With Halo: Combat Evolved being one of my top five favorite video games of all time, a new Halo title is always intriguing. I'm glad that Bungie didn't just remake Halo 3 into a new experience. To its credit, Bungie is becoming a studio that I can really trust; to the point that I know something with the Bungie label will be a quality game worth playing. Valve is the only other development studio that shares this consistent quality. But you aren't reading this article to hear me talk about the quality of Bungie's work, so lets get straight to the core of gameplay.
Reach is pretty awesome as it stands right now. It is fun to play, and while there is some tweaking that needs to be done, I think the Beta is a great way for Bungie to get their code right on the first try. It makes you wonder where a game like Modern Warfare 2 would be if they had a public beta. But Reach already feels more polished than MW2, which is essentially a broken multiplayer experience as it stands right now.
The Reach loadouts is a nice new way of balancing combat. I'm excited to see more varied loadouts in new gametypes, like Invasion. Currently they are all pretty much the same, the only difference being the different armor abilities, another welcome change from Halo 3. Equipment from Halo 3 was always a little unnecessary in my opinion, but I do like the different options Reach presents. Jetpacks, Armor Lock, Sprint, Active Camouflage, and Evade all seem useful. But none of the abilities are clearly overpowered. Making sure these abilities stay balanced is a must for this game.
Another important balance that needs to be found is the power of all the weapons. One of the reason I liked Halo: Combat Evolved so much was that every weapon had a purpose. The Assault Rifle was a workhorse, the pistol owned, the Plasma Pistol dropped shields, the Plasma Rifle staggered Elites, the Needler could easily blow up Elites, the shotgun was great for dropping the flood, etc, etc. Halo 2 and Halo 3 introduced a lot of additional weapons, some were welcome additions while others were pointless. I can't ever remember a time when I found a Spiker and thought, "O wonderful, I was hoping to find one of these." The pistol was ultimately worthless in Halo 3, and I'm hoping Halo: Reach brings back a use for every weapon. So far things seem pretty promising with the exception of the Plasma Repeater. When playing Covenant slayer, you would have to be crazy to pick the Repeater/Plasma Pistol combo instead of the Needle Rifle/Plasma Pistol loadout. It just isn't powerful enough to be worth picking up.
Speaking of things that might be a little overpowered, lets talk about grenades. Is it just me or do grenades feel crazy powerful in Reach? You don't find nearly as many sitting around the map, but since you start with two in your pocket when you spawn, this isn't a huge problem. Tossing grenades has always been a big part of Halo multiplayer, but I really think it is a turn off for new players who can't always get them to do what they want. If I were Bungie, I would just take the grenades out of the initial loadouts. If the only way you could get grenades was to grab them on the map, it would make "gunplay" more important then "nadeplay." Unfortunately, right now it is the other way around. Can you imagine how different One Flag on Sword Base would feel without everyone spawning with grenades? It wouldn't be the continuous explosion fest it is now, that's for sure.
I'm enjoying the two maps currently available for the Beta. Powerhouse and Sword Base are fun, and that is saying something after only playing those two maps over and over again. I'm excited for other new maps, in part because of how well the first two are put together. Halo has always done a great job allowing players to move around in space, and no one is stupidly camping. Another problem that is plaguing MW2 is how rewarding it is to camp. Because of Killstreaks, there isn't a lot of incentive to get out and move in space. Halo has never had that problem, and it is refreshing to play a game where the best player isn't the one who sits around a blind corner with a shotgun.
The gametypes are also a nice change from regular old team slayer, but a few are hit and miss. I've never had a problem with slayer, but having new and interesting gametypes is cool. I'm particularly a fan of SWAT. I enjoy not having a radar, grenades, or shields. It is a gametype where the best shooters rule, and I feel that is the way it should be. I like One Flag- Capture the Flag, though initially it seemed impossible to complete the objective in the sub-three minute time period. But once everyone learned the maps better, it seems manageable. I'm glad Bungie decided to cut out some of the lifts in Sword Base for this gametype, because with all the lifts, it would have just been too easy. Oddball is still Oddball, and I haven't played 3 Plot yet. Covy Slayer is a nice alternative to regular slayer, and Evade may be my favorite armor ability.
Really the only gametype I don't like is Stockpile. Capture neutral flags and bring them back to your special scoring area, where they are collected after a certain time period seems easy enough. But unless you have a team that is really working together, it is absolutely chaos. Players drop, leaving your team shorthanded, or people don't play the objective at all, or there is that one guy on the other team that sits in your base and just destroys your team and takes your flags. It just sucks, period.
Part of why Stockpile is rubbish, is because your team spawns are very predictable. I've been spawn killed in numerous gametypes, but Stockpile seems particularly bad. Since you will only spawn back by your collection zone, I've spawned in between two enemy players who were waiting for me. Bungie will have to fiddle with their spawning system, because there is a bit of spawn killing going on in the Beta. In capture the flag, you will get spawned on your side of the map, regardless of where the flag is currently located. So trying to return your flag when you are defending can be particularly frustrating when the enemy team is spawning closer to your flag than you are. I don't know how to fix the problem, I just know it is annoying.
The last thing I really want to spend time on is the voting system in the pregame lobby. It is a good idea, but it always seems like Stockpile is the initial game type everyone is selected on to start. And if half the lobby (four people) are busy looking at buying new armor or changing their color, etc, you will be playing Stockpile. If anything, there shouldn't be any gametype selected to start. That way only the players who are voting get to choose the game. So if you are snoozing, you won't accidentally pick Oddball or something. At the very least, put team slayer as the top option so if no one is paying attention, people can at least play a fun gametype. And not Stockpile. Or "Garbage-pile" as I'm going to start referring to it.
Finally, I think some people are forgetting that this is just the beta. This isn't the final game, and there is a lot of room for tweaking and improving the final version. I commend Bungie for putting their code out there for the public to play and offer their opinions. Some people are whining about not having more maps, or gametypes. But it's just a Beta. I've never played a game before it was officially released, and I like that Bungie put themselves out there for criticism from their community. But what I'm seeing is already a very finely tuned experience that could probably stand up by itself now if they didn't want to change anything. For what it is worth, this is a step in the right direction for all multiplayer games. Hopefully other studios will follow suit. Bungie certainly seems to be on track to make a blockbuster.
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