Previews// Halo 3 Beta - First Impressions

Speaking of strategy, the three maps available to Halo 3 Beta players are nothing short of classics. High Ground is a small map, but is intricate in its myriad corridors and openings and the fort at the top of the hill allows for some awesome scenarios. Snowbound is bigger but includes two major platforms above ground and a maze of underground passages to help players get a vantage point.

Valhalla is easily our favourite stage – the map is huge, the scenery gorgeously detailed and the nooks and crannies that battles can be fought in are brilliant. We recommend staying out of the lake area if you want to avoid a bloodbath – everyone tends to follow the majesty of the water towards their own culling by an opponent from uphill.

And a bloodbath is what we got too – in-between melted cheese in breadcrumb snacks and swigs of beer, it became obvious that I should have practiced on Halo 2 before I had arrived. For all the tweaks and new features, the gameplay remains essentially the same. It’s just that much more solid a system, that much more solid an engine – it is always your own fault if you die.

If you get whupped, you just plain suck – almost all of the things that made Halo 2 an unfair chore to play have either been balanced out or removed entirely. And a brand new VIP mode (teams get points for killing each other’s selected ‘VIP’) and a modified Territories mode (five different locations have to be captured for points) and you have a very enjoyable game, even in its very early stages.

Perhaps where Bungie succeeds best of all is outside the matches – Halo 3's online infrastructure is just about the best system we’ve seen for a video game, period. Menus have been modified so players can have much more control and interaction: if a level is selected that people don’t like, they can choose to ‘Veto’ against it to change to something else.

In addition to this, a 'Party Up' mode allows people who liked the last match to establish a friendly game room to continue playing with the current list of gamers, and you can choose to selectively silence certain players too. Pre-pubescent teenage Americans, meet your nemesis!

Your personal statistics are now even more advanced, following an experience points system which is not only too cool for school and can be tied up to Bungie’s website, but it allows for a much more efficient method of matchmaking players by skill level, we’re told. If that wasn’t enough, you can save a recording of your games to your profile for all to watch. Bungie promise more items other than videos can be saved in the future, but what exactly we weren't told.

Of course, Halo 3 is still in the very early stages of development. All the features and presentation are subject to change apparently, which is amazing considering some companies tend to call it a wrap and go gold with a project up to five or six months before release. We would be happy if we were given what we played, albeit not exactly ground breaking it’s a very balanced and enjoyable multiplayer experience. The graphics were gorgeous - I even got capped in the head in High Ground because I stopped to notice a single leaf floating down from a tree.

The fact that Bungie isn't content with simply making us happy (they want us ecstatic it seems) shows great promise for a game with the reputation of an entire console resting on its shoulders. If you have Crackdown for the Beta, like we said: you’re going to have a blast. As for us though, we’ll be playing it all weekend. Games journalism. It’s a hard life sometimes…