A slew of new game modes have been added to Halo Reach, and while the beta has not yet been given access to all of the modes yet, the ones I have played seem like a welcome addition. These range from gathering multiple flags around the map and placing them in your circle to score points at intervals, or modes that only give players access to Elite characters.

Elites and Spartans play differently, with Elites being bigger but able to perform dodging rolls that can come in really handy for escaping of closing the distance to an enemy quickly.

Most of the modes I played still had you playing as Spartans, but with the addition of load-outs to choose from, the experience has been deepened significantly. The load-outs still feel the same in the beta, with the exception of a starting weapon and more importantly, a special ability.

The special abilities assigned to the load-outs include being able to sprint, use jetpacks, go invisible and even lock your character down in a temporary stasis shield that keeps him safe from harm.

These load-outs will affect the way that you play the game, and feel varied enough that you will never stick to one but rather constantly shift depending on what you want to achieve. The shield ability can work wonders if you want to keep yourself nice and healthy in a firefight, so that you friends can wear down the enemies just in time for you to come up and finish them off.

Needless to say, the jetpacks are a ton of fun, and help to get you to higher ground easily and avoid grenade damage, but also making you a much easier target for snipers.

If there is anything that I am really sad about, it’s that the two maps included in the beta do not include any vehicles. As a side note, the lag during international play was definitely acceptable on a 4MB unshaped line (anyone played with anything less? Let us know how it went down in the comments).

As I said earlier, games are all about the experience that they provide to the player. Halo Reach feels like a much tighter, solid and more enjoyable experience over the previous Halo titles. I’ve always enjoyed messing around in Halo, but with Reach I found myself smiling and enjoying the action a lot more than usual.

Conclusion

The beta has me intrigued, and has also already provided me with some good fun. If the beta is anything to go by, I would have to say that Bungie and Microsoft look like they have a really great game on the way.

Fans of the Halo series will be thrilled to know that the game still feels like Halo, while gamers such as myself may find themselves enjoying the new game a lot more.

This means that the Earth’s population of Halo fanboys may spike significantly. We are all doomed.