Halo Reach Beta

[The 1 2 P]

So far I'm digging the new weapons and play modes but the thing that really has me hooked are the new armor abilities. Using the jet pack was awesome as you might imagine but the guardian invicibility armor is pretty useless considering you can't move while being indestructible. The scout armor is nice to get around quickly but I became obsessed with the stalker armor. It's basically a return to the arbiter's active camo ability from Halo 2, except this last much longer. The new assassination melee moves are nice to execute but they tend to leave you open to an easy attack by surrounding enemies.

While I like what I've seen so far, I still don't see it as the end-all-be-all Halo game, atleast not yet. I'm curious to see how the campaign plays out and also what other enhancements they add to the final multiplayer build. So what did you guys think about it?

[Davedeadly]

its nothing special in my opinion...unless you are a die-hard halo fan.

[Battlesmurf]

does the nerfed AR, low movement speed, motion blur, weird fisheye/tearing effect when turning bother anybody else?

[unwinddesign]

My initial reaction is muted after 5 or so games. As a big fan of Halo 2/Halo 3 multiplayer, the new additions like the jetpack and other abilities really water the experience down and make it a total cluster-fuck.

The Slayer Classic is the same as always, but I've played a ton of Halo multiplayer at this point and am a bit ambivalent on it. More of the same is good, but I don't know...I see my playtime going down a lot, as it did between Halo 2 to Halo 3.

[Porksta]

If anyone wants in, I have a sealed ODST for sale. $35 shipped!

[Adam Blue]

I'm a fan of Halo, but got bored of 3. Like mentioned, the armor abilities are what makes this stand out. I'm a sucker for that jet-pack.

[Therealqtip]

So it's halo with jet packs? and a "class system"? Doesn't about 90% of online games have classes. Didn't section 8 have jet packs?

[ScottK]

I played a little bit of it last night. Wasn't too impressed with it. The only map that they gave got boring real quick. To me it wasn't worth the 45 minutes it took to download.

[Vinnysdad]

I hated Halo 3 because all people did was bunny hop and chuck grenades all over the place and now I tried the Reach beta and people are now flying and chucking grenades all over the place. I dont like it.

[heybtbm]

Wow...I suck. It's been a while since I attempted any sort of Halo multiplayer, and it shows. Nothing like getting teabagged by a some squeaky-voiced kid 5 times in a row. Back to Battlefield/COD.

[carlcarlson]

My time with Halo 3 multiplayer was short, so maybe I didn't give it enough time, but I walked away kind of unimpressed. Every encounter seemed to boil down to, "put your whole clip into the enemy while working your way towards them, and then finish them with a melee kill". Every match was melee kills and grenades. Is Reach any different?

[Adam Blue]

My time with Halo 3 multiplayer was short, so maybe I didn't give it enough time, but I walked away kind of unimpressed. Every encounter seemed to boil down to, "put your whole clip into the enemy while working your way towards them, and then finish them with a melee kill". Every match was melee kills and grenades. Is Reach any different?

Yes. Grenades do more damage but are hard to come by. Using the armor abilities correctly, you can easily avoid cheap deaths found in previous games. Also, a melee strike is only effective if the shields are all the way down. Or, if you sneak up behind an enemy, holding down the melee button assassinates them.

The game still does rely on lowering the shields completely before killing them. But the addition of the armor abilities really makes that idea make sense.

Armor abilities include:

Jet-pack
Sprint
Invincible Shield
Cloak/radar distortion

Each one has a time-limit with a recharging indicator. I personally like the jet pack because I like calling out what I see from above, or helping out a buddy by taking shots at an engaging enemy to lower their shields faster.

Cloak works if you love sneaking around and assassinating, or throwing off an enemy or two that my be engaging a teammate.

I still have found no real use for the invinci-shield.

Sprint helps for running away, grabbing items, or even weapons before the enemy.

The Elites have an exclusive ability, dodging, like they did in the campaigns.

There's still more to be unlocked as the beta goes, so right now we're really just testing the basics for Bungie. It would be short-sighted to make the final decision on the game at this time.

[deltoidsteep]

The invincibility is great if you're about to die. Usually a teammate will come by and take out your attacker and then you can regenerate your shields.

[kupomogli]

Halo 3: Reach?

[Therealqtip]

Halo 3: Reach?

No it's Section 8

[The 1 2 P]

Bungie recently added the Spartans Vs Elites Invasion mode. It's a nice alternative distraction that has lots of potential. The beta is suppose to end around the 19th so theres not that much time left to play it. Also, if you go to Halo Waypoint you can get a free avatar shirt just for having played the beta.

[spoon]

After playing the great CODMW, pretty good Battlefield 1943, Ok CODMW2, and the most excellent Bad Company 2, I'm gonna have to say this game sucks ass. I'm done with Halo online I think.

I'll only be picking this up on the cheap for the single player/co-op. This game was awesome.....8 years ago.

[Voliko]

At first I thought it was awesome, but once i could think straight again, i realized that Reach, as of now, is not great. I mean, it's okay, but Bungie should move on. I'm glad to see that they are coming out with a new IP, but not the whole Activision part of it...