My Halo 3 impressions
Played last night for the first time after accidentally finding that I had the friends and family invite.
My impressions...
Surrounding textures and effects are AMAZING. The colors are so vibrant and crisp. The rocks and moss on Valhalla are just so real that you'd swear that they used a photograph. When you fall in the water in death screen your body floats with the current and your weapon drops slowly just as it would if you dropped it into a pond or stream. Lighting is gorgeous. The sound is so cool when there is fighting off in the distance. It's no longer a muffled version of the same sound effect, but more like a far off battle sound, there is no way to describe it you just have to hear it. It's also nice to see that you are truly interacting with the terrain and the structures in the enviroment. When you run on snow you make tracks. When things get shot it looks real and shrapnel flies.
Pregame lobby is still the gold standard. I like the option to party up with just one button. I also like the mute feature and being able to veto the game up for play. It seems that it's tough to hear people at times but at 3:30 in tne morning most people aren't screaming at the TV.
Medals I like the Killjoy and Death from the grave medals. Pretty kewl idea.
Weapons One Word... Balanced. And they are EVERYWHERE. There are no shortages of weapons on the maps.
The carbine No longer a useless weapon that you just run past. Deadly and more accurate than before. You can easily take an opponent out from a great distance. More like the H2 B.R. now.
B.R. - Accurate, but less powerful and the new sound effects are kick ass. It seems to take all that it has to get your enemy down. I just might not be that accurate with it yet because it definitely doesn't have the auto aim that you feel in H2.
Covenant Snipe Runs out of battery very quickly. I think I got around 8 shots out of it versus the 16 or so with the old one. Maybe I'm wrong, but it heats up quick and runs out fast. Not as desireable as before.
S.M.G. - never picked the turd up.
Spiker KICK ASS weapon at close to short range and melee's are DEADLY. I was dual wielding and mowing people down on Snowbound with this thing. I also love the independant reload, it's so cool.
A.R. Overrated. It's a great all purpose weapon to start with but it seems to be a little weak. It sounds really cool when shooting though.
Rockets - I couldn't get the rocket to lock onto vehicles. Kind of a bad idea, but could be adjusted from H2. I played one rocket match on Valhalla and it had infinite ammo. It seems to reload much faster which is nice. Splash damage is less than H2 also.
Human Snipe Harder to use. With little or no auto aim I found my 31 Snipe rank in H2 meant DICK. I could get a headshot or 2 but the quick snipe or sweep snipe technique was useless. It also seemed that the headshot box on the player was larger.
Shotty I hate this weapon. It still sucks.
Plasma Rifle the rounds are smaller and faster. I didn't use it much.
Plasma Pistol I played with it for a couple of minutes. Tracking is dumbed down and it won't fully lock on when your opponent's name appears over their head. I still hate it and you're still a noob for trying to use it.
Brute Shot Used it... got owned... never used it again.
Missle Pod Used it a little on Valhalla. It was powerful and people look cool carrying it, but you can't run for shit and you're pretty much screwed once someone spots you and they have a weapon with any range to it.
Turret The same feel as the missle pod. I think both of these will be novelty items.
Mongoose - Fun to drive.
Warthog - never got in it
Trip mine - a good idea but only had it once
Bubble Shield - used it against a persistant ghost driver. I kind of like it but need practice on technique and timing.
Shield killer - sweet idea, but I don't like it in the game. It's kind of cheesy how you can drop it in a group of players and then pot shot them all.
Grav Lift - Never used it.
I'll play more tonight and get the feel for the game even more. I have yet to play High Ground. I am really impressed. Bungie knocks another one out of the park.