Here's a rundown of the online action a copy of ODST will get you into on May 3.
Whatever significant changes Bungie is making to the single-player campaign in Halo: Reach, be they squad-based action or the story's we're-all-doomed-from-the-start prequel setting, I can assure you after spending half a day with the game's multiplayer beta that Reach's online action feels 100 percent like Halo. That doesn't mean this is just a rehash of Halo 3's online mode with more maps (far from it). It does mean Bungie has evolved and modernized that signature Halo multiplayer formula to the point that I'm suddenly really interested in playing a new Halo game online. That's honestly not something I ever thought I'd say again.
Next week we'll have scads (scads!) of videos from the beta, but for now, let's just break down the high points that make Reach look like a worthy successor to the Halo multiplayer throne.
Armor Abilities and Loadouts
Reach has a pretty neat-looking character progression system that lets you unlock snazzy new armor pieces for your character a la Halo 3. But it's nowhere near as deep as the equipment unlocks in Modern Warfare, as all the gear seems to be purely cosmetic (though it does carry over to your character, Noble 6, in the campaign).
That doesn't mean there aren't gameplay-relevant ways to customize your multiplayer dude. There are, and they're called armor abilities. These are sort of an updated version of Halo 3's pick-up equipment, except you don't, uh, pick them up anymore. Instead you pick a loadout every time you spawn that determines which ability and which two weapons you start with.
Popping and (armor) locking. On the spartan side, you can pick a basic sprint that gets you from A to B really quickly at the cost of lowering your weapon. There's also armor lock, which makes you duck and engage an energy shield that makes you invulnerable as long as you're using it. The tradeoff is that you can't move while you're armor locked, but a fully charged armor lock seems like it's just sufficient to recharge your shields before it switches off. As a bonus, if you hold armor lock long enough, you'll release an EMP blast that nullifies the shields of anyone standing too close.
Not surprisingly, elites get the Predator-looking shimmery stealth camouflage they use in the Halo campaigns. In addition to making you almost invisible for a few seconds, stealth camo also jams the radar of anyone nearby, filling their scope with ghostly trails . Elites also match the spartans' sprint with a dodge maneuver that lets them get the heck out of the way really quickly. The animation for this makes the elite look like he's doing some sort of somersault, but from your perspective you just sort of... dodge to the side.
And then everyone gets jetpacks. JETPACKS. Yes, you can fly with the right loadout, though a full charge will only keep you in the air for a few seconds, and the jetpack takes some time to lift you up into the air. Definitely a tool that will require some finesse, but essential on the vertical maps.
WHOOSH
Spartans Versus Elites
I suspect this will be a divisive change: spartan and elites are dramatically different now, and not just in terms of which armor abilities they can use. Elites are faster than spartans, and their health and shields will both recharge after taking damage. Spartans' shields recharge, but they have to pick up medkits to restore health, Halo: CE-style. Weird, right? Elites are also bigger than spartans, though, making them a somewhat easier target at range.
In most team-based and especially objective-based games, you won't be able to mix and match both kinds of characters--it's spartans versus elites, period. A lot of the regular multiplayer modes, however, will default to spartan-on-spartan action, and it's worth noting that in custom games you'll be able to mix things up however you want. On paper, it looks like the elites have a distinct advantage to me, but I didn't get to spend enough time with the game yet to get an impression of the practical difference between them. The spartans' unique armor abilities might be a little more useful, though. Time will tell!
Odds 'n Ends
Bungie is making a ton of big and small changes under the hood to gameplay and matchmaking, probably more than I can even call to mind right now. Here are a few of the more prominent ones that stood out to me.
Backstabbed.Tweaks to melee. Melee damage is no longer a one-hit kill. Now, the damage stops when the shields drop. If your target has any degree of shields, your melee will only drop their shields and not touch their health, so you'd need a second melee hit to get a kill. Like that's going to happen. So melee is best reserved until you see their shields pop.
