Preview: Halo 3 Beta (360)

Hindsight is always 20-20. While Gamestyle was completely blown away by Halo 2, looking back now, it's very easy to spot a lot of flaws, especially with the campaign. However, the multiplayer aspect is still the most popular original Xbox Live title to date. Recently, Bungie and Microsoft finally unveiled playable code of Halo 3 in the form of a public beta, open to anyone who was invited by Microsoft themselves, won a competition, or bought a copy of Crackdown. The beta went live on Wednesday the 16th of May... technically, although anyone who had bought Crackdown was unable to access it. After the Internet exploded, Microsoft released an update to solve the issue and extended the beta by three days. So, will Halo 3 be worth the wait? If the beta is any indication, yes.

After creating our online Spartan model (no Elite characters are available in the beta), Gamestyle went through Bungie's excellent matchmaking system which makes a welcome return from Halo 2. For playing games alone or with your friends in a cohesive and permanent party, there's no better way to find opponents in ranked matches. The system still works as well as it did when Halo 2 was released, if not better. That said, there have been times during the beta's early days when we were perpetually stuck in the "finding players" screen. Still, everything runs smoothly at the time of writing.

When the games started, Gamestyle was amazed. Halo 3 is one of the best-looking games on the 360. Many people have commented that it does not look as good as the current king of the 360 shooters, Gears of War, but Gamestyle would say they're both equally good for different reasons. Gears of War does the 'industrial planet on the brink of the apocalypse' look very well, while Halo 3 masters the 'alien ring-world with the universe's most beautiful water' look. The graphics are very good, especially when running on a HDTV and Gamestyle didn't notice any game-hampering visual glitches. There were definitely no faults with the three available maps: Valhalla, an open valley with two large bases at each side surrounded by mountains; Snowbound, a medium-sized map covered in snow with some underground caverns and bases; and finally, Highground, a medium map that runs from a beach to a base at the top of a slope. Each map is incredibly well-rendered and suitable for the game types they play host to. Highground is a particular favourite for Slayer matches; as well being fairly big, it's very easy to close the distance on your opponents.

The new HUD especially looks nice, with the shield bar centred at the top of the screen, no longer located with the radar in the bottom-left. The top-right and left quadrants of the screen are used for the weapons. When a one-handed weapon is used, the top-right displays the weapon icon and ammunition count, while the top left displays the count for the three grenade types. However, when dual-wielding comes into play, the top-left displays the ammo for the left-handed weapon. This makes quite a lot of sense, since you cannot use grenades while dual-wielding, so there is little need for the grenades to be displayed.

The controls are, for the most part, unchanged from Halo 2: A is still jump, triggers still fire your weapons, and so on. However, Bungie has made two significant changes: the X button is no longer used for reloading; this function has been moved to the left and right bumper buttons, each assigned to a weapon when dual-wielding. When not, the left bumper handles toggling available grenade types instead. As for the X button, it is used to deploy the new special items that can be collected. While these items may seem insignificant at first, proper usage opens up new tactics. The Bubble Shield is the most obvious item to prove beneficial, as, once activated, it protects you from all weapon fire for a limited amount of time. However, it also reflects any weapons fire within the bubble, and while you can move in and out of it freely, so can your opponents. Other items include the Power Drainer, which drains all the power from player's personal shields and vehicles, leaving them vulnerable. There is also the portable gravity lift, and trip mine, which are self explanatory. These items prove useful in many scenarios and it will be interesting to see how they are used in the full game.

As for the weapons themselves, several Halo 2 weapons make a reappearance, such the Battle Rifle, SMG, Brute Shot, Covenant Carbine and so on. All of these remain fundamentally unchanged aside from one, the Covenant Needler. In Halo 2, this weapon was a joke, even when dual-wielded, serving to embarrass those slain by it more than anything. Now, you can no longer dual-wield two of these weapons, but you no longer need to, as its power has been enhanced along with its tracking ability, making it actually useful. A classic weapon from Halo 1, the Assault Rifle, makes a welcome return becoming the new starting weapon in almost all game types. Unlike the Halo 2 SMG, it is a useful medium-to-short range starting weapon, meaning games are no longer a rush to dump it. In fact, the Assault Rifle compliments weapons such as the Battle Rifle and Sniper Rifle (both Covenant and Human) quite well. Combined with the new weapons, such as the Brute Spiker, Spike Grenade, and Spartan Laser, Halo 3's seem the most refined and well balanced out there.

As for the game types, they are mostly the same as every other FPS, but the classics rarely get old, and they all work very well on the maps provided. Halo's specific game types shine through, a particular favourite being 'One Bomb' on Valhalla, where teams must take it in turns to assault the opposition's base and destroy it with a bomb. Using the new Mongoose vehicle alongside the Warthog to provide a distraction while the bomb carrier uses the base 'Man Cannon' to launch himself to the halfway point and sneak inside the base is one of Gamestyle's fondest beta memories. What's more, we can relive the memory with the beta's theatre option which allows you to save a recording of your games and share them with your friends. The beta only allows you to record the game from your own perspective, but a full copy of Halo 3 will allow players to view the game from multiple angles, fast forward or rewind, and even edit the playback.

In short, this multiplayer beta has Gamestyle very excited for the full game of Halo 3; so much so, one staff member already has three copies pre-ordered from separate establishments. Everything already works so well and the game is still a few months away from being finished, so it'll be interesting to see what Bungie does between now and September. This beta has reminded us why the Halo franchise is so popular, and we wait with baited breath for the full release.

Words by Garry Webber