An Evening With Halo 3 Multiplayer

When a game has 4 million preorders before the press even sees a running beta, the gaming press is downgraded to spectator status. Last Friday night's Halo 3 preview event in San Francisco was a veritable who's-who of gaming journalists - even the louder-than-life Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, Greg Vederman dropped by to see his console cousins' prodigy at play.

We weren't disappointed. Microsoft simply let us loose on the three new multiplayer maps and we entered the online Rumble Pit, where some very seasoned veterans lay in wait for the impotent press to drop into their online abattoir.

It's not difficult to sense how differently Microsoft is treating the media concerning Halo 3. Simply put, it was obvious that they didn't really care. Despite the fact that Halo is Microsoft's baby - its system seller - there was to be no hand-holding; no controlled play sessions that Microsoft's spin masters at Edelman PR are famous for. The train has already left the building, and the Halo juggernaut shall be deemed a commercial success before a critical gaze ever falls upon it.

Last year, developer Bungie unveiled an amazing Halo 3 trailer at E3 that set an impossibly high hurdle - but one that seemed justified after they claimed the excruciatingly high-definition preview was created ‘in-engine.' Simply put, the game clearly doesn't live up to that expectation, but furthermore, the third installment of Halo isn't as much of a revelation in gameplay as I'd hoped for either. Graphically, I was disappointed in the strangely short draw distances, and jagged foliage everywhere I looked. But this was, in fact, a beta: it might seem unrealistic to expect graphical splendor on par with games like Oblivion or Gears of War. However, the third Halo isn't positioned to launch a franchise like Gears did - it simply needs to iterate it.

What isn't iterated is the general gist of Halo multiplayer - that is, the small, squad-based team tactics still rule supreme. Bungie hasn't fiddled much with that hugely successful formula. The maximum amount of players is capped at 16, and although the maps are clearly larger, they are set up with more chokepoints than ever. The level designs could be the true savior of this sequel - offering up an epic bloodbath nearly every game - and the built-in game video recorder is the icing on this viscera-laced cake. No doubt fans have pored over the YouTube videos of testers in action already using this feature, but soon you should be happily editing your "pwning noobs in the face w/da shotty" masterpiece. Two thumbs up, indeed.

Since there is no space bar on my game controller, I'd conveniently forgotten how much I'd simply missed jumping - and with that, the third dimension altogether. So far, this year's console-based shooters seem to relish tediously slinging us from cover-to-cover in veritable two-dimensional environments. Enter High Ground, our first look at Halo 3's mastery of the urban, vertical environment. High Ground is filled to the brim with strategic power-weapons, including the devastating Spartan Laser. This new weapon is perched atop the highest point in the map and overlooks each approach with grim fury. To make matters worse, teams that get bogged down by someone lording over them with the laser will likely need to use an orchestrated counterattack to dislodge them - the narrow staircase makes the approach doubly treacherous.

Valhalla, on the other hand, is the natural high-definition extension of the Beaver Creek map: a long boulevard with a base on either end, and a nook-and-cranny strewn boulder field in-between. While much bigger than our favorite ‘box canyon in the middle of nowhere,' each base is equipped with a ‘launcher' that will slingshot you right to the middle of the map. This creates an always-contested strategic hotspot that belies the tranquil setting. Valhalla seems to possess the lion's share of the graphical spit-and-polish as well: one look at the astonishingly beautiful river meandering across this opulent paradise may immediately spoil your standard-definition memories of Halo forever.

The third multiplayer map on offer was Snowbound, a level that features a large, open field of play where snipers will surely reign - spotting enemies contrasted against the white background of snow is all too easy. Luckily, there are a series of claustrophobic tunnels that intertwine under the snowfields that immediately bring the fight to close-quarters. Snowbound's tunnel entrances are covered by force fields which allow players to pass through, but neither gunfire nor grenades can penetrate them. This gameplay wrinkle will enable you to cut and run if you are hurt in a battle - hopefully just long enough for your shields to recharge.

In addition to the force field doors, you'll also find powerups like a deployable Bubble Shield, a shield-canceling Power Drain, and a Grav Lift that will send you (or, hilariously, enemy vehicles) rocketing through the air. Arguably, features like these are still small gameplay tweaks to the multiplayer ruckus -- and curiously all we've seen so far. Already, there has been a reaction that Bungie is going the way of Madden, and looking to create a franchise where they can bank on sales year after year with small updates. This sounds fairly preposterous merely because of the alternative: think of the s***storm Microsoft would have on their hands if Bungie actually changed anything significant. Trouble is, with a quarter of a billion dollars in the bank already, I don't think that Microsoft really cares either way.

May 15, 2007 - 11:51 am | 23 comments
Josh LaTendresse