Hunter369
11-14-2006, 02:04 AM
*SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the new EGM and want to get your info directly from there, then I suggest you run to your local bookstore and pick up a copy.*
The local Borders here in Augusta, GA had received their shipment of the new EGM a bit early, and I picked mine up Saturday night. Lots of interesting things. However, a lot of the stuff they discussed is by now common knowledge amongst most Halo fans.
First things first: the screenshots are, with one exception, the same ones from the Level magazine. The only new screenshot is one of a Warthog being destroyed by a Spartan laser. Very impressive, and I suggest you go check it out yourselves. That being said, the scans from Level don't do Halo 3's graphics justice; stop looking at the low quality internet scans and go pick up the magazine NOW. Despite being largely placeholder graphics, the high-quality EGM screenshots revealed graphics that are nonetheless extremely impressive. For example, the Ghost's armor already looks like it's capable of rendering real-time reflections just as the Cheif's helmet has been shown to do. Halo 3 already looks much better than Halo 2, and once the final graphics are finished (and if what we saw at E3 is any indication of what BUngie can do with next-gen hardware), Halo 3 will likely rival Gears of War as the most graphically impressive Xbox 360 title.
Now for the weapons, which of course will always be a key element in any FPS. Several weapons from the previous two Halo games have been confirmed as coming back, including:
The Assault Rifle. The new longer-barreled MA5C model seems vastly improved over the MA5B seen in Halo 1. As most of you know, it is Halo 3's standard spawn weapon and will have longer range and better accuracy than the original AR, and will have a smaller magazine size of 32 rounds. Bungie appears to be trying to make a really good standard spawn weapon here, and they seem to be aiming for a compromise between the close-range spamfire of the SMG and the power and range of the original M6D pistol. Bungie said that they didn't want the game to be all about headshots nor all about dual wielding.
The Needler, which is going to be single-wield only (confirmed by Bungie last week), looks like it's going to be a decent weapon this go around. I always found the Needler to be a throwaway weapon in multiplayer in both games (though it had its uses in Campaign), so I'm glad that this has been decided upon.
The Battle Rifle. EGM gave no indication that it will be any different in Halo 3. It seems like it'll remain a mid-range workhorse, though whether it will remain a 3-shot burst weapon or be changed into a semi-automatic firearm remains to be seen. I would prefer the latter, but if they improve the burst fire and upgrade the Carbine, I can settle for the former.
The Energy Sword. One of the Bungie guys appeared to have admitted that the sword may have been unbalanced. They want it to remain a power weapon, but they seem like they plan to tone it down a bit. It was pretty mcuh confirmed that the sword will have a finite duration in Halo 3 MP, or in other words it will have a limited battery supply this go around. This sounds very good for me, as I found the sword to be very unbalanced in Halo 2.
The SGM will have a higher rate of fire.
Bungie also appears to be considering bringing back Halo 1's M6D pistol. Would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath on this one, though.
Most of you already know about the properties of the new weapons. In case some of you don't, here's a brief overview:
The powerful Spartan laser, which has the ability to destroy vehicles in a single shot and penetrate multiple infantry,
The Spiker, which fires metal spikes from dual over-and-under barrels, is the Brute equivalent of the SMG. Its large dual bayonets have been confirmed to give it stronger than average melee damage.
The spike grenade, which projects a conical blast of spikes upon detonation. It can be stuck to any solid surface and will instantly kill any infantry it directly impacts, similar to a plasma grenade.
Multiplayer will have a much larger degreee of opitions for custom multiplayer matches (which should satisfy people like MLG Cheewahwah). Things such as gravity and player speed can be adjusted, and even bizzare graphical effects such as characters appearing to be on fire can be added. Properties of powerups can be altered as well, including being made into a power-down.
While custom games can be customized to a much greater degree this go around, Bungie stated that playlists in Matchmaking will not stray too far away from the core rules of gameplay, so expect non-custom matches to play more or less like MP did in the first two games.
Another new addition to custom multiplayer matches is the addition of the option to open up player slots to the public, rather than having custom games being restricted to friends only. Oddly enough, I suggested something like this over at the Optimatch forum several weeks ago (click h ere. This has been described as matchmaking for custom games, and seems like it'd be a great new addition.
