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The Halo 3 online Beta starts May 16 at 1pm GMT and is free to play for anyone who has a copy of Crackdown sporting the Halo 3 Beta sticker. Start up the game and go into the downloadable content menu, where you’ll find the option to download the Halo 3 Beta. In preparation for the big event, we’ve thought of five things that you may not know about Bungie’s much anticipated FPS Beta.
1: Bungie.net stats
While many Halo 2 players know that you can track your performances online at Bungie.net, you can do almost the same in the Halo 3 Beta. By visiting Bungie’s official site you can check out the games you’ve played in, your stats for those games, the players you beat (or got owned by) and more. It’s not quite as complete as the stat tracking for Halo 2 (the game viewer tool isn’t available), but this is just the Beta.
One of the big new features in Halo 3 is the ability to save replays of any game you play in. In the beta this function isn’t as feature rich as it will be in the final release (you can simply view a saved match from your own fixed point of view), but you can still send saved replays to friends on Xbox Live. So, if you pull off some amazing headshots that your mates refuse to believe, send them the replay to settle the argument once and for all.
3: The Halo 2 party system returns
One of the big annoyances about the majority of online games is how awkward it is to jump from game to game while staying with a bunch of online mates. Halo 2 is the best example of a party system done right, allowing friends to group together in a lobby and then jump from game to game while staying in a group. Thankfully this returns for Halo 3 and is in the Beta. You don’t have to play with friends, but the option is there if you want to stay in a friendly group.
4: Two players on one console
Halo 2 allowed up to four players to huddle around a single TV and play online together. While the Halo 3 Beta doesn’t allow quite the same level of single-console fun (the final release may well be different), two players can play in split-screen and then venture online together. What’s more, if you’ve got a widescreen TV, the game will adjust the viewing window so that what you see is more in keeping with what the display is like when playing alone. It’s an online only beta, so sadly there’s no offline split-screen or system link play.
5: It won’t last forever
While it’s great that Microsoft and Bungie are letting people play Halo 3 months before it’s released in stores, don’t expect to be playing it right up until you bring a shiny Halo 3 disc back from your local game store. The highly anticipated Halo 3 multiplayer beta is set to begin on May 16 at 1pm GMT and will operate until June 11. That’s your lot. So if you want to get the most from the beta, don’t hang around – get that download started on May 16.
