As promised, here’s another of my review write-ups for the Halo 3 Beta – this one on Gametypes.
*Slayer* in H3 was…. slayer, albeit much more enjoyable. With more balanced weapons and a chaingun on the ‘Hog that just kicks butt, this gametype was, quite simply, a blast. It will kill or be killed and watch the totals ring up on the scoreboard. First team to 50 was declared the winner of the match. The new things you had to watch out for, though, were spike grenades, the Spartan Laser, trip mines, power drains, and bubble shields. Those new toys added an interesting dynamic to gameplay to took a while to get used to.
I barely got to play any *Capture the Flag* in the Beta. I can probably count the number of CTF matches I was involved in on one hand. But what I did get to play was fun and enjoyable. As far as I could tell, most of the gametype elements were the same on this one, with the exception that I don’t think the flag bounces anymore when you throw it, so you couldn’t count on that little bit of extra distance. And the flag clinks when you pick it up from its pedestal, which was a very nice effect to add in there.
*Territories* got a nice upgrade to its format. Instead of two teams competing for territory captures, you have one team on an Assault-style offensive mode and one team on defense. Five territories, two-minute rounds, capture as many as possible. Initially, I think everyone agreed that the time to capture a territory was simply too long – at least until we figured out that the more team members in the territory, the faster the capture. And suddenly, we warmed right up to it. I like this format for this gametype much better than the H2 version.
I’m afraid that I don’t believe I played a single *Assault* match during the Beta period. Apparently, Bungie weighted the playlists away from Assault because a friend who got in on the Friends & Family phase only play two matches. Anyone who _did_ get to play Assault, though, is more than welcome to weigh in with an opinion on it in the comments.
*VIP* was a new juggernaut-style gametype. Two even teams, each one has a VIP equipped with an overshield (and who possibly deals extra damage). Kill the opposing team’s VIP as many times as possible while protecting your own for the win. I admit I didn’t like this gametypes quite as much, but then again I didn’t really play it enough to really get the hang of it. And it seemed like I always ended up playing it on Snowbound, which made it that much tougher to master. It wasn’t too bad, overall, but I can’t wait to get into the custom gametype settings and see what can be tweaked to make it a little more fun.
What are your thoughts on the gametypes in the Halo 3 Beta?
