Keezy's Betalicious Write-up
The Beta is amazing. Every time I play, I notice something new and different (ask Wonder and Peench, I wouldn't shut up the whole time we were playing). Bungie has the framerate on lockdown... ne'er a stutter to be found. There was lag in one game we played... but it basically amounted to you jumping 3 times when you woud jump once. If you stayed on the ground, you were golden.
The favorites from H2 are there, but have been tuned a bit. The plasma pistol doesn't lock on as much (as mentioned above) but it can stop a vehicle. I haven't seen it in action yet though, but I imagine it to be sort of an EMP. The rocket launcher no longer locks on, which is nice, though I will miss getting a lock and taking somebody out. I have also noticed that the needler is actually worth using now. I died quite a few times with the needle shards riddled through my body.
The 3 levels seemed pretty well balanced, and there wasn't any areas of the map where you could make things cheap. The mancannons are good fun too, but risky. You could get sniped, or those on the ground can throw 'nades at your landing spot causing you some trouble.
The new weapons are anything but disappointing. Right now, my favorite is the Spike Grenade. From hitting the grenade button to hearing the spikes drive into the walls around you, it is a blast. You actually can see the nails fly out and stick into the wall. The real fun comes when you stick somebody with the grenade. The sound alone is worth it. The Spartan Laser is very powerful, but it is hard to line up the shot. The new Assault Rifle is a perfect starting weapon. You no longer feel like you need to find another gun right away, as you can pretty much hold your own against most weapons with the AR. It is much more accurate than the AR from Halo 1, though not as precise as the Battle Rifle from Halo 2. The new Missile Pod fires smaller rockets that track object. I kind of picture it as a Brute Shot except that the grenades are missiles that stay airborne.
Other new fun stuff: The Mongoose is a speedy little number for sure. Riding brokeback is very fun. The engine sound is pretty throaty for how small it is. The Bubble Shield is well implemented, and just fun to use. While inside, your view is kind of skewed, so you are at somewhat of a disadvantage.
Little things: The HUD just feels right. Messages fade in and out. Also, the HUD in 1st person view has a rounded visor-y feel to it, and when you switch to 3rd person, it goes straight. When you die, you can zoom in and out and swivel the camera around your body. If you die in the water, your body will kind of float down stream until your armor fills up with water and you sink. Very cool. Weapons also behave in the same way too. Another very cool feature is that when you go under water, the sound changes immensely. Explosions topside sound like muffled thunder. It's the little things like this that are going to make this game.
The "Saved Films" feature is very limited, but is still cool to mess with. You can save as many matches as you want. You can upload 25MB worth to a file share, which is then viewable by other players of the game. Each match takes up between 6-7MB. The actual replays are first person view only and you can't pause it. Obviously, this will be greatly expanded upon in the full version.
Damn, that's about all I can remember now, but I will post up more when I think of it. In the mean time, ask and I'll try and answer it. Funny side note: I heard at least 3 people say something to the effect of "It's good to know I didn't waste $130 on this game!" I have to agree.
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