This game is truly brilliant. I absolutely loved Halo 3, which had quite a few large flaws, and this game seems to have addressed a great many of them. My biggest issue was the monopoly of the BR which is now fixed by the DMR. No longer am I forced to use one weapon aside from power weapons for the entire game! I have some minor issues, of course, but no major gripes. Although one thing I will say is for all of those saying that Generator Defense should be more than 3 vs 3, there's a specific reason (I theorise) that Bungie made it 6 players total. And it's a network test. And there's buton lag which is a characteristic of H3 coop. The Network Test is a test of the coop netcode, and there are 6 players because Bungie are toying with the idea of 6 player coop/firefight, as there are 6 members of noble team. If so, AWESOME. Just my 2 cents. I reckon if Generator Defense makes it into the final game, it will be more than 3 vs 3 and not have lag, as the test is not necessary anymore. Anyway, onto my thoughts: -NEGATIVES - I feel the running speed is a tad too slow for my liking, and the jump height too low. The one that always gets me is the jump from the Pool on Powerhouse up to the Grenade Launcher spawn (showers). The jump appears like...waist height and I still rarely make it even if I crouch jump. I know Spartan-IIIs are weaker but it just doesn't seem right to me. - Perhaps a personal preference, but I feel kill times are just a TAD too long and that the AR is a bit too weak. I never use that gun because the Magnum is just so much better. - The post-game carnage report is a bit too fiddly for my liking, H3's was good and I don't like the new layout for medals. Especially as it doesn't show how many of each I got. If I got 3 Overkills in 1 Invasion game, I want to see all 3 medals in my medal report! - The new HUD is good and flashy, but a bit too transparant in places. Especially the Magnum reticle, which on the brighter parts of Powerhouse becomes impossible to see. But I think they're fixing this so that's fine really. Also a glitch with the ammo displays sometimes showing for both weapons at once. - Assassinations are glitchy and we have no real incentive to do them. Although I'm pretty sure this will be there it'd be nice to have more variety in the assassinations, and perhaps a special medal as an incentive to do them? I think the medals should be : Pummeled for a regular melee kill, Beat-Down for a backsmack, and Assassination for well...an assassination. That'd be sweet. - Oddball, Juggernaut DO NOT WORK on Powerhouse. EVERYONE camps showers/Grenade Launcher Spawn, making for a boring, unvaried game. No idea how to fix this, except opening up the location a bit and making it weaker. - Stuff that happens after the game/round ends still counts towards everything. So you can be booted for betrayals (and it adds to your stats) after the game has ended. Minor gripe, but Halo wouldn't be Halo if I couldn't stick 2 teammates after the game has ended, in celebration. With the new system, I could be booted for this and it would even count towards my quit ban! I mean, I know I don't HAVE to betray my teammates/commit suicide at the end, but hey! It's fun! And that's what this game's all about, right? I loved the end-game antics in H3, can I have them back? Plox? - The guy cocks / bolts / whatever the term is his gun after every sprint. Gets kinda annoying to be constantly cocking the gun. POSITIVES - Everything really, I do love this game ever so much. There are a few touches I think Bungie just totally nailed, so I'll state them. - Weapons are perfectly balanced against one another, perhaps with the exception of the AR, which I feel is way too weak. Every weapon fits its niche nicely. I have no problem with the small clip sizes, that is to deter people with precision weapons such as the Magnum/DMR from spamming into Oblivion like they could with the BR in H3. - Bloom. Love it. Gone are the BR days where I would put the reticle over the guys head and pull, pull, pull, pull the trigger until he was gone. Cos let's face it, that wasn't TERRIBLY difficult, though it was a bit hard to get initially used to. Now there's another layer of skill, timing my shots to ensure accuracy, not just spamming away. Some people say it makes the game more random, I disagree, in medium range situations (the DMR's niche), the more precise slower shooter will win most of the time against the guy who spams the trigger. Most of the time being key here. - I love the animations in this game, they are fluid and feel right. Now all we need is a bit of variety, which I'm sure is coming! I'd like to see 3 or 4 different melee animations for each gun though, but I know this probably won't happen. Would be nice though! - Love the armour abilities. Great. All well balanced, all have their advantages and weaknesses. Wouldn't change any of them. Oh and one thing. For all those saying this is a COD ripoff, you are stupid beyond belief. I have several things to say in response to that: a) COD isn't the only games with a class based system, and HR's is not very similar to it in any capacity, really. b) COD has guns, but Halo had guns first. Therefore by that same logic COD was ripping off Halo by having guns in its game. They also had movement, which I'm pretty sure they stole from Halo. Wait...Halo wasn't the first FPS. Halo must have stolen its ideas from...you get the picture. c) Shut up. So there's my thoughts on the Beta. Sorry for the massive amount of text, but I do love this game, I do.
Normal=agree / Bold=strongly agree /Orange=disagree / Red=strongly disagree / Green=no idea It's to late for me now, I'm an addict. Instead of saying grenades! I now say Tactical Nukes!!!! TACTICAL NUKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Likes: shotgun sniper rifle crosshair boom plasma repeaters plasma pistol propipe lobby new veto (but not that you autatically choose the top one) theater mini menu plasma launcher sprint and jetpack DMR dislikes invisibility glitchy assasinations health system (to much health but shields are fine) spawn delay on invasion and generator defence
Overall, the Beta was very enjoyable, I'll post my thoughts: DISLIKES Post game carnage - don't like it. Halo 3's was a lot better. Also, the medals. Why can't I see how many I got? Arena glitch - a glitch happened to me that, after playing three days in a row (and going very well, I'll add) I didn't get a division. Then, three days later (which I went bad) I get Steel. Wants fix. DMR reticule bloom - I like reticule bloom, but the DMR's is slightly too drastic. Not really a problem, but a thought of mine. Pistol crosshairs - very transparent. Movement speed - slightly too slow for my liking. Jump height - too low for my liking. Plasma Launcher - that is the most over powered thing I have ever seen in a Halo game. Please, no more tracking function for infantry, then it'll be balanced. Nades - why aren't they called tactical nukes? Honestly, so damn strong. But Bungie has fixed this for launch, so nvm. Rocket Launcher - Very powerful. Needs to be toned down a bit. Assassination glitches - assassinations are epic, but sometimes it'll glitch and do weird stuff. Assassination/backsmack bumper hold time - a problem, because sometimes when I just want to give a bad guy a backsmack in the middle of a fight, I'll tap the bumper, but it'll launch into a full on assassination. Needler range - the needler's range is very long. Overpowered. Camping at gold lift on sword base - extremely annoying. The lift should open onto 5b break room, or at least a much more open space. Maybe remove gold lift room and make 5b IFS a large room? LIKES Arena - that stuff is epic Invasion - awesome Generator defense - epic Grenade launcher - I never thought I would see a grenade launcher in a game that would take skill, especially after MW2. DMR - <3 Needle Rifle - awesome Armor abilities - sex Sprint - deserves its own spot, greatest thing ever Pistol - awesome Plasma Repeater - cool Sniper rifle - fun to use Plasma Pistol - omigod this thing was epic Focus rifle - epic Reticule bloom - very good They are my thoughts. Overall, the beta was great and I can't wait for the full game.