I just recently moved so I haven't really adjusted well enough to do a blog for a while. Still not all that well adjusted, I can't find my photoshop installation discs to make more mad graphics to sexify my gamespot page. But I figure I should talk some Reach beta before it's gone.

All the better to see you with

I'll start with graphics since thats the first change people will probably notice. The game looks alot more smooth and animations look alot more natural. Reach has much better anti-aliasing, so there alot less of those jagged edges for those HD players. Reach looks alot more natural, dirty and rough(no sex jokes intended). The armor on Spartans IIIs look alot more worn out and battered than what was our Startan IIs in Halo 3.

The environments looks epic and sexy

And the explosions look... Explodeir?

Over all I'd say Reach is for the most part a much better looking game. Just about everything looks better.

Rocket? Then lock it.

Alot of the core gameplay element from past Halo games are here but some are gun replaced by new and some have been completely changed.

I'll start with armor abilities since they're the biggest change to the game. Remember the deployable Equipment from Halo 3 and the power ups from the rest pf the Halo series? Well think of Armor abilities as an evolution of those. In Halo Reach these special abilities are now an ability the player cna activate with the press of a button.

In Halo: Reach when the player is waiting to spawn they can choose from a number of loadouts(anotherof the many changes to Halo in Reach)that grant them access to which abilities or weapons they'll have on the battlefield.

These can range from the sprint ability that lets players gets a nice boost of speed to get to that precious rocket launcher before the rest of those fools, undoubtedly familiar to Halo fans who frequent other shooters.

All those fantasies of becoming invisible come true in Reach with the armor ability. While you wont be able sneak into the girl's locker room hopefuly sneaking up on unsuspecting noobs and getting in that sweet assassination will be an acceptable consulation.

Speaking of dreams coming true, man's desire to fly is fullfilled with the new jet pack players can spawn with and as anyone who's seen Episode III of Star Wars knows, the high ground is a pretty good place to be.

And last(sorta) we have Armor lock. Sorta like the bubble shield armor lock protect the player, but more effectively. Encasing the players in some sort of invinsible shield, you'll be protecting by all those meanies trying to ruin the fun with their rockets and grenades. Armor lock repels all, but you'll be stationary the who time but a nice emp will know out the shields of any fool who decides to stick too close.

Tons of Guns

The Halo: Reach beta actually comes packed with a full games worth of weapons. I'd be surprised to see more in the complete game in fact.

We have some of our old favorites return - the Needler, the Assualt Rifle, the Plasma Pistol, the Energy Sword, the Gravity Hammer, the Shotgun, the Rocket Launcher, The turret, the Spartan Laser, the Sniper Rifle. All function largely the same. We have a pistol but it's a bee bee gun like it was in Halo 2 and ODSTand it's not slow in the head like it was in Halo 3. This is the real deal, return of the king. While it still doesn't pack quite the same punch as it did in Halo: Combat Evolved it's still beastly.

The Carbine and the Battle Rifle that have been ruling the Halo roost since Halo 2 retire and are replaced by the Needle Rifle and DMR, respectively. Each fire one per pull of the trigger, similar to the carbine in Halo 3, abeit with a lower rate of fire.

Also new to Reachare the Covenant's Plasma Launcher and the Plasma Repeater. The Plasma Launcher is a fierce weapon that shoots plasma grenades that can lock on to any target, infantry and vehicles alike being able to shoot up to four at a time if fully charged. The Plasma Repearter is less intimidating, being the Covenant's answer to the UNSC's Assualt Rifle and it functions very much the same way. Pull the trigger and watch the plasma fly. As the Plasma Repeater begins to over heat the rate of fire will slow down and while in many cases this would be bad it does have the side benefit of making your shots more accurate.

On the UNSC side of things there isn't much new outside the DMR. Except the grenade launcher. It's pretty self explanitory, it shoots grenades. In most cases a direct impact can result in an automatic kill. The Grenades also send out an EMP so it's pretty useful in stopping vehicles dead in their tracks. If you hold the trigger down the grenade wont explode until you let off the trigger so you can try and be a bit more tactical with the uses.

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Thats all for now. I'm tired and I'm no where near finished. I follow this up explaining more of the changes, additions and how to play later with a part 2, maybe even a part 3.    

Gotta say that I was really surprised to see the Spartan Laser return. But I think the Covenant Plasma Launcher sort of balances it out.  
 
Your photos really highlight the explosions. I didn't quite notice how much better they look in this game. I've always felt, after the awesome explosions in Halo 1, that Halo 2 and 3 really got lazy with their explosion-rendering. Good to see that return highly on Bungie's list of visual priorities.