Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta Review

The Halo 3 beta has been out for about a week now, so I feel compelled to write up a review of sorts, detailing my adventures in the wonderful world of online multiplayer gaming. I briefly mentioned the delay in pushing out the software to Crackdown users on opening day last week; that problem was resolved, for me at least, around 8 p.m. PST. I was playing a co-op game of Crackdown with Daniel when Xbox Live inexplicably booted me out of our game to start downloading updates. I had prior knowledge that there would be a downloadable update that would release the beta, and sure enough, when I rebooted Crackdown, the beta was available for download. I thought that the download would take at least 30 minutes because every Crackdown gamer in the world would be downloading it at the same time as me, but surprisingly, the software was downloaded and installed in about 15 minutes.

Customization and Matchmaking

The beta is exactly that: a beta. The software is simple and there isn’t much to the game. You can customize the color scheme and logo of your avatar, plus a new addition of choosing your own Spartan number. Beyond those features and the option to change your control scheme, you cannot do much else with the beta other than play the game.

Bungie utilized, more or less, the same match making interface for Halo 3 as they did Halo 2. I thought the system was great for Halo 2, so I have no problem with them using it again for the third game in the series. The system has undergone a few new tweaks this time around. For starters, you can view the service record and gamer profile of anyone in your lobby by selecting their gamer tag and pressing the A button. They have also added in the ability to veto a map and game type. If the majority of players in the lobby do not want to play the game type selected from the rotation, they can veto it and a new game type will be loaded. I have not seen a map get voted down yet, but Andy tells me that it only takes 5-10 seconds for a new one to be selected. The last tweak to the system is that you are now given the option at the end of a game to join the group of people you just played with. Now, instead of having to send everyone a friend request, you can just join up with them to create a new party. All three of these changes are welcome and hopefully they will stay in the final product.

Maps

There are only three maps in the beta: Snow Bound, High Ground, and Valhalla.

Snow Bound is a small map with a structure in the middle of the map and under ground tunnels snaking out of it to other locations on the board. The map is surrounded by outward facing turrets, so if you try to leave the playing field, the turrets will gun you down. I would have to say that this is my least favorite map out of the three. The lighting is way too bright, which it should be because of the snow, but I find it to be a bit much. Also, most fire fights seem to take place in the openings of the tunnels. The map seems to be cramped because of this, since you will generally be under fire right after you spawn.

High Ground is the new Zanzibar in that one team starts on a beach and the other team starts in a base. Starting on the beach presents a problem because the base has a perfect firelane down on to your starting position. The only way to avoid being blasted immediately is to run to the sides of the maps where there are tunnels cut in to the walls of the cliffs. It takes longer to snake your way through the tunnels, but at least you will not be gunned down by the turret that overlooks the open field leading up to the main base. This is a good map for capture the flag and territories.

Valhalla is the remake of Halo 2’s Coagulation: a symmetrical map with one base on each end. Valhalla incorporates the severely hyped “man cannon” in to each base. The man cannon is a glorified grav lift, something we have seen already. The only difference about the man cannon is that you can throw weapons in to it and you can even drive vehicles in to it to have them quickly fly away. I do not find the cannons to be nearly as exciting as they were hyped up to be. Valhalla is obviously going to be great for capture the flag and sniper games. I can also see a lot of custom Spartan laser slayer matches being played on this map.

Weapons

I am only going to discuss some of the more obvious weapons in this review since there are too many to write about and quite frankly, I really don’t want to spend the time analyzing every change that has been made to the available weapons in the Beta.

Clearly the most exciting new weapon is the Spartan laser. A one shot, one kill weapon that if put in the right hands, can create a lot of problems for the opposing team. I think the weapon is far too powerful and it is easy to camp in one spot and snipe people with it.

The missile pod and the chain gun are cool as novelties, but they slow you down too much and it is easy for other players to pick you off from behind since you can’t turn around very fast. The Brute pistols are good for close range battles and not much else; it is basically the Convenent SMG. The Assault Rifle is a great starting weapon and I am glad that Bungie brought it back to the franchise. The Bubble Shield is an interesting addition to the weapons and gadgets of Halo. When deployed, the shield creates a giant bubble around you that can’t be destroyed. Players are free to move in and out of the shield, but shots fired from outside the shield stay outside and shots fired from the inside stay inside the shield.

The rest of the weapons have changed to some degree, whether it is rate of fire, strength, or even just the way it sounds. The SMG comes to mind here: nothing has changed with the weapon except for the way it sounds, which happens to sound like an actual machine gun now instead of a popcorn making machine.

Criticisms

The problem with criticizing the game is that it is a beta. It is not finished software and Bungie still has until September to tighten it up. That said, the game looks good for a beta, but in actuality, it does not look that much better than Halo 2. We are definitely not at “Halo 3” graphics yet; this is more reflective of Halo 2.5 or just Halo 2 in HD. I am sure the graphics will improve with the final product, but for now, they really are not that impressive for a next-gen console game. I have also had a hard time finding matches to join. I have sat for 30-45 minutes at a time waiting to join a match. This is a problem because there are generally 30,000 people playing at any given time, meaning I should have found a match within 15 seconds of starting the search.

My other gripe really has nothing to do with Bungie, but I feel it needs to be addressed. It took about 3.5 seconds for someone to call me a faggot or some horrible racist name. The Halo community has not changed, at all, and it is really disappointing to find out that only 12 year olds and bigots are playing the beta.

Overall, the beta has been fun. I am glad that Bungie decided to give us the opportunity to play the game before its official release. They have a lot of work to do before September, but I think that if this is just the beta of the game, the finished product has a real chance to be great.