I've been spending a lot of time playing around in the Halo Reach multiplayer suite, and suffice it to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience.
The highly customizable Forge World is mind-blowing, and I'm so impressed with the map creations that people have engineered, namely some extremely accurate remakes of my favorite Halo 2 maps (such as Turf, Terminal, Lockout, and more). Custom games are fun again because of the variety offered by these maps created in Forge.
Believe it or not, I found Halo 3 multiplayer to be so dull and uninspired. The majority of multiplayer maps in Halo 3 were a disappointment; I thought that they had some of the worst designs in any multiplayer game, period. Not only has Halo Reach revived some of the best Halo 2 maps (Sanctuary, Ivory Tower, Ascension), but it also offers plenty of new and exciting maps, the majority of which blow Halo 3's maps out of the water. I loved one map in 3 -- The Pit. After that, I would say that I mildly enjoyed Guardian and High Ground. Everything else either frustrated or bored me. The developers seemed to recognize that people love more symmetrical maps, as demonstrated by their inclusion of maps such as Zealot,The Cage (which I actually disdain), Sword Base, and even Powerhouse (love, love, love this map). Overall, the maps in Halo Reach are excellent.
Perhaps the biggest improvement from Halo 3 to Halo Reach is the exclusion of power-ups -- no more regens, bubble shields, gravity lifts, or any of the other nonsensical items that inhibited the pace of the game. I will explain what I mean by "pace of the game." Imagine you are in an intense BR duel when all of a sudden your opponent throws down a regen. His health meter fills up; you take cover. You wait for his regen to disappear. You begin battling again. You get assassinated by your opponent's crouching teammate. Typical Halo 3 moment. If the regen did not exist, your BR duel would have ended, and you could move on with your life instead of being forced to crouch behind a wall while waiting for your opponent's regen to disappear. These types of moments do not occur (as frequently) in Reach because of the elimination of these noobish power-ups.
Of course, you might say "What about the new load outs, aren't they simply power-ups that you start the match with?" I would tell you that, yes, they are kind of like power-ups, and yes, I don't really like them because I don't find them necessary. There are a number of these load outs that slow the game down, namely the camo and armor lock options. To me, these skills were included in the game to appease those who are not as skilled with the DMR. People who are skilled with the DMR will find themselves having to contend with players who rely on crouching and camo or crouching and armor lock in a large number of games. However, the difference in Halo Reach is that you can combat these noobs with your own noobish techniques. Because you both have the option of selecting the same load out, the playing ground is level right from the start (the same cannot be said of Halo 3, where you have to pickup your noob tools). Besides, it is pretty fun to toss a perfectly timed grenade at the feet of a one-hit noob who is sitting in armor lock. It is incredibly gratifying to see the fruit of your labor when said noob takes flight across the map because of your grenade placement and timing. And, don't even get me started on the joy it brings me to shoot a jetpacker out of the sky.
All in all, Halo Reach is an awesome multiplayer package that's going to be keep me occupied for a long, long time. I don't see how Black Ops is going to outdo this game for me...I believe that I'm going to be locked on Reach for the duration (which could not be said about both Halo 2 and Halo 3). Bungie did an unbelievable job with this one -- improved graphics, improved gunplay, less bullshit ripoff WTF moments, and an expansive map creator/editor. Thank you for the gift that is Halo Reach, Bungie. I'm sorry for doubting you.
