Cuban Legend said:
ODST sold 30 million copies?!
No, he's talking about the 30 million PS3 owners who never know when the damned PSN monkey is going to hit the switch to put out the weekly Store updates.
Neverender said:
I can't believe some of you think grenades are ok right now
Other than reducing the count you start with and/or grenade respawn time on the levels, I think they're awesome. They're grenades. They're supposed to kill. They take out campers. They take out tightly packed groups of people, they are the ultimate teabag prevention policy as well. The fact that I'm not seeing them on the ground amongst people I just killed means they're being used because they're not useless like they were in Halo 3.
Overall I'm enjoying the game. I personally like most of the changes Bungie has made. I only played the Shadowrun beta a couple dozen times a few years ago, but even from that brief bit of playing, I can see that Bungie definitely pulled in some aspects of that game into Reach. While it's making for a very different feeling than the previous Halo games, I think it fits and is laying the groundwork for the franchise to continue to evolve rather than stagnate after Bungie is finished with Halo.
As someone who is guaranteed to be a low-end Steel player at best, here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
-- Pistol: I seriously just started to get the hang of this thing today. I still suck compared to everyone else, but I've finally begun to crossmap with it and even stopped a sword wielder mid-lunge today.
--DMR: I hated the BR. Why? Because no one would use anything else in Halo2 and most of Halo 3. It's nice to have a weapon that works great at mid~long range, but not short-range the way the BR did. Like the pistol, I'm just now getting the hang of the thing and getting the timing down, but I'm not getting a ton of kills with it by any means.
--Grenades: Finally! I understand the worries about grenade spam and such, but that can be corrected by reducing the count in the game. I got tired of seeing people essentially teabag a frag grenade in the last two games and survive. Now, you better get the hell out of the way when you hear one.
--Sound: Halo 3 made great strides in improving the oomph of the weapons and the sounds of battle in general. Reach is light years ahead. The ringing in your ears from grenade blasts, the sounds on all the weapons, ambient level sounds, all of it = awesome.
--Graphics: I hope things still get tweaked between now and this fall, but overall I'm very happy with the graphics. Much better than Halo 3, IMO. Could they be better? Yup. But given that this game supports 4-player split screen, saved films, gorgeous sky boxes and Forge, I don't expect it to look like Gears or Uncharted 2. That said, I do expect campaign to look better.
--Armor Abilities: I personally love the change. Specifically Sprint. Armor lock I'm just now getting the hang of, and I think it will shine more in gametypes containing vehicles. I like that Cloaking screws with the radar and sound as well. Jetpacks seem awesome at times, and annoying at others. Spawning out in the open of Powerhouse while someone with a power weapon is perched high overhead and blast you within 2 seconds of spawn sucks.
Evade is super awesome. My biggest problem with AA is that I forget to use it when things get heated.
Cons:
--Reticule bloom: Shows up great on the films I watched online, not so hot on the 42" LCD I'm playing on. As others have said, something a little less transparent, please.
--Juggernaut: Da hell? Probably my best game so far of the beta was Juggernaut, but that's why this gametype needs to be tweaked. I know it's supposed to take more than 1 or 2 people to take the juggernaut down, but jeez! With the hammer lunge as high as it is and as high as the juggernaut's shields are, taking them down is nigh impossible without the coordinated effort of 4+ people. Add in the fact the announcer can't keep up and the gametype is just comical. In a sad way.
--Nerfle/Needle Rifle: Am I the only person having a huge amount of trouble getting kills with this thing versus the DMR/Pistol? I know I suck, but jeez. I use this when I have to, but otherwise, I stick with the Pistol or Needler.
--Needler: I prefer the Halo 3 needler, by far. The homing seems to have been turned way down, and it requires a full clip to kill someone IF every needle hits. I will say that it's awesome for dealing with "clay pigeons".
--Focus Rifle: WTF Bungie?! This is an awesome weapon. Awesomely overpowered. I can't argue with it's effects, but the ammo clips needs to be cut in half. Here's a weapon that can cut you down long range, mid range, and even short range, and has more than enough ammo to go through you and your 3 teammates TWICE. In rapid succession no less.
--Plasma Laucher: Love it, but as others have said, it's extremely overpowered in a bipeds only match. Biggest thing I can suggest here is to cut the ammo by half.
--Grenades popping too early in airshafts on Swordbase: When someone is camping with a sword or shotgun at the top of an elevator/airshaft, wouldn't it be nice to pass a grenade up to them as an FU? Seems like every one of my grenades has popped before it exits.
...
I'm not sure how I feel about the double-melee change. Most of the time, I seem to lose the battle of tapping melee twice. Which makes me wonder: do you melee faster in Sprint mode?
I also agree with others that the movement speed for Spartans needs to be increased a bit, and possible increase the jump height. I realize we're supposed to be SIII's and that Bungie wants Elites to be the stronger, faster species, but I think a little boost, even 10% to jump height and default speed to Spartans would make a big diference.
I'm anxiously awaiting the push out of NT1 and Invasion. I'm ready for Spartans vs Elites.
[fake edit] Geez, I took so long typing this thing no one will read that the beta is finally up for ODSTers.[/fake edit]