Halo 3 Beta
Before I get started I want to make it clear that I understand that the Beta is not the final product and does not necessarily reflect how Halo 3 will play.
All in all I had a pretty good time playing the beta. I got to rank of major and level 34 in rumble pit while only playing a small amount of pit games. Most of the time I spent playing team games, or 2v2.
First let's discuss improvements.
One thing Bungie obviously worked on was the menu system and the operation of parties. The addition of the Military ranks adds a cool layer of depth to understanding who you are playing against. By being able to quickly check an opponents games played and compare to their rank you get a quick measure of what you're up against. Also while not complete, the ability to save videos of games is awesome. The file share idea is awesome. If I had been able to save my Halo 1 games at the end of the match I would have made hundreds of montages. Since you don't know when you're going to do something sick having the ability to save a game is awesome.
Stylistically the beta resembles Halo 2. However I feel the players are noticeably smaller in comparison to their surroundings, which I consider an improvement. While I didn't play that many customs and face to face BR battles were a bit of a rarity the reduction in the size of the player will allow for a greater skill curve than the one in Halo 2. Simply put the hit-box size along with the strong auto-aim and bullet pull in Halo 2 made the battle rifle simplistic. The battle rifle (and carbine to a lesser extent) require more precise aiming for them to be effective in H3B. I wholeheartedly agree with a reduction in hit-box size and decrease in bullet-pull. For a game to succeed on a competitive level their must be attainable skill levels by players. If a first time player can pick up a game and 4-shot someone then it is not a very skill oriented game. Of course strategy, instinct, and map control all play into a victory, but the basis of an FPS is shooting. There is still obvious auto-aim (dragging reticule sideways over a standing opponent) which I don't see as a problem. A FPS on a computer does not use auto-aim and requires much greater dexterity which is achieved through the precision of a mouse. Auto-aim on a console is a necessary part of the game.
One major change which I think is overlooked is what appears to be an increase in the players field of vision. I literally may be imagining this aspect of the beta, but I feel that the player is seeing a much larger percentage of their screen compared to Halo 2. For this reason Halo 2 was often frustrating to play since I often felt like I was wearing blinders. Split-screen play was even worse. After playing a lot of the beta and some split-screen on 3 different TV's I feel that Bungie may have gotten this aspect of the game right.
I'm sure there are other things which some might consider as improvements but that is about all that come to mind. I think the bubble shield in theory is a cool idea, but I'm not sure how it is going to play out in the long term run of the game.
And now the Negatives
One thing about this game which has only grown worse since Halo 2 is the weapon diversity. It is a commonly held belief in competitive environments, both gaming and sports, that diversity causes randomness. H1 essentially had 6 "useful" weapons: pistol, shotgun, plasma pistol, plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and sniper. Halo 3 currently has 13: BR, Carbine, AR, SMG, Needler, Brute Spiker, Brute shot, Rocket launcher, Spartan Laser, Sniper, Beam Rifle, portable chain gun, and Pod Launcher. That list doesn't include the sword, or the Magnum (Hopefully I haven't left any off the list). 15 effective weapons when compared to the 6 weapons of Halo 1. One of the most competitive and graduated skill based games of all time, chess, has 6 unique pieces, coincidence? Game variety will typically introduce random elements and unpredictable circumstances within a game. It can be noted that for various reasons MLG changed the weapon setup which I feel helped reduce the random nature of Halo 2 gameplay. I understand that the guys at Bungie want to be creative and original, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Games like counterstrike and Unreal Tournament maintained their fan base by sticking to what works, not by doubling the amount of available weapons.
Another problem with H3B which resembles the problems of Halo 2 is the lag inconsistency. It is very hard to discern when you are lagging, and when your bullets are lagging. While weapons like the Sniper and Spartan laser do not appear to be very affected by lag, the effectiveness of guns like the shotgun and brute shot is striking. I had 2v2 matches where I could kill someone with 2 brute shot blasts, and have others where I would land the full 6 round clip on someone and have them continue fighting. I can understand lag and its effect on a game, but if I'm lagging I'd at least be able to tell. If I know a shotgun and melee isn't going to kill someone, then I'll avoid that situation. However when I can understand the spacing and behavior of a battle pulling a shotgun to finish a fight is typically a sure-fire option. It is rather aggravating to have what is usually a guaranteed victory fall through due to lag which is hidden by network protocol.
