Halo 3 developers’ journal fresh from Bungie headquarters
Bungie promised weekly updates about Halo 3 stages of development and they lived up to the expectations as we get tiny tidbits and pieces at regular intervals. While it’s rarely breaking news, today we learn about the graphically enhanced Warthog, more accurate and user friendly AI and a brand new control scheme to address current Xbox 360 joypad layout.
Right about now, anyone familiar with the old Halo controls would experience shivers down the spine. The original configuration was a handful to properly learn, yet in the end, proved to be successful. After all, quite a good number of other games specifically tried to emulate the Halo setup. For what it’s worth, the bumpers will receive appropriate actions instead of turning on the flashlight and teamspeak and Bungie assured players that the classic control scheme will be one of the predefined options.
“In previous Halo games, the gunners were smart and would pick off targets in a logical fashion, but this time around, and it could be my imagination, the gunners are more precise and easier to influence. You can target individual bad guys by steering the Hog and even ‘convince’ your gunner to pick a more relevant target and have him stop trying to blast a lone grunt hiding behind a rock when a bigger menace approaches” shared Frankie. “Basically it addresses some of the complaints 360 owners had about the button mapping – especially the black and white buttons no longer found on the 360 – and makes for a more logical use of the left and right bumpers” wrote Frankie. ”The new scheme is super solid.”
While driving through Halo 3, horn beeping will instantly draw attention from the whole room as every marine in the vicinity will come running. To this end, your gunner is far better at aiming than ever before, and he can be more readily persuaded to shoot relevant targets instead of bugged foes that are partially out of sight. Halo fans will most certainly appreciate this move, since the Hog just became a mean killing machine, feeling more like a weapon than a get-away car. It will be easier than ever before to swipe clean whole levels, instead of just sneaking out with wheels shrieking. Should the gunner be too good, players can expect a nerf soon enough, to make the game more balanced.
Source: softpedia.com