Like many of you, I’ve recently been playing the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta. However, for me this is more than just an opportunity to play the new Halo game before it comes out, solely for my own enjoyment. For me it represents an opportunity it’s an opportunity to get involved with a developer before they release a AAA title and feed back to them what I think works, what doesn’t and ways it could change for the better.

A brief History of my ‘on-off’ relationship with Halo Multiplayer

I haven’t played Halo competitively for quite a few years. Before the days of Xbox Live, me and my friends would spend hours playing epic Capture the Flag matches on Combat Evolved on our home LAN at University. During those times, I regarded myself as some sort of Halo Deity, not always coming top in the bigger matches (That particular honour belonged to my friend ‘The Fragman’), but put me in a 1-on-1 with anyone on any given map on that games roster, and I could hand them their their arse on a platter, garnished with chorizo-thin slices of their very own penis.

My… how things have changed.

For a start, no one plays 1-on-1’s anymore. Granted, Halo is at it’s finest when you’re tightly fighting your ground in a 16 player battle to the death – Scorpions and Wraiths exchanging shells for plasma across an action packed battlefield. However, these old 1-on-1 matches had a certain contemplated strategy to them. The Silence forced you to use your ears. Listening for distant  footsteps on grass or concrete. The telling initiation charge of an oversheild as your enemy picked it up – you knew where he was, and probably where he was heading.. Quickly, cut him off at the pass! Such matches would often descend into an Enemy at the Gates style Sniper vs Sniper affair, waiting for your opponent to peep his head out before you took that lethal shot. The vapour trail giving away your position, it was time to move. Still, onward and upward and I suppose I could organise such a match if I was REALLY inclined.

So why didnt i get involved with Halo 2 and 3?

Well, when Halo 2 came out, I was certainly intrigues by the notion of online multiplayer but never actually got round to setting it up, mainly down to a lack of cash I never bought myself an XBL subscription, and by this time I wasn’t living with any real games enthusiasts so local multiplayer was out of the picture. From what I did play, I never really liked the underpowered pistol or the replacement of the Assault  Rifle with the Battle Rifle.

Then Halo 3 was released, and by this point I had an XBL subscription and was charged to become the King of Halo once again.Then COD4: Modern Warfare came out. I’m sorry Bungie, but they got me with that one. Got me bad. I became so engrossed in that game for so long that by the time I felt inclined to go back to Halo, I’d lost a lot of ground and all the loyal Halo 3 players out stripped me in skill and experience.

Halo: Reach (Beta) – New features overview

So here we are, Halo: Reach, and BOY what a treat it is. I suppose the first thing that struck me, before I played, was the graphical improvement. Now, by no means were Halo 3 or ODST bad looking games, but Bungie have really stepped up to the mark this time round with more detailed player models and textures, as well as lightly desaturated colour pallete. It still retains the trademark green plasma and purple Covvy weapons, but somehow feels a bit more ‘serious’, for lack of a better word.

The next thing that hit me, and I suspect a lot of other players, was the load-outs which equip you with differing starting weapons and armour augmentations. You select your loadout before you play and every time you die, so far, so FPS multi-player. The armour augmentations equip the player with differing abilities that can be triggered with a press of the LB button:

• Airborn: Flaying class with Jetpack
• Stalker: Stealth class with invisibility cloak
• Scout: Speed class with sprinting ability
• Guard: Can engage ‘Sheild Lock’ which grants limited invincibility at the cost of complete immobility

These load-outs greatly alter the dynamic of the game depending on what game-type you’re playing, what map you’re playing on and what kind of player you are. For Example:

You’re playing CTF offensive on Powerhouse. Your team mates all rush up the left side, heading straight for the flag. You on the other hand have picked Stalker (Stealth) and decide to splinter off and move quietly up the right side of the map, quietly, collecting a couple  of extra plasma grenades on the way. As you reach the highest point of the map you hear gunshots ringing off in the distance – your team mates have engaged the enemy. You couch, initiate your optic camouflage and creep into the enemy base while they defend the other entrance. You grab the flag, but alas, it’s too late, on of them has spotted you and starts emptying what’s left of his assault rifle into you. Sheilds completely gone, he runs out of ammo which gives you just enough time to melee him to death (flag can kill in one blow) and rush out the way you came in, defenceless. Two more are waiting outside for you, but your team mates are there to support you. One of them soaring across the sky raining down plasma at the enemy while the other tears in with grenades and an assault rifle. All the while you’re gaining more ground but a few more hits and your dead. you die. in the brief glimpse of gameplay before you respawn you spot the enemy attempting to recapture their flag but your team mate engages SheildLock, temorarily knocking the enemy away and damaging their sheilds. You respawn, 100 meters away you spot your airborn compatriots limp body falling out of the sky – meanwhile your other team mate has disengaged sheild locked and used the new assasination move to destroy the remaining enemy. This time you’ve chosen scout. You sprint toward the flag – as you arrive you’re greeted by your ‘Guard’ team mate and two enemies – you both instinctively load into the same guy, but just before he’s about to collapse he engages his sheild lock… etc, etc.