Ahh, the beta everyone has been waiting for: Halo Reach! I got my hands on it because I bought ODST, and now you're getting your hands on a review!

First of, the maps. There are 2 maps in the beta, and another 2 are coming soon, Overlook and Boneyard., together with gamemodes not yet in the beta, invasion and generator defense. These maps are Sword base, with 2 buildings on each side, connected by bridges in between, both buildings are several stories high and feature some elevators. Second is Powerhouse, it's based on a hill where one team spawns on top and inside, the other team at the bottom in the outside. It features many interior as wel as exterior areas, with great opportunities to use the jetpack, a feature I'll cover later in this review. Both maps are stunningly pleasing to the eye, have great graphics, and the weapon placement is great, so both teams have equal chances on obtaining some of the power weapons.

Speaking of weapons, let's cover that bit of the beta.
 

At every round start you get a standard AR with a 32 bullet clip and a magnum, the same pistol as in halo 1. You can now zoom in with the pistol and it's been beefed up since halo 3. 5 Bodyshots and 1 headshot will kill an opponent. Rockets are still pretty much the same as in halo 3, same goes for the shotgun. The gravity hammer has been upgraded in power a bit. Several weapons have received an upgrade, the covenant carbine now looks different and works in the same way as a needler, except it's semi-automatic and great for headshots like the pistol. The needler is pretty much the same, except the lock-on system is tweaked, you'll see a tiny circle hovering at your crosshair if your needles will track the enemy. Halo 3's battle rifle is now called a DMR and has a 12 round clip instead of 36, but it only fires one bullet at a time, instead of 3. This one bullet does the same amount of dmg as in halo 3. And last but not least, the Focus Rifle. It's like the sentinel beam of halo 3, but it's more powerful and you can zoom in with it. If the enemy has no corners to run behind, they're pretty much dead, if your aim isn't too sloppy ;)

Now, onto the gamemodes. Headhunter is a FFA slayer, where it is the goal to collect skulls and drop them in a marked territory, or automatically win by holding 10 at a time. But beware, once you die, you'll drop all the skulls you have collected, free for anyone to pick up!
Stockpile: there are four neutral flags in the level, which you and your team have to bring as many of to the home base. Every 60 seconds, all the flags in your base will be counted for your score, and return to their positions to be picked up again. First to 10 wins, or the team with the most points after 10 minutes wins.
There are more gamemodes to cover, but I'll leave it up to you to take a look at them at bungie's own site, linked at the bottom of this page.

And last but not least, weapon loadouts! Quick note, every armor ability can only be used a certain amount of time before it has to recharge. Don't worry, recharging goes pretty fast, depending on the armour ability.
First is scout, which has the sprint ability, which makes you run faster, but you're unable to shoot whilst sprinting. Great for getting to power weapons quickly.
Second we have airborne, what you get is a jetpack! Great for overviewing the map, or on sword base, getting to a different story of the building quickly.
Third we have guard, and what you get is armor lock. Your guy punches the ground and creates an inpenetrable shield around him, that lasts around 5 seconds max, or gets released early. If he leaves it on, it'll emit an EMP of some sort, which will drain the opponents shield if they are too close by.
And last but not least, stalker. You'll be able to activate active camo, which is near to invisibility, but it has a drawback. It'll scramble everyones radar around you, including you and your teammates! A lot of red dots will appear on the radar so you won't have a clue where the enemy is, except if you see them.

That's it for today, hope you like it and enjoyed it!

More info here: Link

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