• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The Halo 3 Beta Thread

Everybody can grenade jump.
The networking seems much better than Halo 2 (lot less lag).
And players can veto the silly gametypes.

Halo 3 is going to be. awesome.
 
Smokey Bones said:
Last night I got to play exactly TWO games. One was Team Training with Ghaleon and then for whatever reason the game split us up? After that I didn't get to play again. I kept getting the game over screen. I tried for like a hour to play and kept getting the same thing so I just got frustrated and went to sleep.

Oh and the graphics are AMAZING. I'm running it on a 61'' 1080p TV with the 360 set to 1080p and OMFG.

I have no idea where people were getting Halo 2.5 from. When a game can make my girl say "wow that looks really good" then you know you have a winner.

I'm about to hop on now does anybody wanna try and get a few games goin?

Htx Darren Htx is the tag if your down.
Click to expand...

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=10851560

"If you are seeing the "Game Over" message today, the 15th of May, try the following. Either, wait about an hour and relax, or if you cannot wait:

Restart your box, then do this:

Go to the dashboard.
Go to the system tab
Select memory
Highlight your hard drive
Press Y
Press X, X, LB, RB, X, X
Say yes when prompted to do maintenance on your hard drive.

This removes all previous title updates and prompts you to redownload new ones.

This message is only useful today, May 15th. When the Beta actually ends in three weeks, it won't help you."
 
RattleHead_ said:
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=10851560

"If you are seeing the "Game Over" message today, the 15th of May, try the following. Either, wait about an hour and relax, or if you cannot wait:

Restart your box, then do this:

Go to the dashboard.
Go to the system tab
Select memory
Highlight your hard drive
Press Y
Press X, X, LB, RB, X, X
Say yes when prompted to do maintenance on your hard drive.

This removes all previous title updates and prompts you to redownload new ones.

This message is only useful today, May 15th. When the Beta actually ends in three weeks, it won't help you."
Click to expand...


Thanks.

I'll boot it up normally and see if it works and if not I'll do that. I hate having to go through Crackdown. That game takes forever to freakin' load.
 
There’s also other variations of VIP, where there’s a team on offense who has a VIP, and their goal is to literally escort the VIP from point A to point B to point C while the other team’s trying to stop them the whole way. You’ll see variations of the game VIP.
Click to expand...

From the 3rd interview I posted. That's probably the "Escort" gametype glipsed off a screen in the last vidoc. That mode sounds awesome.
 
I tried the beta last night. I tried to join some GAFers on my friends list but they kicked me out.. bastards.
Not that I blame them since this was my first time playing any Halo game online anyway.. I would have been a liability no matter who's team I was on.

I did eventually get into a deathmatch game and though for half of the match I was in last position I did work my way up and get to 2nd place so it wasn't a total trainwreck.

Overall I'm really impressed, the game feels very nice. I was worried that multiplayer would be a very twitch based shooter (which since I'm old I suck at) but actually the pace of the game seems very good, I nice balance between tactical vs twitch.
The graphics were fine, I don't know if I was overly impressed by them (I was stuck on the snow map which seemed rather boring in terms of eye-candy anyway) but they worked fine, the framerate was excellent and I didn't notice any slowdowns.

I need to play some of the other game modes but overall I was really impressed. I'm really looking forward to the retail game at this point. Hopefully the story is more like Halo1 and they have some sort of co-op and I'll be set.
 
Stinkles said:
Green = 1
Yellow = 2
Red = 3

1 = best
3 = worst


FEATURE ACHIEVED!
Click to expand...
I might of been a little unclear in my post, I don't mean that sort of numbering, merely your actual ping to whoever is hosting.
Bowen_B said:
Retard.
Click to expand...
So wanting to make sure I've got a good connection to everyone else in the game makes me a retard?
 
giga said:
lol those maps don't have the weapons and powerups marked
Click to expand...

