Why is that you ask? Well, allow me to enlighten you. I’ll be going over the maps, new game modes, weapons, powers, and the game overall.
First things first, lets talk about the menus. They’re simple and well organized as always, and look pretty sharp to boot.
When you first hop into matchmaking, you can easily see what all of your friends playing Reach are up to. From there you can either party up or fly solo.
Matchmaking Menu
Before you jump into a lobby, you’re presented with a handful of options. You can choose your playlist, connection options, as well as social settings.
Playlists are currently limited to Grab Bag, Free For All, and Arena.
Grab Bag features a variety of objective based games, as well as slayer variants like SWAT and Covy (Covenant) Slayer.
Free For All is, like before, lone wolf mode. You’re all by yourself, up against seven other players in a variety of gametypes.
Lastly is the new Arena mode. Arena is team slayer only, and is where you get to benchmark your skills against the rest of the world. The mode consists of seasons, which will be approximately one month each when the retail game arrives, according to Bungie. As of right now, the season is two weeks long, being that the beta won’t be out forever. The way it works, from what we know now, is that you are given a ranking based on your performance while playing these matches. How exactly that is calculated is not known, but what is known is that the ranking method is very smart and forgiving. It takes your three best performances, and that is what determines your ranking. So, if you manage to go 4-15 one round, it won’t hurt you. Also, the ranking is solely based on your performance, so if you end up on a team with a bunch of lesser-skilled players, it doesn’t hurt you either. Good ideas all around for this mode by Bungie.
Maps
As of today, Sword Base and Powerhouse are the only two maps available. More will be coming as the beta progresses. Both maps are well made, and I’ve had my fair share of crazy experiences on each of them.
Sword Base
Also known as Jet Pack City
Sword is such a strange word. Anyways, this map is all about verticality. The fastest way between two points is a straight line, and on this map, that way is up or down. There are rooms, bridges, and stairs everywhere, and sometimes it’s hard to know exactly where you are in relation to other points of the map. This is my only complaint with the map; that it’s just kind of confusing to navigate at times. Once I had to run a few flags for CTF though, the routes became a little more familiar. Still though, after playing at least 20-30 matches on it, the layout still isn’t ingrained in my head.
Powerhouse
The prettier of the two maps, and what seems to be the favorite map of most. It’s a nicely balanced layout that features many interesting structures. Most of the fighting seems to occur along the middle or high side of the map. Powerhouse is a map where using cover effectively is vital, since there’s a lot of it. After playing it a multitude of times, I haven’t come across any real flaws with it; it’s simply another solid map from Bungie.
Next up - Game Modes / Weapons
New Game Modes
Invasion and Generator Defense have not been unlocked, so I’ll only be able to talk about the new ones that I’ve played so far.
Stockpile
I was a little worried about this one initially, because after playing the Halo series for long enough, I’ve learned that a lot of the players don’t seem to work well on teamwork-heavy gametypes. Thankfully, I was wrong for the most part. Stockpile is an interesting twist on capture the flag, as instead of having one flag to return, you are presented with four flags every 60 seconds, and once returned to your area, you must defend them until they are scored. Scoring happens every minute, and rounds last 10 minutes. First to 10 flags wins.
Stockpile is a furious mess of a gametype, and that is precisely why it is so fun.
Headhunter
This is yet another insanely furious gametype. The goal is very simple: get 25 skulls to a designated spot on the map, and you win. Executing that is far from simple though. Every time you kill someone, they drop one skull, plus however many they might have been carrying at that time. You pick them up, and return to the capture point as fast as you can to deposit them - with seven other players roaming around the map who want you dead. Also, if you manage to return the maximum of 10 skulls at once to the deposit location, you automatically win. Be warned though, because once you pickup skull 10, you show up on everyone’s map as an easy target.
Weapons
Learn it. Embrace it. Become one with it.
For this section, I’ll give you my own brief personal opinion on each of the weapons that are new or have undergone notable changes.
