You've heard the haters: "Halo never changes." Halo 2 was just Halo 1 moved online. And Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with slightly prettier graphics. And ODST is just Halo 3, minus Master Chief and plus a smoky saxophone solo.

While this complaint ignores some major, game-altering additions over the years – like Forge, Theater, Service Record and Firefight – you can't say it's entirely wrong. The basic Halo multiplayer formula hasn't evolved that much since 2001, for better or worse.

Until now. Halo: Reach is different… in many ways, drastically so. Here arethe 11 improvementsthat will shock and surprise you most when the online beta begins May 3.