Also, it has been confirmed that players in a custom match do have veto power over the host's decisions on things like gametype or map. This feature appears ot have the intent of encouraging group democratic decisions rather than making the host the de facto dictator of all things. Presumably the host could potentially override vetos (though nothing like this was mentioned in the article), and he/she will likely retain control of certain other things like booting players from the party.
Finally, the last major MP change is that there will be a secondary ranking system separate from the player's standard Matchmaking ranks.
There will be a couple of changes to the HUD as well. The indicator arrows from Halo 1 that let you know which direction you were getting shot from are coming back, which I like. Also, there will be different player indicators in multiplayer. Instead of (or possibly in addition to) the player's emblem hovering over their head, they will have an identification tag consisting of one letter and two numbers (e.g. B21, M84). This should make it easier to identify teammates in combat. While a three character limit seems short for an identifier, keep in mind that the odds of two people on the same team having the same ID is one in 2600, and the odds of three having the same ID are one in 6,760,000. Bungie has their reasons for limiting it to one letter and two numbers.
Saved films can be made from both multiplayer and Campaign gameplay. It was revealed that save films are technically game engine reconstructions of gameplay rather than actual recordings of gameplay footage. Bungie said that this makes it to where saved films will take up less space. The player can control various things in the films, including fast-fowarding, rewinding, pausing, slow-mo, and camera type. I'm really looking foward to using this feature, as there's been a lot of awesome events that happened in both Halo 1 & 2 that I wish I could've saved.
Of course, there's a lot of other things in the EGM article, which I won't go into here. Like I said, some of them are common knowledge now, but some other things are brand-new revelations. Other things remain to be answered (like what X does in the default control scheme) and other questions have been raised. Be sure to check it out yourselves.
Overall, I'm really impressed on how Halo 3 is shaping up. I think Bungie is trying their hardest to satisfy both people like me who prefer Halo 1's gameplay and those who prefer Halo 2. Compromise is usually a good thing, and I think Halo 3 will likely be worthy of the title of Best Game of 2007. I can't wait to see what else Bungie has in store for us next year.
On a side note, EGM mentioned that 10,000 Microsoft people are coming in next month to test Halo 3, but they didn't get any more specific than that. Could they be getting ready to start beta testing already? Might we see the game sooner than we think, perhaps this Summer? Who knows? All Iknow is tht I'm really looking foward to Halo 3.
The local Borders here in Augusta, GA had received their shipment of the new EGM a bit early, and I picked mine up Saturday night. Lots of interesting things. However, a lot of the stuff they discussed is by now common knowledge amongst most Halo fans.
First things first: the screenshots are, with one exception, the same ones from the Level magazine. The only new screenshot is one of a Warthog being destroyed by a Spartan laser. Very impressive, and I suggest you go check it out yourselves. That being said, the scans from Level don't do Halo 3's graphics justice; stop looking at the low quality internet scans and go pick up the magazine NOW. Despite being largely placeholder graphics, the high-quality EGM screenshots revealed graphics that are nonetheless extremely impressive. For example, the Ghost's armor already looks like it's capable of rendering real-time reflections just as the Cheif's helmet has been shown to do. Halo 3 already looks much better than Halo 2, and once the final graphics are finished (and if what we saw at E3 is any indication of what BUngie can do with next-gen hardware), Halo 3 will likely rival Gears of War as the most graphically impressive Xbox 360 title.
Now for the weapons, which of course will always be a key element in any FPS. Several weapons from the previous two Halo games have been confirmed as coming back, including:
The Assault Rifle. The new longer-barreled MA5C model seems vastly improved over the MA5B seen in Halo 1. As most of you know, it is Halo 3's standard spawn weapon and will have longer range and better accuracy than the original AR, and will have a smaller magazine size of 32 rounds. Bungie appears to be trying to make a really good standard spawn weapon here, and they seem to be aiming for a compromise between the close-range spamfire of the SMG and the power and range of the original M6D pistol. Bungie said that they didn't want the game to be all about headshots nor all about dual wielding.
The Needler, which is going to be single-wield only (confirmed by Bungie last week), looks like it's going to be a decent weapon this go around. I always found the Needler to be a throwaway weapon in multiplayer in both games (though it had its uses in Campaign), so I'm glad that this has been decided upon.
The Battle Rifle. EGM gave no indication that it will be any different in Halo 3. It seems like it'll remain a mid-range workhorse, though whether it will remain a 3-shot burst weapon or be changed into a semi-automatic firearm remains to be seen. I would prefer the latter, but if they improve the burst fire and upgrade the Carbine, I can settle for the former.
