Last night was a long one.  With energy drinks and the Halo: Reach Beta fueling my frenzy, I went long in to the night and awoke this morning to swollen eyes and a strong urge to remove them from my face.  But, having the opportunity to play in the biggest public beta ever is totally worth the pain, right?  I mean, this is something we’ll probably tell our grandchildren about (immediately before they laugh at us for the primitive games we used to play).  Ah, kids… I really don’t care for them.

My early impressions of the beta are pretty good.  That old, familiar gameplay is back and probably tighter than ever.  The new weapons seem fairly balanced and are mostly fun to use.  And playing with the new Armor Abilities has proven entertaining, too; although it’s pretty annoying when the guy you were about to kill drops to his knees and encases himself in glow-y-ness.  It just seems a bit cheap to me.  But I’ll still use it from time-to-time—especially when I see someone else do it—so that we can both be crouched there glowing and not shooting at each other.

My only major complaint during my marathon Reach session was the lack of gametypes and maps.  I seemed to always be doing the same thing over-and-over again.  So I did some research for about 10-seconds and found a statement from Bungie over at the official Halo: Reach Beta site that I will now share with you:

“… [We] will be releasing the maps and gametypes on different dates throughout the duration of the beta test, with only a subset of them being available immediately on May 3rd.

The good news is that once a map or gametype is released, it will remain available through the end of the beta even as other gametypes become available. Below is the schedule of release:

• Grab Bag – May 3
• FFA – May 3
• Arena – May 3
• Invasion – May 7
• Network Test 1/Generator Defense – May 14”

Yay!  So, be patient and enjoy the short time that you and the Reach Beta have together.  See you all later tonight—I’ll be the one stabbing you in the back.

By this time, most of you serious Halo fans have probably read the new issue of Game Informer with its 10-page Halo: Reach story.  Hell, some of you have probably even memorized it, framed it or had it transferred to your arm in tattoo form.  So, if you’re wearing Master Chief Underwear right now, you may want to move along, as there is nothing new here that I can tell you.  For the rest of you, I have written this summary of the Game Informer article to introduce you to some of the cool new things coming when Halo: Reach launches later this year.

Reach will have you starring as Noble 6, the newest member of Noble Team.  You are a Spartan III, a cheaper and more expendable member of the Spartan family.  You’re not quite the badass Mr. Chief is but you’ve got some friends to help you on your way.  Noble Team consists of 4 more Spartan III’s and one old Spartan II who acts as your heavy weapons specialist.

The Covenant you know-and-love-to-kill return but will reportedly be a bit more menacing this time around.  That means the signature cutesy remarks from the Grunts will probably be absent in favor of a more serious, darker tone.  Covenant Elites finally make their return as the alpha-dogs of the Covy forces; and early screens have them walking more upright than you’ve seen them previously.  A new species of Covenant has also been announced.  Cousins of the Jackal, Skirmishers, hunt in packs and flank your squad with tactical prowess.

Bungie has told G.I. that many of your favorite weapons will return but have been “re-imagined” to be more realistic in their look and sound.  You will also get to wield some new firepower like the DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) and the Needler Rifle, with the former being somewhat of a cross between a Battle Rifle and a Sniper Rifle.  Gone will be the Flame and Spike grenades, leaving you with only the original duo of Plasma and standard UNSC Frag.

Reach’s health system will be similar to that of Combat Evolved, where Health Packs are needed to restore your health.  There will too be some armor abilities that you can pick up and activate.  There is a Sprint Ability that lets you run at high speeds for short intervals, and Master Chiefs’ favorite, Active Camouflage, makes a comeback.  Speaking of Active Camouflage, context sensitive melee kills using a Combat Knife can occur if you’re sneaky enough and hold the melee button behind your foe.

Maybe the most exciting details revealed by G.I. are the ones about the new tech upgrade promised by Bungie.  In Reach there will be far more detail all across the board—guns, characters, water, rocks, vehicles, lighting,  effects and textures have all been given a new layer of polish that the Halo series has been needing for a while.  The new tech also allows for larger spaces for exploration and twice the number of enemy AI that can be on screen at once—allowing Bungie to increase the scope and size of the battles you’ll be fighting in.  Player and character animation is set to be much better this time, too.  Motion capture is being implemented by Bungie for the first time in franchise history and some animation duties are even being handled out-of-house for Reach.  Employing Image Metrics to handle some of the facial animation duties should ensure the days of fugly-faced NPC’s in the Halo games are finally gone.

Well, there you have it.  Everything known so far about Halo: Reach in summary.  Now you don’t need to spend money on this month’s issue of Game Informer.  You can now donate that money to Haiti or get a hooker or something...

Anyway, Reach should definitely be 2010’s biggest exclusive Xbox 360 game.  Bungie seems hell-bent on proving that they can continue to make great games even in the AC (After Chief) era.

I can’t wait for Reach’s beta to start (hopefully really soon) and the full release later this year.