Dirty sneak attacks. The answer to that melee change is the assassination, which forces you to sneak up behind and get a melee hit on someone whose back is turned to you. That's an instant kill regardless of shield level, and the camera pulls out to show you one of a bunch of different kill animations depending on what side you hit them from. Assassinations leave you exposed for a second or two while you do them, but they're pretty awesome for bragging rights and humiliating for the victim.
Better voting. Pre-match voting is more than just a matter of voting down a map you don't like and getting stuck with the next one in line. Now you'll be presented with four map/mode choices with the chance to pick one. The one that the most people want to play, wins. It's an idea so simple I'm surprised we haven't seen more of it before now.
More matchmaking filters. In the final game you'll be able to customize the types of players you get matched up against based on a whole lot of weird criteria. You can prioritize normal factors like connection speed but even control things like what language they speak, how often they use voice chat, and how competitive they are, too.
Forge still coming. Just not in beta, but expect all the now-standard Forge options to exist in the final game, along with Theater, saved films, and all that other stuff you'd expect to be there.
Of course, those are just the nuts-and-bolts changes to the core Halo gameplay that you'll be seeing when the beta launches on May 3 (provided you've got a copy of ODST in the drive). Again, be sure to check back next week for a big fat video preview with lots of footage and info on the new modes and weapons, as well as an interview with Bungie multiplayer designer Luke Smith.
We'll also be giving away a batch of early-access Reach beta codes starting next week that will get you in and playing days before the general beta. Keep your eyes open for that!
Gallery
So how many of you out there are rabidly waiting to get back online with Reach? I'm curious what the anticipation level is for a new Halo, now that Modern Warfare 2 has come along and kind of taken the championship belt for online multiplayer. Sound off, if you please.
" This beta will be insane. Hopefully the Medkit/Health regenerate thing is balanced otherwise I could see the elites having an advantage. "
It's supposed to be a bit unbalanced- the Spartans have the superior cover and are defending, so the attacking elites need to balance the scales a bit.
Eagerly awaiting the release of the BETA and extremely excited about the full game. Modern Warfare did draw my attention, but Halo has the best multiplayer experience in my opinion. This is going to be bad for my sleep...
MW2 is a lot of fun, but I still prefer Halo online. Mostly because I suck at Modern Warfare. With all the changes Bungie is making to Reach, I don't see how people can just dismiss it as "more Halo." It sounds awesome, hopefully I can snag a beta code next week (I didn't buy ODST).
Looking forward to it. I trust Bungie, the campaign is gonna be Epic, it's gonna have 4 player coop, and the multiplayer will have variety.
I honestly don't get CoD, never did. It was always (to me) "Battlefield without vehicles", and that takes half the fun away from it. Now in MW2 you basically have "superpowers", which makes it even more unbalanced and unfair, and as far from "modern warfare" as Halo is.
" Definitely on the fence here. It seems like they're making the multiplayer alot more complicated. Really don't like the idea there because Halo 2, one of the greatest multiplayer experiences of all time, was so great because it was relatively basic. When you have identical character models, spawning with identical weapons and having identical traits, it makes the game much more competitive because the game isn't decided by rank, or loadout, but by sheer skill. The less random variables there are, the better the experience in my opinion. However, a game can be complicated without being random. Shadowrun is an excellent example. But I know Bungie won't put half of the thought and time into their multiplayer that (the late) Fasa Studios did for Shadowrun. Halo 3's multiplayer was pretty bad (again in my opinion) but if Bungie can take the randomness out of their game, they could create a much more competitive and intense experience. Here's hoping that's precisely what they do. "
Lead gameplay designer on Shadowrun is lead designer on Reach's sandbox. If you're looking for a more competitive game, The Arena will give you stripped down gameplay and limited loadouts. Stuff to the tune of one loadout- DMR/AR starts with the Sprint ability and very little else. "
Derek Carroll is another former FASA employee and Shadowrun dev who is working as a lead multiplayer designer for Reach. In fact, he was a guest on the most recent Bungie podcast and expressly stated that there are many design elements being borrowed from Shadowrun. Reticule bloom is an obvious example, but not the only one. From what I've seen so far, the Jetpack functions almost exactly like the SR Glider, Armor Lock is a stationary version of Smoke, and Evade/Sprint provide the same type of escape tactics as Teleport (to a lesser degree, of course). Reach, from a gameplay perspective, looks like the closest thing to Shadowrun 2 that we'll ever get.
