Ohhhh boy. Less than 1 more full day until the Halo: Reach beta begins for all the proud (and not so proud) owners of Halo: ODST. I just watched an preview on gamespot.com where they had 4 guys playing the beta early and it looked like a lot of fun.

I’ve been a Halo fan since the beginning, and it’s one of my favorites, especially because of the multi-player aspects. Halo: Reach seems like it will not disappoint. The multi-player isn’t reinventing anything, just adding to what made the others great. Things to expect include new game types, weapons, maps, and maybe the most interesting and exciting thing: Armor Abilities. In Reach, you will be able to select different load-outs at the beginning of the game and when you die, that will give you new starting weapons or armor. Each of the different pieces of armor will give you a certain power. The powers that I’ve seen so far are sprinting, a jet pack (but watch out, there is fall damage this time), cloaking (which also adds a radar scrambler effect that makes the enemy radar go crazy with red dots), and a super shield (but again, watch out because while you are invulnerable for a short time, you also can’t move).

New game modes include Stockpile and Headhunter. Stockpile is like a neutral CTF on steroids. You will have 2 teams on a map with a number of flags set up around the map. The goal is to collect these flags, bring them to your base/hill area and keep them there as long as possible. Every minute (or when the game timer ends in :00), for every flag in your area you get a point. First to 10 wins. You gotta protect your flags though, because all it takes is for the other team to run in and throw the flag out of your area for you to not get that point. Definitely an interesting take on flag games, and with the armor abilities you can assume these games will get very intense. Headhunter is a new take on the oddball mode. Instead you will be collecting skulls from other people as you kill them, but when you die, you’ll lose yours as well. You’ll need to carry the skulls to a point on the map to secure a score. This, too could turn into ferociously intense battles, but I personally see it to be pretty frustrating (clean up kills will make it difficult to win).

All in all, I’m very excited to start playing on Monday (May 3rd). Check back here soon to see my impressions of the beta. It will end on May 19th, but I may be too eager to express my opinion on Reach’s multi-player, so keep your eye open for a First Impressions post. I’m looking forward to the strategies that arise from these changes, and I’ll try to fill you in on whatever I experience.

For anyone out there that plans on participating in the beta, look for me online, my gamertag is T00MuchRazMataz (those are zero’s).