Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Detailed

In exactly two and a half weeks, May 3rd precisely, HALO: Reach Multiplayer Beta will be available for the patiently waiting Fans of the series, this episode as you might have heard already concludes the HALO chapters.

When HALO 3 was released back in 2007, it nets in for Microsoft US$300 million in its first week…that’s actually an achievement on it’s own but the game was immune to criticism from nearly every major Critic sites available at that time, then Bungie & Microsoft replied the critics with a blockbuster in HALO 3: ODST (originaly tagged HALO 3: Recon). ODST was well received by gamers and critics alike……. well i think personally of it as an add-on to HALO 3.

Just like ODST, HALO: Reach is more than just a story about Master Chief and his adventures. Well, lets leave the rest till we at Realtalkgaming gets our hands on a copy and we’ll definitely put up Real Talk review on it. The Multiplayer Beta of  Halo: Reach is near the corner, and we got some details on what to expect. First of all, you will need to have a copy of  HALO3: ODST to get invitation to the beta Multiplayer, provided you are Gold member everything else is free, except the days and nights Bungie is going to rob you off.

The Maps

It was announced earlier on that there are going to be 4 maps available for the beta multiplayer, that’s a lot considering the fact we paid 15 dollars for 5  err 3 new maps from Infinity Ward (Activision) for suffering from Mapathy. The 4 Maps are all human themed maps, which brings us to asking “is there going to be any covenant map?”,the maps are Swordbase and Powerhouse, these  2 maps feature “party” game types like Headhunter and Slayer during the Beta, and the other 2 are  Overlook and Boneyard, a map that Bungie keeps on a low for now.

OVERLOOK

BONEYARD

Matchmaking

The Matchmaking process has been modified by bungie for ease of use for the gamers, these details are directly from Bungie:

Active Roster
This subtle, yet powerful feature displays the activities your friends are engaged in at a glance and allows you to quickly join their game, invite them to your squad, or get into a queue if they’re in the middle of a match. You’ll never have to press the guide button again. Once you experience the ease in which Active Roster allows you to link up with your friends, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.

Queue-Joining
In Reach, you can automatically join together with your friend(s) as soon as they’re out of their game. Just highlight them in Active Roster and select “Queue Join” from the menu. Both parties will be notified that pending the completion of the current game, they’ll be paired together in a squad.

Connection Options & Social Settings
Prioritize what’s most important to you in your online experience! Define your preferred matching criteria and toggle settings that can add an additional layer of logic when it comes time to finding teammates to get paired with.

Voting
In Reach, players will have a greater degree of control over what game variants and maps they play within each playlist. Once players are matched into a group, the game will provide a default option and up to three alternatives. The game variant and map is chosen by the majority of votes.

File Sharing & Content Creation
Reach will build upon the content creation tools and features first introduced in Halo 3. In the Beta, players will be able to create Saved Films and Screenshots, upload them to Bungie.net, and add or query content using keyword “tags”– all without ever leaving the game. And where Halo 3 had a limit of 100 custom content items, in Reach you’ll be able to have THOUSANDS of custom content items!

To summarize everything the Devs expect you to see in the beta:

- Elites are now much taller,bigger and faster than the Spartans.

- Active Camouflag “Active Camo” : This can be used by both Elites and Spartans to give temporary invisibility.

- Jetpacks  & Sprint – Jetpacks and Sprint will definitely change the way players move through the environment.

- Available in the beta are also some new cool weapons,including  Grenade Launcher, Plasma Repeater, Focus Rifle are all new additions.

- Now we have Load outs, just like in  Battlefield Bad Company and Modern Warfare series, however they are not player defined, but playlist defined.