Halo Reach Beta review

This is going to be a very small review so don't really expect it to be a full review.

Well, the Reach Beta is finally out and it's being played by a lot of Halo fans and gamers right now. Here's how I feel about the beta so far after playing a good 10-12 hours of it.

There's no storyline...yet.


Humiliation!

Crispy clean pistol.

Graphically, the game's very sharp. Although the art style is very similar to a couple of Halo 3 maps with the two maps they gave us, the game's much better on the eyes compared to the third game. The sound effects are fine. They do sound upgraded compared to the third game and it fits for every weapon I've used so far. They seem to recycled the voice effects for the Spartan and Elites and it's quite disappointing, but maybe in the final product, it'll be fixed.


The new Shotgun feels very similar to the Halo 1 shotgun.

The DMR is pretty much the balanced version of the BR.

Here's the part that everyone wants to know. Well, I really like the new shield system (I like how when you melee it just takes down only the shield or if you do a headshot it only takes down the shield not with the life). This makes the other weapons more useful to use and they really made sure the mid-range weapons weren't too versatile. The DMR and the Pistol are the most versatile weapon in the game, but in most close situations, they will be outgunned by the Shotgun, Assault Rifle, or the Plasma Repeater. Since the new shield system is done so correctly, you're gonna have to do something more than just rely on your precision cause there's no more 3/4 shot kills. Halo Reach is the first Halo game to feature load outs and they are really cool. I personally like all the load outs except the Jetpack one since I'm not really into using them that much. The other three are Sprint, Armor Lock, and Active Camoflauge. I'm sure you know what's Sprint is. Armor Lock is kind of like a defensive ability to protect you from flankers and it will save you from death if you got teammates with you. The longer your in Armor Lock, you can create a small area of effect EMP blast to destroy enemies' shields nearby. Active Camo allows you to be invis and you can turn on and off when ever you want. However, there are darwbacks to it. Everyone's radar will be all surrounded by red dots to keep the player lost in communication with his buddies and the enemies too and if you're shields take hit pretty badly, you're quite detectable. When you shoot while in Camo, you will be revealed. The two maps that's available Sword Base and Powerhouse are really fun. My only complaint is that on Powerhouse is that I think the Rocket Launcher is just too reliant on that map and maybe Bungie should only give you two rockets or just take them out. There are old weapons that's redone like the pistol is a good throwback to the Halo 1 pistol and the AR seems to be more accurate than the MA5B and C, but it feels very similar to MA5C at its core. The Focus Rifle is a really cool weapon and it's basically the Lightning Gun from the Quake games. It's all about your tracking skills, but if you could pull out a nice headshot. There's the Grenade Launcher which I will admit that I still have no idea how to use and the Covenant Plasma Grenade Launcher to me needs to be nerfed a bit since it's very easy to use and it's slightly overpowered. There are new modes (Stockpile and Headhunter) and they're really fun. SP is is like CTF mix with King of the Hill and I'm not a big fan of CTF, but this is something I can play for a while. Headhunter is you're trying to gather an amount of skulls to win and you get skulls by finding them and killing your enemies. When you get killed, the skulls you accumulated will be dropped. There's also Covey Slayer (Covenant Slayer) and it's really cool. You're an Elite and it's pretty much the Covenant version of Slayer. I haven't played it much but I think there are still human weapons. The Elites can Evade and they are a lot stronger than the Spartan in terms of movement and regeneration. I think I'm just getting old, but I really want Bungie to darken the crosshair for the Pistol and Assault Rifle since when it's spread out, I can't tell if I'm shoting my enemies or not accurately. What I seem to adore about Reach is that this seems to be the most balanced Halo game in the multiplayer aspect so far. I love how every weapons are more needed in terms of the quantity of situations. In the previous games, you're always relying on the mid-range weapons (H1 pistol and BR), but now the playing field is a bit different and the load outs really make the game a bit different than the older Halo games.

I absolutely adored the Beta and I'm gonna keep playing it untill it's updated and I'm glad Bungie would do something like this for their fans.

All my LIVE friends got the beta and I don't!

The beta proves once again that the Xbox 360 is the console of choice for real gamers. If you can't play Halo on your console, better trade it for an Xbox 360 before this fall.

Great review!

tbh beta isnt that great although im having huge problems with the nade spamming and the amount of power weapons on the maps and the radar is bs fuk the radar off and im sold

buddhapride69 wrote:

tbh beta isnt that great although im having huge problems with the nade spamming and the amount of power weapons on the maps and the radar is bs fuk the radar off and im sold

the maps are just so you can play around with the power weapons yeah though the nades are op

The Halo Reach beta is more polished and more balanced than MW2 is after various patches.

awsome review i love the beta

Bungie wants you to post this on Bungie.net.

Cool review thing. Shame I can't play the beta lol but it's better this way. It makes me more excited for when the game finally comes out

I really want the beta.

demondragondude wrote:

Cool review thing. Shame I can't play the beta lol but it's better this way. It makes me more excited for when the game finally comes out

Can I have your code??? I REALLY WANT TO PLAY IT!!!!

NoelX2 wrote:

demondragondude wrote:

Cool review thing. Shame I can't play the beta lol but it's better this way. It makes me more excited for when the game finally comes out

Can I have your code??? I REALLY WANT TO PLAY IT!!!!

While beta codes were released, to my knowledge they were all used, the actual way to play the game was through Halo ODST.

buddhapride69 wrote:

tbh beta isnt that great although im having huge problems with the nade spamming and the amount of power weapons on the maps and the radar is bs fuk the radar off and im sold

what did you say? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?

HALO REAHC WILL FUCKING MURDER THE POS3 YOU HEAR ME? MURDER IT