IGN has new info regarding the multi-player aspect of Halo 3.
Three new maps
Epitaph
The first of the fresh maps unveiled to our eager eyes and twitching trigger fingers was the gothic and foreboding Forerunner-inspired 'Epitaph'. Dark and cathedral-like with towering panes of sky-blue glass stretching a hundred feet into the air, Epitaph is an intimidating map to play on.
The map is definitely suited to close-quarters combat
Last Resort - Zanzibar Reborn
Halo 2's fan-favorite, Zanzibar, lives on in the drastically improved and expanded Last Resort.
the 360 version
Also newly added to the map are a number of suspended walkways. These extend from the expanded hangar area (containing the vehicle-blocker controls) and wrap around to the outside. The walkways are lined with guardrails; these are conveniently broken up in places, allowing for a clean line of sight for a well-timed blast with a rocket or peppering from an assault rifle.
the final map Shrine
The final map unveiled to us was perhaps the most interesting departure in design ethic for the series so far. Shrine is an open, expansive desert with a large, segmented cement shrine winding through the level like a spinal column.
This is by far the largest multiplayer map yet introduced - reportedly roughly the length of Valhalla, but four times as wide. It's huge.
A new vehicle called the Brute chopper
Being a Brute-based bundle of high-technology, the Chopper is all about muscle. The front wheel is huge, with steel treads and a lot of chutzpah. The rear of the Chopper hovers with a similar glitter-effect seen on Ghosts - hence the misnomer. However, the oversized, steel treaded front-drive wheel makes it very stable and quick. Even tearing along and making a tight turn on a slope barely fazes it - it's tricky to roll this sucker.
The Brute Chopper is also packing some vicious firepower. Armed with twin front-mounted cannons, its offensive weaponry is based around the Brute Spiker rapid-fire handguns. As we know, Spikers are devastating at close range and since the Chopper's enormous wheel is perfect for ramming It also has in impressive boost function, adding to its already impressive abilities.
The Jammer
This tool is designed for players who like to freak out the opposing team via the clever use of electronic countermeasures
Deployable with the X button, the Jammer interferes with motion-tracking and causes your nemesis' screen, as well as your own, to flash. It also causes everybody's motion trackers to suddenly indicate points of activity all over the place. It's instant mayhem and causes lingering disorientation.
Mjolnir Spartan Armour Permutations
Details are still sketchy, but we understand that at some point during the single player campaign, you'll unlock special armor and helmets that you can apply to your multiplayer character. These include two new variants - C.Q.B. (Close Quarters Battle) and E.V.A. (Extra-Vehicular Activity).
Design-wise, only two new pieces of new Mjolnir Spartan armor were on display. These included a nifty alternate helmet with larger curved front glass stretching into the forehead of the helmet, like the armored variants on the cover of the Halo: Ghosts of Onyx novel. We also saw some pauldrons (effectively shoulder armor, for all you non-RPG players) and chest plates, but we'd speculate that there will be a tidy range of different items to collect and apply.
Saved Films and Content Sharing
Also landing in the name of 'community', Bungie is offering players the ability to store a few cool things on its servers. As the beta has demonstrated (in a very limited capacity), players can save and replay matches. It's important to note that these aren't videos, which are prerecorded, static and very large in size. Instead, Halo 3 tracks data during the match and the game is able to recreate every player movement, whizzing bullet, roaring explosion, and accidental pratfalls on the fly. This keeps the file size very small which in turn reduces the burden on your bandwidth and Bungie's servers.
These can then be exchanged with other players and, by all indications internally, there are plans to make sure the coolest videos are viewable by the masses. Players can activate the Saved Film option via the Post-game Lobby, where all you need to do is hit a button and the match is saved to your private Halo 3 File Sharing area. This area acts as a hub for watching replays, sending films to friends and editing the clip down to size - handy if you want to highlight a particular moment. You can also watch the clip as a Group, giving you the opportunity to call out that punk who keeps camping in the hills and taking potshots for most of the match.
But the opportunity for creativity and interaction doesn't stop there; no sir. The file storing and sharing process extends to screenshots you can capture during your stored replay. You can fiddle with the camera angles, zoom and player perspective to compose your awesome, freaky or hilarious moment. The plan is also to allow players to access these screens via the Bungie website for whatever innocuous or devious purposes you might devise.
You can also, thankfully, save more practical things like your favorite game settings, map variants and modes too - no more having to tweak all the settings every time you want to play your favorite map and mode at a friend's place. If you're keen to see another player's saved content, favorite modes or map settings, all you need to do is highlight their GamerTag and click through.
After our hands-on with the new courses, in addition to a then-early play through the public beta, our conclusion is that the Halo series has fire in the belly and a team behind it that won't be satisfied with a game that is anything less than the best shooter on the system - on any system, even. The public beta is a good indicator of where it's headed, but what we saw is even better.
Sounds like the multi-player of Halo 3 is shaping up really nicely. If you think that this long I did edit out most of their opinions and tried to get the info.
Log in to comment