The game does not lives up to the hype.
Graphics: No, graphics do not make the game, rather the gameplay is what it's ultimatly about. But for the 360 the graphis for Halo 3 are very dated. There is some decent tectures along the way, but that doesn't make up for the often blurred look to things such as some doors, or items scattered throughout areas. The antialiasing seems to work sometimes, then not at all other times. Is something broken? I seriously thought my 360 was acting up when I first began playing , but unfortunatly it is the game. To me it seems like Bungi began work on this on the regular xbox, and simply ported the already started work to the 360 with those graphics, and the little bit of texturing added at the last minute simply for cosmetic value, and not really to add greatly to the game. But as stated above, the gameplay is what makes a game, so how is Halo 3 in that area?
Gameplay: Halo 3's campaign mode is composed of nine levels, the time taken to complete each varies. So how is it? Fun. Without question the game is fun to play, it is Halo after all, and I don't feel Bungi missed the mark here. The action, while slower at times, makes up for it at other times with non-stop fighting, slowing only to reload hide and heal. The AI is decent, at least with the enemies, but it can be frustrating when your own crew run in front of your gunfire then get on you about it. Too, the game essentially picks up where it left off in Halo 2, so it finally feels like we're getting some closure in that department. Though nine levels isn't much, it's still going to take a while to go through it on the games various difficulties. My only problem as far as gameplay goes is that I feel like I'm still only playing Halo 2 because of the graphics, and not a next gen Halo game, but this doesn't ultimatly take away from the fun gameplay. The multiplayer is a blast, no doubt, though I don't like the fact that it's not as customizable as Halo 2, though maybe through a future update over Live that could change. Let's hope. The action is always going non-stop. The only thing I would do away with is the cursing on Live. There's a lot of language on there I wouldn't want my children hearing, but that's not the games fault.
Overall the game is fun to play, and hardcore Halo fans will probably be pleased with Halo 3. But if you're not a big Halo fan, there are some FPS's out there you will most likely want to check out first. The game is fun, but I'm sure it's not what a lot of us were expecting.