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Halo 3 Beta Impressions

Posted by Zonk on Sat May 12, 2007 12:27 PM
from the that's-master-chief-to-you dept.
XBox (Games)
Yesterday in New York City Microsoft held an invite-only preview of the Halo 3 Beta, and passed out early Beta keys to a group of game journalists. The result is a barrage of coverage about this most-anticipated title. Notable features beyond basic previews include Dan Hsu's take on the game, Dean Takahashi's 'I got my butt kicked' perspective, the San Jose Merc's interview with Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrad, CVG's hosting of the official Beta Movie, and Joystiq's interview with Frank O'Connor, Bungie's writing lead. From the 1up preview: "It's unmistakably Halo gameplay, despite the rearranged controls (which feel natural after 10 minutes), and all of the additions fit perfectly into the multiplayer universe we've come to love. The interface has been overhauled and is even easier to use, and you now have such niceties as being able to change your control layout at any point on any screen. While the visuals are rich and beautiful, it's the audio that's really impressed us so far. The rumbling throttle of unleashing dual SMGs makes them feel incredibly powerful, and the Spartan Laser tearing past your head is as scary as you'd imagine. Audio cues are more important than ever, and the better your sound system the more next-gen this will feel." More coverage below.
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Last week Gamehead's Geoff Keighley interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto, and the well-known designer tossed off a mildly controversial comment. Keighley asked him if he felt as though he was losing touch with the American audience as a result of the popularity of games like Halo. GameDaily reports on Miyamoto's response: "I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play." Bungie took exception to that, and Frank Connor retorted in his interview with Joystiq: "Yeah, well. I just want to go on the record and say that Bungie is hard at work on a side-scrolling platform game featuring some plumbers -- I'm not going to say what their ethnicity is, it's none of anyone's business -- but we took that as a gauntlet, a sort of glove slap, and we're going to respond in 2D scrolling style. That's all I'm saying." We discussed that article, along with several other pieces of Halo 3 coverage, this past Saturday.
Offsite: Eurogamer Coverage
Offsite: Kotaku Coverage
Offsite: CVG Coverage
Offsite: IGN Coverage
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  • Chair Weapons available in Halo3 (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ageing Metalhead (586837) on Saturday May 12 2007, @12:34PM (#19097059)
    Halo3 three will include a variety of "Chair Weapons":
    * A Wooden Chair in which you can break and stab and lacerate people
    * A Ikea Chair in which the recipient simply throws the left over peices at any attacker
    * An Executive Leather Chair in which the attacker simply places their opponent in the chair and spins it, until the opponent passes out.
    * And the classic "Operator Chair" which is simply picked up and thrown.

  • "Audio cues are more important than ever, and the better your sound system the more next-gen this will feel."

    Now, instead of hearing 12 year olds scream in joy when they frag me, I will here their shrill wails in 5.1
    Oh joyous day.

    • Re:Yes, audio will be important; (Score:5, Informative)

      by Nerdfest (867930) on Saturday May 12 2007, @12:59PM (#19097295)
      I'm not sure how many people actually hook things up properly, as even the original xbox had 5.1 for most of its games. Player voices in Halo2 come from the appropriate speaker positions, and it does give you a bit of an advantage over someone only playing through their TV speakers. I'm assuming their adding better 'footfall' sounds, and other environmentals to help out a bit.
        • As I recall, however, you cannot hear footfall in Halo 1 or Halo 2.

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by MMaestro (585010)
            Actually you can. It usually depends on the ground type though. Grass makes practically no noise, dirt is fairly quiet and snow is damned loud if someone's going for a melee attack behind you. More often than not most people simply never notice it over the sounds of gunfire from some other player(s).
  • But I have played Gears of War. Quite a bit, it's almost my favorite game now. How does Halo compare to Gears?
      • I don't play it online, so the only point here is the game play. How is it "mind numbingly lame"?
      • "Neither have dedicated servers which is pathetic in 2007. If you want quality online gaming you need to buy a PS3 or stick to your PC."

        Since when? I've played games with dedicated servers, I've played games without. I've found that dedicated server games almost always need the dedicated server because their code is so slow and laggy whereas a good non-dedicated server game has no lag whatsoever. I've never seen any lag playing online Halo. Frankly I'd say that having dedicated servers in 2007 makes you out
  • Audio cues are more important than ever, and the better your sound system the more next-gen this will feel.

    That's kinda why I'm particular to PC gaming. A good pair of headphones is all you need to hear those 'audio cues' and lacking that, anything above 2 speakers is gravy since most games ship with decent sound engines for realistic 3d sound.

