Halo 3: My review

So just in case you don't know I'm a huge Halo fan so if I gush too much you'll know why. It would be easy to say that Halo 3 is the best of the trilogy and call it a day but it seems I should have some sort of explanation so here goes.

The campaign is told through a run and gun method that has a few cuts scenes in between, this has pretty much been a staple of the series since its inception. I personally like it since you get a choice of your game experience, i.e. play for target practice or play for story.The main thing you'll notice about Halo 3 is the levels, they're huge and have a much grander feel to them. Not only that but there is action all around you, it's kind of sad that some of most interesting and fierce battles don't have you in it. Don't know what I mean? Watch a saved film every now and again and you will. There are a few instances where the arbiter looks like a one man recking crew (unfortunately most of the time its when he's not around you). I do like the throw backs to the original Halo game but some of the levels feel like a re-design rather than a new experience.

In fact a lot of Halo 3 feels like the original Halo, but who's to say that is a bad thing? Personally I though the original Halo was better game than Halo 2 and the big reason for Playing Halo 2 over the original was Live support. The next thing to talk about is AI and the strange balancing act on both sides. You're accompanying AI is pretty stupid and really only serve the purpose of moving meat shields.However, the enemy AI is very aggressive and "intelligent". So much so that it picks its moments so much so that you'll have trouble playing through the same areas the same way this is part of Bungie's balancing act that is the campaign. In general the enemies in Halo 3 are tougher than the previous games, jackals, grunts, and drones are actually viable threats. The Brutes are still pretty dangerous but are more fun to kill in this installment. For some reason it felt as though the easiest enemy to take out were the blue armored brutes, I don't really have a good explanation of this other than it seems that this enemy variation is highly susceptible to a mid-range fighting preference. Overall many of the missions are fun to play over and over again, just to see what kind of approaches you can take but some are just down right frustrating and require better help from supporting AI (I can't tell you how often I've been blown up by friendly grenades).

On a side note the ending won't make you throw your controller at the screen but you won't be happy either. Overall the campaign is fun to play through and wraps up a lot of the questions from the series. The different ways to play through the co-op mode does stretch out the campaign modes re-playability but overall the game feels short (especially in co-op) and doesn't quite give us the ending you'd expect. Overall my experience with the campaign was good but not great, I'm not sure why it didn't grab me as much as the original but it did seem to lack something.

Now for the multi-player this is where Halo 3 shines and delivers on its promises. The multitude of new features alone warrant the purchase of this game. First of all the theater mode is a great way to learn from your mistakes and figure out the best patrol routes. It's also an awesome way to show off your pwning skills. Matchmaking options allowing for people to choose based on connection, rank, and language is a small feature that makes big differences in the multi-player experience. The new maps and map modder tool (Forge) will drive even more game types that have never been seen on a console shooter before. In general Bungie, got a lot right with multi-player with Halo 2 and have pushed it even further with Halo 3.

Since, there isn't too much more to say about the game than go buy it. I will leave you with this comment, though this is the last of the Halo franchise, Halo 3 brings something else, a real reason to own an Xbox 360. Yes, ladies and gentlemen the 360 now has game that will push console sales, now the console wars have really begun.