Another aspect of the beta is that it is very difficult to tell how much damage an opponent has received. Often when I'm shooting a person by myself with a BR as they try to flee (as is the typical solution for most H2 players) I can't tell if they're one shot from death or three. The Halo 1 shield worked perfectly; as an opponent was shot their shield would light up, and when it was broken (leaving them vulnerable to a headshot kill) it would disappear. I don't know if perhaps the H3B shield has the same behavior but is just too hard to judge or if there is another reason for this problem. If I know an opponent is hurt badly I'll keep shooting them in the head, otherwise my best plan of action may be quickly using a grenade.
I'm glad that the tracking ability of the plasma pistol has been reduced from the game ruining debacle of "the combo" in Halo 2. I still do not understand why plasma guns work differently in the 2nd and 3rd iterations of the Halo series. Did the Covenant warlords decide that freezing an opponent with plasma wasn't nice? In my opinion the guys at Bungie (who we all know are noobs at their own games (not a problem IMO, they are professional game designers, not players)) got frustrated with being frozen by a plasma rifle or a skilled plasma pistol user in Halo 1 and eliminated their effectiveness for Halo 2. Another problem I had was when I would be facing a plasma pistol wielding opponent. Often I would see them release their charge in my direction and I could tell it was on a vector that wasn't going to hit me, then all of a sudden my shield is blinking red. Whether it is lag, or a problem with visual dynamics of the game I am not sure. I am all for reducing the track of this gun (I have hit a fresh overshield opponent with a charged blast on Damnation as they jumped from overshield above rockets to teleport room and it takes good aim and precise timing) but for what reason a plasma pistol can't behave with the freezing ability in Halo 1 I don't understand.
Another odd aspect of the game is the effectiveness of the needler. NEWS TO BUNGIE: you designed a shitty gun 6 years ago, get over it. For what reason their staff feels that they must continually try to improve that gun is beyond me. For the beta it's gotten to the point where the bullets appear to hit instantly (even though I can see them flying slowly through the air) and kill with what often feels like 4 or 5 needles. Yes guys, that is the definition of skill, a gun that doesn't require aiming and will kill an opponent before they are able to react. This gun appears to be plagued by lag problems much like the plasma pistol. In various games I have unloaded 2 full clips into a VIP opponent at an appropriate distance without taking his shield off. On the other side of the coin I have had less then a clip kill me when I was a VIP from a similar distance.
Now, let's discuss the "new and improved" assault rifle. Before I get ahead of myself I'd like to point one thing out: the assault rifle in Halo 1 was extremely strong. I tested it YEARS ago and found you could kill an opponent with 4 bullets up close transitioning into a running melee. The only problem is that not very often you're going to be able to land a running melee on an opponent with an AR because they are going to be backing up as you charge them. This is not the case in Halo 3. The crew at Bungie has stuck by their guns with the fatal flaw known as "melee lunging." Yes guys, the sword is soooo kewl. Why don't you change the entire dynamic of the game (and what your team describes as one of the "three pillars" of halo) and make the melee lunge to accommodate the physics change necessary for a sword? It appears in H3B that the lunge distance has been somewhat reduced. Although I have been killed numerous times and said to myself "well that was a H2 lunge." This often would just further my assumption that that player was host. OK back to the topic at hand: the assault rifle. When I play a game competitively my objective is to secure the best weapons and use them to dominate my opposition. In Halo 1 this often would be a team combination of pistol, rockets, sniper, and possibly shotgun. However since I spawned with a pistol I already had the opportunity to fight on a more or less level playing field where the victor would be determined by superior skill. Obviously if a team is smart and able to control my spawn and use injured player rotation to control my team I will have a hard time gaining an edge. In H3B I would like to secure a battle rifle and a sniper if possible and use them to my advantage. However due to the quite poor spawning behavior within the game the likelihood for a "random spawning" opponent to kill me with his AR is quite high. Being a resourceful player when an opponent tries to maul me with his assault rifle I make the appropriate adjustment and pull back immediately. However this action is typically quickly overcame by melee lunging. Yes I understand I could melee them as well, but due to the effectiveness (and extreme ineffectiveness of the BR at close range) melee'ing typically is useless. The problem with this game behavior is that by winning a previous battle, I the victor, have earned myself the weapons in the vicinity and therefore earned myself an inherent advantage of their usage. When an opponent spawns within "spray and pray" distance of me the win/loss factor of a FPS is eliminated.
