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Halo 3 Beta Impressions

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-master-chief-to-you dept.

Yesterday in New York City Microsoft held an invite-only preview of the Halo 3 Beta, and passed out early Beta keys to a group of game journalists. The result is a barrage of coverage about this most-anticipated title. Notable features beyond basic previews include Dan Hsu's take on the game, Dean Takahashi's 'I got my butt kicked' perspective, the San Jose Merc's interview with Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrad, CVG's hosting of the official Beta Movie, and Joystiq's interview with Frank O'Connor, Bungie's writing lead. From the 1up preview: "It's unmistakably Halo gameplay, despite the rearranged controls (which feel natural after 10 minutes), and all of the additions fit perfectly into the multiplayer universe we've come to love. The interface has been overhauled and is even easier to use, and you now have such niceties as being able to change your control layout at any point on any screen. While the visuals are rich and beautiful, it's the audio that's really impressed us so far. The rumbling throttle of unleashing dual SMGs makes them feel incredibly powerful, and the Spartan Laser tearing past your head is as scary as you'd imagine. Audio cues are more important than ever, and the better your sound system the more next-gen this will feel." More coverage below.

5 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Still missing one thing. by An+Ominous+Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Wake me when a console FPS game ships with a mouse and keyboard.

    1. Re:Still missing one thing. by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 0, Troll

      You know, I'm really sick of this particular criticism of console FPS games. The game was designed around a controller.

      Not very well.

      It plays perfectly fine with it.

      No it doesn't.

      Everyone else playing is using the same input device, there is no need for a keyboard / mouse.

      Yes there is.

      Remember the first time you ever used a keyboard / mouse to play an FPS? I'll bet it didn't seem intuitive at all

      Yes it did.

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    2. Re:Still missing one thing. by -noefordeg- · · Score: 0, Troll

      It's still doesn't change the fact that using an analog controller is vastly inferior to using a mouse/keyboard combination. It really is!
      And no! It didn't take long to get used to the mouse/keyboard combination in Wolfenstein 3D. It felt quite good from the start.

  2. Low Quality Graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    The graphics quality of the game looks about what Battlefield 2 looked at medium quality. At this point in development the graphics aren't ever going to get much better. Halo games also aren't know for their unique or revolutionary gameplay so what reason do I have to buy this?

  3. WMV......lame..... by wellingj · · Score: 0, Troll

    any one have a ogg mpg or avi for us?

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