Huge disappointment.
Well what can I say, I played Halo 2. I also was a slight bit annoyed by the ending in that game. Now that I've played Halo 3, Halo 2's story was brilliant. Halo 3...well, sucked. I cannot give it any marks for anything in the single player/co-op mission. There were a number of times throughout where I found myself either thinking "Man, they were really pressed for time." or "Wow, Bungie's really running out of ideas." An utter disappointment. And you know that Believe site? The one with the monument to some battle, its all realistic and epic and stuff. Yeah, it has absolutely nothing to do with any part of the story whatsoever. The game makes no mention of any big battle, and you don't get to see it so, big minus there Bungie. False advertising, bad hype, etc. I never really felt like I was finishing any fight. In fact, the ending kind of snuck up on me. I didn't know the game had ended until the credits rolled. 4/10
Enemies
While fighting every enemy from Halo 2 (minus the elites) plus...I think one other kind of flood? Thats it. Nothing more. The only enemy I enjoyed fighting was the Scarab. 5.5/10
Vehicles
Well, the scorpion has been underpowered, which is bad (not necessarily underpowered, but you NEED a second person manning the machine guns this time). The Banshee hasn't improved from the disappointment it was in Halo 2 (Halo 1 had awesome Banshees). The wraith isn't anything new. I was excited about the Hornet, but its actually really boring to drive, and you only get to drive it once or twice in the game. The ATV is entirely useless, and has a very...odd sounding horn. The Brute vehicles are not much fun to drive, but they get the job done. The elephant (MP only) is great, except for the person driving. You would think 500 years in the future they could have made a vehicle that size that moves faster than a baked snail. All in all, vehicles get 6.5/10
Weapons
Well, I love that the Assault Rifle is back...sort of. What is with the smaller clip? Where in the short time between Halo 1's time line and Halo 3's time line did the USNC decide to remove half the clip in every single assault rifle? And why? And the most annoying thing about the weapons...you can't dual wield needlers anymore. When exactly did Master Chief lose his ability to hold the second needler? Brute Spikers are fun, but the brute shot feels nerfed since Halo 2. Spartan laser is much too inconvenient in the Single player/co-op game to be of much use. The Bubble grenades are great, but you can only carry one at a time. What happened to the Arbiter's Active Camo? Just kinda sputtered out? Yeah, thought that one through didn't ya Bungie? Turrets are alright, but have limited ammunition as soon as you pick them up, which doesn't make lots of sense because its not like when they are on their turrets they have a large ammo pile beside them. All in all, weapons : 6/10
Graphics
Well, there were quite a few times I couldn't tell the difference between Halo 2 and Halo 3, which is bad considering the time and the NEXT GEN CONSOLE. There are some cutscenes...pre rendered cutscenes...that use concept art as the background. Thats just lazy, and it takes away from the game terribly. The new HUD is cool, but its only on Single Player, and not Co-Op. There is just nothing impressive about the graphics, and considering what it is, thats not a good thing. 6/10.
Overall gameplay
Well, since the other Halo games were fun, I have to be at least a little bias here. There isn't much new to the gameplay. Get a gun, find an enemy, shoot. A tad bit more strategy in this one added with Bubble Shields, Auto Turrets(which don't seem to do anything, and have horrible physics) and some other "powerful weapons" that don't actually seem all to powerful. 7/10
+ 1 bonus point for including the voice of Tucker (though it sounds like Grif) and Simmons in an easter egg.
-1 Bonus point for having a spelling error in the instruction manual. (On one page, they refer to the human weapons as USNC weapons, which is correct according to the book and the other games, and on the very next page, they refer to human vehicles as UNSC...well edited.)
...yeah I'm picky...
Overall rating. 6/10 Big disappointment. I'm sure the multiplayer is fun and all, but I'm not paying money to Microsoft, those money grubbing sons of...in order to play a game which I now consider myself to be against. Enough of this, I'm going to play Warhawk...way better game.