MLG Writer Offers Halo 3 Beta First Impressions
By Jason | Published: May 12, 2007 8:04pm EST
| Getting a friends and family invite into the Halo 3 beta is like scoring a golden ticket from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Everybody wanted one but only a handful this week were allowed into Bungie’s magical candy land of combat. I happen to be one of the few that got selected and after playing until I could barely see straight last night, I have my first Halo 3 impressions for you. Downloading the beta reminded me of the feeling I got when I drove home with Halo 2 the night it released. The anticipation of cracking into the sequel made me feel both excited and nervous. All the leaked footage and sneak-peek information from Bungie was rolling around in my head, making me even more eager to try out the bubble shield, the battle rifle and yes, even the new needler.
When the download was complete and I started the game, I could definitely see the polish on the graphics. Since I play with the Green Thumb button layout, I then immediately switched over to my settings and checked for that option. Bungie was kind enough to include all of the classic control schemes, so I set myself to basically the same settings I use in Halo 2 and then moved on to customize my Spartan. Selecting from a nice palette of options, I got to put color on three different locations of my armor and could also use three different colors to make my icon. Even for a stripped-down public beta, Bungie made sure there were still a lot of emblem options for gamers. I chose my usual #0 with a single stripe background, colored it to match my Spartan and then moved on to the final customization option, my call sign. The call sign is a letter plus two numbers that allow gamers to more easily identify each other on the field of combat. I chose J for my first name and 18, since that was the number I wore in high school and college soccer. If you get your hands on the public beta through the purchase of Crackdown, make sure to choose a call sign you will easily remember, since players you do not know will be calling you by it fairly often. |
