» Our Halo Reach Beta Review

Name: Chris Hamilton

From: www.haloreach.com.au

About: Chris Hamilton is a longtime Halo enthusiast and contributor to the Australian Halo community. Chris is a writer for www.haloreach.com.au but has also been apart of www.xboxworld.com.au and www.gamersworld.com.au.

We were lucky enough to receive an early access Halo Reach beta code yesterday and will sum a few things up for people who would like to know about the new maps, loadouts and some of the more popular weapons.

Firstly, the maps.

Powerhouse
Powerhouse (atleast to me) feels like a smaller version of High Ground. It has that same sort of outlandish / beach feel to it, and honestly it doesn’t look much different either. In saying that, the map seems to be a little one-sided in 1 Flag CTF with the defending team spawning closer to rockets and the focus rifle, but more on them later. Although it works well as a Team Slayer map and so far it seems pretty solid for Stockpile too.

Sword Base
Sword Base is the only other map beta users have access to at the moment. Bungie will be updating the playlist and unlocking new gamemodes and maps as the beta goes on. After plenty of plays, I personally prefer Sword Base to Powerhouse, I like the multiple levels and while it is confusing for a new player at first, it only takes a couple of games to fully understand the layout of the map. The map is divided into two sides, blue and red and after a couple of plays, it did bring back vague memories of Boarding Action.

Focus Rifle
This is a weapon that I (and many others) seem to have an issue with. It is incredibly effective at ALL ranges. It has no range weakness and if you’re accurate, it can more or less kill your opponent within two seconds. The focus rifle is essentially a sniper flame thrower. For the damage it does, and the effectiveness it has at all ranges, it is far to easy to use.

Plasma Launcher
You need to try keep your distance with this weapon, it takes a few seconds to load up but when it does, it shoots out homing plasma grenades. At first I thought the weapon was a bit overpowered, but on second thoughts it’s probably about right. In the right hands it can control the entire game on Sword Base.

DMR
The DMR has been difficult for me to use, I keep watching clips of peoples DMR / Magnum registering every shot and mine simply doesn’t work that fluidly. Most likely it has something to do with yellow bar on US host, but that’s to be expected. I think personally it needs a buff, it needs to be a four shot kill and the bloom needs to be toned down considerably to match that of the Needle Rifle.

Needle Rifle
The needle rifle seems to be far more accurate then the DMR, not only that, it holds an immense amount of ammo (at one point I had 72 bullets with a clip of about 12 I think). Again though, it’s hard to exactly get an idea of how effective this weapon is as im always playing on a US host. It is very, very much like the Carbine from Halo 3.

Magnum / Pistol
There is no doubt this weapon is good, it is effective close – medium range and does what it is suppose to do in that it gives you a decent chance against pretty much any general weapon. At long distances though it suffers and you’ll want to pick up a DMR / Needle Rifle. Once again though, from the clips ive seen, long range pistolling is possible – just not on yellow bar US host.

Magnetism / Auto Aim
For anyone wondering, yes, it has been toned down to an extent making it slightly more difficult to aim. Don’t expect the same level that Halo: CE had though.

Grenades
Grenades currently are like handheld rockets. They have a massive blast radius and do immense amounts of damage. Much like Halo: CE grenades, the only problem is they function like they did in Halo 2 and explode pretty damn quickly. If they delay the explosion by a fraction, it might work. However, I expect grenades to be toned down in the full game.

Covenant Slayer
Elites VS Elites. I don’t think ive come across a single person who takes this gametype seriously. Your normal run speed is equivalent to a spartan with sprint, your shield / health both recharge (no need for health packs), you jump higher and longer then spartans and its essentially just a mad rush around the map killing each other. It’s a nice break from playing seriously and competitively every now and then.

Sprint Loadout
Sprint is probably the least used loadout that I’ve seen so far. It’s usually used as a first rush for power weapons or flags in stockpile. Regardless, it does what it’s suppose to do, and can help you achieve a positional advantage over your opponents.

Armor Lock
Armor Lock CAN be effective, especially when you work together in pairs on a map like Sword Base. If you use Armor Lock in the middle of a map like Powerhouse, people just stand around and throw grenades at you until your Armor Lock ends.

Jetpack
Jetpack is extremely effective in almost any situation. It allows you to get to places non-jetpackers cannot. It also lets you get the jump on someone if you’re floating above them. Its weakness is definitely that you’re an easy target in the air if you don’t use it wisely.

Invis / Camo
This is probably my favourite. When activated, it scrambles / jams your radar and also your enemies radar if they’re within range of you. It doesn’t jam your team mates radars though so that’s a major positive. It’s effectively used for those who pay close attention to their own radar. As soon as you see a red dot on the same level as you, you can then work out where they ‘might’ be, activate camo and both your radars get scrambled, the benefit being that you go invisible and they dont.

All in all, the game has potential. It’s hard to get an idea how some weapons function by continually playing on a US host. I like it better then I liked Halo 3, but that isn’t really saying much. Fall damage, health packs and the pistol are nice additions to a multiplayer that of recent years has become stale and boring.

The Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta is schedule for release in Australia late Monday Night / Early Tuesday morning.

For questions regarding the beta, you can ask them in our brand new user forum.