    • Re:O RLY? (Score:5, Informative)

      by EvilIdler (21087) on Saturday May 12 2007, @12:41PM (#19097127) Homepage
      The Halo 3 beta will be running with mostly Halo 2 assets, at least at first. Saves download bandwidth.
      I sure hope they release some larger textures to at least test the engine with later, though.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by SilentChris (452960)
        Actually if you read the interviews linked the guys from Bungie said no assets were used from previous games (certainly not Halo 2). Not even the maps/story were used from previous games (even the butchered stuff from the end of Halo 2).

        It wouldn't have made much sense to use the previous assets anyway. They're going from 480p to 1080i. You think blurry textures on a 50" HDTV running at 1080i would be acceptable?
        • Like the GP said, they're only using H2 assets to save on download bandwidth for the beta- The full game won't need to worry about that and will almost definitely show a boost in graphics, (even if they weren't planning on it before, what with the comments swimming the intertubes today).
    • You know, I'm really sick of this particular criticism of console FPS games. The game was designed around a controller. It plays perfectly fine with it. Everyone else playing is using the same input device, there is no need for a keyboard / mouse. Remember the first time you ever used a keyboard / mouse to play an FPS? I'll bet it didn't seem intuitive at all, but with practice you got used to it, and then, proficient with it. Console FPS' are the same way now. Once you've sat down and played a while you don't even think about it. Lately I've been playing a lot of FPS titles on my 360 (Battlefield 2: MC, Call of Duty 2 / 3, Halo 2) and I don't even notice the controller.

      PC gamers really, really need to stop this particular line of eliteism. A gamer is a gamer whether or not he is playing HL2 on a PC or Bioshock on his Xbox 360.
      • Don't forget RE4. On the PC it just wouldn't play half as well as on the Cube. The game was designed for the controller and it's done to near perfection when the PC port is ment to be terrible to the point of unplayable.

        For the sake of questioning your logic. Is someone playing solitaire a gamer or not? Because your logic seems to imply -any- game playing makes you a gamer. Where as IMO a gamer is someone who invests some time in games and is involved in the future. The same way anyone can spend time on a P
        • Where as IMO a gamer is someone who invests some time in games and is involved in the future.

          Explain what you mean by 'is involved in the future', please. I know you don't mean either a time traveler or a developer, but I'm having a tough time figuring out what else you could mean.
          • It's dyslexic 'community'.

            I didn't catch it til after I posted.
            • You don't consider somebody a gamer unless they are involved in the community? I know a quite a few people I would consider hardcore gamers that specifically avoid some of the communities in the games they play. I couldn't imagine trying to be involved in the community of something like WoW (don't play it) or Counterstrike (don't play that either) after hearing the horror stories that come out about the forums and the online chat.

              I don't think being involved in the community of a game is what makes somebo
              • ah, community may of been the wrong word. People who play a couple of hours a week and don't much care or have any real passion, to me aren't gamers. Where as someone who has a passion for games will follow sites and such and be part of the community in that sense.

                I worded it wrongly, but it is a passion thing which leads you to do more than just play the odd game and hence be involved in a larger thing (aka a community).

      • Re:Still missing one thing. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by AstrumPreliator (708436) on Saturday May 12 2007, @02:43PM (#19097999)
        You know I agree with some of what you're saying. I was originally going to post something similar but figured the GP would get modded flamebait (which he should have been modded). But since you opened the discussion...

        I'm a gamer that does both PC and console. I really hate this stupid debate. PC gamers should just stfu and play with their mouse and keyboard and console players should do the same and play with their thumb sticks. Halo was designed for the console* and so were the controls. However, to say both control schemes are equal is wrong. I know I'm much better with a mouse and keyboard and I know why. Since you can't exactly pick up the thumb stick and put it back in the middle when it goes over the edge its input is considerably different than a mouse. When you move a thumb stick to the far right your character spins around until you let go and the stick auto-centers itself. If you put your mouse on the right edge of your mouse pad then you look to the right a bit and that's that. You know how PC games usually have a key binding to turn left and right (yaw)? Well imagine if they added two more to look up and down (pitch). This is the control scheme that a console controller achieves**. Now notice how few PC gamers use these key bindings.

        What I seem to notice on console*** is that people put their crosshair in a particular place and then use their left thumb stick to align the shot with the enemy player and only make minor adjustments with their right thumb stick. On PC I most certainly wouldn't do this. When it comes to close quarter combat it gets a lot more difficult to control as the accuracy just isn't there. As I said earlier I doubt any PC gamer would use four separate keys to control pitch and yaw. I also notice that most PC gamers tend to be at least casual console players while the reverse usually isn't true. I'd go deeper into the subject but I think you get the point.

        You're free to disagree of course but that's how I see it. Both control schemes have pros and cons. For instance I hate picking my mouse up or what usually happens is it runs into my keyboard or computer case since my desk is small. That means I miss a kill or die or both. I also don't like playing ROMs on the PC that much, the controller was always better for those games. The playing field is not even and both PC and console gamers just need to accept that.

