Well I got a chance to play it yesterday and I've gotta say I'm not as dissapointed as I thought I'd be with it, but the little criticism of 'it's just halo 2.5' is completely true. From the graphics to the gameplay, if you haven't played Halo 2 in a while, if no one told you and that little 'HALO 3 BETA' thing wasn't there in the center of your screen, you probably couldn't tell the difference.
I mean, they've added some inventive things that I've heard nobody talk about so far, like the bubble shield, deployable gravity lifts, and the shield sapper... thing. They basically just got rid of the flashlight, moved reload to the right bumper, and set X to use auxilary stuff.
Out of them, the shield sapper was the most useless, because the thing would be absolutely amazing for defense, except that Bungie feels the need to make every place in every level accessable from every direction or at least a huge open space. If not for that fact, the thing would be pretty useful.
The bubble shield was actually quite fun to play with, as it basically just seperates what's inside from what's outside (only people can pass through, no grenades or bullets, which don't question how that'd actually work because it makes no sense), so you're basically just isolated, which makes it great for someone sitting in a hill with a shotgun or something.
The mine would've been a good idea, except A. it's way, way too easy to hear, since it beeps really loud, B. it's pretty easy to see (not really a bad thing, I'd leave this and drop A), and C. the only people that don't notice A and B happen to be your teamates, which it can kill instantly.
The gravity lift thing was only in one map so far as I know, but it was pretty cool, because when the map starts, you only have one way to get into a base, unless you set that up and just leap the wall, so it's adding a bit of strategy to the gameplay, which is usually pretty sorely lacking in Halo.
Other than the auxillary things, they changed up some gameplay modes (which is neither good or bad, they're all pretty meh), and added a gaggle of random weapons. Like the Assault rifle from Halo 1 (which is pretty odd considering they've still got the SMG from halo 2 as well), some turret type things that put you in third person and make you run slow (both of which are absolutely useless), and a big laser cannon that's an instant kill if you hit someone with it, but takes 3 seconds to charge and shoot, where in those 3 seconds, it feels the need to put a big red laser where you're aiming so the people you're aiming at can get out of the way (some people rock with this thing, I didn't).
Oh and they added a third grenade type in that I found enjoyable. The thing basically just sticks to anything you hit with it instead of bouncing, and looks like a potato masher with huge spikes coming out of it. It doesn't really do much damage if the person isn't on top of it, but it's pretty useful when you're in a close range firefight as it won't bounce away from where you toss it.
All in all, they've made some improvements, a couple innovations (I hope there's a lot more auxilary things), and added like 1 actually new weapon in. Oh they replaced the pistol with an SMG with an axe-blade on the front (they call it a pistol but the thing is kind of full-auto). The game is fun to play, not as fun as some others, but people will flock to it like sheep.
The only thing that was really dissapointing was of course, the graphics. There was no flair anywhere, nothing that makes you go, 'ooh that looked pretty cool', and the sound effects were pretty standard (other than a really, really amusing sound effect for when you stick someone with the spiky grenade, which produces a splat sound for some reason).
EDIT: wee long post is long
