Halo 3 tidbits

Here's my summary of the Halo 3 Beta. First, general impressions. Second, map review. Third, Weapons review.

General Impressions:

I thought that graphically, they definitely did an excellent job with lighting, shadows, and the finer details that really make the environments and maps outstanding to participate in. The only disappointment was that it seemed that the character models were a little too similar to their Halo 2 counterparts.

Soundwise, they're solid. Weapon and equipment pickups all have their own unique sounds and when you hear certain weapons being fired from a distance, you can get a pretty good idea of what you're going to have to deal with. And speaking of sound from a distance, they seem to have nailed sound fading very well relative to the players position on the map.

Gameplay-wise, the controls are very tight and I'd have a hard time believing they'd need any tweaking at all. The main difference from Halo 2 that will take some getting used to is how the left and right bumpers in Halo 3 are now used for weapon pick-ups and reloading, and the X button is solely used for utilizing equipment. At least in the Beta this worked well, but I'm hoping that in the final product the X button will have more applications.

Map review:

Valhalla - I only played this map maybe 5 or 6 times, but I can say that it's incredibly well balanced and makes an excellent large map for team battles and Crazy King. It reminds me of Coagulation a lot (not appearance-wise) because of the bases on the 2 ends and the means of traversing large distances quickly (Coagulation had teleporters, Valhalla has "mancannon"s). There's a lot of hiding places to be found on the map along the side walls (good for you snipers...den) and weapon balance was fair, but sparsely distributed. It seems like if you get the banshee (team games only had this available at the time) you could get a decided advantage since there were no ghosts available to counteract their advantage from the skies.

Snowbound - Initially I didn't like this map, but after awhile found it to be very intriguing. The map is a small-to-midsize map (like Beaver Creek in Halo 2), but with a lot of underground tunnels and passageways from base to base. The interesting thing about it was that every "door" into the bases and out was a forcefield that you couldn't shoot into or out of. The only vehicle on the map was a ghost, which seemed to be balanced by the fact that if you're the one in the ghost you're the most likely to be the target of whomever is in the game. Lots of interesting tricks and positioning to be had on this one. The most interesting of which is that the guardians surround the perimeter of the map (represented by unmannable turrets). Which means that if you venture too far out beyond them, the "guardians" will shoot you down. Plenty of exploding barrels will also make this a challenge when players start getting into the intricacies of the map.

High Ground - This map is by far the most complex. A large outdoor map (not quite the size of Valhalla), somewhat comparable to Zanzibar in size but not at all in function. The vehicles on the map in the beta were somewhat useless. The Mongoose is basically a 1 or 2 person ATV with no weapons capability; however the passenger can fire, but that's a moot point in a game of Slayer. The lower end of the map is near the shore, and has some of the better weapon pickups along the way (especially a really nasty hiding spot for sniping...den), but the higher end has the "fortress" with some surprises of its own (brute shot, lots of dual wieldable weapons, and a detachable turret (really fun!)), along with a lot of twists, turns, and stairways on each side. The most interesting equipment that was available on this map is the gravity lift, which I can imagine being abused rather easily by someone with a sniper rifle to get to a spot no one else can reach. This map also seemed to have the greatest variety of weapons overall and was my favorite to play.

Weapons:

The most interesting and complex weapon to use is the Spartan Laser. But it's also the most satisfying. It has a scope, but it requires that you charge it up with the right trigger for about 3 seconds until it blasts on its own; but when it blasts, it incinerates EVERYTHING in its path. I can imagine it being used a lot like a mid-range sniper rifle.

The other interesting addition was the Brute Spiker. This dual-wieldable weapon reminded me of the Halo 2 Needler. Fast fire-power and when dual-wielded it's very deadly. Speaking of the Needler, it was changed to a single-wield weapon during the Beta, but is much more powerful than the Halo 2 version.

We also have a new grenade...the spike grenade. It's a long grenade that stops where it lands and explodes in a shower of needles. A fun weapon for sure. And I think it will be interesting to see how players can utilize it effectively. The only thing about grenades now is that you can only carry up to 2 of each (of the 3) types; so if you max out, you can only have 6 instead of 8.

They brought back the Assault Rifle from Halo 1. This is now your default weapon instead of the SMG and is only single-wieldable.

Changes to other Halo 2 Weapons: Battle Rifle (significantly worse), Covenant Carbine (significantly better), Plasma Rifle (about the same), Plasma Pistol (somewhat worse...no auto-targeting), Rocket Launcher (somewhat worse...no lock on), Brute Shot (different...requires more accuracy since it shoots straighter and with more velocity), SMG (relatively better since it's got the largest ammo clip now), Sniper and Beam Rifle (same). And most notably, the Shotgun...they gave it a little less firepower up close, but also a little more firepower at medium distance; which imo balances it out just right.

The Sword and the Spartan Pistol were absent from the Beta, but I've read that they will be in the final version.

Notable additions are the equipments. 4 types were available in the beta (Bubble shield, gravity lift, trip mine, and energy drain). All have definite uses, but the least impressive was the bubble shield since someone can run into your bubble and melee you; also, you lose your radar while you're in it. If they don't improve on it before the game releases, I don't see people using it a whole lot.

All in all, I was very pleased with where they stood with the multiplayer beta, but have the feeling that this is just a taste of what we can expect on Sept. 25. Looking forward to it.