Whoops, thought they did for some reason. I'm tired. Too much playing last night. :(

Oh, that's where I was confused. They list the locations in the descriptions below the maps, but not detailed to where they are. Oh well.
 
GhaleonEB said:
From the 3rd interview I posted. That's probably the "Escort" gametype glipsed off a screen in the last vidoc. That mode sounds awesome.
Click to expand...

This mystery game type in one of the humpday challenges sounds like it may have been Escort (C&Ped off AJ):

We played a new gametype for this match, something akin to Assault in Halo 1… but with some twists (there’s no flag involved, for one). We were on offense to start the game, spawning inside and around the command center within the base. I grabbed the Spartan Laser, some spike grenades and annoyed the crap out of them with some Laser snipes. I dropped down on top of the bunker and then started to tie up their team over there, which is about 50 yards from the base, taking down two and engaging at least one other as Frankie ran in and scored. Distractions like that have proven very useful in our limited experience testing this gametype.

On defense, spawning at the beach, I grabbed the sniper to defend. Bones, Frankie and Phlegm formed a passive perimeter around the outside of the base keeping the beach covered. After a while our passive defense transitioned to an aggressive one. Those three went out while I hung back just to be careful. Our gamble paid off however, and we made it out of the round with a point as well.

I went down the left side, down to their spawn to find the sniper sitting there. I grabbed it, took out a couple dudes and gained control of their base. However, when I went to make sure that Frank had a clear path to the base, they started to spawn behind me. I was able to take down one before I was overcome. By that time it was too late, however, as Frankie and Phlegm ran in for the score.

The final round didn’t work out quite so well as the prior three. We were aggressive from the start, in fact I charged straight into the base to start the match. At least Bones hung back to cover the base. While I went into their base and did a lot of killing, one of them slipped by me and Bones all the way down to the beach for a score, despite Frankie’s last-second attempt to stop him. [01/25/2007 - Humpday]
Click to expand...
 
Well that was interesting. Never spent any time online with Halo 2, and matchmaking decided to throw me into Rumble Rockets on Snowbound for my first Halo 3 beta taste >.<

And yeah, it might take a few days for matchmaking to sort itself out a bit, given my second match was even more of a calamity... though I got a standard Slayer gametype, there was 1 player who was clearly a billion times better than everyone else, not just me. 1st place 25, 2nd place......... 4. Yeah.

Awesome fun though, just got to readjust and take in the new controls, it's a long time since I played Halo 2. I've got zero complaints about the graphics, no issues with aliasing (unlike a certain recent demo), and given it's the only map I've seen so far - Snowbound looks pretty damn awesome. Also, just checking out Bungie.net, the stat tracking is amazing.
 
GI: How’s Marty’s [O'Donnell] music coming along?

Jarrard: I hear it’s coming along great, but Marty literally locks his door and won’t let anybody hear what he’s doing until he’s basically ready and done. I have no reason to doubt that he won’t deliver in spades and it will be awesome, but he works on his own terms. Literally, his door is shut and he has a picture of a skull on it, and if that’s up it means, “Do not talk to me, do not bother me, do not come in.” That’s his mode.
Click to expand...
:lol

The maestro is composing. Do. NOT. Disturb.
 
Games: 34
Last Played: 5/17/2007 8:49:26 AM

* Total Kills: 485
* Total Deaths: 392
* Kill/Death Ratio: 1.2372
* Total Assists: 147


The game is getting more competitive as I level up though >_<
 
I'll just repost what I had on FM (sans smileys):

My full impressions:

Ok, I'm no Halo fanatic, but I'm def. a fan of the series (enough so that the ending to the second both pissed me off and made the anticipation for the third almost unbearable). That said, I've always considered myself a n00b when it comes to Halo multi (though i think I can handle Frekld's ass any day); however, this is the first time since...well....ever, that I felt like a friggin' pro!

