343 Industries outlined what fans can expect when the Halo 5: Guardians beta goes live.
The beta will be active for an extended period of time, from December 29, 2014, to January 18. 2015. Perhaps this is to be expected, since Microsoft has made beta access a selling point forHalo: The Master Chief Collection.
343 has also reconfirmed that the beta will run at 720p, 60 FPS. They assure that the final product will be in full 1080p, but they are testing with this resolution for now.
The beta will start with some Arena maps, as well as a new mode called Breakout. Every player has a single life per round, with the last team with players standing as the winner. In the following weeks, fans will vote on which new maps and modes they want to try out next.
60 FPS is apparently a major design point for 343 Industries, who found that they had to build the combat systems from the ground up to better suit eSports. With that in mind, 343 excised the elements from Halo 4 that imbued players with a sense of randomness, and adjusted the game for consistency. This has led to some gameplay elements matching those of other shooters.
For example, each player gets to use a thruster from the start. While it’s not as overpowering as a Titanfall jetpack, it does give Halo players a short, versatile dash, that can be used to rush forward, evade, or ascend a short height. It can even be used to activate some combat moves, such as the Spartan Charge, or the Ground Pound.
Sprinting has been added to the game, and there are no penalties to accuracy, but you do lose a shield while doing so. Similarly, the smart scope is easy to activate and has no accuracy penalties. Furthermore, you can turn the smart scope on mid jump to hover to aim. Choosing to activate the smart scope could have you coming out on top, but could also kill you. Really, it depends on how smart you play.
Halo 5: Guardians is planned for release in late 2015, exclusively to Xbox One.
