My thoughts and impressions regarding the weapons of Halo Reach:
DMR - seems to be an early-war version of the BR; playstyle is similar but it doesnt hit quite as hard.
Pistol - classic. works much as in the original Halo game; this is the version of the UNSC pistol that we've been missing since the good ole' days.
Shotgun - classic use; still somewhat over-powered, especially as a response to the energy sword. Never pick up a sword if you can pick up shotgun instead..
Rocket Launcher - need i say more? still king of the weapons in halo, and nobody minds.
Grenadier? - UNSC's bruteshot. seems to have a reduced range from the real bruteshot, but higher damage output. fun to use, and cool looking. not so good against aircraft. Also, 1 shot = 1 reload? the Rocket laucher hits harder, has a bigger blast, and gets 2 shots.. and does it all faster. seems considerably underpowered, in all but the damage-inflicting sense; i liked this gun however and hope to see it tweaked.
new Beam rifle - still has a sniper scope, but is no longer a "sniping" weapon in the conventional sense. rather, it quickly burns away the enemy's health/shields, much as the forerunner beam weapon does in some of the recent halo games. interesting weapon, but i miss the true sniper rifle greatly, and never quite got the hang of using this.
the "Bubble" Gun - dunno what its actually called; it locks onto up to 3 targets and then launches sticky blue orbs which explode soon after landing. a cool new artillery piece that functions similarly to the spartan laser. i was horrible at using it, but many players i saw used it to great effect. overall, it was a cool idea.
Needle Rifle - wants to be the covenant carbine. personally i liked it better than its predecessor, each shot feels more powerful than the greenbeams fired by the old carbine.
New Plasma rifle - a returning classic, and may i just say i love the way this new gun handles! the overheating/vent effect is completely different from previous games, done in such a way that the weapon feels much more reliable and practical. it fires quickly and feels strong, yet not overpowered.. an excellent dueling weapon at midrange. Honestly, i cant say enough good things about the way this old gun has been lovingly revisited. Keep IT. lol
New plasma pistol - faster to use, and harder hitting, but has a few flaws.. the older versions seemed to home-in on targets much more efficently, which was the original niche of this gun as a seeking shieldbuster. also, the weapon seems to occasionally fail at firing, as though it thought you were trying to charge the beam at first and then cancelled the effect. a little buggy.. also noticed that when charging, the the powerlevel continually ticks down at a fairly rapid rate.. seems to be only good for about 5 shots, sometimes less. needs a bit more longevity, especially compared to the practical nature of its UNSC equivalent.
New Needler - ye olde Pink Death is back and better than ever! this is the alien, exotic killer we remember from halo 1. love it, keep it, please never dumb it down again lol. (as a side note, playing with this gun in the Reach beta made me appreciate combat pre- dual wielding. while i'm sure a number of players are QQing about not being able to dual wield, i kind of appreciate the way the smaller weapons handle alone. they always felt cheapened in the dual-wielding games; basically if you didnt have both you might as well not have one, you were essentially using half of a gun.. eliminating this also effectively eliminates the "triple-wielding" problem exploited by a few players in halo 2, where a dual wielder would walk along, swapping a weapon in hand for one on the ground WHILE FIRING.. basically using 3 smgs or whatever at once, etc. anyway long story short, thanks for cutting out dual wielding.)
Assault rifle - cool new look, and functions much as remembered, with decent damage output and accuracy at midrange. slight balance tweaking might improve it further, but overall its still effective.
Energy Sword - sadly underpowered in the new era of halo. many times i would get the drop on an enemy with this weapon, slash them, and they'd survive.. it even happened a few times when i attacked the target from behind. in halo 2 and 3, this was a weapon of terror in multiplayer; in the Reach beta, i was confidently beating down sword bearing enemies with my bare fists.. and winning. please, REFORGE this broken blade. Darth Vader would be most displeased.
Grenades - loved the bigger blast radius on both types, also thanks for getting rid of the not-so-effective ones, like the brute spike grenade. in real life, a grenade blows up a hill, or empties a bunker. in halo 3, grenades that go off 4 feet away dont even scratch your paint. the Reach beta has made them better.. generally. they seemed a bit slower in the throwing than in previous games, and also sticky grenades would sometimes glitch, passing through a target rather than attaching to him. (i dodged a few grenades in this way, unfortuately for my opponents, who should have earned the easy kill.)
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my thoughts and impressions regarding the Vehicles of Halo Reach:
overall - vehicles generally behave in their established ways; the warthog is still the warthog, the ghost is still the ghost, etc.; although all vehicles seemed to have better handling/physics than in previous installments, overall there didnt seem to be much innovation going on here. then again, maybe thats a good thing; as they say, "if it aint broke, dont fix it." speaking of broken-ness, however, i am lead to address one particular balancing issue that other players have also mentioned.. The Wraith tank, and the Scorpion Tank. These vehicles are not created equal. The scorpion hits harder (and fires more accurately), shoots faster, lives longer, and moves with greater speed. on certain maps, this imbalance definitely impacts the game and confers an advantage to the team with the UNSC tank (during Invasion Phase 3 on Boneyard, for example, in reference to the Spartan team.) I personally feel that if left unchanged, this will impact all maps/missions, especially in the Invasion gametype.
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My thoughts and impressions regarding the Loadouts of Halo Reach:
overall - each loadout had its own useful niche, generally i like them but there are a few that could be adjusted somewhat. The Operator loadout in Invasion seems tough to beat in enclosed spaces; the shotgun slays all at point blank in a doorway, and the guard ability removes the usefulness of grenades in clearing them from whatever niche they've chosen as an ambush point. they are particularly efficent at stonewalling the covenant team from getting the navigation core out of the base on boneyard. Also, the Ranger loadout (also in Invasion)seems handicapped for their role when given a plasma pistol as a secondary weapon. the jetpack allows them to own high ground, but the weapons they start with are hard-pressed to make good use of the otherwise fantastic "sniper's perches" their mobility allows them to reach. maybe a needle rifle would make a better primary weapon choice, with the plasma rifle for a secondary; this would allow a ranger to excel at the ranges he finds himself at most frequently, medium range and medium-long.
Ultimately, i enjoyed every aspect of the Halo Reach beta, and hope that my feedback will be perceived as nothing but constructive. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to have a hand in testing and subsequently improving the game we're all passionate about.