Glowing immobile target for every sniper/ DMR within 200 feet to sight on the kill the moment armor lock disengages? Anyways even it it is a bit overpowered in the beta, that's why they have it. Most balance issues should be fixed in the shipping product (I doubt Armor Lock will even need to receive significant tweaks, Bungie knows their balance). "
or some dude waiting to blast you in the face with a shotgun...being immobile and unable to fire is a serious disadvantage in Halo.
" Definitely on the fence here. It seems like they're making the multiplayer alot more complicated. Really don't like the idea there because Halo 2, one of the greatest multiplayer experiences of all time, was so great because it was relatively basic. When you have identical character models, spawning with identical weapons and having identical traits, it makes the game much more competitive because the game isn't decided by rank, or loadout, but by sheer skill. The less random variables there are, the better the experience in my opinion. However, a game can be complicated without being random. Shadowrun is an excellent example. But I know Bungie won't put half of the thought and time into their multiplayer that (the late) Fasa Studios did for Shadowrun. Halo 3's multiplayer was pretty bad (again in my opinion) but if Bungie can take the randomness out of their game, they could create a much more competitive and intense experience. Here's hoping that's precisely what they do. "
If you're looking for a more competitive game, The Arena will give you stripped down gameplay and limited loadouts. Stuff to the tune of one loadout- DMR/AR starts with the Sprint ability and very little else.
Definitely on the fence here. It seems like they're making the multiplayer alot more complicated. Really don't like the idea there because Halo 2, one of the greatest multiplayer experiences of all time, was so great because it was relatively basic. When you have identical character models, spawning with identical weapons and having identical traits, it makes the game much more competitive because the game isn't decided by rank, or loadout, but by sheer skill. The less random variables there are, the better the experience in my opinion. However, a game can be complicated without being random. Shadowrun is an excellent example. But I know Bungie won't put half of the thought and time into their multiplayer that (the late) Fasa Studios did for Shadowrun. Halo 3's multiplayer was pretty bad (again in my opinion) but if Bungie can take the randomness out of their game, they could create a much more competitive and intense experience. Here's hoping that's precisely what they do.
Glowing immobile target for every sniper/ DMR within 200 feet to sight on the kill the moment armor lock disengages?
Anyways even it it is a bit overpowered in the beta, that's why they have it. Most balance issues should be fixed in the shipping product (I doubt Armor Lock will even need to receive significant tweaks, Bungie knows their balance).
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo......pause for breath.....wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
" Don't get me wrong, I haven't played halo in quite a while, but hasn't the melee system always worked like that. I seem to remember the one-two punch being the quick fix for melee not doing the job on its own. Assassinations also existed before minus the animation, hence the assassin badge. Changes to map selection seem cool though. "
The tweaks to the melee system are designed to eliminate the problems with the current system.
Say you have 100 shield and 50 health. Say one melee does 75 damage. Someone uses an Assault Rifle to take down 75 shield, then punches you. In Halo 3, that punch kills the remaining 25 on your shield, PLUS all 50 of your health, so he kills you. In Reach, that punch would ONLY take down your shields and do NO damage to your underlying health, so you have to be more careful about how you plan your attacks.
It's a change born out of how cutting the distance with an AR and then punching someone to death was so effective in Halo 3. It requires a bit more skill and thought, and should help separate skill levels a bit more this time around.
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