I don't know the intricasies of all that's involved with the multiplayer portion of this series, but I will tell ya, Bungie did SOMETHING right to make this the most accessible version of the three.

Here's how my first match went down (and it was a looong one at Snowbound):

Entered game with giddy anticipation (for the visuals mainly). Started inside some alien bunker and went straight up to a wall, noticed the fine bump-mapping and highlights applied. Nice. Can't wait to see what the single-player Covenant architecture looks like Anyway, I then hesistantly left that shelter (expecting to be immediately snipered in the head by some Halo fanatic), and noticed no one. Hmmmmm.....

I push on and mess with the controls. It seems things still feel the same (click in the left analog to duck, Right-click to zoom, B for melee, R trigger to shoot, L trigger for bombs...and so on). Noticing that my default weapon looked like the one every other Halo game starts you with (the standard issue machine gun/assault rifle) , I went looking for a new one....

....and noticed the first squabble going on a few meters away! I got nervous, and looked for the nearest weapon to pickup (the following is a dramatization, but represents my thoughts accurately during gameplay):


"Some black and green alien pistol gobbledy-gook thing, that'll work!

...

"Crap, the squabble ended, and the winner is headed my way!!

....


"Why the flip won't it pick up the new gun?!?
(enemy is getting closer)

*presses X

...

*presses B
(enemy starts firing)


*Mash all the flippin buttons while my screen is filled with a red hue (I'm dying)

*Jump around like my ass is on fire while pretty much looking at the sky (which is also beating red)

.....

*noticed the great death physics

So anyway, I checked on this forum (in one of the Halo threads, and noticed that LBumper was used to pick up weapons now). Back to the dramatization:

*respawn

"Damn, this game doesn't look half b...

*Notice the great death physics again


"Ok, ok, NOW I'm ready.


*respawn

*Sees another squabble with three spartans

*tosses grenade and earns three immediate kills

"BITCHES!!!


* I scope the environement a bit (using the assault rifle zoom), and notice that the dude (we'll call him "punchy") who just killed me twice in a row, has spawned two bunkers away. So I head over to show what a great neighbor I am


* Punchy notices that I'm approaching and finishes off his most recent victim, then fires some red laser blast at my face....but I duck.

"Aaaaaawww, need to recharge do ya fella?

* I unload a full clip with the assault rifle in his general viscinity

"Hahaha, getting mad are ya?

*he's getting mad

* I rush over to some rocks and things that are jutting out of the snow (for protection). He follows.

* Another red laser beam flys past me. Now's my chance. I turn around and pull the trigger, thirsty for some spartan blood!

"DIE YOU CRETAN!!"

--click-- --click--



then I remember:


Quote:
* I unload a full clip with the assault rifle in his general viscinity

*I prepare to admire the great physics engine Bungie has blessed this game with, once again. But then I realize....

"GRENADES!!!!"

I throw and miss with my first two, then wildly throw the last one as my attacker closes on me, trying to end this game of tag....

*Punchy uses his spartan strength to jump what seemed like 13 feet in the air (high-road has the advantage). He unloads his clip into my spartan face as my last grenade hits a stone jutting out of the floor beneath him (obviously too far below to have the splash damage to anything serious).... my short Halo 3 career is over......

....


.... BUT WAIT! SWEET IRONY!

*The same physics engine that has mocked me throughout, now became my savior! The grenade hit the rock below him, sure, but it then BOUNCED UP off the floor and into the air, about 13 feet A connection was made, and I had my fourth kill. Then a feeling of calm and eliteness came over me in an awesome, awesome wave.


Anyway, after that point I went on like a 14 point killing spree. Though I didn't win the match (I was in first until the last second, when Punchy finally lasered and killed me giving us a tie in kills, but giving me one more death than him).

So, I could go on and detail what I thought about the visuals or the sound or whether this game has any social significance...but who cares when moments like what I just described, happens more than once per match. It's what gamers dream of playing....




