Halo 3 (Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 05.14.2007
Our first hand thoughts and perspectives on the upcoming blockbuster first person shooter.
As we reported earlier, Microsoft Gaming Studios and Bungie Studios recently held a press event where 411mania got our hands on the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer beta. We sat down and spent a good five or six hours playing the game as well as chatting with Bungie writing lead Frank O' Conner and studio manager Harold Ryan.
After a short briefing of several new features in the game, we immediately picked up the game and were quickly ported over to one of three maps in this multiplayer beta, this one being called "Valhalla". One of the first things we noticed was the updated features to the motion system. While the game does have slightly better resolution and more detail than previous entries in the Halo series, the real visual update here is in the special effects. A small grotto area revealed the corpse of one of our fallen opponents floating along in the water, with real physics as if we had just chanced upon the body in a mansion swimming pool, murder mystery style.
This is the spiker. Yes you can dual wield it.
There are several new pieces of equipment to use in the game and these also look great. The "bubble shield" creates a protective sphere around players that blocks incoming fire and projectiles. When one of our opponents used this item, we were able to clearly see him in detail behind the shield and not just a silhouette, though he looked distorted as if he were standing in a house of mirrors. When using the item ourselves, we saw the entire surrounding area gain a similar effect that still allowed us to see clearly.
Halo purists need not fret as the gameplay has not deviated much from the award winning formula that made this series famous. For all intents and purposes, the multiplayer in Halo 3 is the same as that in Halo 2 but with several new updated features and balancing. Picking up a turret and lugging through the halls of the High Ground map, we got a full 3rd person view of our Master Chief clone in all his glory, which not only looked great but signified that we had just picked up one hell of a powerful weapon (this is actually how I was able to get my first kills in the game).
Steve walks warily down the street with his brim pulled way down low...
We played the game over real Xbox Live network conditions, and could see no major lagging issues with other players. Since the network itself uses a "skill match" system, most of our games were balanced and enjoyable and we were quickly able to find opponents of our same skill level. We also saved and reviewed videos of our own matches which did not take up much space on our Xbox 360 consoles at all.
But is the game fun? Well, that depends on your level of interest in Halo. At its core, the game plays just like its predecessors. Although we were quickly frustrated with specific spawn points and weapons placement Frank O'Conner assured us that those points will be changed after the upcoming beta. "While the spawning system does detect most other players in the area, it's not perfect yet." said Frank, "We're constantly playing around with the balance on the maps, and this is something that I can guarantee will improve over the next few months."
You can now reload dual wield weapons independently. It doesn't help when you're getting shot from behind.
That's great news for us, because aside from those key points, Halo 3's multiplayer game alone is extremely addictive. With customizable characters, dozens of new weapons, enhanced control features and some absolutely beautiful map locations, Halo 3's multiplayer is full of fast paced action that is hard to put down even at this unfinished stage of the game. Yet with all this promotion and expectations for the game rising at a lightning pace, where will Halo 3 perform when Halo 2 could not?
"We had a lot of pressure in Halo 2." commented Harold Ryan, Bungie's studio manager. "We never really had a cubicle style office environment. At Bungie, people were kind of meshed into one room and would work together off the cuff. With Halo 2, we found it much harder to bring all the individual pieces together. While that pressure is still there in Halo 3, we've all become better at working through schedules, meetings, and bringing the whole unit together."
After a short time with the game, one can easily see what Harold is talking about. New features have been integrated as smooth as one can imagine, and all in all the game feels more like an extension of the series than an individual title. "That was the idea." continued Harold, "Halo wasn't originally intended to be a trilogy and we had several features we really wanted to realize in the actual game play."
Grabbing a hold of certain weapons such as gun turrets will change your view to 3rd person.
The more we played Halo 3 the deeper our interest in the game's full version became. We wanted more, and we probed Frank O'Conner for more information on the single player game as best we could. "There was a real cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2 and Halo 3 will completely tie up all the loose ends. The Covenant is still the main enemy in the game, but don't forget the Flood is always looming in the background. They're even scarier than the Covenant, in my opinion."
So will the flood make an appearance in the game? "I wouldn't be surprised." Frank said with a smile.
The online multiplayer beta for Halo 3 will begin on May 16th. The full game is expected to be released Fall of this year.
