Halo 3 Beta Impressions

I have ventured back into the sunlight after a week of playing the Halo 3 Beta and I'm ready to report my initial impressions of the game. First of all, everything I say today should be taken with a large grain of salt since the game is in fact a Beta and not a completed product. This holds especially true for graphics since a large part of polishing happens during the very last phase of development on most games.

Graphics are a big part of the Halo franchise, and while Halo 2 didn't make any huge leaps beyond Halo 1, it did look more polished and had some nicer textures. Judging from the Halo 3 Beta, I would say the same generally holds true this time around too. Some things in the Beta seem much improved, mainly explosions. Now, when you throw a grenade, whether it explodes in the snow or in the dirt or sand, the particle effects are very nice and quite cinematic. Dirt flies realistically and smoke looks very believable. After you play a while little things start to catch your eye too, like the footprints left in the snow by yourself and your enemies or the textures used on some of the buildings (the gold honeycomb pattern especially).

I like the new High Ground map a lot. It is not overly large but has many different paths for approaching your enemy from either end of the map. It can be a good map for sniping, but is best for medium or close-range combat.

Valhalla, as has been reported is a remake of a map from Halo 2 and Snowbound is a large circular snowy level with two small hangars in the middle for gathering nades and such. Underground tunnels connect much of the map as well.

Gameplay wise, it took a little while to get used to the new dual wielding and equipment controls, but once you adapt to them they are very nice additions to the franchise. Especially the equipment key (X button). I haven't found anything more satisfying so far than letting a warthog loaded full with enemies drive straight towards me, then hitting "X" to deploy a trip mine and then leaping as they pass below me. While in mid-air, I spin around and watch as they explode into so many charred bits a couple seconds later. This is truly a visceral experience. Otherwise, as far as movement and "feel", the gameplay feels very much like Halo 2, which is a very good thing. Another great moment was when I followed an enemy in one of the flying craft, I ran up behind him, deployed an energy drain grenade which grounded his bird. Then, while he was surely screaming something along the lines of "why the hell won't this thing move!?", I ran up to him and bashed him in the face with a melee attack while he was still seated in the cockpit. Priceless!

The new FILM feature makes scenes like the above even more thrilling when you get to watch them over again in the "theater". You can upload "films" to share with your friends too. With the Beta, you can upload up to six "films" for sharing, but I haven't reached a limit on how many you can save for your own private viewing. I probably have 15 or so saved right now. There may not be a limit as they are saved to your harddrive. A nice thing about the "films" is that they are not mpeg files, they are just stored data of your round so they are MUCH smaller files than they would be if they were simple recordings of video. The "films" are played back using the games engine, so they are an exact replay of everything that occurred in the round. While the Beta limits you to one perspective, the view from your character, apparently the full version is going to allow you to view replays from any character or any other point on the battlefield and from any angle. You'll also be able to rewind, pause and fast forward, all things that are unavailable in the Beta.

Lag is a non-issue unless you choose to play with people from far corners of the earth. Even then, I experienced only occasional lag while playing with some friends in the UK. In those games my character's movements were unaffected but I saw some of my teammates skip across the level or get hung up in long launches from the man cannon as if suspended from a giant invisible yo-yo. It was pretty funny actually.

The matchmaking is as fantastic as ever. Finding the kind of game you want to play and the players you want to play against is as easy and customizable as ever. Halo has always been the standard by which all other online matchmaking systems are measured, and that remains unchanged.

Overall, my time with the Halo 3 Beta has been very fun. The only moments of frustration for me are during Sniper/Shotgun only rounds. I SUCK at sniping but I'm great at getting sniped; sometimes I think my head must be five feet in diameter.

All in all, I'd say if the beta is any indication, Halo 3 looks like a winner. Halo 3 is scheduled for release on September 25th.