Halo 3 Beta Impressions

Via Games Toaster

Halo 3 is going to break all sorts of records upon its release later this year, that much is almost certain. The original game single-handedly moved XBoxen from shop shelves for the best part of a year, and its sequel topped the charts both in retail and on Xbox Live. With the second sequel almost upon us, we've taken a look at the multi-player beta.

The first thing you'll notice is the familiarity of it all. The weapon load-out is tweaked here and there, but remains largely unchanged. Your avatar is still the Master Chief, and he's still running around the same rocky, grassy vistas and snowy tundra as in previous games.

Worse, the graphics aren't the giant leap forward one would expect from the blockbuster series' debut on the Xbox 360. There are some nice environmental effects - grenades fling up dirt, water sloshes around you and so on - but the textures aren't sharp, the architecture is perhaps too sharp, and the rocky plains lack real definition. It's not quite last-gen, but it's a far cry from platform-leading visuals.

For this gamer, however, the biggest bone of contention is the community. With only the press and those who have access through the Crackdown promotion currently able to play the beta, it is perhaps too early to judge accurately, but on current conditions, the community is not a very welcoming place. As an American-produced game about a alien-battling space marine, the audience is understandably populated by over-enthusiastic, under-sexed teenagers, who endeavor to suck the fun out of proceedings. Whether it's a problem with the matchmaking-system, the community itself or something else is unknown, but this is a major issue for the casual gamer, and one which will hopefully be addressed upon release.

Based on the beta, Halo 3 is shaping up to be very much evolution over revolution. For fans of the series, of which there are many, this will prove to be enough. For those still on the sidelines, they're likely to be underwhelmed, even put off by those fans who insist on taking things so seriously.

it is true that the graphics aren't that better but the game play is a little more better one thing do its harder to give head shots than in halo 2

The graphical part and community can't be judged on the beta, for the developers are still tweaking it and there will be a lot more people on XBox Live! once the game is on store shelves.

I think that anyone who hasn't played Halo but is very interested should go pick up Halo 1 for $20, then go buy the limited edition of Halo 2 for $28 on Buy.com, and then buy Halo 3 when it comes out. Your looking at just over $100 this way, though. But, it keeps the storyline fresh, and you see the improvements over one game to the other. I did it this way and I think it was better than buying the games out of order.

I was able to squeeze 2 matches of Halo 3 in before i was banned. From what i gathered, the graphics were a bit disappointing, but they were nice on the Cheif himself. The weapons were pretty nice too, and the SMG's have had one hell of a power upgrade. Definately a a must buy. Will be buying it along with an Elite to get back online.
-Xiofire