Bungie has opted to release some information on what gamers can expect to see in the Halo: Reach beta (launching May 3). Sandbox lead design Sage Merrill, sandbox designer Josh Hamrick, and community manager Brian Jarrard were interviewed by Game Informer and they spilled quite a bit of information about the beta, including weapons, armor abilities, and vehicles. First off, Reach will include a plethora of new weapons that are both brand new or old with a bit of a new touch. It will add a great flavor of tactical depth to the combat.

The Focus Rifle - A Covenant extra long-range sniper slot weapon that will deal massive damage on a standard hit. If locked onto a target for one-and-a-half seconds, the shot will kill an opponent. Hamrick calls it "the most frightening weapon in the game."

Plasma Launcher - The Covenant version of both the rocket launcher and Spartan laser. Designed as anti-vehicle, but acts well as an infantry weapon. It can charge up and fire up to four super-heated plasma rounds that will track both vehicles and combatants.

Grenade Launcher - With a look that would remind anyone of the M79 Grenade Launcher (aka the Thumper), this weapon is designed as the counterpart for the Covenant Plasma Pistol to give Spartans a shield-draining weapon. There is a manual and auto-firing mode. The Grenade Launcher will allows the user to fire a single grenade that will detonate on impact, or hold the trigger down to delay detonation to set a trap. Reminiscent of the Demoman's sticky grenades from Team Fortress 2.

Plasma Repeater - The Covenant answer to the Assault Rifle. Rather than overheat, users will have to manually vent heat (aka reload the gun). It will not fire as fast as the Plasma Rifle, but as the weapon overheats, the rate of fire will slow down and the weapon will become more accurate.

Designated Marksman Rifle - A replacement for the Battle Rifle, this is a single fire, highly accurate weapon for the Spartans. The weapon was designed to replace the Battle Rifle's, "one weapon to rule them all," problem from the previous Halo iterations.

Needle Rifle - The Covenant DMR, combining the Needler and the Covenant Carbine into one weapon that is both accurate, deadly, and embarrassing.

Returning Weapons:

• The Spartan Laser, which will receive no significant changes.
• The Shotgun will have a tighter grouping and fire within the crosshair range.
• The Plasma Pistol, which includes an EMP-like effect when an overcharged shot is fired that can effect multiple targets, including yourself.
• The Magnum, which Jarrard calls, "an old friend in Reach, the effective secondary weapon you’re happy to have in your back pocket."
• You can also expect to see Needlers, Sniper Rifles, Gravity Hammers, Energy Swords, Rocket Launchers, and Assault Rifles.

For those who hated the SMG (like I did), fear not, Sage Merrill had some choice words about its removal from Reach:

"The SMG is also gone. There are already superior weapons in that range and the SMG is just a s------- version of the assault rifle. And without dual wielding, the SMG has even less of a purpose."

Yes, Reach removes dual-wielding, which I thought took away from a lot of the tactical approaches to battles. Running head on into fights with two weapons to drain shields and sap health didn't seem like something experienced players would do, other than for a joke.

Weapons weren't the only thing Bungie opted to change for Reach, the design team also tinkered with the way the how damage to shield and health systems became more differentiated.

"One of the biggest changes is how the shield barrier and transition state is being handled. Previously you could get a headshot through shields — if your opponent had 10 points of shields and you did 15 points of damage, the remaining 5 points would bleed over to the head. That is no longer the case in Reach."

Shields must be destroyed before physical damage is effective, including melee hits and headshots, making for some much more intense firefights and not just a quick-draw contest between who gets the first shot off.

Vehicles have been a large part of multiplayer in Halo and with Reach, it will be no different. Expect to see Warthog, Scorpions, Wraiths, Ghosts, and Banshees return. The vehicle models have received an upgrade, but overall functionality of each vehicle has remained unchanged. There is also a new vehicle that has become a hit among the staff, but Bungie cannot reveal quite just yet. You can also expect to see large maps that are suited for vehicle usage.

One of the newest features for Reach multiplayer is load-outs. As detailed earlier, it is not a system where a player can customize his equipment and name a class, rather, they are already predesignated style-specific classes that will be dependent on a player's specific play style. "Airborne", for example, will include a jetpack, assault rifle, and magnum. Load-outs will also be varied on the maps being played. Custom games will allow players to choose any load-out they wish to choose. Merrill calls it a "dynamic class" system. Load-outs will not be level-unlocked or earned through challenges. All weapons and abilities are unlocked as soon as you play the game. The only things that are unlocked are cosmetic changes to your armor, via the Credits system.

Finally, your armor, be it for Spartans or the Elites, can be kitted with certain Armor Abilities that will replace item usage that you saw in Halo 3.

• Armor Lock - Bubble Shield in the armor, once activated, the player is invincible for either a single charge of three which would counteract being run over by a vehicle, hit by a melee attack, or stuck by a plasma grenade. Alternately, a player can expend the entire charge for a few seconds of invulnerability. Included is an EMP ability and a knockback effect, this is designed so the player using it isn't just a sitting duck in combat while using the Armor Lock. Although, I don't think it would do much against a patient sniper.
• Jetpack - Players can either burst the jets to receive a longer/higher jump or sustain the jets for a flight capability untli the juice runs out.
• Sprint - Temporary speed boost that will allows players to escape or close in on an opponent. I really wish everyone had access to this ability. A lot of first-person-shooter games have a sprinting feature that it seems counter-intuitive to have it be an armor ability only.
• Evade - Elite-only access, allowing the Elite to dive-roll out of harm's way, including shedding lock-on effects. I'm not opposed to a feature like this because in every Halo game, Elites do have that trademark dive-roll to avoid fire and it would seem like people were missing out if they weren't able to do it. Again, this brings me back to the idea of sprinting being an armor ability only. I would prefer if Spartans were able to sprint all the time and Elites were able to evade all the time, leave the slot open for something else. Again, this is only for the beta, so it could be fixed before the game goes gold.
• Active Camo - Energy based effect, the faster you move, the faster the energy drains, so it does encourage sneaking around for maximum effect. The more you move, the more visible you are, sort of like the Predator camouflage.

From all the information made available by Bungie regarding the beta, I'm sure this will be more than enough to get fans of Halo salivating and ready to get their hands on the game any way they can. I can definitely say a lot of the changes have rekindled my interest in the Halo series and I'll definitely be looking forward to any and all updates for Reach and am very much looking forward to the final product when it comes out.

Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta starts May 3, 2010 and you too can fly around and launch grenades at people's heads.

Source: Game Informer