Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

First off I know the beta has been out for over a week and you have probably already read several opinions on the matter, but very few of those opinions are from real Halo fans. Most have been from bloggers who barely played Halo 2 and that is a shame. Personally I have logged over 12,000 games online in Halo 2 and many more in the original Halo. So instead of playing 5 games of Halo 3 and then writing about it I decided to play at least 200 games before giving an in-depth impression of the beta. Please enjoy my thoughts after the break.

Graphics
Since the graphics seem to be the sticking point for a lot of people I will start there. Halo 3 does look next gen, don’t let people convince you otherwise. Textures are great and the spartan models are highly detailed and shiny in all the right places. That said the game obviously does need some polish before the final build. There is no Anti-aliasing which can sometimes cause some noticeable jaggies, but you don’t tend to notice them unless you really look. There are certain areas on the maps that look unfinished, which should be expected since it’s a beta. The water in the game doesn’t need any work that I can see. It is by far the best looking water I have seen in a game yet (at least until Bioshock releases) and the way the water reacts to vehicles and grenades is beautiful as well. Personally the game could ship tomorrow and I would be 80% happy with the graphics, but with four months left I am sure Bungie will put in the polish that is needed. I really found it funny when people said that Halo 3 looked like Halo 2….uh it’s still Halo! Should Halo 3 look like Super Mario Bros….NO…it should look like Halo.

Sound
The night before the Halo 3 beta came out I hooked in my surround sound setup and the next day I was glad I did because the sound design in Halo 3 is second to none. Explosions sound deep and percussive, weapons sound deadly, and the far off sounds of battle are very well done. The only thing that I don’t like about the sound design is the new sound that your headset makes when you try and speak to your team. The sound is a bit high pitched and annoying at times. I think if they make it just a bit less jarring it could work just fine, but other then that the sound is near perfect.

MISC
There are many things outside of gameplay and graphics that are worth noting. The first is the new matchmaking system. It is pretty much the same as Halo 2 but with many refinements and improvements. The veto system is a great feature allowing the group to select a new game type and map. Though in the beta the veto system is a bit flawed because it will sometimes only change the map and not the game type. I hope in final build that this will be addressed or they allow veto voting for both map and game type. Next is the party up system, no more sending invites to all the people on your team. You can now choose to stay together and play. I love this feature and have used it quite often. The last thing I want to touch on is the new shield doors that they use in Snowbound. I have heard much praise and complaint about these doors, but personally I think they add a lot of fun and strategy to the game, especially when playing games like oddball. I hope that snowbound is not the only map we see these doors.

Gameplay
I saved the best for last. Forget the graphics and forget the sound. Halo is all about the gameplay and Halo 3 looks to expand on all the fun we had in Halo 1 & 2. After playing Halo 3 for quite a while you will notice that the game has taken steps to feel more like Halo CE. The auto aim function has been turned down a notch which makes aiming a little harder but once you get used to it the difference will seem minimal but it does help to separate the noobs from the skilled. The rocket launcher has lost its homing feature making it easier to get away with the flag and it also takes longer to reload thus giving you time to get away or kill the rocket holder. These small changes help to balance the gameplay much more then Halo 2. That said there is one thing in the game that seems overpowered and it’s the Warthog. If you don’t have the spartan laser it is nearly impossible to destroy the warthog, if it has a good driver. I played a BTB slayer game where I had over 24 kills on the back of a warthog without once being near death. Considering its a beta there may be more ways of taking out the warthog in the final game but in the beta the hog is fun when your in it but annoying when you can’t kill it.

Halo has always been about those OMG moments when you do something cool or get an amazing kill and Halo 3 has those moments in spades. My first OMG moment was when the enemies tried escaping through the man cannon with our flag and I threw a trip mine out the man cannon behind them. The mine attached itself to the warthog and blew up 2 seconds later sending the vehicle at least 90 feet in the air…TRIPLE KILL! These intense battles are fun and unforgiving, and will leave you wishing September was even closer. The improved physics make for some interesting and funny deaths. The physics also affect the gameplay in many ways allowing grenades to thrown by the man cannon amongst others things. When you put all these elements together you get a great game that should last for many years.

To sum things up, if you love Halo then you will love Halo 3. If you never liked Halo then don’t bother because Bungie is not dumb enough to change the winning formula that has made Halo one of the best game franchises. They have added cool new weapons and vehicles and took the game back to its hardcore roots and I love them for this. The Halo 3 beta is a very small sample of what we will get in September and knowing how Bungie keeps the big stuff under wraps I am sure there is a lot more in store for Halo fans.

P.s. Make sure to check out George’s Take on the Halo 3 beta as well, he has some good insight.