....and come September, we live the reality.
Click to expand...
 
sableholic said:
Where is the best place to preorder online? Ebgames? Bestbuy?
Click to expand...

Good question. As I refuse to give Gamestop any more money, my only other choice was BestBuy. At best buy, you should be able to get a $20 XBL points card for $5 when you preorder Halo 3, but there seems to be a conspiracy where none of the local BBs have them in-stock for store pickup (so you can save on shipping). You can get shipped to you, but whatever shipping you choose for Halo3 is the same shipping you get for the card, so if you choose next day, you'll pay like 8~12 dollars to get the $20 card shipped to you.
 
Games: 10
Last Played: 5/17/2007 8:51:15 AM

* Total Kills: 98
* Total Deaths: 109
* Kill/Death Ratio: 0.8991
* Total Assists: 37


So far territories and assault have killed my ratio. I finish around +2 in team slayer and king of the hill, -9 in territories. I don't like territories so much.
 
Sho Nuff said:
I MUST HAVE mp3 files of the new music pieces that loop on the title screen.
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any. Halo theme, Halo 2 "Unforgotten," and Halo 3 "Finish the Fight."

Finish the Fight IS available on iTunes if that's what you meant.
 
Framerate is not bad by any account, but there is a bit of stuttering here and there. Like when you are turning around quickly, the view stutters a bit sometimes. Not bad but not totally smooth either. It is obvious some frames are dropped sometimes. Being a beta it is ok though, hope they fix it in the final.

I am, however, really sensitive and I am sure most people don´t even see this?
 
Y2Kev said:
I don't think there is any. Halo theme, Halo 2 "Unforgotten," and Halo 3 "Finish the Fight."

Finish the Fight IS available on iTunes if that's what you meant.
Click to expand...

Do they layer the piano in Unforgotten? I could have sworn I hadn't heard that part of it before...
 
GhaleonEB said:
:lol

The maestro is composing. Do. NOT. Disturb.
Click to expand...

I'm honestly really, really excited about his score. To me, that was one of the things that made me fall in love with Halo.

In other news, I still haven't actually played the beta yet. After waiting for it to download from the time it went up until 1 AM, I tried to get online only to find that the wireless network I was leeching off of wouldn't let me find anyone online. I then proceeded to break down and get my own cable internet connection. I get to go home and set it up at 6. It's 9:14 now. I'm basically going insane.
 
GunFingers said:
Games: 10
Last Played: 5/17/2007 8:51:15 AM

* Total Kills: 98
* Total Deaths: 109
* Kill/Death Ratio: 0.8991
* Total Assists: 37
Click to expand...

Where can I view my stats? I didn't get it to work on bungie.net and don't see any options in the beta itself.
 
I am a big fan of this game's UI. Very well thought out, with clever little shortcuts like using the triggers to navigate lists faster. The intergration with the guide itself is also very cool.
 
Z_Y said:
The Halo 3 Beta makes me want to sell off every game in my backlog and my other consoles collecting dust.
Click to expand...

Oh my... Bold you be. Don't tell everyone its THAT good... Sony and Nintendo fanboys might cry when they discover the Tru7h.
 
Sho Nuff said:
Do they layer the piano in Unforgotten? I could have sworn I hadn't heard that part of it before...
Click to expand...

That piano is definitely new... It's probably just part of the track they didn't use in the Halo 2 menus.
 
Games: 21
Last Played: 5/17/2007 2:17:51 AM

Total Kills: 342
Total Deaths: 222
Kill/Death Ratio: 1.5405
Total Assists: 74


loving it
 
ok, **** it. I'm sending my 360 in.


I get constant DRE on gears and the ball bearings make an ungoldy noise.

So here's my question. Could I just borrow my buddies 360 and put my HDD on it and still be able to play the beta?
 
Mojovonio said:
ok, **** it. I'm sending my 360 in.


I get constant DRE on gears and the ball bearings make an ungoldy noise.