The spawns in H3B are another story. Over the years playing competitively I have seen some pretty terrible spawns. From having an entire team spawn next to me at invis on Hang 'Em High to spawn melee an opponent coming through a teleporter on Chill Out. However instances like this came over years and through thousands of games. I saw what I'd consider some pretty horrific spawn circumstances in Halo 3 Beta over a very short period. For instance: in a match on High Ground I killed a player standing on top of the bunker next to the needler. My teammate and I were on the beach side and I was just infront of the tree next to shotgun. I push forward and encounter his teammate inside the bunker. We are fighting face to face, me with a BR, him with an AR. Meanwhile his teammate spawns directly behind me, not far, and as I am avoiding a grenade tossed from inside the bunker he runs up and shoots me with his AR and punches me. My teammate was doing the right thing, he was watching my vulnerable spots with a sniper while I fought. The possibility of his teammate spawning and sandwiching me occurred to neither of us. I've also seen some pretty bad stuff like people spawning and getting run over by a car, or spawning with a trip mine just a few feet in front of them. I don't really have a solution for this, somehow the spawns need to be more intelligent while being "fair" to both teams. It is very disappointing when my teammate is fighting 2 guys near the beach and I spawn at the opposite side of the map by the defensive side's Mongoose.
A few other non-gameplay related problems I have is the fact that I have to choose "good connection" for "match settings" before the beginning of each game. For those out there who even knew how to change this option before searching for a game. It is pretty annoying having to re-apply it each time. Why would I want a good connection last game and not desire one this game? Also under player settings the voice setting of "team and party" is very useful for players such as myself who are talking to their team the whole time calling out positions and strategy maneuvers. However this setting resets every time that you log out of the game, and is not a maintained player setting like "inverted" or "4 sensitivity." Obviously these are both easily fixable problems which may have already been addressed in internal Bungie builds. Additionally I don't really understand the purpose of the service record page. As of right now it is simply a crappy version of the Player Statistics page. Perhaps their are plans for additional content on this page in the final version, but in the beta it is just a crappy page with 2 useful stats "highest rank" and "RP."
Well, there are other things I could mention this entry has gotten pretty long as it is. I will say that I had a lot more fun playing the Beta then I have had playing Halo 2 since it came out. I'm not sure if it is specifically the new environment and new maps of the beta, or that H3 plays more enjoyably then H2. There are still several aggravating things within this game that may be a deterring factor my long term enjoyment of the game and my interest in playing at a competitive level.
I linked this post on the bungie Halo 3 forum at http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11206276
All in all I had a pretty good time playing the beta. I got to rank of major and level 34 in rumble pit while only playing a small amount of pit games. Most of the time I spent playing team games, or 2v2.
First let's discuss improvements.
One thing Bungie obviously worked on was the menu system and the operation of parties. The addition of the Military ranks adds a cool layer of depth to understanding who you are playing against. By being able to quickly check an opponents games played and compare to their rank you get a quick measure of what you're up against. Also while not complete, the ability to save videos of games is awesome. The file share idea is awesome. If I had been able to save my Halo 1 games at the end of the match I would have made hundreds of montages. Since you don't know when you're going to do something sick having the ability to save a game is awesome.
Stylistically the beta resembles Halo 2. However I feel the players are noticeably smaller in comparison to their surroundings, which I consider an improvement. While I didn't play that many customs and face to face BR battles were a bit of a rarity the reduction in the size of the player will allow for a greater skill curve than the one in Halo 2. Simply put the hit-box size along with the strong auto-aim and bullet pull in Halo 2 made the battle rifle simplistic. The battle rifle (and carbine to a lesser extent) require more precise aiming for them to be effective in H3B. I wholeheartedly agree with a reduction in hit-box size and decrease in bullet-pull. For a game to succeed on a competitive level their must be attainable skill levels by players. If a first time player can pick up a game and 4-shot someone then it is not a very skill oriented game. Of course strategy, instinct, and map control all play into a victory, but the basis of an FPS is shooting. There is still obvious auto-aim (dragging reticule sideways over a standing opponent) which I don't see as a problem. A FPS on a computer does not use auto-aim and requires much greater dexterity which is achieved through the precision of a mouse. Auto-aim on a console is a necessary part of the game.
One major change which I think is overlooked is what appears to be an increase in the players field of vision. I literally may be imagining this aspect of the beta, but I feel that the player is seeing a much larger percentage of their screen compared to Halo 2. For this reason Halo 2 was often frustrating to play since I often felt like I was wearing blinders. Split-screen play was even worse. After playing a lot of the beta and some split-screen on 3 different TV's I feel that Bungie may have gotten this aspect of the game right.
