret off its hinges by pressing B, and then you can carry it around to mow down adversaries. The camera pulls back from first person to third person giving you a much wider area of view. Finally the new spike grenades are a riot, especially when you’re in tight quarters. These new lovelies stick to anything much like plasma grenades, but when they explode they shoot spikes that will ricochet off walls damaging the surroundings. Using them in an open area isn’t all that worthwhile, but in a hallway will slice and dice enemies.


So far we’re pretty happy with the adjustments Bungie has made to some of the classic weapons, and we’re loving the assault rifle. A few of the bigger changes are the fact that you can’t dual wield needlers any more. Fortunately having only one is much more effective than it was in Halo 2. The plasma pistol can overcharge as it could in Halo 2, but you can’t run around with it overcharged or your energy will deplete leaving you vulnerable.

Only one of the levels featured the new man cannon – the new Spartan delivery service which will not only launch players, but grenades, weapons, and anything else you toss into it. The man cannons will help players quickly traverse maps by launching them into the air. Even though you can shoot while you’re airborne, you can’t change directions once you’ve launched so you’re quite vulnerable. Snipers are big fans of these and will pick you from the sky.

After a few hours of play we came away quite impressed in how polished the Halo 3 Beta is. Although matchmaking still took a bit of time to get into a match, once you did it was quite frantic. The game runs at a decent clip, and we never experienced lag. Only once did a game hiccup, but that was because a player dropped out of the game. Halo 3 multiplayer plays much like Halo 2 but with a lot more bells and whistles, and ultimately that’s fine with me.

Visually so far I have to admit that it doesn’t look as good as I would have hoped. I heard mentioned quite often from other players that it looked like a Halo 2.5, but I’ve gone back and played Halo 2 multiplayer lately and I believe Halo 3 looks much better. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by too many solid next-gen first person shooters as of late, and was expecting Halo 3 to top those, as well. With that said, you see the visor actually going online now, and the HUD is actually imbedded and arched on the inside of the visor. Water effects are outstanding, and a spike grenade exploding in a corridor looks quite impressive. However, we've still noticed a number of jaggies in some places, especially at a distance.

Aurally the sound separation and audio cues are delicious and hearing bullets zip by, footsteps crunching in snow, or hearing a grenade bouncing around you is absolutely brilliant. Surround speakers or good headphones are a must. We can't wait to hear the full soundtrack.

One final thing that the Halo 3 beta is testing is the new film sharing ability. Each match you play can be recorded and either watched afterwards, or sent to a friend on your buddy list. While none of the promised editing features are in the beta that we’ve seen, file sizes are small, and it’s a blast to be able to watch your highlights and see other player’s tactics. We’re looking forward to messing around with this feature much more.

Now that I have a code in hand I can’t wait to play even more. While I’ve played my fair share of Halo 2 multiplayer over Xbox Live, I feel much like a Halo 3 newbie. There are many nuances to learn about the new weapons and vehicles, equipment, and the new changes to the classic weapons and vehicles. However, what a better way to start the weekend than having the ability to test drive Halo 3. Sure you can’t make custom games, or explore all of the functionality of Halo 3 multiplayer. But hell, it’s a free beta! It’s Halo 3! You sure won’t find us complaining. We’ll see you out on the battlefield next week, soldiers.

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