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Halo 3 Review by Justin R. "Saber-Scorpion" Stebbins - written 01/20/2008 exclusively for www.firstpersonshooters.net - do not replicate! Well, it's finally here - the supposed "last chapter" of the epic Halo series. Some say it's overrated; others love it like fanboys. After the disappointment of the second Halo, let's see how this third installment of the trilogy stacks up to both it and the original... Gameplay: 5/5 To say that Halo 3 is not fun is to affirm that either you have never played it in your life, or you simply have no perception of the word. Halo 3 takes everything Halo 1 had going for it, tosses in the better parts of Halo 2, and kicks the whole thing up a notch. You have the dual-wielding and melee weapon gameplay of Halo 2 along with the far more entertaining vehicle sequences that were found in Halo 1. They also tossed in about a zillion new weapons and vehicles, and most of them do not require you to dual-wield in order to be effective, as they did in Halo 2. The option to run about pistols akimbo is there, but it's no longer a requirement. Actually, the huge level of variety (especially once the new "equipment" like land mines are factored in) can be a bit overwhelming at times, and makes the gameplay seem a bit complex compared to the simple fun of Halo 1. But still... if you can play Halo 3 and say that you're not having any fun as you boost a Brute Chopper through a Warthog full of enemies and watch their dead bodies scatter from the explosion as you ride out the other side unscathed, then you apparently have a psychological problem.
The single-player campaign is fantastic this time around. Many players complained about Halo 1's repetitious level design; well, gone is that negative aspect in Halo 3, where each level is meticulously fashioned to provide a great experience, and you never know what to expect around the corner. Scarab walkers step overhead, huge starships fly in and drop off a row of battle tanks, and Flood infest whole starships and transform before your eyes. Unfortunately this also presents a downside, which is the length of the campaign. Personally I would not have faulted the designers for including a little more repetition if it just meant a longer main storyline; the one they present is surprisingly short. Another fault is that it can be a bit too easy the first time around. You definitely want to play on Heroic if you're going it alone, and nothing less than Legendary if you're playing co-op. Luckily, there are hidden "skulls" you can collect that will drastically increase the challenge level if you are able to locate and activate them.
Speaking of co-op, that brings us to the multiplayer aspect of the game. And what an aspect it is! Every mode of the game, from the main story campaign, to adversarial battles, to the new Forge mode (which lets you customize the items found in multiplayer levels) can be played with more than one person, either online, split-screen, or system link. At long last, co-op is available to FOUR players instead of two, although you can only play with two on a single Xbox via split-screen. Coupled with Xbox 360 achievements that allow you to unlock additional pieces of armor that you can use to customize your multiplayer character, all of this adds immense replay value and entertainment that more than make up for the short campaign. Story: 4/5 Halo 1 introduced us to the sci-fi storyline of the Halo series with a dramatic tale that stood perfectly well by itself. It dropped us in on the Pillar of Autumn and ended with the defeat of the primary threat, without factoring in too many odd plotlines or technicalities to distract us from the issues at hand. Because of this, I can safely say that Halo 1 has the best storyline of the entire series. All Halo 2 succeeded in doing was confusing us, as new aspects to the Covenant and the Flood were introduced and new questions were asked. Does Halo 3 answer all of the questions? No, and it even raises new ones. All in all, the story is a bit on the short side and perhaps even disappointing to be the last of the trilogy.
That said, however, it's still a blast to play through, and it's certainly better than Halo 2. Although I was a bit disappointed that the Arbiter (the main alien character introduced in Halo 2, who you played as for half of the game) took a major back seat in Halo 3, becoming pretty much the Master Chief's sidekick... the characters were actually better-presented overall. Lord Hood is no longer quite as gross and Ron Perlman does a great job as his voice, and Sgt. Johnson is no longer as corny and can be taken more seriously. If you watch the reasonably well-written and quite well-directed cutscenes and don't try to dabble too deeply into the fine details, nothing about the plot should bother you that much. Leave it to fanboys to dig into the history and smooth over the discrepancies, and simply enjoy the ride that Halo 3 presents. If you follow this route, then by the suitably epic conclusion, you should be satisfied. Graphics: 5/5 Perhaps the main reason I like the Halo series is the sleek, cool-looking, sci-fi art style. Some have claimed it makes the game seem unrealistic since you're fighting enemies who run around in brightly-colored armor and ride purple vehicles, but that is the main appeal to me. I would much rather play a flashy sci-fi shooter than run around in a dark, dreary, war-torn cityscape, devoid of 80% of its color and infested with generic zombie foes like most FPS titles that are released. Halo's style is its main appeal, and probably its primary selling-point. Halo 2 threatened to spoil all this, at least partially. When Halo 1 first came out, the graphics were extremely impressive - with vast scenery and plenty of awesome effects to gawk at. But by the time Halo 2 came out, they had become rather dated, so the developers of the second game tried to detail everything up by over-using bump-mapping and pushing the poor old Xbox to its limits, often ending up with chunky-looking characters and graphical glitches that really marred the game.
Gone are all of these problems in Halo 3, which takes the more realistic, detailed style of Halo 2, combines the sleek and colorful aspects of Halo 1 (finally, the Brutes actually wear Covenant-looking armor!), and gets rid of the chunkiness and the hiccups. The big vistas are back, and the stylishly-crafted scenery really adds to the atmosphere, as do the carefully-constructed level designs. The Master Chief is looking better than ever, and now you can see every etching on the Arbiter's armor, and every tooth in his mouth. The secondary weapon that you carry is now visible either on your back or at your side. Combine all this with new graphical effects like motion blurring, and the graphics of the game really suck you right in. Most FPS titles have the latest and greatest graphics of the period, but Halo 3 combines this with its own appealing art style. All in all, there's nothing much I can fault about the game graphically. Sound: 5/5 Halo 1 had awesome music. Right after buying the game, I grabbed the soundtrack, and I love just about every theme on it. Halo 2 (once again - you're starting to see the pattern here, right?) tried to spoil this by pumping up the awesome theme with unnecessary electric guitars and introducing horrendous "band" music by groups with names like "Incubus," "Breaking Benjamin," and "Hoobastank," all of which appealed to the kind of gamer I am NOT and only served to really break up the sci-fi epic they were presenting to you. And once again (here comes that pattern), Halo 3 fixes this. Bye-bye, bands and electric guitars; hello, sweeping sci-fi scores and many returning themes from the original game. Needless to say, I bought the Halo 3 soundtrack too. Besides the music, the voice acting is, as I mentioned, superb (with the possible exception of the Chief himself at a few points - but thankfully he doesn't talk much), and the sound effects certainly can't be faulted either. In fact, they seem far less generic than the ones presented in Halo 2, but perhaps that's just me and my bias seeping in again. Anyway, they're great. Perhaps not the echoing roars and chest-pounding explosion "thumps" of Half-Life 2, but great nonetheless. Overall: 5/5 I think I've really said enough here. You can tell I loved the game. I can't seem to decide if I really loved it MORE than Halo 1, but perhaps that's just nostalgia speaking. I at least loved it as MUCH as Halo 1, and considering my choosy opinions and cynical attitude, that's saying something. I'd rather buy Halo 3 a million times over than 70% of the other drab, cliché FPS titles the industry cranks out year after year. Halo 3 is awesome. Buy it. Play it. Live it. Okay, was that dramatic enough? I hope so. Now ignore all the nay-sayers out there and go play and enjoy the bloody game!
AVERAGE SCORE: 4.8/5
FINAL SCORE:
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