Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta Environments

The Halo 3 beta only includes three maps, but they all offer huge graphical upgrades over the maps in Halo 2. The Valhalla alpine-gorge-like map uses high-resolution granite textures, new plant life, new water effects, and excellent landscape design to create a breathtaking view. Bungie has also given caves and even building interiors a dramatic upgrade. Snowbound's icy tunnels have replaced harsh angles and bland wall textures with more believable curves and subtle surfaces. We got ourselves killed several times while examining the new water effects in Valhalla and High Ground. On the bright side, we've confirmed that your corpse will in fact float on top of the water for a few seconds before sinking to the floor.

The comparison screenshots have shown us that Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 has the graphics to be a worthy successor to Halo 2. We can't wait to see how the game looks when it ships on September 25, 2007.

What do you think of the Halo 3 multiplayer beta?

2047 Comments

  • Mobroz

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 9:45 am PT

    the demo sucked

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 10:41 am PT

    ah man i miss the beta. the spartan models looked a lot brighter there and the people who were playing it were just trying to have fun instead of being all serious about winning like it is now. ah well. btw there is no reflections in the visor for master chief. The first e3 trailer overshot what they thought they could do with the 360. It was a resource hog so they took it out

  • x505

    Posted Jun 1, 2008 12:23 pm PT

    ...some of the worst comparison shots yet.

  • gokazz

    Posted May 9, 2008 8:19 am PT

    i dont for the graphics,i care about the game play and on what i could played on

  • Viren84

    Posted Mar 10, 2008 9:07 am PT

    oh how nice.. now we know even better what were going to mis on the original xbox...



    (still silently hoping a downgraded version of the single player is comming to the origninal xbox)

  • Mextex

    Posted Dec 13, 2007 5:36 pm PT

    Great game but you don't have the pc version and will there be a pc version?

  • ck02623

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 5:33 am PT

    Ya know, i own this game, but I'm gonna have to say it's not all that much better-looking than two

  • hassam7

    Posted Nov 4, 2007 10:11 am PT

    I think its a load of crap! Just kidd'n its okay I guess never tried coz I don't own a 360!

  • ML21321

    Posted Oct 27, 2007 4:47 am PT

    HALO UNIVERSE RAWKS!!!

  • xXSK_HOVAXx

    Posted Sep 26, 2007 9:36 pm PT

    LMAO So much for everybody judging what the game was gonna look like from the Beta.. Awe yes if you havent seen the enviroments in this game.. Its like watching a movie especially on 1080 P.. Now Back to H3

  • champ7414

    Posted Sep 25, 2007 9:35 pm PT

    It's alright

  • Raptomex

    Posted Sep 19, 2007 12:34 pm PT

    sexy =P

  • bg_solidsnake

    Posted Sep 19, 2007 9:22 am PT

    nothing special....

  • hardyboyz_3

    Posted Sep 18, 2007 12:06 pm PT

    jeez im glad i pre odered it

  • starmaker

    Posted Sep 18, 2007 10:00 am PT

    Why is everyone freaking out. Bungie said that the beta was running off of the Halo 2 engine. Did you really think they were going to show us everything up front. They have to save something to suprise us with. EVERY ONE CALM DOWN ITS GONNA ROCK!!

  • Halo2_fan391

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 9:11 am PT

    the beta doesnt look that much better but th final halo 3 will be godly, I seen this video of the halo 3 banshee it looks really detailed

  • Absolutezerr

    Posted Sep 13, 2007 10:23 am PT

    The best-looking gun in the beta was the plasma rifle, the new glow made it look really cool.

  • Absolutezerr

    Posted Sep 13, 2007 10:21 am PT

    What a pointless article. This isn't the final game. Ans as much as I love Halo, the graphics probably won't top Gears. They need to really work on the features of the human characters.

  • monkeyidol

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 9:58 am PT

    i played it non stop...it did take me a couple of days to get back on my feet, its got a different more crisp feel to it, the controls. the lighting, the weapons, the game setups, its really good, if the beta is this good i cant imagine wat the game is like...

