Six years ago a development studio named Bungie introduced you to the reason why Microsoft’s Xbox was the system to get in 2001: Halo. While not raising the bar for the industry in terms of production values, Halo Combat Evolved introduced us to the most effective and entertaining programing methodologies to date: creating 30 seconds of fun and replicating it across the board. Halo 2, which launched on November 9th 2004, threw us further into the lore of the Halo universe, setting a first-day entertainment launch record that took three years to break and bringing the multiplayer experience to Xbox Live.
Now, in the final week of September 2007, Bungie has unleashed Halo 3 to the world, concluding the Halo trilogy and setting a new entertainment launch record. But with millions jumping into the fray, is Halo 3 as good as the hype shouts? From the perspective of the hardcore Halo fan, read on to find out whether you should finish the fight…
Before we begin, there are some minor spoilers littered throughout the review which only reflect some locations later in the game. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the ending where Master Chief and Cortana totally make out.
When it comes to an entertaining singleplayer experience Bungie definately knows how to make one. Halo 3 drops the Master Chief off back on Earth right after the events of Halo 2. From there the Chief is taken on a whirlwind tour of east Africa and beyond, exploring the area around Mount Kilimanjaro, a devestated city, and even to another Forerunner instillation. Throughout a good part of the game you are accompanied by the Arbiter who will fight alongside you against the hordes of Brutes that stand in your way. The new weapons, vehicles, and locales really show off how nicely designed the game is. Even the AI has improved, as packs of Brutes will use tactics to flush you out of hiding and The campaign is about the average length of the other two games in the series, encompassing about 7-9 hours of gameplay for veterans and about a dozen hours for newbies. The final sequence is probably one of the most exciting and fun I’ve played in years so I definately recommend making it through all the way toward the end.
The multiplayer is where the heart of the Halo community lies though, as the Halo 2 community logged almost a trillion hours (literally) worth of play online on Xbox Live. Consisting of 12 maps ranging from compact close-quarters fights to maps so big that the only way to get around is via vehicles, Halo 3 does a good job at bringing variety to the table. The usual assortment of team slayer, objective-based, and free-for-all modes are available, each with tweaks and fixes that overall enhance the experience. New modes are added as well, such as Infection, a formerly popular honor-rules game (Zombies) that was made into an official varient for Halo 3. The multiplayer component is extremely advanced in terms of customization, far beyond almost any console shooter to date. Players can customize the rules for each and every varient as they see fit.
And speaking of customization, this new addition to the Halo series’ is truely exciting: Forge. Forge allows you to completely edit the placement of almost everything on the maps except for the geometry of the terrain. With just a press of the d-pad players can become a monitor, which allows them to fly throughout the environment and begin editing any way they see fit. Everything from the location of weapons, to the scoring zones, to even the placement of spawn points is fair game and completely at your disposal so long as you keep the item arrangement within the budget the map allows for. Players can even play an entire match in Forge, which can lead to antics that haven’t been seen since the arrival of Garry’s Mod for Half-Life 2.
The other exciting addition comes in the form of co-op. Previously, Bungie has been forced to confine the Halo campaign to splitscreen on the same console or over a LAN. No longer, as Bungie, through hard work, has finally been able to adapt it for Xbox Live, allowing for four players to engage in the entire singleplayer campaign in the same lobby. This ability makes difficulty levels like Legendary not too hard a task to undertake. Players can also turn on campaign scoring, which lets players compete for high scores against one another for kills.
Overall, both the singleplayer and multiplayer are very satisfying.
- Rating: 5 out of 5
The production values of the Halo series have always been a big topic for debate and Halo 3 is no exception to this. Of all the things fans argue about, the graphics are the most debated. I’m here to tell you right now that the graphics are, pixel-to-pixel better on every single front in comparison to Halo 2. The first environment alone, a jungle in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, is probably better than all of the visuals of Halo 2 combined. Everything from the textures, the weapon designs, the AI characters, and even the visual effects have been greatly improved upon when compared to its predecessor. You probably won’t find water as good looking and functioning as this on a console except for Bioshock of course. The on-screen character count has been improved as well, leading to in excess of several dozen characters or vehicles on screen. The only thing that is arguable are the character models on a few of the main characters look very similar to their Halo 2 counterparts. In those cases what was drastically improved were the internal facial structure of each character, allowing the characters to emote in a much more realistic manner. While Halo 3 isn’t the best looking game on the market it definately is a sight to see.
The audio portion is definately much better than that of Halo 2. The localized sound system, which is becoming increasingly more used nowadays, gives a truely epic feeling throught the game, as the sounds of distant gunfire and explosions occur as far as several kilometers away. The voice acting is fantastic as well, with cameos from such stars as Ron Pearlman, Katee Sackhoff, Adam Baldwin, and many others. Even cameos from the guys who do Red Vs. Blue are present if you look hard enough.
- Rating: 5 out of 5
Halo 3 is everything fans have been craving for for 3 long years. With a great singleplayer campaign that brings the series to a nice conclusion (especially on Legendary) and a multiplayer component that is much deeper and inviting than Halo 2’s ever was, Halo 3 is sure to stay in your library for a long time. If you haven’t already, its time to finish the fight.
- Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Single and Multiplayer: 5
Technical Specs: 5
Overall and Replay Value: 5
Developer: Bungie
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: First Person Shooter
Players: 1-16
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