I’ve gotten to try the halo 3 beta(read:lost lots of sleep time over it) and I have to say. Its different. The weapons have been rebalanced. They removed alot of the auto aim and enemy tracking much to my delight. BXR’ing (pressing punch,Fire and cancel at the same time) With the Battle Rifle is removed. This sort of punch and fire was a form of cheating and I’m very glad to see it gone.
They stopped spawning us with SMG’s and duel wielding is not a requirment and the BR isn’t the best weapon either. The spartan laser and the new spiker weapons give the game a better balance. The new equipment is neat like the portable grav lift, the bubble shield, the emp drainer, and the land mine. The grav lift is great for getting up high places or doing crazy stunts (usually the former). The bubble shield gives temporary relief from fire and grenades. Nothing seems to penetrate it. However an enemy can walk right into it and punch you. The EMP is like an inverted bubble shield. It drains your sheilds and I believe it will kill you if you stay in its field long enough. Land mines are great for dropping in stragetic places. If you drop one before getting run over by a warthog you can kill them. usually though this doesn’t happen. They are more likely placed in stragetic spots to cause lots of damage.
Halo 3’s phyisic engine is really enjoyable too. It feels more realistic but still just like halo. It plays well when theres not internet lag. Overall I think it will be a sure fire hit for bungie and microsoft. My clan that plays halo 3 will definitly find plenty of custom games like skeet shooting with the man cannon. (pushing objects into the man cannon and doing shooting practice)
Halo 3 should last along while. The 3 maps feel good, except snowbound. I hate that map. Valhalla is good and high ground is excellent. I feel like high ground was meant for me. I seem to do really well on that map.
Halo 3 removed team voice communication during the ranked matches, which reduces the frustration in matches alot. You still get whiney little (and big) idiots on your team but that can’t be helped.
Over the years, halo 2 wasn’t about gaming. It was about anger management. People tried to piss you off. You had to learn to keep your cool. Halo 3 will be much less of an anger management tool.
I would recommend everyone skip the limited versions of halo 3 and just get the vanilla kind. Legendary is NOT worth 150$
*UPDATE*
I will say this. Custom matches have great settings to mess with and will make halo 3 that much better. There was some sort of glitch in the beta that allowed customs. Moon gravity + spartian laser = laser tag for lots of fun. There was all SORTS of settings. Temporary invicibility, unlimited ammo. There is also rumors of new armor types.
Overall– If you like halo 1 and 2– Halo 3 will be a treat for you. IMHO, If halo 3 beta didn’t change I would be happy with it. I’ve also heard that they will be making lots of these available at launch.
Legendary, limited, special gold magic editions are not worth it still. Only insane people buy that stupid stuff.