Halo 3 delivered the goods on multi-player but it was a disappointing fight to fight...
Their marketing campaign for halo 3 was stellar. The moment i saw the diorama of the 'final fight' I saw this epic scene playing out before, not unlike the end of Halo 2, which I loved. Me, fighting the final fight, hoards of Covenant descending upon me and I'm the one force strong enough to fight back. Thank goodness a lot of brave soldiers are backing me up. The end with that brute holding the master chief. In my mind, I knew how Halo 3 was going to end...
Or at least, how I thought it should have ended.
We devoted the earliest hours of our Halo 3 experience to 3-player beating the game. I enjoyed the story mode, it was short, it was sweet. We finished the fight. But ... let me make this point clear. You don't end first person shooters with driving sequences. Even if you have really bad ass all terrain vehicles with mounted rail guns on it. You just don't!
This ending was horrible, it was just, so so bad. Worse than halo 1 or 2, in my opinion the ending of Halo 3 made me love the ending of Halo 2...
Enough about the story mode. The area that Halo 3 shines is the improvements the game made to its multi-player mode. The reason I hated Halo the most was for its unbalanced multi-player combat. I just felt so weak as I'd be killed left right and center. It wasn't until Halo 3 that I became the spartan I knew I could be.
The forge mode is awesome. I love it. But I hate to say that I was bored with halo 3 by the beta. Once I got to play Halo 3 for its full glory, it was fun, it was everything I expected, and then some. Its probably the best first person shooter ever, multi-player wise anyway (story wise will always belong to Half-Life.)
Halo 3 is awesome, if you weren't a fan of the first two. You might be converted like I was, or you might remain pessimistic of this blatant sci-fi epic. If you decide to give it a try, don't bother without toughing out the stories of the predecessors. I think Halo has one of the best overall stories of any video game. Say what I may about how it ended and how I didn't get to finish the fight how i had hoped in my minds eye that I would get to. I still loved it, the whole way.
Bungee, I hope you continue to make amazing games. Maybe you should divert your very meticulous efforts into making the Batman game I've always wanted.