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Halo 3 (X360)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
• Genre: Shooter
• Official Website: http://www.halo3.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

Halo 3 really needs to be reviewed twice. The campaign - whether played solo or cooperatively - is a vastly different experience than the competitive multiplayer. Thankfully, both modes are good and fun to play if you enjoy first-person shooters. Halo 3 isn't going to convert anybody to the genre, but it's easily the definitive 360 purchase for the competitive shooter fan.

Halo 3's campaign suffers from the same pitfalls that most other trilogy enders do. It just doesn't feel like its own story. "Finish the fight" means "make sure you play Halo 1 and 2 first if you want to have any idea of what's going on". Yes, the third installment needs to be related to the first and second, and it needs to advance the over-arching plot, but there's no reason why it can't also feature a self-contained story of its own. As it stands, Halo 3's story is really "Halo 2, Part 2", three years and a console generation later. There are going to be people out there that never played the previous games, and the game shouldn't require them to go elsewhere to be filled in.

Regardless of whether you know them from before or not, the AI teammate characters all have something in common: they are mind-numbingly dumb when combined with a vehicle. When presented with a warthog in single-player, prepare to be frustrated. Either you drive and a generic UNSC marine misses every shot he takes, or you man the turret and he struggles with driving the warthog and gets it stuck on random landscape features. And if an AI teammate is driving while you're on foot, he'll keep trying to give you a ride - by running you over. Thankfully checkpoints are plentiful so you never have too much ground to recover, but there are few things as frustrating as dying when it's not your fault and that frustration grows with each restart.

Production values, as always, are high. As with the beta, graphics aren't what everybody wanted, but it's for a good reason. The game offers huge numbers of enemies on-screen, tons of particle effects, and no noticeable loading (the small "loading done" message is the only tip-off that a new area is being loaded at all). Voice acting, as expected, is genuine and well-directed.

Gameplay is polished and tight. Weapons feel different from one another and have their own strengths and weaknesses. However, there isn't much innovation. Halo brought us regenerating health and a weapons system that makes sense, and Halo 2 improved the weapons system by adding dual wielding. For this game, you can almost hear the folks at Bungie sitting down and asking "how do we refine the combat even more?", followed by chirping crickets. Finally somebody stands up and says "Let's add deployable shields!" Deployable equipment is an interesting concept, but they just feel tacked on. They have their uses (except for flares), but even when playing Legendary on co-op they're little more than an afterthought. You're much more likely to hear "Hey, I've got a bubble shield" than "Man, a bubble shield would be really handy right now."

The campaign has a few issues, but it does what it sets out to do. The story is concluded, the combat is satisfying, and now you can play it co-op with three other players over Live. The skulls from Halo 2 are still here, bringing a hint of scavenger hunt to your FPS experience. On the off chance you're considering Halo 3 for the single-player portion only, I'd advise you to rent it. The campaign is short, but you won't want to put it down.

Halo 3 multiplayer is what Shadowrun should have been. The multiplayer portion of Halo 3 is worth $60, and Bungie could have gotten away with selling it separately from the campaign. Instead, they listened to feedback from the previous games and gave players what they were looking for: an excuse to hop on Live, run around in funny clothes, shoot one another in the head, and hump each other's lifeless corpse. Multiplayer is just as fun as it has always been, and the addition on multiplayer achievements encourage players to use different weapons and equipment (the Needler doesn't suck anymore, honest). Bungie also left us with an unexpected and delightful parting gift: Forge. This map editor sets Halo 3 multiplayer apart from other console FPSs. You can't change the landscape, but weapons, vehicles, teleporters, spawn points, and everything else that isn't bolted down is yours to place. There may only be 12 maps available on the disc, but Forge will keep Halo enthusiasts busy for years.

Multiplayer features 12 maps, and they all have a different focus and a great sense of balance. Some maps are focused on close quarters combat while other maps are huge, expansive, and shift the focus towards vehicles. Player customization is also available. Beating the campaign on different difficulties, accessing Marathon-esque terminals, and wiping the floor with your opponents in multiplayer gives you access to new pieces of armor. If you're the one person out there who always wished Master Chief looked a little bit more like a ninja, this feature will make your day. Besides the addition of unique armor and the Forge gametype, Halo 3 multiplayer is embodied by the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Many gamers played Halo 2 multiplayer consistently from its release until September 24th, and they will feel right at home in Halo 3's ranked matches and traditional gametypes.

Expect to see friends lists full of people playing Halo 3 for quite some time. It's fun, it's accessible, and you get to shoot aliens in the head while accruing GamerScore. What more could a gamer want?

Oct 1, 2007 | 6 comments
Justin Last