        * Technically it was designed for the PC and Mac but I guess that's a bit too technical.
        ** Almost achieves anyway. Console controllers have to have active resistance on the thumb sticks so they auto-center which takes more getting used to.
        *** I don't know any Halo gods so my observation may be wrong in the higher tiers of Halo gameplay.
        • What games like Halo *really* need is an add-on FOOT PEDAL for Melee attacks. Duke Nukem approves. :b

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by denominateur (194939)
        Okay... look at this halo 3 gameplay trailer : http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=19430&t y pe=wmv [gametrailers.com] and tell me why the hell the player is unable to hit most targets that are a couple of meters away and only slowly moving? At one point he even shoots around in confusion because he can't track the enemy at a sufficient speed. I realise the game has been designed with this in mind (e.g. missing a lot, forgiving collision detection, wide area weapons) but it just takes the point away from fps. The nic
        • It may be more inaccurate with a controller, but at least it's comfortable. Keyboard and mouse is completely unergonomic, and WASD must be the most braindead control scheme ever invented, I don't think it could be any more awkward, having to use one finger for two keys above each other means you can't even rest your hand.
        • The main difference between a joystick/pad and a mouse is not a question of ergonomics or resistance. The quantity being controlled by the mouse in a FPS is the angular position of the line of sight. Using a mouse, there is only a gain between the mouse position and the angular position of the LOS. Thus, the control is direct.

          Using a joystick, pad, or keyboard, the player controls the rate of change (i.e. speed) of the LOS movement (and with non-analog controls, even that is fixed, the player only controls
      • Windows live will allow PC halo gamers and Xbox halo gamers to compete on the same servers against each other. That will show us which type of controller configuration is best for playing FPS. If PC players dominate the charts, then we'll know that mouse-keyboard is superior, or better FPS players prefer it. If the charts are evenly distributed, then we can say it doesn't matter.

        • ahhhh....I've found out only the spacially gifted use look inversion.
          Maybe that's why you can't cut it with the dual analog.........=P
          • Calling someone's opinion wrong. I thought all Slashdotters were supposed to be intelligent.

            You're definitely new here, aren't you?

          • I thought all Slashdotters were supposed to be intelligent.
            You're wrong.

        • Do we have to listen to this again? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Toby_Tyke (797359) on Saturday May 12 2007, @03:03PM (#19098211) Journal
          No, we really, really do NOT need to stop explaining why it's impossible to play an FPS with a console controller.

          Well that's just flat out wrong. This story is about people playing Halo. They were doing it with console controllers. Halo is an FPS. There for, playing an FPS on a controller is clearly possible. You might think a keyboard and mouse is better, that hardly means that using a controller is impossible.

          Now lots of people play FPSs on consoles, and they seem to be enjoying themselves, so I don't think theres anything wrong with using a controller. I do think using a keyboard and mouse is better, if by better we mean provides faster response times. In any multiplayer game, where half the players were using K/M and half controllers, the K/M guys would win every time, all other things being equal.

          On the other hand, I think controllers have some advantages over K/M. My consoles are all in my living room, and I play games sitting on my couch. I don't have a desk in front of my TV, so there's nowhere to put a K/M. Try balancing a keyboard on your lap and running you mouse on the cushion next to you. Comfortable? Thought not. I also prefer a thumbstick to WASD.

          But really, why does it matter? As the OP said, why do we have to keep having this stupid argument? You like the K/M, dislike the controller. OP likes controllers. I'm happy with either. Why does each side feel the need to not only say "I like x" but to also insist "because y is inferior"? I feel like I'm back in the playground arguing about C64s and Spectrums.

          Which you obviously do not know, because *you* *are* *not* *a* *gamer*. Deal with it.

          AH, so you are the final arbiter of who is and isn't a gamer? Wow. Am I a gamer? I've been playing video games for twenty years, but I like some console FPSs, so I might fail your test. Perhaps you mean he isn't a PC gamer? Are PC gamers the one true gamer clan, to whom all others are inferior? Are those who are unwilling or unable to drop stupid amounts of cash on new graphics cards and processors supposed to keep quiet and never offer an opinion? Should they just kneel in supplication and reverence before their PC gaming overlords?

          if you dislike us so much, as you say, then why the hell do you strive to be just like us?

          I'm not even sure what this means? Where exactly did he say he was trying to be like you?

          Oh, just FYI, the first time I played Doom, I used a joypad (yes PAD! not even a joystick), because I hated the keyboard and mouse so much. It was a lot easier back then, since there was no looking up or down. I didn't start using the K/M till quake came out.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by C0rinthian (770164)

          B.S! I've played for hours and it only gets more frustrating as the action heats up and the controller is this obstacle between you and the kills! Lets get a mouse for the xbox already! What the hell??!

