For those of you who bought Crackdown or participated in the H3 promotion to receive a beta code (or just know a gal, who knows a guy, who works at a place), you’re probably, like me, in a rare state of ecstasy at the moment.  Halo 3 Beta is a prelude to what may be a perfect blend of the old and the new.

Instead of pouring out lengthy, wordy paragraphs about each aspect of the game, I decided to go with bullets for this blog.  Bullets, Halo 3; it makes sense.

Part 1 - Caly Likey:

• I can save a recording of the game I just played where I got a killaminjaro with the Needler and Nades!  http://www.bungie.net/content.aspx?link=h3betaSavedFilms —link to Bungie’s explanation of the “Save Film” feature.  This is an amazing and revolutionary feature.
  
• In matchmaking, you have an overall rank as well as a rank for each play list – brilliant!
  
• When you die you can control the camera for the couple seconds before respawning.  This is cool because if you die in water you can move the camera so you’re looking up at your dead floating body with water noise flooding your ears. Very cool.
  
• No more “noob combo!” You can still hold a charged Plasma Pistol with a Battle Rifle as your secondary weapon, but now you have to actually aim at an opponent with the Plasma Pistol charge, and it has way less homing capabilities than in H2. It’s also said to have a very powerful effect on vehicles, but I haven’t tried that yet.
  
• The Rocket Launcher no longer locks onto vehicles, but have no fear!  There’s a Missile Turret now, and it does lock onto vehicles.
  
• There are handy little four-wheelers, Mongooses (Mongeese? A flock of Mongeese?) to get you from point A to point B in a hurry.  And you can even drive them into a launch pad (aka “Man-cannon”) for an extra boost. 
  
• “Killjoy” – A medal received for ending a person’s killing spree.  Yay! The more medals, the higher my self-esteem.
  
• When you throw a grenade, it makes a “whoosh!” like a karate chop from 70’s ninja movies.  Or Kill Bill.
  
• The Carbine seems to kill faster than before.  I actually prefer it over the Battle Rifle.
  
• Zaaaaaap!  The Spartan Laser is a cool new addition to the multiplayer weapons.  It reminds me of the Hammer of Dawn in Gears of War.  Although it produces a very strong blast, the Spartan Laser is not too overpowering because it takes a great deal of patience and good aim to get a kill with it.  (A little-known secret: it charges up faster if you are zoomed in!)
  
• The Assault Rifle is amazing.  More powerful than the SMG, but in no way a power weapon, this is the perfect default starting weapon.
  
• In matchmaking, after the map and gametype are chosen by the Halo gods, the players have a chance to veto the choice.  If the majority of the players in the room veto it, the Halo gods then choose a new map and game type.  Hopefully they get it right the next time!
  
• If that last-ditch grenade kills the guy you were battling it out with, you get a medal for killing him from the grave.  Yay again for new medals!  There are probably more new medals, but I haven’t earned them yet (or they’re not in the Beta), so I can’t tell you what they are.
  
• Master Chief tucks his legs up under his body when he jumps.  It’s very adorable.  Errr, umm, I mean, macho and tough.  Grrr, yeah…
  
• This list of likings is getting really long, but I’m going to just keep going.
  
• Brute Grenades stick into the ground, walls or Spartans (another way to earn a Sticky Medal!  Sweet!).  You have spikes in your dead body after being stuck by one.  Ouchie.
  
• X button powers: Press the X button to use special items you have picked up, like the Bubble Shield, Portable Grav Lift and Power Drainer… A whole new layer of strategy for the game!
  
• A player’s secondary weapon is visible on their back – I love it!
  
• New weapon: Spiker!  Dual-wield them for a quick, closeup kill.
  
• Left bumper reloads left weapon, right bumper reloads right weapon.  This is great for freeing up my money makers, er, I mean my thumbs.  Likewise, holding the right bumper will pick up a weapon.  Now if I only knew my left from my right…
  
• You can detach turrets and carry them to a new location!  Yoink!
  
• In Halo Combat Evolved the Needlers were a joke.  In Halo 2, you were embarrassed to be killed by one (the Pink Death). I think Bungie finally nailed the Needlers… in H3 they’re worth picking up.  They are arguably power weapons now – beautifully handy.  But only one at a time; they are no longer dual-wieldable.
  
• When you spawn, a pretty little grid slides over your HUD.  I think it’s worth mentioning because it’s a stylish touch to the game.
  
• In the pregame lobby, you can you can see how many people are online in Halo 3 and how many are in the playlist you’re playing.  We love information like this and Bungie knows it.
  
• New and improved gametypes.

Part 2 - Caly Less-than-Likey:

• I don’t like the sound made when you hit the directional pad to talk to your team mates.  Pchhhh Lurrbellooop, or is it Pshhh Floobeep?  That sound gets annoying.
  
• It seems as though the grenades don’t have as big of a blast radius as before, but it may just seem that way to me because I play a lot of Rainbow Six and the grenade explosions are friggin’ A-bombs.
  
• There are 3 kinds of grenades: Frag Grenades, Plasma Grenades and Brute Grenades.  I like all three types, but you can only carry 2 of each at one time. So you can carry a total of 6 grenades, compared to the 8 grenades you could carry at one time in H2.
  
• Where’s my sword!?  I at least need some sort of little knife to stab people with.  Chippy-chippy-chip-chop!
  
• The physics and timing of the beat downs need some work… they kind of freak me out at times.  I feel like I just died when I hit a guy.

In conclusion, Halo 3 Beta + snacky chips = awesome good time.  Conversely, No Halo 3 Beta + lack of snacky chips = time / (hunger + boredom) ^ N where N = the number of people on your friends list that you see playing the Halo 3 Beta.  For people calculating the latter equation, September 25th is the day when Halo 3 hits the streets and you will get to join in the fun.  As for the campaign, we all have to wait until then to Finish the Fight.