Halo : Reach Beta

[Uli]

however it's clear that I'm never going to really enjoy a Halo again because people have just got too good at it! I was a pretty good player in the Halo2 days but I'm struggling like hell now.

or we are just getting older and slower Pete but we should rest assured that most of these "online aces" would struggle to complete a Halo campaign on Legendary because they simply lack the patience and finesse it takes to beat this mode.

[PeteJ]

Yeah good point, I can still Legendary the single player so that must count for something! Although I admit I can only do it in coop Looking forward to the skilled players elevating above my level so I can enjoy a game or two of the beta.

I have to say though, as much as I have loved the Halo series over the years I think I have moved on now. Reach seems like a step in the right direction but, multiplayer at least, I think I've seen everything Halo can offer without the series getting a complete redesign.

[nonny]

Had a session on this last night and well... its more of the same isnt it?

Even though I appreciate they've taken out the dual-wielding nonsense, added loadouts and made it all new again underneath it still has all the annoyances of the past two halo games that make me like them less than the original.

First off... the Sword and Hammer. These are surely the most boring weapons around and I honestly wish they'd just junk them now. The new DMR is ok and I like that the pistol is back and shotgun appears to have been un-nerfed... but I dont know it's still so bloody similar to Halo3 for me.

As for the maps. One good, one absolutely terrible. Whoever design swordbase needs to be taken off FPS projects for good. It's god awful and made 10x worse having such a small player count. All anyone seems to do in that map is jetpack around. In fact the only fun I've had on that map is playing a gametype variant called SWAT where you only get the DMR & Pistol with Sprint on loadout and it's essentially one shot kills for headshots and 3 shot kills anywhere else.

That was a standout... everything else has been "meh". I went back to SFIV in a matter of an hour and most of that was waiting for matchmaking to do its thing. I'll venture back when they open up new maps and modes. Right now I doubt I am even going to buy the game.

[tonyk100]

Played some more tonight still enjoying it myself but I'm more a single player guy.

One question though I'd like to be able to hear more voice chat but no one says anything makes me thing my headsets are broken.

Is there a setting I've missed? either on the dash or in game?

[Neon Ignition]

Tried it out and it's seems pretty clear that Reach is effectively the project Bungie was working on after Halo 3 with ODST being a stop gap measure. I've never been Halo's biggest fan generally but generally, for me, they have admittedly improved with each title. I'm caught in an awkward view of Reach. On the one hand it simply feels (like the other Halo titles now) archaic, it feels like I'm playing an 1990's PC FPS all the time. On the flipside I feel more forgiving of Reach because it's Bungie's last title in the series and regardless they've generated a lot of success from it so it's completely understandable that they would be working on a polished refinement of the series so as to go out on a high.

I had a few alright games last night but this should have been a summer release, I don't foresee me sinking time into the multiplayer come Xmas rush time. Barring a major franchise shake up for Halo '4', I reckon this might be hitting the twilight era for Halo

[Prototype]

I'm loving this now. Perhaps I was frustrated with the amount of times i was dying earlier in my post. Now I've gotten used to each weapon and getting 15 kills per game. Can't wait till invasion.

[H-Man]

it feels like I'm playing an 1990's PC FPS all the time

Surely that's a good thing? I miss the fluid, fast paced shooters of the 90s. fps that were about reactions, movement, twitch aiming and skill. Today we get BC2 and MW2 - and other variations thereof - which all feel horribly slow, clunky and awkward in comparison, full of randomness and who sees who first wins lottery gameplay.

There's been a serious drought of arcady shooters in recent years and thank **** for Halo and TF2.

[EvilBoris]

My thoughts exactly, MW2 and BF2 are a very different gaming experience and I always felt that Halo needed a different levelof skill which is far in excess of what you need to play either of those.

[Soi]

Completely agree.

Halo is a much harder game than MW2. I love MW2, and have played it for over 10 days, but you need fewer skills in MW2. MW2 isn't easy, but because the guns are very powerful, positioning and anticipation of your opponent are the dominant skills. Halo requires more aiming skill (as you need to land more shots, and your opponent is probably jumping around) and much more tactical awareness (when to melee, when to shoot, when to use weapon X instead of weapon Y). In MW2 I always use a TAR or Famas, and combat is far simpler.

The result is that my MW2 K/d is 2.3ish, whereas I'm happy in Halo if I've got any more kills than deaths. Very very good Halo players have k/ds of around 1.5. Very good MW2 players have k/ds of 4+.

People shouldn't worry if they find that Halo is hard to play at first: it is hard to play. But the more you play, the more satisfying it becomes.

[Neon Ignition]

I can understand the appeal of the more traditional PC online experience which Halo mimmicks but if I was going down that route I'd still pick titles like Quake etc over it. With titles like Rage even the likes of ID are moving on

[nonny]

The more I think of it the more I believe the current state of the beta is a bit unrepresentative of what we can expect in the final version.

Two maps at the moment and one of which is pretty poor (swordbase) but this friday we get Invasion, 16 players and vehicles. As such I am reserving judgement on this till we see how the Spartans v Elites with differing abilities pans out... lets face it the mode sounds very much like Battlefield on paper but with Halo weaponry and vehicles, it should based on that be very special and if its not it's still a beta and no doubt weapon balance and other factors will be ironed out in the several months after.

For me, at the moment this beta is very much hit & miss based on what game-type is being played as some just dont work that well at all on the maps we have whilst others (SWAT, Headhunter etc...) are superb.

[fishbowlhead]

Still, the Halo games are among the very very few whose trailers can make my hairs stand on end. Even now, watching the H3 one with the big canyon thing does it to me. It must be the music.

My geek senses tingle every time i watch a halo trailer, especially the halo 3 cg canyon as you said, the live action ODST, the new live action reach and especially the live actions by niel blompkamp. I absolutely love them, even though i don't play the games anymore they still keep my interest in the universe.

[H-Man]

I can understand the appeal of the more traditional PC online experience which Halo mimmicks but if I was going down that route I'd still pick titles like Quake etc over it. With titles like Rage even the likes of ID are moving on

The thing is, Halo is now doing arcady fps better than PC offerings. Quake is great, but is really for pure twitch aim junkies only. It's the TF, RTCW/ET, CS type games that the PC once used to excel in and now almost completely neglects that Halo has been born from. I wish Reach was coming out on the PC - with dedicated servers, m&k, objective attack/defend gametypes it would be truly godly - if only because the CoD plague that is currently ****ing the genre in the arse needs to die!

[MJ]

Is it me or could the general Halo love be waning. Back in the glory days of Halo 2, the Halo 3 beta and Halo 3 my Friends List was full of people playing Halo, but hardly anyone is bothering to play the Reach beta on my list.

[Uli]

could someone please explain a dumbass like me how to get into a game of Generator Defense? or is the game mode chosen randomly in matchmaking?