Halo 3 Beta Disappoints
May 20th, 2007 by James Hyde in Action, Multiplayer, Online, Software, Xbox360
The Halo 3 beta is live and kicking, and after playing it for a few days, I’m not that impressed as I expected to be. Although it’s just a beta, it does show what Halo 3 multiplayer is all about. It’s pretty much like Halo 2 with a graphics upgrade, with minor tweaks here and there. And while the graphics are better in Halo 3 (they have to be better, after all), they can in no way be compared to, say, Gears of War, GRAW, or Oblivion.
One can’t blame the developer for not changing the gameplay too much, Halo 2 is after all one of the most popular multiplayer games around, years after it was released. The three maps that came with the beta were all rather small and quite boring, and the only one that looks decent is High Ground, but again, it can in no way be compared to Gears of War, or similar games for that matter.
On the good side, like with Halo 2, you get lots of intense multiplayer action, even though games are limited to only 8 players at this point. The menu interface is pretty slick and well designed, and the extensive web based statistics feature is a nice addition.
Even though Halo 3 disappoints at this point, you can’t really judge the game because of one little part; the final version will feature a lot more multiplayer modes, settings, maps, weapons and so on, plus the single player campaign, of course. The beta seems to have attracted a lot of Halo 2 fans, but it also seems to have alienated a few newcomers, since the first impression is usually the one that counts, and the beta certainly doesn’t give Halo 3 a great first impression.
But as they say, you can’t have a good online multiplayer game without public beta testing. In the end, Halo 3 will definitely benefit from the beta, as hundreds of bugs and exploits will be found and fixed.
Tags: Action, Multiplayer, Online, Software, Xbox360
May 20th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Well I totally disagree with this article and so do many others … Halo 3 BETA is NOT a disappoint at all and it is much more fun than Gears of War MP. As far as the SP campaign no one has even seen it and that is a MAJOR portion of the game so how can you say you are disappointed when you have no clue as to how good the SP campaign is? It is not all about graphics … sometimes it is about fun and Halo 3 is a much more fun game than Gears of War and GRAW … at least imho and millions of others as well. At any rate this game is going to blow away Gears when it comes to the most important thing (other than fun gaming) … selling copies and making money.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:52 am
People keep talking about the graphics being ok…well…hello it’s a BETA! They would have limited the amount of stuff that you need to download as not to make this a horrible experience. IT’s not a shiny graphics test it a test to iron out any network issues. Besides, after playing it…love it…has issues but hopefully they can get sorted out ready for september
May 21st, 2007 at 9:13 am
Like I said, it’s early to judge especially since the multiplayer part is limited and there is no single player either.
I was talking about “first impression”, which does disappoint, the new players in particular (I only played Halo 2 for a brief moment when it came out). Bungie has been bragging about the visuals of Halo 3, therefore one can expect them to live up to the hype. That’s not the case with the Halo 3 beta, and it’s limited how much they can improve the visuals from now on.
Also, the single player portion is said to have higher resolution textures and better visuals overall, which is the case of many Xbox 360 games (just take a look at Perfect Dark Zero and R6 Vegas). Except Gears of War, which looks fantastic no matter how you play it. I think developers should strive to make the visuals in multiplayer just as good as the single player counterpart, although it’s not as important as pure MP action.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am
I found the gameplay to be VERY different from Halo 2. Different starting weapon, new weapons all over the field, returning weapons changed. Duel Wielding isn’t as common, spiker grenades don’t bounce, the equipment as a last minute save.
Honestly, what so similar to Halo 2?
May 21st, 2007 at 2:04 pm
It’s far, far more balanced, and if you have doubts about it being next gen, just look at the water.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:34 pm
read this then..from OXM today
Halo 3 with four-play?
21 May 2007 4:09pm
Hackers uncover beta’s secrets
Hackers have cracked open the Halo 3 beta to find references to a four-player co-op mode.
They also discovered references to new game modes and options in the beta that have yet to be confirmed for the final game.
What caused all this excitement was a chunk of text on the party menus in the beta, which reads “Only 2 players may play splitscreen coop on the same Xbox 360 console. The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link. Loading information from Xbox Live…” This isn’t official confirmation of a four-player co-op mode, as Bungie and Microsoft are keeping their lips sealed, but it’s enough for fans to trip over themselves rushing to the Bungie forums to spew misspelt excitement in the developer’s general direction.
Meanwhile, another glitch enables you to trip over the various game modes and weapons being held back. Adjustable gravity, speed settings, headshot immunity, infinite ammo, indestructible vehicles, Tank and Ninja variations on Oddball and Capture The Flag… time to spew more excitement? We say yes.
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:42 am
Hey James,
I’m a graphics designer for fun and I’m in IT for the U.S. Navy. I can tell u why console games will never have the same graphics on SP to MP. In SP you bots, basically your using your own machine to spit out the graphics. I’ve noticed this too when I played counter-strike, rainbow six 3, doom 3, and some other titles on the xbox and 360.
I’m more of a pc gamer, and this is how pc and consoles are way way different. A console can’t upgrade, they should let them upgrade like memory or something so u can play like a pc gamer. Like, I have the state of the computer.
Processor : xtreme Quad Core at 3.66 w/ watercooling
Video Card’s : x2 8800 evga superclocked at 636 core
Ram : 4 gbs of corsair xms2 DDR2 800 4-4-4-12
Mobo : Asus Striker with pcie 32x… so im running to 8800 at 100 percent instead of some at 8×8x.
Sony Bluray burner
20x and 18x lightscribe burners
1200 watt powersupply
and 4x 500 gb harddrive’s
I love gaming, not a nerd but my dad was in the airforce in IT and when he got out he worked and is still working for kodak in the IT field. I always had the computers,segas,nintendo’s,ps,nes and basically all the consoles.
When you can’t upgrade a gaming machine it’s basically losing value of memory and cpu and the gpu to spit out the FPS. It’s easier for the SP cuz you’re not hosting other ppl just yourself. I’ve noticed this with the models not being detailed, the gun models not looking amazing like the SP. So basically MP uses so much more resources.
WIth the computer you can do this so much easier cuz u have someone like me with awesome computers I can enjoy the graphics and support the users. With someone not so good with a pc they have to turn everything to low settings so they basically see what console gamers would see.
I remembered I was playing DOOM3 for the xbox, I already ruined myself beating it on the pc so I saw what the game looked like on ultra high and high and medium. DOOM on the xbox looked absolutely horrible, it was garbage. The game didnt even look like low settings for the pc man.
But your answer is that the game on MP eats so much resources from your machine. Plus, who wants to have 12 on 12 battles?
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
stfu n00bcakes.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
HHUK suck a dick. Unzip the fags pants and slip the cock in ur mouth and stfu u ass.