Equipment
Once of the main differences between Halo 2 and Halo 3 is the introduction of deployable equiment. So far the ones found in the Beta are the Bubble Shield, the Energy Drainer, the Portable Grav Lift, and the Trip Mine. There is also an Active Camo power up, but it comes into effect straight away, unlike the others that require you to press X to deploy them. You can carry one item of equipment at a time, and it’s icon appears in the top-left of your HUD beneath the grenade indicators.
These pieces of equipment add a new dynamic to the game, providing more tactical choices to players. For example, in High Ground there’s a Portable Grav Lift in the cave to the left of the gate outside the base. This can be deployed and used outside the wall to quickly jump up to the Spartan Laser tower, and from there an attacker can easily reach the control to open the gate. Similarly, the Trip Mine or Power Drainer can be used when on foot to give you a chance against a vehicle.
The Bubble Shield is cool, and produces a marvellous graphical effect, with each hexagonal cell distorting the view through it. While the Bubble Shield prevents projectiles or grenades coming in to it, it also prevents them going out – so don’t throw a grenade in there 🙂 However, vehicles and people can go straight through the shield, so you’re not invulnerable. It also runs out of energy after a while, and can be destroyed with sustained fire. I’m not sure how it would stand up to the Spartan Laser – or if it would even stop it at all.
Saved Films
After each game you can look at your stats, and the MVP from each game is shown – essentially who was the best player in the game. You also have the option to save a movie of your game. These movies can then be watched via the Theatre lobby. The “films” are actually just the data from the game, such as who went where, what weapon did they shoot, etc. The game engine is used to replay this data to show the “film” of the game. I’m not sure how many games you can save like this – I’ve saved 10 or so without any problems. You may only be limited by space on the HD.
In the Beta, you only get to watch the action from the same first-person point of view as when playing, and there are no playback controls – it just keeps playing until it reaches the end or you quit the film. However, the final game should have much more options, such as the ability to move the camera anywhere, pause, slow motion, etc. What you do get now is the ability to share movies with your friends. There is a “File Share” area on Bungie’s servers where you can share up to 6 movies (up to 25 MB in total size). These can be viewed by other Halo 3 players, and you can recommend them to players on your Friends list. This feature didn’t seem to be available when I tried it, but sounds great. You can now show off those mad grenade sticks or no-scopes across the map!