  • Genic

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 8:03 am PT

    i played the Beta as much as i could. i was in the midle of ma final project at college so i coulnt spend 24/7 on it but when i did play i loved it. i now that it was just the Beta and since then they have fixed alot off glitches and made it look amazing. man i cant waight for the full game to be realeased. You notice that everything is like 10 times better that halo 2 when your playing man i cant wait. .....Hail to the Chief.....

  • Thors_hammer

    Posted Sep 10, 2007 1:06 pm PT

    Yeah it looks the same as Halo 2. It might be easier to tell in game, but the models and textures have barely been improved by the looks of these screens. The ghost looks better, but everything else is too similar. I thought the first image was the 360 version for a sec and I didnt notice until I got to the ghost that I was backwards.

    I was hoping for a drastic improvement. This is dissapointing.

  • bjtr86

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 3:47 pm PT

    LOOKS AWESOME

  • Gappy102

    Posted Sep 5, 2007 6:09 pm PT

    Halo vets go ape sh*t if too much changes. It looks good. I want a mongoose.

  • HighLevelPlaya

    Posted Sep 5, 2007 4:38 am PT

    After spending 5-10 hours with the beta a few months back, i noticed something: I'm sorry... but it just looks like Halo 2 at a higher resolution. I'm sure that will offend Halo/X bots, but i felt it needed to be said.

  • HpHyEd

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 6:25 pm PT

    WTF thats it???

  • game_perfection

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 1:05 am PT

    Very nice upgrade

  • McRyan16

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 12:33 pm PT

    haha pretty sure the graohics are 10 out of 10 and the gameplay will be 10 out of 10

  • Greyfox-101

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:25 pm PT

    Last time around (halo2) they obviously concentrated more on graphics...this time it's gameplay over graphics which is a good thing

  • Luigipwns21

    Posted Aug 28, 2007 2:26 pm PT

    Its a look sleeker then halo 2 but is on a next gen console so thats the biggest reason why the graphics are better.

  • andrat99

    Posted Aug 27, 2007 8:44 am PT

    The Halo 3 beta looked great, i dont know what those idiot were complaing about (http://gruntsrus.com/news.php?readmore=585 for campagin footage) but now that its compared to halo 2, it looks even better

  • The_Tay-Man

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 2:32 pm PT

    Big improvement. After playing the beta I haven't played Halo 2 since. They just don't compare.
    The gameplay seems to have gotten really fast paced and hectic. Which is cool I think.
    And all y'all noobs who say rah rah HD halo...

    WTF do you expect? What is killzone 2? Its just killzone graphics with HD textures and more polygons!
    You people dont realise that thats what every "next gen" game is (in terms of visuals) Just cleaner textures, better resolution and more polygons!

    So sit yo a** down.

  • hotflame56

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 2:48 pm PT

    halo 3 visuals ok nothin great but gameplay will be really good gameplay 10 out 10

  • xXrebel666Xx

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 1:59 am PT

    can't even tell which one is "next gen" sometimes the first one looks better and other times the second one is better.

    Sure hope something big happens before they release this or its going to get a hiding from competition

    even though gamespot will still give it a 9 + regardless of how good it is.

  • JLytle92

    Posted Aug 16, 2007 9:18 am PT

    The beta was amazing and you really have to think how much better the finished halo 3 will be (hence the word 'beta'). And theres also so many new features like the elephant, hornet, brute chopper, flare, regenerator, flamethrower, fire bomb, mauler, gravity hammer, oh my god there is so much more!! i can't even wait!!

  • Darkmagicm12

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 9:50 pm PT

    These graphics are only on the beta months before the game is released the graphics will be much better by the time it comes out.

  • CrAzY213

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 1:58 pm PT

    I don't know maybe my monitor sucks but all I saw was that halo 3 was a little shinier. Is that what everyone else saw? Can't they make this game look like Gears or something close to it because this is not even close to gears...

