Halo 3 Hands On - More on Gameplay
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Other than a new upgraded graphics, many of the weapons in the game remain unchanged. I wasn't able to use all the weapons that will be in the game, but the ones I was able to use were a big step up as far as looks. Bungie did bring back the assault rifle from the first Halo. I knew this was coming from information Bungie has been slowly giving us over time, but the change on the sniper was a big surprise to me.
I have never been a big fan of the sniper. When I picked up and started using one in Halo 3, I was pleasantly surprised. My big problem was that when I missed (which I did quit frequently) I died before I could get another shot off. Bungie has made the sniper a lot quicker to reload and it doesn't overheat anymore. This means that I can fire 5-6 shots at someone before they kill me. It makes it a lot friendlier in the close combat settings which you find in abundance in Halo.
Bungie also added some new abilities. When you are using a ground mounted gun, such as the heavy duty machine guns, by pressing "b" you can pick it up and move around with it. This makes it a very powerful weapon, but also slows you down a lot. There is a new laser weapon that seems to be a TKO on contact. When a vehicle is destroyed, it actually IS destroyed -- it's no longer sitting there unusable, it is in pieces around you.
A new vehicle made its debut in Halo 3's Beta. It's an ATV. Roughly the size of the ghost, it doesn't offer any weapons; you can just drive around and run people over. Driving it I found very challenging. It has horrible traction so making a sharp turn to run someone over is quit a feat.
I found two other items in this game, a shield and new grenade. The shield was the one I saw in the very first trailer released. You can't shoot through the shield to hit people inside the "bubble." You can however run inside the bubble and finish your enemy off.
The new grenade is similar to the sticky grenades in Halo 2. It reminds me of an ice pick used for climbing glaciers except it has a bomb on it. When thrown, it affixes itself to whatever surface it hits, whether that is the ground or your enemy.
I let my brother play it too -- well, it's more I like found him on it when I got home from work -- and he started raving about it. We're both occasional players of Halo 2, we aren't on there all the time, but both of us love Halo 3. He found it just as challenging as Halo 2, where I found it a lot easier (I almost won a game!). Both of us agree, this will be a blockbuster must have game.
Many people have predicted this will cause a bug bump in Xbox 360 sales, and now I see why. If the launch and anticipation is as high as it was for Halo 2, look for many places to be sold out on launch day. I highly recommend this game for anyone that likes any Halo game. And keep in mind, I was only able to play a handful of maps with a handful of weapons on a beta version of the game.
Giving this the Dev Hardware Recommended award would be uncalled for. I didn't see enough to get a complete picture of the game. The only complaint would be that the game setup and networking needs some help. If the game turns out as nice as the three maps I was able to play, look for a Dev Hardware Recommendation when this game is released later this year.
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