Good game, but campaign falls short *SPOILERS*
Ever since Halo 1 years ago, i have absolutely loved Halo. I have beat Attack on the Control Room countless times, and i even love the Library level. Halo 2 had some flaws, but i still liked it. Halo 3, while probably better than H2, still cannot take the crown from Halo 1. Not even with the neat little skulls hidden around.
The levels are MUCH too short, and many of them lack a unique punch. Some are quite brilliant, such as the intro Jungle level, and Road to Voi. The last two missions I thought were kind of crap.
How could it have been better?
I ask myself this question quite a lot. Personally, i didn't mind the graphics. I thought it looked great, but what really bugged me was that the actual STORY was sort of weak. So, i'm just going to make a list of things i didn't like, and how they could have been addressed.
1) Cortana popping up in your field of vision. ??? After playing the game through a couple times, i don't know what the hell this was about. It is never explained.
2) The Gravemind is NEVER seen except for his tentacles. I assume this is because Bungie caught so much flak from Halo 2 they took the monster's head out. Mistake! This just made the main enemy harder to understand or hate. Why didn't they just mutate it into something creepier?
3) There are NO elites to fight! After playing Halo 1 recently, i had so much fun fighting the elites. Brutes are good, but recharging shields are better. Brutes typically just stand around and get shot, unless they drop a bubble shield, in which case you just wait 30 seconds to kill them.
4) Halo 3 desperately needed a 3rd party of rogue elites who are out to kill everyone. There would be a few times in the campaign when you meet them, and they would wear customary armor that distinguishes them from the others. I was thinking red slashes on the armor would be cool. This would also supply a great subplot to a plot that is really too simple.
5) Brutes never fight Elites. Why?? They're bitter foes, but we don't see them engage. In fact, the whole human/elite alliance is sort of glossed over.
6) Why/Where/How does The Ark rebuild the 4th Halo? Didn't get it.
7) The end of the game, while not bad, is a rehash of Halo 1. They could have come up with something new.
8) Longer levels! I know i said that before, but the levels are too short. If you're not playing on Legendary, you'll be done in no time. And the levels are not even EQUAL in length, some are embarrassingly shorter than others.
9) The music is great when it's the same music Marty used for Halo 1. When it's new stuff, it's not as good.
10) The twin scarab fight -- Where the HELL do these two massive things drop from, and why couldn't you see them before? And by this point the scarab fights were getting old.
I still have to give the game a high rating. When you're in the middle of a firefight or blasting over terrain in a ghost or battling a scarab for the first time, the game ROCKS. It has a lot of great qualities, more so than most games, but it doesn't have the original Halo 1 goodness.