  • BenTorn

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 9:28 am PT

    This graphics didn't improve by that much. Either halo 2 had outstanding graphics or the bungie team were too lazy to improve halo 3 graphics!

  • sepotyerp

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 2:28 pm PT

    This game doesnt have much better graphics, but the gameplay wil make up for everything.

  • jimbob01000

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 9:26 am PT

    strahilovcharov is clearly mad -"graphics sucked bad" A. im still at high school and i have better grammer than him and B. HALO IS THE BEST ****ING THING EVER!!!!!!!! except fable ... but thats just coz i love rpgs - no offence to all you FPS fans

  • Zuul13

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 1:15 pm PT

    The beta was a blast, and I know the actual retail game will be much better. I am dying in aticipation.

  • graydogg

    Posted Aug 9, 2007 1:31 pm PT

    the graphics r way better in halo 3 than in halo 2.

  • god13g

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 5:36 am PT

    i think thay should work on the first Warthog it lost some texture

  • Mp5slipknot

    Posted Aug 4, 2007 11:24 pm PT

    Well its certainly looking better than the early shots did.

  • strahilovcharov posted Aug 3, 2007 1:28 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    strahilovcharov

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 1:28 am PT (hide)

    halo3 will sell like mad ...cuz its "halo". i played the first 2 games and in fps terms they were poor because they attracted new fps fans(those who never got to play pc fps gems). gameplay is mediocre (except with smgs and swords) and graphics suck bad. overall both games didnt compare to nyhting on pc but they were a milestone of sorts on consoles...i guess it stuck with gamers till today..this could be a rlly **** game (nothing new :S) and it would still sell. great for x360 fans

  • zero1602

    Posted Jul 31, 2007 2:34 pm PT

    i played the halo3 beta byu winning the contest on xbox live very excited about it i found the graphical accets where much an improvement and the gameplay also gave it an extra fun by having the buble sheild witch was very fun to use i also found it a fun challenge to use the sniple rifle how it was hader to shoot with and how it gave that 1 extra seconde of delay before shotting the other person witch gave u more of a need to get a HEADSHOT! lol but in conclusion the halo3 beta was very good may be fixing a little of the game types like territories witch didnt really impresses me but overal cant wait to get the final vesion of the game!!

  • tyba1982

    Posted Jul 31, 2007 10:56 am PT

    Lets be honest here, Halo 3 doesn't have to be the best looking game when it comes out... it doesn't even have to bring anything new to the table in terms of game play. It simply has to be optimized for widescreen HDTVs and bring the Halo combat that so many have come to enjoy. I'm more of a PS kind of guy, I like RPGs and story driven action games, but Halo 3 is reason enough for me to get a 360. Halo 2 doesn't look so hot on my 40" Samsung LCD, LN-T4066f, and I'm eager to get the HD counterpart for some late night death matching!!!

  • halo2freak117

    Posted Jul 28, 2007 1:12 am PT

    i have a full HD plasma and i had the halo 3 beta and i thought the graphice were terrable compared to a lot of other games ive played but dont get me i love halo

  • Gefuhllos

    Posted Jul 21, 2007 8:59 pm PT

    I'll admit that there's been some improvement graphics-wise, and I've heard that they've fixed alot of the weapon balance issues from H2, but it honestly doesn't bring anything new to the table. Sure, a few new weapons, and a continuation of the story. But that's about it. If given the chance, I'd play it for sure, but I seriously doubt that it will get anybody to buy the 360 that doesn't already have one like people seem to expect.
    People who are trying to compare games like Halo 3, Resistance, GOW, and Killzone 2 are foolish for even trying. All these games are played differently and are designed to look and feel differently. Halo 2(3) is about flashy visuals and extremely fast-paced gameplay, GOW has a darker feel to it that encourages more teamwork and strategy. Resistance is more like a typical FPS with loads of cool weapons and has a WWII kind of feel to it. Killzone(2) has the most war-like feel to it and if Killzone 2 exploits the potential that was in the original it could easily equal, if not surpass the other FPS's quality, but it really depends on how the individual prefers to play.

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