Halo 3 Beta: May 16th - June 7th

[AlNom]

But it's like crack. Need crack. Cut-off = Suicide! Betrayal!

...

That's odd, my buddy is playing right now. Maybe wait a bit?

 

[Tap In]

OMG It'sssss baaaaaack!!

I love it, like a long lost friend

 

[archangelmorph]

Had my first crack at the beta this morning and I think it's fair to say its looking pretty good..

I do have a few issues however; The lack of AA (whilst a very understandable omission) is pretty jarring at 720p and I guess my only other quip would be the fact that it doesn't really "feel" much different from Halo 2 (which I suppose is a good thing..)
I did however only get that chance to spend around 20 mins with it though (A guys gotta go to work..) so I should be jumping in tonight get a true taste of the skin and bones of it..

Hopefully I'll be seeing some of you guys in there sometime soon!

 

[Tap In]

I do have a few issues however; The lack of AA

save a movie of your match at the end and look closely. I'm saying it's got to be 2xAA

otherwise I agree. It feels great; better than the best of Halo2 and I really didn't notice just how good the graphics were until i watched a couple of match saved movies. (too busy killing and dying to really appreciate them in game.... things move far too fast)

the sound and feel of all the weapons (close up and at a distance) are perfect. Silky smooth fast and lean gameplay with balanced weapons and a renewed emphasis on grenades and melee. Lots of particle and smoke/explosion effects.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

I have never been a big halo fan, but il guess il download this.

 

[aselto]

Just 4 words - it is absolutely awesome!
Back to Halo 3

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Yes! I got some play time too finally. I forgot to invert the y-axis first, making the first game rather amusing.
It feels very solid and I didn't see any lag or other techical problems whatsoever. I'll have to play some more tonight.

 

[archangelmorph]

save a movie of your match at the end and look closely. I'm saying it's got to be 2xAA

Probably a function of the movie replay system because the lack of AA during play was glaringly obvious as soon as I loaded up the beta..

It's especially prevalent when you look at the trees from a distance in the "greener" maps.. Pixels crawling all over the place..

 

[silhouette]

This is crazy... amazon's bestseller list:

2 Crackdown (40$ btw)
5 Halo 3 Legendery Edition
8 Halo 3
21 Halo3 Collectors Edition

We are 4 months away from the launch... Wow!

 

[scooby_dooby]

Demo was fun, graphics were very average, only the lighting stood out as being 'nice', everything else definately needs improvement. The water was OK, but basically what we've come to expect from next gen titles. The foliage, aliasing, and rock/snow textures all stuck out as sub par, though effects like the bubble shield, or textures on the buildings, are really nice.

First time really trying Halo MP, it was fun, though a bit overwhelming with all the various new weapons, new controls, and gadgets.

I'm still not sure what all the hype is about, but I did have fun with the team based CTF style games, VIP was really fun, I managed to lead the team and score 4 VIP kills, all with melee's to the back of the head

Fun game, but playing with strangers leaves alot to be desired.

 

[rbushner]

Pixels crawling all over the place..

It is painful in some places.

Some of the effects look really nice (plasma grenades).

Q: any technical reason that they couldn't just let people play the beta for fun after June 10? I mean, they don't have to collect data...

Technically they would need to keep the servers online to serve the 100k+ users.
Marketing wise I can think of a bunch of reasons.

it doesn't really "feel" much different from Halo 2

Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but it feels more like Halo than Halo 2 to me. Not so much dual wielding and PP overusage going on. Which is a good thing IMO.

I've had a couple glitches with it not allowing me to start matchmaking and one instance of slowdown. But I think it holds 30FPS more consistently than Halo 2. Really quite nice for a game 4 months from release. I still am getting used to the weapons, and I have not been able to use equipment effectively at all.

 

[Tap In]

Probably a function of the movie replay system because the lack of AA during play was glaringly obvious as soon as I loaded up the beta..

that still, looks like 2xAA to me in game rather than 0AA.

 

[RobertR1]

My Impressions:

Never played a Halo game before so I didn't know what to expect going in. Downloaded the demo and go into a game. The first thing I noticed is how useless the standard gun you get is. You can't even hurt someone's feelings, nevermind killing them! So after I got around to getting a real gun I went out. It was pit level that I player over and over and over.....I was shocked that I wasn't doing too bad! Thought I'd be getting owned due to lack of expierence but most games kept a 1:1 or 1:1.5 k/d ratio which I was happy about. The level itself was really well setup but a bit lacking in the graphics department. The lighting was well done though.

Character animation is very fluid. Not sloppy whatsoever. The controls are great and feel natural quickly EXCEPT for jumping. Maybe I need to grow another finger but I couldn't hit the jump button while keeping my thumb on the right analog stick. This made jumping and aiming tricky. Hoping I can swap that to another button in the final or figure it out.

Hard to explain why but the gameplay was really addicting. All sorts of things happening all over the place! The physics really helped out. You can get pretty creative with the nade tossing. I liked the jumping thing you pick up and toss infront of you. Then go on it, super jump and aim! I'm certainly looking forward to playing the beta more but will have to balance with Forza 2 Some guys are ridiculously good at this game though. It shocking to me how good their aim and movement was, esp. without a keyboard and mouse. There goes that myth.......

 

[kyleb]

Yes! I got some play time too finally. I forgot to invert the y-axis first, making the first game rather amusing.

You can set the defaults your Live profile so all games default to invert look.

that still, looks like 2xAA to me in game rather than 0AA.

Are you looking someplace in particular for it? I haven't checked the movies but in gameplay I've noticed a lot of completely un AA'ed jaggies.

 

[scooby_dooby]

The first thing I noticed is how useless the standard gun you get is.

Actually it's not so bad, key to remember is that it's a medium range weapon, not close. If you stay back, and aim for the head it can be quit effective. You don't want to get into a close range gun battle with it though.

 

[Malibu]

Bungie says the beta has no AA.

So those jaggies, I ask Jarrard, is that really how the final game's going to look?

"It is an open item," he said. "It's just about priorities and in multiplayer we had to focus on a fast game. We are going to prioritize what's best for the game. Right now Halo 3 has no anti-aliasing at all."

Does that mean the game might not have anti-aliasing, or that you include it in the single-player campaign but not online multiplayer?

"We haven't decided on it yet."

http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/talking-halo-3-with-bungie-260273.php


I'm having a blast playing the beta and I'm so glad to see the Assault Rifle return as the default starting weapon.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

I liked the jumping thing you pick up and toss infront of you. Then go on it, super jump and aim!

Try tossing it infront of a guy thats on a vechicle, much more rewarding than stepping on it yourself =)

 

[Tap In]

well my TV must be hiding it pretty well, i have sharpness down to acceptable levels (besides the incredibly fast movement)

thanks for the link ..."Right now" meaning they may be adding it.

 

[aselto]

Do you guys know that the game can also render at 1280x1024 (and framerate isn't worse at all)? After several solid hours of game session, I have to say I really love it. As for graphics - overall it looks decent for a next-gen game, but sadly nothing more. I can understand their decision with very clean artstyle in MP, but it definitely requires AAx4 to look impressive - jaggies steal a lot from the game's appeal.

 

[Tap In]

I need help.... most. addicting. game. ever.