Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta starts today.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure everyone thought that Halo 2's multiplayer was vastly superior to Halo 3's.

At least that was the consensus among most people I played with.

[prophetik music]

halo 3's campaign - and, in turn, ODST's campaign - are some of the best cooperative gaming i've had on a console. i REALLY enjoy playing through those maps. a bit linear, but it's a shooter, and they do an incredibly good job designing each major area.

[The Biznut]

I totally agree with prophet; right from the first game, Halo's campaign has been the one of the best co-op gaming experience for me. I hope Reach will be as enjoyable, I am thoroughly looking forward to stepping back into the large scale, open area combat that Halo CE offered up.

Sidenote: I think the Terminal messages in Halo 3 are super cool. They tell a very intriguing story, at least to me. I'd definitely love more of it in any sort of form, I hope the Reach campaign has some neat stuff like this in it too.

Invasion is being rolled out on the beta today too, I *might* get to play tonight. I'll friend up with you guys later tonight too if work doesn't go too late. Darkesword, maybe some evening next week would work for some OCReach?

[BardicKnowledge]

I'm looking for a review from someone I know here. I'm not a big fan of console shooters, but I need to purchase one to appease my friends at some point.

Does Reach offer anything (besides the cool jetpack) over Halo 3? Specifically, in ease of control / fluidity / framerate? After I play Halo with a friend, I play UT2004 at home and it feels like playing a game at 4x the speed.

[Brushfire]

We should get some UT2K4 going with custom models.

You are pendin for a bendin good sir.

[Nabeel Ansari]

I'm looking for a review from someone I know here. I'm not a big fan of console shooters, but I need to purchase one to appease my friends at some point.

Does Reach offer anything (besides the cool jetpack) over Halo 3? Specifically, in ease of control / fluidity / framerate? After I play Halo with a friend, I play UT2004 at home and it feels like playing a game at 4x the speed.

It's about the same, all the weapons got a facelift, grenades don't go up into elevators, takes a higher arc to throw grenades further than in Halo 3. There are also some new weapons. Also, there are soldier classes (like Stealth, where instead of a jetpack you get a 10 second cloaking shield).

[The Biznut]

I'm looking for a review from someone I know here. I'm not a big fan of console shooters, but I need to purchase one to appease my friends at some point.

Does Reach offer anything (besides the cool jetpack) over Halo 3? Specifically, in ease of control / fluidity / framerate? After I play Halo with a friend, I play UT2004 at home and it feels like playing a game at 4x the speed.

Halo Reach is quite different from Halo 3.

Control and fluidity are definitely better on the tech side of things. You won't have to worry about any jump lag or other such issues. It's very clean that way, which is awesome. Framerate is a solid 30fps at nearly all times, don't know how H3 was for that.

Graphically, it looks much better.

Matchmaking is very smooth, even in the beta (now that the fires are out)

The weapons are different for sure, the grenades act differently, and players take damage differently; its back to a shield/health combo much like Halo CE.

There are some new gametypes too. I am assuming invasion will feel a lot more like some of the objective progression based gameypes from UT2k4. Headhunter is new too and I think it's great.

I was very comfortable with Halo 3, and there is still a part of me that prefers Halo 3 to Reach, but I have been pretty impressed with it so far, and when I get my hands on the full version in the fall, I think it will be pretty great.

I guess thats the thing; if you need to appease your friends sometime within the next 4 months, reach may not be an option. In such a case, for Xbox you gotta do Halo 3 (dirt cheap now, and can split screen online) or Modern Warfare 2 (anything online is one player per console); Both have proven to be excellent console multiplayer shooters.

[prophetik music]

I'm looking for a review from someone I know here. I'm not a big fan of console shooters, but I need to purchase one to appease my friends at some point.

