Bungie knows their maps. Despite what all you MLG fags say.

Yesterday morning Bungie unlocked the new gametype for Halo: Reach’s online BETA. Titled “Invasion”, it’s set on the “new” map, “Boneyard”. This mode completely trumps any “big team battle” that any game on the X Box can claim, despite not even being finished yet. Come see what all the hub-bub is about if you haven’t already tried it yourself.

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Objective is on the left and background, which needs to be defended on the Spartan team. I'm using cover fire while my buddy captures lololololol

There are 2 types of Invasion currently available: Regular and Slayer. Regular Invasion is a simple objective game that while isn’t the most original idea ever concocted, is definitely new to the Halo franchise.

As the Spartan team, you are split into 3 teams of 2 players; you’re assigned a partner that will spawn alongside you, and vise-versa, as long as they are out of combat; think co-op in the other Halo games and you get the image. You won’t be fighting someone and have another opponent spawn right in your face like you would with Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2, so you and your teammate will need to work in tandem to overcome your foes.

The opposing team, the Elites have the same spawning and team setup, but need to unlock the objectives one phase at a time before the time runs out. By simply standing in zones they trickle down the set timers until one of them reaches 0, which unlocks the next phase.

With each phase, comes new music added to the usual silence that Halo players are accustomed to; it adds a layer of excitement that I personally am not used to in a Halo game, outside any campaign. Also with each phase each team has new loadouts, with more firepower and vehicles to sweeten the already hectic gameplay.

Get to the Chopp... Ugh...

The final phase unlocks the core that the Elites need to carry to the extraction point, basically changing the final phase into a CTF round. The exception here being the core’s weight, making this more of an escort mission than usual; the core carrier is extremely slow and defenseless, and this phase usually turns ugly. Also, the Spartan team is awarded tanks at this point, turning this phase into an all-out brawl. It’s definitely Bungie’s most ambitious project, and it’s really a ton of fun.

My gripes:

1. This mode definitely one sided as of now; out of all the games I played thus far, the Elites have never won. The problem isn’t so much the layout, but the limited time that they are allowed to get the objective done.

1. It’s extremely bullshit that you don’t switch teams when the game is over, making it a coin-toss to where you end up. I’m sure this will be rectified, but as of now it’s already irritating.

Prepare to die, you Spartan cocksucker. Also, your gamertag sucks.

The 2nd mode is Slayer Invasion, which is pure chaos.

Instead of the whole objective BS that I mentioned above, the game simply gives you one of 2 loadouts to do battle against the other team. Too simple for you? No problem.

A “Hill” is randomly placed on the map, and the teams fight to capture it. While the score is still based purely on kills like any other slayer game, the capture of this point awards your side with weapons, vehicles and eventually loadouts. This really takes out any real strategy in terms of sniping or camping, other than to help your score out; if too many players are sitting back, the other team get’s the loadouts, which by the way increase the number of grenades each time, beyond the usual limit of 2. Needless to say, it’s about as insane as Halo has ever gotten.

So with this new gametype I officially am completely stoked for this game, it looks like Bungie wants their FPS throne back from those lazy CoD bastards. With the new menu, retooled game engine and brilliant ranking system it looks like they will get just that.

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