Throughout video game history, there have been franchises that have
attained such popularity that they quickly become a household name.
Take Halo for example. When the first game launched, it came out of
nowhere and surprised many a gamer with it's interesting story and
satisfying gameplay. The sequel, Halo 2, moved more XBoxes than any
other game in Microsoft's history and very quickly became one of the
top selling games of all time.
Now comes Halo 3, the seemingly final chapter in the trilogy. It picks
up exactly where Halo 2 left off. We find Master Chief unconscious from
his long leap of faith at the end of Halo 2 and, after he snaps out of
his funk, he joins the rest of the Marines and his new ally, the
Arbiter, as they fight to fend off The Covenant an their evil Prophet.
The story arcs very well and brings together the second and third
installments seamlessly in just a couple of minutes, which sort of
makes up for Halo 2's disappointing ending. In fact, the story in this
game is by far the best one of the trilogy. It has all the ingredients
and emotion to bring closure to a fantastic science-fiction saga.
Sadly, the ending wasn't as epic as the rest of the campaign. It seems
like it just doesn't render justice to the rest of the story, which
features epic battles in tremendous landscapes. All of the original
actors return one final time to voice their pixelated counterparts and
do an excellent job in the process.
The gameplay stays true to the Halo franchise. As the old saying goes:
If it ain't broken, don't fix it. The controls remain exactly the same
as previous Halo games, in which you can dual-wield certain weapons,
melee, throw grenades and so on. New this time around is the ability to
detach bigger weapons and carry them around. For example you can now
detach those big stationary gun turrets and use them against your foes.
When you do so, the game switches to a 3rd person view and the Chief
moves around much slower than he usually does. Also new this year are
deployable weapons, such as the Bubble Shield, which will protect you
from bullet fire and grenades for a short period of time. All of these
additions work well in single player or co-op action, but it seems like
they were developed for multiplayer purposes.
Speaking of the multiplayer, this is where the Halo franchise shines
brightly amongst the sea of other first-person shooters out there. The
irreproachable Matchmaking system is back once again and is still
extremely reliable. All of the MP modes you know and love are back once
again in all of their current-generation glory, as well as the good old
ranking system. Some new mods were added to the game and add even more
depth to an already deep MP. Also new this year is the ability to mute
some players. Now, this might not seem like much, but for those out
there who have played the Halo 2 MP and witnessed some of it's online
community, you'll agree that this is a blessing. The online component
is pretty much lag-free, even while playing a 32-man Big Team match. I
regret to inform you that the online isn't perfect though. Oftentimes,
you'll find yourself spawning right next to your enemy, who will just
have to turn around and kill you. Also, it seems that, at times, the
weapons aren't well balanced, as you'll find that your opponent just
needs to shoot 2 or 3 bullets your way and melee you for the kill,
while you'll have to unload an entire clip on him and still he doesn't
go down. This happens quite frequently and, when it's not favoring you,
it can get really frustrating.
Also new in Halo 3 is The Forge, which fairly resembles what the guys
at Valve have done with Half-Life 2's level design tool. You'll get to
place different objects from the Halo universe in a selected map, such
as vehicles, exploding barrels, spawn points and so on, and then try it
out. Now, this doesn't seem like it would be fun, but once you get your
design online and try it out with some friends, it can become a riot.
If that wasn't enough, you can then view your buddy blowing up and
flying around in the Theater over and over again. Speaking of which,
the Theater is another new addition to the game which can be used to
view everything from the single player campaign, multiplayer matches
and Forge madness. You'll be able to go back and view your last 6
sessions and then select what you want to keep from them, as you can
swivel the camera around, focus on a player, an area or then entire
map. The only drawback about the Theater is that the fast forward
option isn't really fast, so if what you're looking for is at the end
of a session, expect to fast forward for quite a while.
The Forge and the Theater are excellent additions to an already solid
game. After you've completed the campaign, which will last you around
10-12 hours, you'll have plenty of other options at your disposal to
make Halo 3 last for quite some time. You can go through the campaign
with friends, either on easy, normal, hard or legendary. The co-op
allows up to 4 players to play through the campaign together, which is
often lacking in most shooters these days. The graphics are quite good,
as most of the environments are well detailed and good to look at. The
characters are also very well designed. Aside from the great voice
acting, the other sounds in the game are what you've come to expect
from a Halo game.
If this is truly the end of the Halo franchise, I can honestly say that
they went out with a bang. The incredible epic battles you'll have both
online and offline will remind you of why this franchise became so
popular in the first place. With an excellent campaign and even better
multiplayer component, Halo 3 will stay with you for a long time and,
as Cortana would say, "It was an honor serving with you John."