Does Reach offer anything (besides the cool jetpack) over Halo 3? Specifically, in ease of control / fluidity / framerate? After I play Halo with a friend, I play UT2004 at home and it feels like playing a game at 4x the speed.

halo was never meant to be a fast-paced game like that - it's always been a little slower, forgoing twitch for a little more strategy. nice for people like me who aren't as good at that kind of stuff

[DarkeSword]

I played a lot of Reach yesterday morning. Good times, and I think I'm getting the hang of Guardian.

Let's try for Wednesday, maybe?

[prophetik music]

i'd be up for during the day on wednesday (or really late, like 11pm est), or tuesday night.

i'm pretty bad, but i've had my moments.

[BardicKnowledge]

We should get some UT2K4 going with custom models.

Yes, yes we should. I wonder how many people here have it? Also, running around as Rinoa, Tassadar, or Megaman is awesome -- <3 custom models.

Halo Reach is quite different from Halo 3.

Control and fluidity are definitely better on the tech side of things. You won't have to worry about any jump lag or other such issues. It's very clean that way, which is awesome. Framerate is a solid 30fps at nearly all times, don't know how H3 was for that.

Graphically, it looks much better.

Matchmaking is very smooth, even in the beta (now that the fires are out)

The weapons are different for sure, the grenades act differently, and players take damage differently; its back to a shield/health combo much like Halo CE.

There are some new gametypes too. I am assuming invasion will feel a lot more like some of the objective progression based gameypes from UT2k4. Headhunter is new too and I think it's great.

I was very comfortable with Halo 3, and there is still a part of me that prefers Halo 3 to Reach, but I have been pretty impressed with it so far, and when I get my hands on the full version in the fall, I think it will be pretty great.

I guess thats the thing; if you need to appease your friends sometime within the next 4 months, reach may not be an option. In such a case, for Xbox you gotta do Halo 3 (dirt cheap now, and can split screen online) or Modern Warfare 2 (anything online is one player per console); Both have proven to be excellent console multiplayer shooters.

halo was never meant to be a fast-paced game like that - it's always been a little slower, forgoing twitch for a little more strategy. nice for people like me who aren't as good at that kind of stuff

Thanks to both of you guys. I may pick this up when it comes out if the multiplayer is improved -- I like the idea of everyone getting one "extra" power, whether that's invis, jetpack, etc. Having to choose will give some variety to the combat. My biggest issue with the series is that it tends to come down to either 1) sniper vs. everyone else, or 2) who can run forward and melee first.

[prophetik music]

medium range combat definitely improved with h2's battle rifle, but the addition of guns like the focus rifle, needler rifle, and the newly redesigned battle rifle in this game (as well as a decent pistol again, finally!) make a big difference.

[Azure Prower]

halo was never meant to be a fast-paced game like that - it's always been a little slower, forgoing twitch for a little more strategy. nice for people like me who aren't as good at that kind of stuff

That's what I miss about the original halo. Trending the snow in sidewinder, preparing ambushes for any incoming tanks whilst avoiding the sniper fire from the other side of the map.

[JCvgluvr]

Invasion mode single-handedly shook me from my state of Halo: Reach apathy and injected me with a healthy dose of hype! Spawning with the freaking Sword as an Elite. SPAWNING with the SWORD!!! Wheeeee!!!!

[prophetik music]

i'm going online RIGHT NOW to play reach. i'm pretty bad, but fun to play with =)

send me a friend request if you want to play!

edit: if you don't know what mouseover means, my gamertag is prophetofsax.

[Deep Thought]

Yes, yes we should. I wonder how many people here have it? Also, running around as Rinoa, Tassadar, or Megaman is awesome -- <3 custom models.

People still play that?

[The Biznut]

Things didn't quite pan out as I expected, my copy of ODST still hasn't showed up yet and as I have been sick, I've been staying home and not going out to my friends to play there. I was pumped to play with you guys, but I haven't even been on XBL to friend up, lol. I'm on the upswing, I should get out of the house soon. I think there's still 4 more days of beta left, hopefully I'll be good to go before it ends.