The Energy Sword. One of the Bungie guys appeared to have admitted that the sword may have been unbalanced. They want it to remain a power weapon, but they seem like they plan to tone it down a bit. It was pretty mcuh confirmed that the sword will have a finite duration in Halo 3 MP, or in other words it will have a limited battery supply this go around. This sounds very good for me, as I found the sword to be very unbalanced in Halo 2.
The SGM will have a higher rate of fire.
Bungie also appears to be considering bringing back Halo 1's M6D pistol. Would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath on this one, though.
Most of you already know about the properties of the new weapons. In case some of you don't, here's a brief overview:
The powerful Spartan laser, which has the ability to destroy vehicles in a single shot and penetrate multiple infantry,
The Spiker, which fires metal spikes from dual over-and-under barrels, is the Brute equivalent of the SMG. Its large dual bayonets have been confirmed to give it stronger than average melee damage.
The spike grenade, which projects a conical blast of spikes upon detonation. It can be stuck to any solid surface and will instantly kill any infantry it directly impacts, similar to a plasma grenade.
Multiplayer will have a much larger degreee of opitions for custom multiplayer matches (which should satisfy people like MLG Cheewahwah). Things such as gravity and player speed can be adjusted, and even bizzare graphical effects such as characters appearing to be on fire can be added. Properties of powerups can be altered as well, including being made into a power-down.
While custom games can be customized to a much greater degree this go around, Bungie stated that playlists in Matchmaking will not stray too far away from the core rules of gameplay, so expect non-custom matches to play more or less like MP did in the first two games.
Another new addition to custom multiplayer matches is the addition of the option to open up player slots to the public, rather than having custom games being restricted to friends only. Oddly enough, I suggested something like this over at the Optimatch forum several weeks ago (click h ere. This has been described as matchmaking for custom games, and seems like it'd be a great new addition.
Also, it has been confirmed that players in a custom match do have veto power over the host's decisions on things like gametype or map. This feature appears ot have the intent of encouraging group democratic decisions rather than making the host the de facto dictator of all things. Presumably the host could potentially override vetos (though nothing like this was mentioned in the article), and he/she will likely retain control of certain other things like booting players from the party.
Finally, the last major MP change is that there will be a secondary ranking system separate from the player's standard Matchmaking ranks.
There will be a couple of changes to the HUD as well. The indicator arrows from Halo 1 that let you know which direction you were getting shot from are coming back, which I like. Also, there will be different player indicators in multiplayer. Instead of (or possibly in addition to) the player's emblem hovering over their head, they will have an identification tag consisting of one letter and two numbers (e.g. B21, M84). This should make it easier to identify teammates in combat. While a three character limit seems short for an identifier, keep in mind that the odds of two people on the same team having the same ID is one in 2600, and the odds of three having the same ID are one in 6,760,000. Bungie has their reasons for limiting it to one letter and two numbers.
Saved films can be made from both multiplayer and Campaign gameplay. It was revealed that save films are technically game engine reconstructions of gameplay rather than actual recordings of gameplay footage. Bungie said that this makes it to where saved films will take up less space. The player can control various things in the films, including fast-fowarding, rewinding, pausing, slow-mo, and camera type. I'm really looking foward to using this feature, as there's been a lot of awesome events that happened in both Halo 1 & 2 that I wish I could've saved.
Of course, there's a lot of other things in the EGM article, which I won't go into here. Like I said, some of them are common knowledge now, but some other things are brand-new revelations. Other things remain to be answered (like what X does in the default control scheme) and other questions have been raised. Be sure to check it out yourselves.
Overall, I'm really impressed on how Halo 3 is shaping up. I think Bungie is trying their hardest to satisfy both people like me who prefer Halo 1's gameplay and those who prefer Halo 2. Compromise is usually a good thing, and I think Halo 3 will likely be worthy of the title of Best Game of 2007. I can't wait to see what else Bungie has in store for us next year.
On a side note, EGM mentioned that 10,000 Microsoft people are coming in next month to test Halo 3, but they didn't get any more specific than that. Could they be getting ready to start beta testing already? Might we see the game sooner than we think, perhaps this Summer? Who knows? All Iknow is tht I'm really looking foward to Halo 3.