14 DAY TRIAL // The Halo: Reach beta is coming in about one month and it will be quite a huge event, with all the players who have picked up last year's ODST having the chance to participate. Developer Bungie has put out a podcast offering the latest details related to the open beta stage and to the changes that long time fans can expect when it starts.
The big news is that with the Elite returning as a playable character in multiplayer, Bungie is looking to the beta stage to make sure that it balances the fresh player characters right. The initial idea is to give the Elite shields that can take more damage than normal in order to compensate for their bigger character model, which makes them a more prominent target on the battlefield.
Once the beta kicks off, the developers will pay close attention to see how the Spartans and the Elites fare in multiplayer in order to make more changes. Bungie says that the Arena mode in the beta will only include Spartans with the possibility still present that the full release of Reach will also have a separate all Elite Arena.
The podcast also reveals that fall damage is present in the new game but that it will be incomplete although accompanied by a limited stun period. Long time Halo fans also need to be prepared to move somewhat slower in Reach, mainly because of the new Sprint ability introduced in the game and the need to make it truly useful for players.
Grenades, one of the long time enemies of a fun multiplayer experience for shooters, will also be less present in Halo: Reach, players getting the chance to explode them on the ground with weapons, fire and with the radius of the frag variation slightly increased over older videogames in the series. The fresh sprinting mechanics is also set to influence the range of a throw.