          Maybe you suck?

          Here's a question: How much time have you spent playing FPS's on a PC? I'm willing to bet it's more than a few hours. So if you've been playing CS for the past 6 years, do you really think it's legit to compare that to a couple hours with a controller? Seriously?

    • It is a beta after all. If you criticize things to try to make it better you will never be banned. If you bash and criticize to troll the other players then I would hope pretty quick.

      If you play Halo and the only thing you can say the whole time is "this game sucks" then why play? There are so many other great games why waste your time?

      Swi
    • The textures are low quality right now to save on download bandwidth for the beta stage.
      I guess emphasis of this beta is eliminate game play bugs and any irritants not stressing the graphics subsystem.
      The final game is supposed to be of much higher quality.
    • The betas are to test the gameplay (particularly wrt to multiplayer, new weapons). I would be extremely surprised if the released game doesn't look significantly different than the betas. It makes sense to keep the 'wow' factor as secret as possible until the release. Otherwise game reviewers will won't have much new to praise before release.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Osty (16825)

          TFC had a grenade button years before halo and I doubt that was even the first

          TFC? Ha! The original TeamFortress (the Quake mod, not the Half-Life mod) had two buttons for grenades, as each class had two grenade types. Kids these days, thinking TFC was the origin of TeamFortress. The 'C' stands for "Classic" for a reason, you know.

          Call of Duty and Iron Grip are two games I can think of just off the top of my head that use the quick melee attack like halo and I am sure there were many before those

    • Re:What's the big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2007, @01:12PM (#19097391)
      It's just the new Goldeneye. As with the old one, it sold a lot on consoles and PC users didn't understand. A lot of people just don't play PC games and aren't exposed to FPSes, so when one comes along on consoles it's interesting. Look at PCs, circa 1993-95 they were coming out the wazoo and everything was exciting. People actually cared about games like Ken's Labyrinth. Same thing here except in the context of consoles. Still, hopefully the consoles will still have some original games and it won't be all 99% FPS/RTS/CRPG like on PC... which, incidentally, is why consoles are seeing a surge in popularity and PC gaming is declining nowadays.
    • The deal with Halo is that playing Halo with 4 friends is pretty easy (all you need are 4 controllers), and it's a lot easier to have a 16-person Halo party than to have a 16-person LAN party. While $PC_FPS_OF_CHOICE has better graphics and possibly better controls (people can fight K/M vs. controller all day if they want), it's so much more fun to blast the guy sitting next to you than a guy over the network.

      The thing that a lot of hardcore gamers don't realize is that casual gamers like "party games".

    • Re:What's the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by C0rinthian (770164) on Monday May 14 2007, @11:06AM (#19115309)
      Halo did to FPS what WoW did to MMO's. It took what everyone else did, polished it, simplified it, and brought it to the masses.
    • I have this [videolan.org] for you!
      • Oi! I was making more of a point about open file types than anything....
        I don't really care if VLC can play WMV or not....I will not use WMV.
        guess I won't watch the vid then if I can't get it in an agreeable format.
        • Are you even a potential customer for the game then? It itself is in a proprietary format, and contains proprietary formatted videos.
          • Why yes I am considering buying the game.
            Hypocritical? I don't think so. I'll pay for good games, movies and music.
            I won't get sucked into vendor lock-in and feed a monopoly just for a freely
            distributed video clip. I think if more people thought the same way open
            standards would be further ahead and there would be more games on Linux
            and BSD. But I can't make you think anything, so I why bother debating.
    • The control benefits of a PC only really apply to FPSes, for most other genres, a controller is better.
        • I'm not really interested in RTS, that's a dead genre as far as I'm concerned. FPSes are on the way out as well, they've really been milked for too long. Before long, the only games on the PC will be MMORPGs and simulators.

          There's a reason more and more games are being released console-only.
    • Other advantages of PC games (I've got karma to burn, so why not jump in?)

      1. A greater sense of agency. Because of a lack of save file size limitations and oodles of ram, players can make tons of changes to the world in PC games.

      2. Greater variety of PC games. As anyone can make pc games, you get titles from pirate themed MMOs [puzzlepirates.com] to massive to galaxy spanning adventures [sony.com] to the Switzerland-sponsored Catch the Sperm [softpedia.com]

      3. PC screens just look better

      Cons:

      1. Quality assurance. PC companies are getting better about
    • I'm sure they cry themselves to sleep every night on pillows of money.

      Seriously, though, it must be incredibly validating to them that after years of helping to keep alive the Mac gaming scene, they helped launch the Xbox and the 360 as viable gaming platforms. They've now got a huge fan base and a huge potential audience for every game they put out. What more could a developer want?

      BTW, while known as a mac developer, all of Bungie's games after the first Marathon were released on multiple platforms.

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