I'm sure there are other things which some might consider as improvements but that is about all that come to mind. I think the bubble shield in theory is a cool idea, but I'm not sure how it is going to play out in the long term run of the game.
And now the Negatives
One thing about this game which has only grown worse since Halo 2 is the weapon diversity. It is a commonly held belief in competitive environments, both gaming and sports, that diversity causes randomness. H1 essentially had 6 "useful" weapons: pistol, shotgun, plasma pistol, plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and sniper. Halo 3 currently has 13: BR, Carbine, AR, SMG, Needler, Brute Spiker, Brute shot, Rocket launcher, Spartan Laser, Sniper, Beam Rifle, portable chain gun, and Pod Launcher. That list doesn't include the sword, or the Magnum (Hopefully I haven't left any off the list). 15 effective weapons when compared to the 6 weapons of Halo 1. One of the most competitive and graduated skill based games of all time, chess, has 6 unique pieces, coincidence? Game variety will typically introduce random elements and unpredictable circumstances within a game. It can be noted that for various reasons MLG changed the weapon setup which I feel helped reduce the random nature of Halo 2 gameplay. I understand that the guys at Bungie want to be creative and original, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Games like counterstrike and Unreal Tournament maintained their fan base by sticking to what works, not by doubling the amount of available weapons.
Another problem with H3B which resembles the problems of Halo 2 is the lag inconsistency. It is very hard to discern when you are lagging, and when your bullets are lagging. While weapons like the Sniper and Spartan laser do not appear to be very affected by lag, the effectiveness of guns like the shotgun and brute shot is striking. I had 2v2 matches where I could kill someone with 2 brute shot blasts, and have others where I would land the full 6 round clip on someone and have them continue fighting. I can understand lag and its effect on a game, but if I'm lagging I'd at least be able to tell. If I know a shotgun and melee isn't going to kill someone, then I'll avoid that situation. However when I can understand the spacing and behavior of a battle pulling a shotgun to finish a fight is typically a sure-fire option. It is rather aggravating to have what is usually a guaranteed victory fall through due to lag which is hidden by network protocol.
Another aspect of the beta is that it is very difficult to tell how much damage an opponent has received. Often when I'm shooting a person by myself with a BR as they try to flee (as is the typical solution for most H2 players) I can't tell if they're one shot from death or three. The Halo 1 shield worked perfectly; as an opponent was shot their shield would light up, and when it was broken (leaving them vulnerable to a headshot kill) it would disappear. I don't know if perhaps the H3B shield has the same behavior but is just too hard to judge or if there is another reason for this problem. If I know an opponent is hurt badly I'll keep shooting them in the head, otherwise my best plan of action may be quickly using a grenade.
I'm glad that the tracking ability of the plasma pistol has been reduced from the game ruining debacle of "the combo" in Halo 2. I still do not understand why plasma guns work differently in the 2nd and 3rd iterations of the Halo series. Did the Covenant warlords decide that freezing an opponent with plasma wasn't nice? In my opinion the guys at Bungie (who we all know are noobs at their own games (not a problem IMO, they are professional game designers, not players)) got frustrated with being frozen by a plasma rifle or a skilled plasma pistol user in Halo 1 and eliminated their effectiveness for Halo 2. Another problem I had was when I would be facing a plasma pistol wielding opponent. Often I would see them release their charge in my direction and I could tell it was on a vector that wasn't going to hit me, then all of a sudden my shield is blinking red. Whether it is lag, or a problem with visual dynamics of the game I am not sure. I am all for reducing the track of this gun (I have hit a fresh overshield opponent with a charged blast on Damnation as they jumped from overshield above rockets to teleport room and it takes good aim and precise timing) but for what reason a plasma pistol can't behave with the freezing ability in Halo 1 I don't understand.
Another odd aspect of the game is the effectiveness of the needler. NEWS TO BUNGIE: you designed a shitty gun 6 years ago, get over it. For what reason their staff feels that they must continually try to improve that gun is beyond me. For the beta it's gotten to the point where the bullets appear to hit instantly (even though I can see them flying slowly through the air) and kill with what often feels like 4 or 5 needles. Yes guys, that is the definition of skill, a gun that doesn't require aiming and will kill an opponent before they are able to react. This gun appears to be plagued by lag problems much like the plasma pistol. In various games I have unloaded 2 full clips into a VIP opponent at an appropriate distance without taking his shield off. On the other side of the coin I have had less then a clip kill me when I was a VIP from a similar distance.
