Edit: rapture’s take.

I know enough about Halo to know that I really don’t know much at all about the way H3 will finally be played from the 5 hours of Beta I played tonight. However, I do have some first impressions.

Bottom Line

• It’s fun. I’m not blown away, but I have fun playing it.

Gameplay

• The overall gameplay is a little faster. I like it. I think they hit the sweet spot.
• Auto-aim is almost non-existent. Aiming is slightly more difficult.

Maps

• Valhalla is waaaaay too big for 4v4.
• Snowbound is pretty cool, and about the largest map I want to play in.
• High Ground is really cool. By far my favorite (and smallest) map of the three.

Gametypes

• I love what they’ve done with assault. The bomb plants as soon as you reach the planting area. You then have 15 seconds to defend it from being defused by an enemy.
• I hate what they’ve done with territories. Territories is now a race to grab 3 of the 5 total territories during each round. As soon as you get a territory it cannot be undone during that round. The first team to capture 3 is assured the win. The game doesn’t stop until all 5 territories are occupied or time runs out. It takes an extremely long time to occupy the territory, and the fact that you can’t take an enemy territory is infuriating. When tied at 2-2 the last territory becomes a grenade-fest-cluster-f***.
• VIP is a new gametype similar to that gametype we never play on GoW. You only get points for killing the VIP, who is marked on your HUD, but has an overshield. I like it, but it needs to be on smaller maps (right now it’s played on Snowbound).

Weapons

• The AR is now twice as good as in H1, which means it is still a worthless starting weapon. Put me in 4v4 at Valhalla and start me with that thing? Are you kidding?
• BR is still the go-to weapon.
• Pistol doesn’t exist in the Beta.
• Spartan laser is really cool and fun.
• Sniper rifle now requires you to pause a fraction of a second between shots. It’s noticeable, and makes it slightly more difficult to use, but not too much. I like it.
• Spike grendes are cool. Blast radius is a little small.
• Plasma nades seem to "charge up" before they explode.
• There’s a new dual-wieldable weapon called a spiker. It’s OK when dual wielded.
• Noob combo seems to work. It’s not as powerful as H2, but it could turn out to be a real strategy.
• You can pick up and lug around a "missile pod" that only has 8 rounds but is pretty powerful. You are very slow with it and can’t jump very high. It seems to be able to lock onto vehicles.
• Tac-whack (shotgun+melee) is money! Works as good if not better than H1.

Equipment and Powerups

• Bubble Shield is cool and pretty useful if you plan carefully.
• Trip mine is difficult to use effectively, but you can go up to an unoccupied vehicle, deploy it, and it becomes stuck to the underside of the vehicle. In effect, you can sabotage the vehicle. It makes a loud beeping noise, so everyone will know, but they still can’t use the vehicle.
• Power drainer is difficult to use effectively. Most often I confuse it with the bubble shield, deploy it, get my shield drained, and then someone coughs on me and I die.
• Overshield and active camo are HUGE (physically large).
• It’s more difficult to see someone who is using active camo. I think they redesigned active camo with HDTV in mind, because H1 and H2 active camo is no match for a good display. In H3 you’re much more "invisible," but not totally.

Features

• I haven’t even begun to play with all of the settings and features. Everyone (on your team) gets an individual call sign that is displayed above them at long range. At close range their gamertag is displayed as well.
• Looks easy to save a video of the game, but I didn’t try.
• Veto system is great, but you can only veto once. One time we vetoed a gametype and were then assigned territories at Valhalla, probably the least fun game available. gg
• You get a ton of info and stats about the matchmaking process. It’s cool.

After tonight I am really looking forward to LANing H3, but I think I’m most looking forward to the H3 campaign. Your mileage may vary. Post your thoughts below.

__________________________

Download | Shownotes

This show we talk all about the Halo 3 beta, what’s new, what we liked, how it compares to halo 1 and 2, and a bunch more. This week’s guest is WitchKing from the IGN community, a blogger and Microsoft MVP.

__________________________
Oc’s Blog, Feeds: Blog Feed / Oc’s Picks

As some of you have already noticed, some members of the Podtacular community are now getting a chance to play the Halo 3 beta early, thanks to Bungie’s Friends and Family program. If you haven’t already, be sure to check your inbox over at Bungie.net to see if you’re invited.

Some of these people were invited directly from Bungie, while others were chosen at random, so chances of people getting in were already pretty slim, but don’t let that get you down. As long as you’ve been invited through one of the other three methods, you’ll still get your chance to put Halo 3 to the test on Wednesday May 16th. There are some people who won’t even get into that, and moreover, there are people who don’t even have a 360, so consider yourself lucky!

Be sure to also check out the new Halo 3 Beta Test forum and keep a sharp eye out for a special early podcast with our first impressions of the beta and what you can expect from it!

With the Public Beta fast approaching, there’s even more Halo-related news spiraling out of Bungie and the community.

The Year We Make Contact

The author of the next Halo novel, Contact Harvest, will be none other than Joseph Staten. It’ll be interesting to see how things turn out with the same writer on the game and the novel. I suppose this isn’t what people mean when they say “media convergence” but it certainly is something. It’ll be interesting to see if any more is revealed by something written by one of the creators of the Halo universe itself, instead of something mediated through the Halo Bible and written by an outside professional.

Put A Dime In The Jukebox, Baby

Halo 3 Beta Tester Mr. Jukes put together a video to whet the community’s appetite for the game. Either that, or to rub it in that he’s played it already and we haven’t. Don’t let that stop you from watching, though.

You Beta Players Get Offa My Lawn

If you’re one of the stalwarts still playing Halo 2, don’t forget to download Tombstone and Desolation again, because they’ve had their glitches fixed and are required for many playlists now. Also, the stat reset is now complete, so it’s time for everybody to restart their climb to that legitimate 40 rating.

By far this is the best HALO 3 multiplayer footage available on the web. It’s actually sanctioned by Bungie. It’s footage from the internal beta by Mr. Jukes who handles himself quite well. It’s a pretty good montage to boot. Video is about 4 minutes long.

Download .WMV from Microsoft.com – link

Download Quicktime version from halo.bungie.org – link

Noticed some fellow Shadowrun testers getting owned in that video.

currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
rest in peace: GoW, CoD3

Shadowrun rocks!