So here's my question. Could I just borrow my buddies 360 and put my HDD on it and still be able to play the beta?
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
Combat Stats
Games: 21
Last Played: 5/16/2007 8:59:51 PM

* Total Kills: 265
* Total Deaths: 204
* Kill/Death Ratio: 1.299
* Total Assists: 145

I had a k/d ratio pretty close to 2.0 and then we started going in and getting split up. One game, I had 18 assists and only 9 kills or something like Then there was one game I just couldn't even get a kill.
 
The netcode is fantastic... hope whatever is being done (whether it's dedicated servers or just great code) stays for the final product.

It's been a lot of fun playing online... and this is the first time I've actually played Halo online (never had Live on the original Xbox)... I do find myself struggling to remember if I'm red or blue, though (red arrow above a blue guy's head... OK... kill red... d'oh)

I think as far as gameplay goes, I prefer Gears (I don't care for all the jumpy-shooty, although I do appreciate that there clearly seems to be a higher level of strategy that will eventually open up to me)... but Halo's netcode makes it just as much fun to play, since there's much less frustration born of connection issues.
 
polyh3dron said:
That piano is definitely new... It's probably just part of the track they didn't use in the Halo 2 menus.
Click to expand...
The piano (which is excellent) is in the soundtrack version, so I don't know. Anyway, that song is terrific.
 
SickBoy said:
The netcode is fantastic... hope whatever is being done (whether it's dedicated servers or just great code) stays for the final product.

It's been a lot of fun playing online... and this is the first time I've actually played Halo online (never had Live on the original Xbox)... I do find myself struggling to remember if I'm red or blue, though (red arrow above a blue guy's head... OK... kill red... d'oh)

I think as far as gameplay goes, I prefer Gears (I don't care for all the jumpy-shooty, although I do appreciate that there clearly seems to be a higher level of strategy that will eventually open up to me)... but Halo's netcode makes it just as much fun to play, since there's much less frustration born of connection issues.
Click to expand...
The net code is excellent. Halo 2's netcode, for it's time and on Xbox LIVE, was really good. But, to be fair, we haven't played any 6v6 or 8v8 and there haven't been a lot of people online yet.
 
SickBoy said:
The netcode is fantastic... hope whatever is being done (whether it's dedicated servers or just great code) stays for the final product.

It's been a lot of fun playing online... and this is the first time I've actually played Halo online (never had Live on the original Xbox)... I do find myself struggling to remember if I'm red or blue, though (red arrow above a blue guy's head... OK... kill red... d'oh)

I think as far as gameplay goes, I prefer Gears (I don't care for all the jumpy-shooty, although I do appreciate that there clearly seems to be a higher level of strategy that will eventually open up to me)... but Halo's netcode makes it just as much fun to play, since there's much less frustration born of connection issues.
Click to expand...
I just look at my legs if I don't know wether I'm red or blue.
 
GT: Ben Kash

Quick impressions: Having a blast, experienced absolutely no lag so far, incredibly polished, like a summer fling you know is going to end I miss it already.

I love you too Bungie.
 
Max Million said:
GT: Ben Kash

Quick impressions: Having a blast, experienced absolutely no lag so far, incredibly polished, like a summer fling you know is going to end I miss it already.

I love you too Bungie.
Click to expand...
3 1/2 months. With some great games coming out, the time will fly. And then you always have Shadowrun :lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Rebs Gaming: Halo 2 & 3 Remakes Are In Development
40
788
Arachnid replied
Halo and Silent Hill 3 Decomps in the Works!
Trailer Platform 
3
353
Gitaroo replied
[Halo Waypoint] Halo Campaign Evolved: Most Common Questions Answered
2
58
510
Kuranghi replied
Nioh 3 | Review Thread
2 3
100
3K
MagiusNecros replied
Halo Campaign Evolved new screenshots
2
91
794
Danjin44 replied
Top Bottom