Now, let's discuss the "new and improved" assault rifle. Before I get ahead of myself I'd like to point one thing out: the assault rifle in Halo 1 was extremely strong. I tested it YEARS ago and found you could kill an opponent with 4 bullets up close transitioning into a running melee. The only problem is that not very often you're going to be able to land a running melee on an opponent with an AR because they are going to be backing up as you charge them. This is not the case in Halo 3. The crew at Bungie has stuck by their guns with the fatal flaw known as "melee lunging." Yes guys, the sword is soooo kewl. Why don't you change the entire dynamic of the game (and what your team describes as one of the "three pillars" of halo) and make the melee lunge to accommodate the physics change necessary for a sword? It appears in H3B that the lunge distance has been somewhat reduced. Although I have been killed numerous times and said to myself "well that was a H2 lunge." This often would just further my assumption that that player was host. OK back to the topic at hand: the assault rifle. When I play a game competitively my objective is to secure the best weapons and use them to dominate my opposition. In Halo 1 this often would be a team combination of pistol, rockets, sniper, and possibly shotgun. However since I spawned with a pistol I already had the opportunity to fight on a more or less level playing field where the victor would be determined by superior skill. Obviously if a team is smart and able to control my spawn and use injured player rotation to control my team I will have a hard time gaining an edge. In H3B I would like to secure a battle rifle and a sniper if possible and use them to my advantage. However due to the quite poor spawning behavior within the game the likelihood for a "random spawning" opponent to kill me with his AR is quite high. Being a resourceful player when an opponent tries to maul me with his assault rifle I make the appropriate adjustment and pull back immediately. However this action is typically quickly overcame by melee lunging. Yes I understand I could melee them as well, but due to the effectiveness (and extreme ineffectiveness of the BR at close range) melee'ing typically is useless. The problem with this game behavior is that by winning a previous battle, I the victor, have earned myself the weapons in the vicinity and therefore earned myself an inherent advantage of their usage. When an opponent spawns within "spray and pray" distance of me the win/loss factor of a FPS is eliminated.
The spawns in H3B are another story. Over the years playing competitively I have seen some pretty terrible spawns. From having an entire team spawn next to me at invis on Hang 'Em High to spawn melee an opponent coming through a teleporter on Chill Out. However instances like this came over years and through thousands of games. I saw what I'd consider some pretty horrific spawn circumstances in Halo 3 Beta over a very short period. For instance: in a match on High Ground I killed a player standing on top of the bunker next to the needler. My teammate and I were on the beach side and I was just infront of the tree next to shotgun. I push forward and encounter his teammate inside the bunker. We are fighting face to face, me with a BR, him with an AR. Meanwhile his teammate spawns directly behind me, not far, and as I am avoiding a grenade tossed from inside the bunker he runs up and shoots me with his AR and punches me. My teammate was doing the right thing, he was watching my vulnerable spots with a sniper while I fought. The possibility of his teammate spawning and sandwiching me occurred to neither of us. I've also seen some pretty bad stuff like people spawning and getting run over by a car, or spawning with a trip mine just a few feet in front of them. I don't really have a solution for this, somehow the spawns need to be more intelligent while being "fair" to both teams. It is very disappointing when my teammate is fighting 2 guys near the beach and I spawn at the opposite side of the map by the defensive side's Mongoose.
A few other non-gameplay related problems I have is the fact that I have to choose "good connection" for "match settings" before the beginning of each game. For those out there who even knew how to change this option before searching for a game. It is pretty annoying having to re-apply it each time. Why would I want a good connection last game and not desire one this game? Also under player settings the voice setting of "team and party" is very useful for players such as myself who are talking to their team the whole time calling out positions and strategy maneuvers. However this setting resets every time that you log out of the game, and is not a maintained player setting like "inverted" or "4 sensitivity." Obviously these are both easily fixable problems which may have already been addressed in internal Bungie builds. Additionally I don't really understand the purpose of the service record page. As of right now it is simply a crappy version of the Player Statistics page. Perhaps their are plans for additional content on this page in the final version, but in the beta it is just a crappy page with 2 useful stats "highest rank" and "RP."
Well, there are other things I could mention this entry has gotten pretty long as it is. I will say that I had a lot more fun playing the Beta then I have had playing Halo 2 since it came out. I'm not sure if it is specifically the new environment and new maps of the beta, or that H3 plays more enjoyably then H2. There are still several aggravating things within this game that may be a deterring factor my long term enjoyment of the game and my interest in playing at a competitive level.
I linked this post on the bungie Halo 3 forum at http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11206276
posted by Annihil8or at 5:22 PM
4 comments