Pistol - Your go-to weapon every time you spawn (on the normal-setting gametypes). Halo 1 powerful, and can be used effectively at mid to long range. It’s awesome.
Assault Rifle - Feels much better than before. The spread of the bullets is much tighter, and it is somewhat effective for mid to short range battles.
Shotgun - Feels a lot like the old one, to me at least. Has been balanced so the shotgun-melee isn’t so prevalent.
Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) - Replaces the Battle Rifle. Fires one shot at a time, and the faster the bullets are shot, the less accurate it becomes. It requires a balance of aim and timing. In my opinion, it’s not as effective as I thought it would be. It will probably undergo some changes before retail.
Grenade Launcher - I love this thing. One-round per reload, but when fired, you control when the grenade explodes (hold the trigger to fire, release to explode the shell). Shoots / feels a little like the brute shot.
Plasma Repeater - The replacement for the old Plasma Rifle. Fires extremely fast, and in general, feels much more effective than the Plasma Rifle.
Plasma Pistol - Has a more visible lock-on indication. Like in Halo 2, a fully charged hit takes down all of your shield.
Needler Rifle - Covenant version of the DMR. Uses needles instead of bullets, and works like much the Needler - stick a specific amount of rounds into a target in a certain amount of time = kaboom.
Focus Rifle - Replaces the Covenant sniper rifle. Shoots a beam similar to the Sentinel Beam, which must be held on the target for a few seconds for a kill. Feels nice, and properly balanced.
Plasma Launcher - Probably the best new power weapon ever. It shoots up to four plasma grenades at a target at once (when fully charged). Has limited lock-on tracking, which feels just right. It is a ton of fun to use.
Next up - Armor Abilities and Overall Feelings
Armor Abilities
A whole new world
One of the biggest changes made in Halo: Reach is the introduction of four (technically five) armor abilities. They all have their uses and so far feel fairly well balanced.
Note: None of the armor abilities can be used while holding a flag, oddball or any other objective.
Sprint - Allows you to quickly run for a short period of time. Great for running into a base to grab a flag, or getting out of a bad situation. This was the ability that I initially thought was least interesting, but it turns out that it’s the one I’m using the most. There’s just something to be said about having the ability to run in Halo.
Jet Pack - Give you the ability to fly up into the air for a period of time to gain a vertical advantage on the players below. Be warned though, while you’re in the air, you are an easy target and draw a lot of attention to yourself. Definitely a fun ability, and is very useful on maps like Sword Base.
Armor Lock - Gives a brief period of invincibility, followed up by a small EMP blast that disables the shields of all enemies within a close radius. Works great as a distraction, defending flags, as well as simply giving you time to recharge your shields a little when you’re in a sticky situation.
Active Camouflage - Allows the user to toggle on and of invisibility for a period of time. Lasts much longer than the other abilities. Is balanced out with a radar scrambler, which scrambles the user’s radar and those of all nearby enemies (to give them a heads up that someone cloaked is nearby). This is the ability I’ve used the least by far.
Evade - This is a Covenant only ability, since they cannot use the other abilities. Lets the player roll a short distance to avoid fire or to simply travel more rapidly. Can be used twice in succession before a recharge period is required. It’s honestly pretty fun.
Overall Impression
I must say that when I first heard of Halo: Reach, I really didn’t care at all, as I thought it would just be another Halo game. Though I liked Halo 3, I didn’t think that they changed it enough from Halo 2, which hurt it in the long run for me. Thankfully, Reach is much different. As more and more details surfaced, my interest increased, until the point that I became truly excited for the game. Now that the beta is out, and I’ve finally gotten my hands on it, I really think that the changes make it a very unique experience. Though it still feels like Halo, it’s now faster, more dynamic, and for lack of better words, simply more awesome. If you’re at all interested in the game, I’d really recommend you try to get your hands on a beta code, or simply pick up Halo: ODST. The beta will only be around for a few weeks, so now’s the time.
If anyone wants to party up with me in the beta, feel free to add me on XBL - REIGN x 777
