Halo: Reach Beta

This week, on May 3^rd 2010, the beta version of Halo: Reach was released to the general public. The Halo series is one of the most popular first person shooter games in the video game market. It is formatted exclusively for the Xbox platform due to the fact that the game’s developer, Bungie, is a subsidiary of the Microsoft Corporation the creator of the Xbox platform. It was thanks to the huge popularity of Halo that help establish the Xbox 360 as the most successful platform of this generation of consoles. Since the release of Halo’s original game “Halo: Combat Evolved” in November 2001, Bungie have released several other games continuing the series into a full-fledged gamming franchise. These games include Halo2, Halo3, Halo3: ODST, and Halo Wars. Halo: Reach is the newest continuation to the franchise slated for release for Fall 2010.

The release of the beta is an important step in the development process of this video game and shows how invested Microsoft and Bungie are at making sure the player’s experience is the best it can be. By showing off a version of the game before the actual release, Bungie is getting a huge amount of data that will help them better fine-tune the game, to make the final product streamlined and formfitting for the Halo franchise. The release of the beta singles a new way development is done in the gaming community. Because this is only a pre release, gamers can comment about the game and tell the developers what they like and dislike about it. Developers can then take the comments of the gamming community and use them in the final production process of the game. This shows once again the increasing dialogue between producers and consumers through the medium of new media. Due to the fact it takes a huge amount of time and effort to make a video game such as Halo and that it is exclusive for Xbox, Bungie wants to make sure that all glitches and problems will be taken care of. This is done with the use of the beta.

As with any product Halo is doing its best to diversify the content of the game in order to make the experience new and fresh. They do this with the introduction of classes. The four classes consist of Air bound, Guard, Stalker, and Scout. Each have their own unique ability that gives the player a distinct tactical advantages.

Airbound, my personal favorite, gives the player the ability to fly around with the use of a jet pack. This not only gives you an advantage with altitude but also with speed. It is important to also note that in Reach players now receive falling damage, unlike the previous games. This means when descending players need to feather their landing with the jet pack. This is a great move by the developers as it adds to the degree of difficulty.

The next class Guard equips the player with a full body shield that can be activated when their health is at critical. The shield will only protect the user for a short while and will blast any other players that are close by away. The only drawback to this class is that when the shield is activated the player must remain stationary. This class is good when guarding flags on capture the flag or in order to survive grenade blasts.

Stalker allows the player to be constantly cloaked and move through the map undetected. The catch with this class is the more a player moves and the more they fire the more visible they become to the enemy players. This is useful for stakeouts like domination where your team has to capture a couple different locations and hold them in order to win.

The last class is Scout. This class is most reminiscent of Call of Duty because before this Halo characters had only one speed for the most part. Now players have the ability to run really fast across maps in a sprint type manner. This class is best for people with swords and hammers because it allows the player to charge and come into striking distance rather quickly, preventing other players from shooting them down before they get too close.

The introduction of these classes mirrors that of Call of Duty in which each player has certain abilities. These Halo classes are not as complex and intricate as COD because it would go against the Halo game play motto of simplicity. Unlike Call of Duty, Halo players can now make customizable avatars to their own exact specification. Players earn points by playing online and in the campaign. They can then spend points on new armor, helmets and possibly more classes’ abilities, but that has not been confirmed. COD is the same way in that players can gain weapon upgrades and new class abilities.

One last thing to note about Reach is that health has once again been changed. This time players have both life and health like way back in the original Halo. This also means the reintroduction of health packs to the game which will cause players to modify their game play in keeping the locations of these packs mind.

All in all the game play for Halo: Reach Beta is extremely fun and enjoyable. The data that Bungie will gain over the 15 days that it is released will allow them to make the best game possible. The diversification of the player’s ability will make the game that much more challenging and enjoyable. I would give the beta a 9 out of 10, which goes to show how exited I am for the actual release.

Long live Spartan 117!!