Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Halo 3 beta party in San Fransisco along with Summa and Husky Hog. I have to say, Microsoft and Bungie know how to throw a good party (OPEN BAR!).
Before I go into my thoughts on Halo 3, I want to say that I absolutely love the Halo universe. I've played countless hours of Halo 2 online, read all of the books, engrossed myself into I Love Bees and if I had the cash, would have bought a custom fitted MJOLNIR armor suit for myself by now.
So when I say I wasn't really wowed with the Halo 3 beta, don't take it as Halo hate.
The over all formula hasn't changed much from Halo 2 multiplayer. Which isn't a bad thing at all, mind you, and shouldn't be a surprise. The biggest change from the previous game is the equipment weapons. Only four were playable during the beta (Bubble Shield, Power Drainer, Trip Mine and Grav lift), but I'm hoping there will be a lot more in the final game. Otherwise, this is a really dull "revolutionary" feature.
The story line is where I'm expecting Bungie to completely wow everyone. I love killing and insulting other gamers online as much as the next guy, but the story line is one of the most important aspect of a game to me. I want to take control of the Master Chief again and fight off the Covenant invasion along side the Elites. I've never been so engaged in any kind of fictional story line before. Needless to say, I want to finish the fight.
Out of everything from the beta experience, I was really interested with how the weapons were now:
Needlers: Four to six needles and you're dead. Nice to see that this will be an actual good weapon now, though you can't dual wield it anymore.
Assault Rifle: It's back and better than before. Never touching the SMGs again.
Missile Pods: The human answer to the Brute Shot. The only saving grace for this to me is the homing missiles. Otherwise, I hate it. I don't like that you go into third person view and that it makes you slow as hell. By the way, you can still jump around several feet in the air while equipped with this, which makes no sense. And you can't keep it as a secondary weapon. You have to drop it when switching guns. This also applies to the Chain/Turret gun.
Brute Shot: Holds up to six grenades now instead of four in one clip.
Plasma Pistol: Still the same, but now you can throw grenades while holding a plasma charge.
Grenades: You don't throw like a girl anymore! I hated how the grenades went from you being able to throw it across the entire map (Halo 1) to how it was in Halo 2. My excitement was short lived. Grenades seemed to be much weaker now, especially the Plasma Grenade.
Plasma Rifle: More powerful, doesn't overheat as quickly.
Spartan Laser: Takes awhile to get used to. You have to hold the trigger down for five seconds before the laser will fire.
Brute Spiker: Brutes answer to the SMGs.
All of the other weapons felt more or less the same.
Of course, this is all just the beta so a lot of things can change from now until the end of the year.
Also, shirt:
Contest:
8:28 PM on 05.12.2007
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oh and crackdown is cool too
Your English language skills astound me.
I've been playing the beta for the past few days and it really doesn't wow anything. The graphics are reasonable and the gameplay is pretty standard. Maybe that's what people want?
Just more of the same, huh? Oh well. 'The Same' wasnt bad 2 years ago. But like you said, just a beta.
Jealous of the shirt.
The only way Microsoft knows how to convince reviewers that Halo 2.5 is good. Get them drunk.
If you hate on halo, stay out of these topics. It's getting old. Can't we use the comments section to actually discuss things about the topic? Not the same old opinions we've heard in every other thread that uses the word "Halo" or "Bungie".
I can understand why some people think it's overated, or crap. Or just plain don't like it. But similarly it'd be nice if those people would undertsand that I, and others, love it.
Your enjoyment of a game is subjective to what "turns you on" Recognise that, and have some respect, rather than being insistant on trying to ruin other peoples fun by baiting and goading.
That said, I'd actually like to talk about the story a bit. I was one of the few who wasn't dissapointed by Halo 2's story. I loved the Arbiter, and The scenes with Gravemind offer some real meat if you go back and view them again.Sure, the cliff-hanger ending peeved me a little, but that just showed how much I wanted more.
I can't wait to know what cortana is up to, or what she's been up to. And the Human/Elite alliance against the Brute lead Coventant stirs me up a little, not to mention how much it could alter the feel of battles, having 2 groups of former enemies suddenly fighting for each other, rather than against.
Any other Halo fans out there got any insights on the story?
Im not a hater but im also not reading all that cause i dont give a shit what you have to say so i just read the first paragraph. Ive never liked halo so if i see news about it sometimes ill look at it to see if they actually did something good...but no. its always this bullshit feed the fanboys shit microsfts doing. the only reason i think people play halo now is cause the first one was pretty okay and it has the name halo. dont you guys realize that even the same name with a number at the end is a completely different game? youll buy it and even if its shit youll say you love it, and in the end some shit company wins cause its marketed to you so well. so congrats to bungee anyway...
"...i dont give a shit what you have to say"
You're exactly the type of trash I'm refering to. If you read what I said. (which is what people come to a comments page to do, no less), then you'd find it's a well written polite post. Which is a lot more than can be said for your string of reactionary judegmental lamentation that you just vomited onto the internet.
Now some high-lights from your posting history;
"lol im gonna force you to suck my cock. lol lol"
"lol i just pwnd you by forcing you to waste your time talking about people who say shit to other people. grow the fuck up who cares dick face"
Truly you are a character of high moral fibre.
Please. Make the net a better place. Dissapear.
Testify!
Sequels with nothing but improved graphics and a few new weapons (or characters, or whatever) historically kill franchises.
Die hards will of course love it, but your average dude will likely pick up GoW over this.
Same goes for GTA4.
That being said, the game does look fun, and fun games rarely are compelte financial disapointments. But the series seems to be running on fumes at this point.
Maybe single player will save it.
Henceforth, how about we form our own opinions instead of regurgitating what we read in posts by some embittered soul in a lonely corner of the internet. A good number of the people saying Halo sucks and that it's overhyped haven't actually tried it. That makes their opinions completely invalid, because they just want something to dislike, and chose Halo because of the gaming behemoth it's become.
If you played it and didn't like it, that's absolutely fine. You are without a doubt entitled to that opinion. But just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean other people shouldn't either. Different people like different games, which is why there are so many of them out there? Don't like Halo? Don't bitch about it, just don't play it, and everyone goes home happy.
Dude, digiwalsh, you are my new favorite reader.
btw i'm still in Tracy...
<3
@ Everyone
I'm seriously struggling for friends who aren't pricks who're gonna be hitting up the Halo 3 beta this coming week. Is anyone here willing to trade Gamertags etc?
Mine's Xerowalsh if anyone cares to add me.
I'm in the UK, but I imagine a lot of people will be up at all hours playing this anyway.
Check that out.