Halo 3 Beta: Buttons and Equipment

Possibly the biggest beta release for a console game happened on May 16, 2007. Bungie released their Halo 3 Beta for the world to play and enjoy. One major problem was that people who bought the game Crackdown, could not download the beta. The problem was resolved at the end of the day, and Bungie will allow the beta to go one extra day for the people who could not access the download. Aside from the release day news, this game is more of an update than a totally new game.

Halo 2 has revolutionized console first person shooter games. It has also taken matchmaking and weapons choice to a new level. The Halo 3 beta takes Halo 2 as the bar and builds upward from there. The first major change is the new button layout. The "x" button is now used to deploy equipment. Halo 3 beta has three pieces of equipment: the bubble shield, grav lift and trip mine. The bubble shield is a bubble that can protect a team of three and possibly four within the shield. Your character can move in and out of the bubble but so can your opponent. Weapon fire, grenades and vehicles cannot get through the shield.

However, the same rule applies from inside the shield as well. For example you can fire weapons out of the shield, or throw grenades through the shield. This is the most offensive and defensive piece of equipment in the game. Using it to lure people into the shield after you toss a grenade inside the shield is a fun trick. Or using it to protect you while your shield recharges. The trip mine is just what the name implies, it is a proximity mine that detonates by friend or foe. Although it glows in a orange yellow color, it is very strong against ground based vehicles.

The grav lift is a portable gravity lilt. It has very few uses except scaling tall walls and jumping high. The tactical use would be against a player or vehicle coming towards you. Drop the grav lift in front of them when they least expect it. And then watch as they fly high above you while you tag them.

The second major button change it the way to pick up, reload and board enemy vehicles. The RB and LB buttons, or Right Bumper and Left Bumper buttons do the three things mentioned previously. This a new feel for the first time playing the beta. Even though it feels different, eventually the buttons are better used than the "x" button in Halo 2. The biggest advantage is that now you can reload one hand while firing the other.

The control over reloading and firing has greatly increased. The worst part is the difficulty of boarding enemy vehicles. For some reason it has become much more difficult to board, and the command that tells you can board seems to be much shorter. In Halo 2 if someone was about to ram you with a ghost you could jump up and expect the boarding command to appear when the enemy dashes underneath you. Now it is more of a gamble if the action command will appear or not.