Two major updates to the way we play Halo have been introduced in Halo 3; A.I. and multiplayer mechanics.
A common Halo 2 gripe of many gamers (and developers) is the under-developed A.I. of the Brutes, rivals to the Elites. For “rivals,” these Wampa-looking creatures are actually quite dull and uninteresting as enemies. They have limited animations and repetitive attack patterns that didn’t seem like worthy opposition to the likes of Master Chief and the Arbiter. To rectify this design flaw, and update the A.I. and group structure of the Covenant, Halo 3 designers, animators, programmers, and artists have re-imagined the Brute class of Covenant warriors into a dynamic and complex adversary and thrown in some nifty updates to enemy A.I. We want to make [the Brutes] very brutal and pragmatic warriors, says Technical Lead Christ Butcher in a recent interview. To achieve this goal, old animations were tossed out and unique animations were crafted using animation reference routines performed by the animators themselves. The end result is pre-release game footage that carries a lot more weight than Halo games of days gone by. When a Brute hits a Marine, it actually looks like the Marine took a beating. And when the Brute hits Master Chief, it’s bound to be ten times the challenge that a Brute horde added up to in Halo 2.
The general enemy A.I. has been updated to go with the Brute re-vamp; the developers put serious thought in how the Covenant reacts to Brutes and how Brutes react to their fellow Covenant. Behaviors are coordinated and checked against other NPCs so that no two enemies will repeat the same gesture at the same time without obvious purpose. Flocking and mobbing mentalities have also been programmed, which lends credence to the rumor that NPC birds will appear in Halo3 for grousing. At time of press, no such rumors have been confirmed.
But enough talk about birds and Brutes. What counts here is the update to the way we play multiplayer. Thanks to these changes and innovations, Halo 3 may well open up a whole new audience for the game online, as most of the mechanics were added or changed to shelter noob gamers from lousy conduct on Xbox Live. For example, Halo 3 brings us the handy instant-mute button. True, it’s not Microsoft’s job to police every single potty mouth and punk, but with Halo 3’s pre-mapped mute button, players can immediately silence trash-talkers in-game instead of having to back out to the dashboard to find and block the offending gamertag (alas, no anti-corpse-humping button has been announced). From the Beta, we’ve seen the new scoring, ranking, and matching mechanics, courtesy of a customized version of Xbox 360’s TrueSkill system. Thanks to the matching mechanic, a level 1-ranked player won’t be trapped with all level 15s in Rocket Tag, and a level 11 player doesn’t have to settle for level 5 teammates in capture the flag. Call signs have also been put into play, making it easier to identify enemies and allies (and not have to utter aloud ridiculous gamer tags on team chat) during team matches and there are now three areas of armor color to designate instead of just two.
The U.I. has also been redesigned to make it easier to create custom multiplayer games. Hosts can advertise their game on Xbox Live Public and players can veto maps before beginning matches. And with the “saved film” feature added, gamers can go back and view some of the finest multiplayer moments saved on the hard drive (these will be game data files as opposed to video files, so they should be relatively small). Saved film also promises to have zoom, slow motion playback, and multi-perspective viewing available, though we haven’t seen all of this in the Beta. While not entirely revolutionary, it’s worth mentioning the graphics updates to Halo 3. Everything has a higher display resolution, immediately apparent in the first person view. Textures sizes have been increased, a higher polygon count has rounded out jagged edges (particularly noticeable when equipping the Needler), and the HUD is distorted to look like it appears inside of a helmet, rather than flattened out as it has been in Halo and Halo 2. New weapons and vehicles seen in the Beta are well-designed and colorful with detailed shading, and the three maps we’ve seen so far (Snowbound, Valhalla and Highground) in the Beta look pretty decent as well.
Having mentioned the positive changes in Halo graphics we have to say that visually the game is disappointing. We are assured by Bungie that the visual polish missing from the beta will make all the difference but it is evident that Halo 3 will not challenge Gears of War in terms of visual quality, although we have to add that pushing for visuals could have adverse effects when gameplay depends on the smooth overall operation of the game. Judging by the vast number of complaints by beta players about how the game looks, we have to think that Halo 3 may have been the victim of its own hype. For all intents and purposes the beta is a visually impressive title that relies, heavily, on gameplay for its appeal. This, we are promised, will improve by the time the final version of the game is released but we expected a true epic, a monstrous effort that would conclude the Halo saga in style; well Halo 3 is not about that. Halo 3 does not plot to steal the graphics crown from Gears of War, its intention is more subtle and possibly more visionary; introduce subtle changes in gameplay that will enhance player/environment interaction and lead to increased immersion in the game-world.
So how does Bungie plan to achieve such lofty goals and how well has it implemented such changes in the Halo 3 Beta? Read on to find out…
Halo 3: Graphics Evolved