Halo 3 Hands-On Preview

May 12, 2007

When I had the chance to sit down and chat with Microsoft game Studios' Shane Kim during the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta kickoff party, we kept coming back to a key point. Halo 3 is without a doubt the most important weapon in Microsoft's arsenal, and key to the Xbox 360 winning this generation. How exactly is Halo 3 going to render the competition speechless and secure this all-important victory? In one word, it's multiplayer.

How Halo Plans to Win

That's right, the key is multiplayer. It's not graphics, even though this is a better looking game than the two that came before -- Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 employs texture and lighting effects that lend the game and especially its environments a cleaner, more vibrant look than was possible on the first-generation Xbox. On the other hand, it's easy to say that the game looks like a very polished version of Halo 2, with a cohesive style that is instantly recognizable, yet not inspiring awe in an audience that has cut its teeth this year on the superlative visuals in Epic's Gears of War. Saying Halo 3 looks like the earlier games in the series isn't an insult, though, and far from it -- those games completely blew you away at that point in time. But Halo 3 isn't the obvious breakthrough in visual technology that Gears was.

It's not audio either, even though this has been one of the series' great strengths -- the sounds of gunfire pouring in through a surround sound speaker setup could almost allow a player to navigate across a war-torn battlefield by hearing alone. The oh-so satisfying sound of a rifle-butt as it smashes into an opposing Spartan's visor is also hard not to savor.

It's not the story -- the storyline in Halo 2 left many feeling unsatisfied, not due to a lack of quality, but instead because there was a sense that things felt unfinished. It's hard to feel satisfied without closure, and that payoff will finally be here in Halo 3.

It all comes back to multiplayer.

While it's still too early to think about evaluating Halo 3 as a finished product (a risk that publishers take when allowing critics to become involved in the beta testing process) one must wonder if the approach that Microsoft Game Studios is taking with presenting Halo 3 is the best possible strategy. When one is told that the driving force behind Halo 3 is the multiplayer, and not the graphics, the sound, or the story, one must try pretty hard not to read between the lines. By saying this, regardless of how good those elements of the game may be, you're setting those aspects of the game up for scrutiny. The back and forth chatter from many of the press at the Multiplayer Beta unveiling was bringing up the aforementioned state of the game's visuals, graphics being the first thing you assess in a video game, and how they weren't leaps and bounds over the last two games. Yet once their hands set down the wine glass and wrapped around a controller, the critics seemed to really be enjoying the Halo 3 experience.

So how better to see what the driving force behind Halo 3's prophesied insurmountable success than to engage in some of the heated multiplayer action first-hand? Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie are banking on this becoming the best choice for competitive console gamers this generation, so there has to be something to it, right?

Finish the Fight

Starting things off, I noticed that two of the most significant changes being made to the Halo franchise in this third chapter are behind-the-scenes revamps of the nuts and bolts of the game, specifically being the controller configuration as well as the player matchmaking service. Dual wielding weapons is still available to all brave Spartans once again, but now players can interact with devices like bubble shields and trip mines. You'll still be able to lob a grenade with ease at any time during a firefight, and the new spiked grenade which you can stick onto walls (and other players) will bring a whole new level of strategy to the game.

So what strategies should you be picking up when the Multiplayer Beta test goes live? I found that the players that dominated each map tended to be those who were savvy about keeping the map layout and weapon locations working in their favor. The best players always raced to pick up a key weapon on each map, and each of the three maps seemed to have one. When you have your opponent's outgunned, Spartan Laser versus pretty much anything, you're going to start racking up the kills. There's no point trying to chip away at an opponent's energy shields with small-arms fire if you can get your hands on some of the game's most formidable hardware. Be sure to make use of the newest devices as well. The bubble shield's impenetrable honeycomb force field is a difference maker, let alone being one of the cooler visual effects introduced.

Different strategies will apply to different maps, of course. On Snowbound, you're going to be a sitting duck in the open, your shiny Spartan armor making you an easily recognizable target and with few places to find cover. Controlling the base structures and using the high vantage point is key, as is ensuring that the enemy doesn't make better use of the power drainer to deplete your personal shields.

High Ground was one of the more frustrating maps for me to play, only because the match that I joined included an opposing player who was a deadly marksman with the Spartan Laser, a great weapon to go after if you want to dominate the map. Checking out the new all terrain buggy, the Mongoose, was also interesting. While I was an easy target for the skilled enemies I was up against, it was still fun to ride shotgun and shoot from behind the driver as he tried to ride around the map without getting us blown to bits.

Valhalla is a truly picturesque battlefield, so if you can peel your eyes off the HUD and the opposition, it's worth taking in the sights. One of the stranger new additions to Halo is featured here, being a pair of opposed cannons that are used to launch Spartans high into the air. Taking the fight to the skies seems to be a recurring theme in Halo 3.

Taking advantage of high ground helps a lot, but a far more fundamental change to how Halo 3 as a whole works is the huge change that the new jumping mechanics bring to the game. Bunny-hopping is part of the game now, and love it or hate it, you're going to have to make this a part of your strategy if you want to do well. While playing I was reminded of my days playing Quake III Rocket Arena, launching myself into the air in order to rain death down from above. You can get serious air with each leap, and the stronger beta players have already nailed this down to a science.

Lessons have been learned by Bungie from the success of other shooters and how the competition has implemented stat tracking and leaderboards. While the team took Halo 2 in this direction with excellent results, Halo 3 will once again strive to provide the benchmark for skill-based online competition and competitive gaming on consoles. Competitive play and tournament play are most definitely in store for Halo 3, as evidenced by the player's ability to capture a replay of every match, which can then be shared via Xbox Live for those all-important bragging rights. Inclusion of this simple-to-use tool is a product of the Bungie team clearly thinking ahead to the longevity of Halo 3, as long after everyone has completed the single player campaign and learned the ins and outs of each map, people will still be capturing their greatest battlefield accomplishments on virtual film. It shouldn't take long at all for a thriving community of Halo 3 video directors to make their debut on YouTube.

Spartans! What is your profession?

Making the game more accessible to more casual gamers is also part of the strategy. Part of this goal is achieved by putting systems in place to temper the abusive nature of the Xbox Live community. Now, whenever a player can't seem to stop spewing ethnic slurs or profanities, you can easily bring up the player list and simply slap them down with a mute button, making things far more enjoyable for all those involved. However long it takes before this becomes a standard feature in all Xbox Live games will be far too long.

Part of the problem with taking a game like Halo 3 and predicting its effect on the more casual gaming market is that the game's approach to multiplayer plays to its strengths, which may not necessarily have room for many outside the hardcore gamer segment. Halo as a franchise succeeds because it rewards skill, and satisfies players who grow better at the game with practice. Providing support for clans and friends-only matches like Halo 2 is a good start, but it's really taken to the next level here. You'll have a persistent character for starters, bringing a bit of the massively multiplayer online flavor to the Halo universe. If the matchmaking system can follow through on its purported ability to match players of equal skill levels together, it's not impossible that even those who have never picked up a shooter can enjoy the online multiplayer aspect of Halo 3.

When you think about all the effort that has been put into making Halo 3 such a multiplayer focused package, the competitive gamer in you won't be able to help but want to jump into the beta and practice, honing your skills to a razor sharp edge in anticipation of what may well be the biggest thing in competitive online gaming since Counter-Strike. So when Shane Kim tells me that the driving force behind Halo 3's assured success is, in one word, multiplayer, I can't help but smile. But of course it is. How could it be anything else?