The hype of the Halo: Reach beta completely blinded me. I was so excited to give it a try I quite nearly bought the disgrace that is Halo 3: ODST. Yeah, completely blinded. Instead of making that purchase, again, I received a copy from GameFly. I jumped in on the first day and played a number of rounds of the beta.

At first, I was really starstruck. I was so excited during the weeks leading up to the beta that the initial reaction was going to be positive, regardless of what the lasting impression would turn out to be. I had fun with the “class” selections and found myself picking specific classes depending on the type of game and role I was playing in that game. The different special abilities really felt unique. I found very specific benefits to each class and thought the variety they provide to be plentiful.

After I played a few matches, the hype effect really wore off and what was left was just more of the same. Sure, the graphics are slightly better, the classes offer something unique, and the added game modes are interesting, but the overall feeling I had was a moderate upgrade from Halo 3. I’m just not excited to play the next revision of the same world, the same physics, and practically the same game I played nearly 3 years ago.

If you want more of the Halo universe, Reach will likely deliver that experience. The multiplayer will, certainly. For me, I never finished Halo 3 because I simply lost interest half way through. I bought ODST hoping it would hook me into the Halo world, but it didn’t and I stopped half way through a pathetically short single-player campaign. I had the hype goggles on for the Reach beta and bought into it, in a major way, but really lost interest after the hype was gone. I’m just done with Halo, period.