Fun game, but doesn't do anything new for the series or the genre.
The Bad – Horrible online community, story isn’t told well, hit-or-miss next-gen visuals, bland sound effects and voice acting, pretty much the same as the first two games.
I’m probably going to get flamed for this, but the Halo series isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Not that it’s a bad game, but there are better games out there for single-player and multi-player. What does set Halo apart is it’s epic story. But even that is not well told as it could have been.
Now the final chapter in the “Master Chief” story is here. And although Halo 3 is the best game in the series, it doesn’t do anything new for the genre. Nor does it do anything to set itself apart from past Halo games.
Once again, you’ll play the role of the anonymous soldier-hero Spartan 117. Better known as his rank: Master Chief. Although you can play the single-player campaign with no knowledge of the past Halo games, you wont have any idea what’s going on. No recap of events is provided, and no characters are introduced. Plus there are plot holes big enough to fly a space frigate through. No one ever said story telling was Bungie’s strong point.
GAMEPLAY - 8 of 10
Story issues aside, Halo 3 is solid gameplay wise. The controls are slick, and easy to pick up. However, it’s limited in its design. The controls are the same as they were in the first Halo game. Therefore, new innovations in other games like ducking behind cover, going prone, and sprinting are not present. You wont notice this at all in single-player, but you’ll really see it hold the game back in multi-player. The old trick to constantly jump and fire is alive and well.
The single player campaign is well designed overall, and there are some large exciting battles to be fought. However, a lot of the same tricks are used. By the time you’ve fought your 4th scarab tank, you’ll be bored of it. There are some new vehicles to pilot, and that helps to put a fresh spin on the action.
As for multi-player, it’s probably the best it’s ever been in Halo. It’s still not as great as other games like Call of Duty 4, but it’s got a ton of options. Everything from number of kills to weapons and vehicles available can be adjusted. There’re also some common, but fun variations such as VIP and zombie. The downside to the multi-player is the community. There are a lot of people playing Halo 3 out to ruin the game for everyone else. Whiners and cheaters are the norm.
GRAPHICS – 7 of 10
Graphically, Halo 3 is great in some spots, and sub-par in others. The game runs at a nice smooth 30fps, but will chug in some online matches where there’s a lot of vehicles or explosions. The textures are also bland in spots. The aliens look great, but the humans look awful. Same goes for the vehicles. Covenant rides look terrible, but the UNSC ones look much better. Definitely not up to standards set by other shooters like Gears of War.
SOUND – 8 of 10
Like the visuals, the sound department is hit-or-miss as well. The music is excellent, and really sets the tone for the game. But I was shocked at the lack of noise when I fired some of the weapons. A lot of them sound more like a paintball gun. The voice acting is just average. Some characters like the Prophet of Truth and the Arbiter are impossible to understand. While Master Chief spits out his usual macho one liners.
VALUE – 9 of 10
The lasting value of Halo 3 is going to be in the multi-player. How long that lasts will depend on how much of the online community you can stomach. But if you can find a good group to play with, your experience will be that much better. Especially with all the options to choose from.
The single-player campaign also has it’s replay value in the form of trying to unlock achievements and beating the game on legendary difficultly. You can also play the game via co-op with up to 4 players.
The achievements are well balanced between easy and more difficult. Some are awarded for off-line play, and others are online. The only problem is some of the achievements are bugged, and won’t unlock. I had this problem with the “too close to the sun” achievement. It says it can be done in the single player campaign, but really only works in online play.
Overall, Halo 3 is a good shooter. It doesn’t do any one thing particularly well, but the whole is greater than the individual parts. While it’s not the revolutionary game the hype machine makes it out to be, it’s still fun and a fitting conclusion to the series.