My thoughts: Awesome (with some reservations)

Why?

• Glad to see the BR back
• Looks like Spartans move well. The new sleek armor adds to that look.
• Maps look good. I especially like Warhouse with the Cyclops Mk II mech in the middle. Can you imagine if we get to use that huge ass Cyclops in the game? If so, I’m thinking it would be VS one of the Didact’s War Sphinx’s.
• Master Chief does indeed look SICK. Ididn’t think I’d like the sleek look of the armor, but it grew on me FAST.
• Lighting is simply AMAZING. Finally if you’re in darkness your armor isn’t still bright and shiny. It looks like it’s in shadow. AS IT SHOULD! Kudos to 343.

Good but concerns:

• Sprint IS in and it appears to be BUILT-IN. Everyone will have it. All other AA’s will now be equipment. I’m totally fine with that. Would have loved to have a perma jetpack, but I’m cool if it’s just equipment.
• Covies. Okay, you want to know what races of them? I know one for sure. I can’t say how I know as it would put someone’s job in jeopardy. It’s BRUTES. And they seem to be more primitive from what I’ve learned. Though this could be just their look after the great schism war.

A feeling of ARGH:

• Perks. There WILL be weapons perks. It seems the more you play the better upgrades you can get to your weapons. What are those? The following is speculation and should not be considered fact:

Upgrade to tech such as:
– Higher accuracy (Bigger reticule-this allows for a larger hit scan area than normal) It would make sense to because over time you would get bette with a weapon, though in reality you wouldn’t have a growing reticle to help you
– Bigger clip so you don’t have to reload as much
– Faster reload, obvious

There also appears to be Armor perks as well:
– Stronger. This could mean either a stronger shield and/or bigger health bar. Either way you can take more hits
– Faster movement. Either a natural faster normal movement or you can sprint faster and longer
– Jumping. You can jump a little higher. This could really be a help if you’re trying to get to places you’d otherwise have to walk/run around to get to. Gets you the advantage of positioning.

If all of those perks play out then it is NOT going to be a balanced game at all.

The one thing we can hope for is that the game will match people up of similar rank. The problem is though when you have a mixed party of ranks.

For instance, you guys just KNOW I’m going to play the hell out of the game and will likely get perks quick. I have friends who don’t play Halo as much but would want to game with me. They would have a severe disadvantage if every team is matched up against me since I might be the highest “rank.”

This video is only the beginning though, so we’ll have a lot more to learn as fact as time goes on.

The one thing that does kind of piss me off is that it’s been confirmed NO BETA. WTH? Really? I know they want to spend time on the game itself. However, the feedback 343i could get about the game through a BETA would be invaluable.

My thinking is that, since they are building/rebuilding this game from scratch, they just simply would not have the time to “fix” things we find broken in the game. I foresee perks being one of these things. I hope they have an “out” for this.

Sure it could bring in Call of Nooby fans…But it’s going to alienate many hard core Halo fans. While CoD did kick everyone’s ass in sales last year, turning Halo into CoD or some facsimile there of does an injustice to Halo and it’s long term fans.

Respectfully,
Sal