Halo 3

Posted: 04/11/08

If you were in the camp that thought Halo 2 was a disappointment, try telling that to the tens of thousands of people still logging in every day to deliver the business end of their battle rifles to the foreheads of players around the globe. Sure, the single-player concluded with one of the most anticlimactic cliffhangers of all time, but it's hard to argue against the replay value. After three long years, Master Chief is finally ready to finish the fight. Should you?

Halo 3 doesn't wait long to sew up the loose ends from the second game, as Master Chief finds himself on earth where he's forced to take up an alliance with the arbiter. It seems Cortana has gone missing and earth is crawling with the covenant. The anonymous bad-ass must rescue humanity from the alien invasion, and locate Cortana in the process.

With the arbiter as sidekick, Halo 3 could have easily turned into a bad buddy cop story. However, it's handled with deft hands as the motivations of each character create constant tension and second-guessing throughout. Halo 3 is supposed to represent the end of the story arc, and this is definitely the case. Some heavy stuff goes down without the melodramatic meter busting its needle, and while the story doesn't transcend the genre, it's some pretty engrossing stuff. Just be warned, if you haven't played the prior games you might want to brush up on the basics or you'll find yourself lost.

The original Halo was criticized for its repetitive levels, but it did manage to bring about some significant tweaks to the genre. Halo 2 was more of a refinement of those concepts with an amazing online multiplayer component. Halo 3 is more like the latter than the former. The single-player campaign still plays without any major bouts of loading as each new area streams off the disc, there are still save checkpoints after each major confrontation, and overall, it's very much the Halo experience you've come to know and love.

Tack on the ability to play through the campaign cooperatively with up to three other players online on four different difficulty settings, and you begin to see how the 10-15 hours it takes to complete based upon skill level works out to much more than that. It's longevity is bolstered even further by campaign scoring. As you and your friends play through the campaign together you're rewarded with points that will ultimately earn you achievements. If you find one of the more than a dozen skulls scattered around the game, you can enable it to get points multipliers. To balance things, each skull you enable makes the game more difficult.

The entire campaign is designed like one big roller coaster. There are no repeat levels, hardly any backtracking, and no need for arrows on the floor showing you which way to go. While it remains a linear experience, you're swept along from one epic confrontation to another at an unrelenting pace. There is no downtime in Halo 3, and every locale is unique and memorable.

Then there's the 16-player multiplayer. If you're one of the people still playing Halo 2 you might as well clear your calendar now--and for the next several years. Halo 3 is loaded with that much content. There are 11 different maps on the disc, and each has its own distinct personality and requirements for success. Some consist of tight quarters, where respawning can't happen soon enough and the battle ebbs and flows back and forth like a seesaw. Then you have the classic, county-sized maps where vehicles and organized transportation play a much larger role. Then there are ones in between where infantry and transport are important in equal measure. Everything from the weapon and vehicle placement to the terrain has been perfectly balanced to facilitate heated online hostilities.

When you do grow tired of them, you can always turn to the forge option. Here you can build your own maps and game types right down to where every last weapon and object is placed. You're given templates to work from, and the interface is so easy to use that your imagination is free to run wild. You can then upload your creations for others to play and rate, ensuring that the cream always rises to the top.

The final new feature is the movie maker. Ever want to remind a friend how you stuck him with a grenade or relive one of your finest moments on the battlefield? That's what it's for. You can save the relatively small files to your hard drive and then send them to friends, or snap some screenshots. It works well, though we would have liked to have the ability to edit multiple clips together or export clips so that they could be used by other pieces of hardware.

Halo 3 is like your girlfriend's vacation suitcase. It is bursting at the seams. There's so much to play and fiddle with that we can't imagine getting more entertainment value out of 60 bucks.

The first Halo introduced the rebounding shield, weapon management, and hot buttons for grenades and the melee attack. The coup d'etat in Halo 2 was dual wielding. In Halo 3 it's all about the deployable. Utilizing the X button, you can employ protective bubbles, portable blast shields, remote turrets, and more. On the easier difficulty settings they're basically an accessory, but on the legendary setting they're a necessity. Best of all, they carry over to the multiplayer where entirely new strategies are formed.

At the same time, this is also one of the major disappointments of Halo 3. There just aren't a lot of groundbreaking gameplay elements. Turrets and shields have been a part of PC shooters for almost a decade, and this is one area where the Halo series is still playing catch-up. You get all the staples of the series, but there's nothing trailblazing like the rebounding health meter.

That's not to say there aren't more additions, though. You get a small arsenal of new weapons like the spartan laser, which takes an irritating three seconds to fire but deals an exorbitant amount of damage, the practically worthless flamethrower, and a brute shotgun. More effective, and fun, is the ability to snag turrets from their tripods and operate them manually.

Our personal favorite has to be the brute hammer. This blunt trauma weapon is capable of taking out the game's toughest enemies with a couple blows. And then there are adjustments to existing armaments like the needler, which is now actually useful, and a couple grenades making their debut for good measure.

More worthwhile are the new vehicles. And there are tons. This is where Halo 3 really outdoes itself. In addition to the brand new four-wheeler dubbed the mongoose, you get the hornet--the USNC's version of the banshee; the brute chopper--a motorcycle-like vehicle with rotating blades on the front, and several more. Just like the rest of the game, they're all perfectly balanced with strengths and weaknesses to exploit.

Bungie once described its Halo design philosophy as creating 10 minutes of intense gameplay and then replicating it across the entire experience. It's accomplished this by delivering some of the best enemy AI in the business. Its reputation holds strong here. Enemies are constantly looking for angles by climbing on top of objects or looking for peep holes, and they're smart enough to know when they're outgunned and will run away seeking cover.

If only the same thing could be said of your allies. USNC drones are practically worthless--often failing to get into vehicles and otherwise being more of a nuisance than an asset. Let one of them get behind the wheel of a warthog while you man the turret and say your prayers. The arbiter fares a little better in intelligence, but his attacks are far too weak to change the tide of a battle.

The gameplay in Halo 3 can't exactly be considered "combat evolved." It's more like "combat refined." Yet the battles are so frenetic, and the enemies so smart, that no two frays ever play out the same. With the new weapons and vehicles both the intensity and thought required to succeed peak the meter. More boss battles would have been nice, but even they have more than one tactic for success.

The first two Halo games set technical benchmarks on the consoles, but this is one area where Halo 3 will be a disappointment for some. It's definitely not the best-looking console game on the market, or even its platform, but it's still bursting with visual trickery and eye-popping scenery. It also manages to run at a rock solid clip while splashing literally dozens of enemies across the display--all engaged in combat with explosions, vehicle damage, and some incredible physics commencing at once. The real sore spot is the character modeling. They simply don't look as good as you'd expect.

The audio pulls no punches, and manages to trump the visuals by a substantial margin. There are so many different audio clips for allied soldiers that you'll be hearing new ones right to the end. The writing is sharp and witty and the voice acting throughout is impeccable. Once again the score comes shining through, and kicks in at all the right moments--sending those chills up your spine that only gaming can provide.



Halo 3

Release Date:
Xbox 360
Shooter, First-Person
Editors' Choice

Related Videos 

Welcome to the new GameTrailers!
The link you're looking for no longer exists.


Need Help?
Head over to our FAQ page!

