Now before I get my head taken off for writing this, I'd just like to state that Halo 3 truly is a great game that I'm having a blast with and I'm completely happy with my purchase. But after just beating the game a few hours ago, there's this taste that I can't get out of my mouth. No, it's not the taste of betrayal and hatred left by Halo 2's ending, but something that some would say is more sinister...disappointment. Now maybe I had already doomed this game from the start, holding it in the highest esteem for almost three years and believing that the epic finish to the Master Chief's fight could be nothing short of legendary, but I don't think I bare all of the blame here. As we all know, Halo 3 is Microsoft's Ace of Spades and Bill and Co. certainly went all in with promoting their baby. I'm not one to complain about special flavors of mountain dew or specially marked bags of chips or even Halo themed NASCARS, but MS and Bungie went beyond just getting the Halo name and image out there, they planted an image in my head. One ad campagine in particular, the touching "Believe" series raised my heart rate more than any of the others. It wasn't merely the excellent production values or the profound human connection I felt with the old man at the memorial, but Master Chief's implied self-sacrifce at the end of the commercial that excited me so much. No hero commands more respect and honor than the sacrificial one and in my own opinion the best stories always feature such a hero. Sadly video games rarely take this angle, instead opting for the Hollywood one-man-army that slays all in his path on his way home to a glorious victory ceremony. Halo 3 is no different. The sequence in the "Believe" series isn't even in the game. There is no final epic battle on Earth where the brutes vastly out number the humans and the only shred of hope is that the Chief is willing to sacrifice himself in order to slay the treachorous brute chieftan. In fact, the Chief doesn't die at all. His survival is revealed after the credits much to my dismay. I love the Chief, don't get me wrong, but how loud can you shout "sell out"? Bungie could have made a better story by letting the Chief die and just using the Halo universe in a different context the next time they wanted to make a Halo game. But instead, the Chief will return and his epic tale just isn't as powerful because of it. Maybe I only feel this way because the "Believe" ads planted this idea in my head, but if that's the case then Bungie is actually hurting their game experience with all the hype.

On a purely gameplay based evaluation, I still believe that Halo 3 comes up short. I remember every single level of Halo 1 very fondly...excpet for the Library. Halo 3 just doesn't have any levels that stick in my memory. Maybe I'm the only one, but I tend to like wide open out doors levels that involve a lot of vehicle combat mixed in with great tactical fights against the Covenant(Flood sucks!). I also enjoyed the early Earth levels of Halo 2 that featured great urban combat in tight quarters. Maybe I'll gain a greater appreciation for the levels of Halo 3 on my second play through, but right now the only things that really stick out to me are the fights against the Scarabs.

Lastly, I haven't tried out the multiplayer yet, but from what I've seen the menus and such seem pretty in depth. I'm sure once I learn everything I'll be loving it every single day, but right now it seems a little complex. The beauty of Halo 2's multiplayer was it's stream-lined simplicity paired with tightly refined combat. Speaking of combat, if equipment in multiplayer is anything like it was in single player, then Bungie is just adding stuff in for the sake of adding new stuff. The equipment was virtually useless to me and actually annoyed me a few times as I'd try hitting X to reload instead of the new right bumper reload. I also think it was a bad idea to take out the Rocket Launcher lock-on feature, which was a terrific balance to the great power of the vehicles.

I guess that last one wasn't really lastly, because this one is...anyways. Halo 3's enemies(the Brutes) pale in comparison to the great adversaries that were the Elites. There was almost no real sense of the Brutes being a personal enemy in the story(Halo 2 did a good job of it however) and they feel tacked on in general. Their weapons, while okay, are nothing I'd recommend over a good BR or AR, and don't even get me started on the Brute Chopper. The Brutes were a major missed opportunity on what could have been a great enemy. They had a good start in Halo 2, but Halo 3 never fully fleshed them out.

To conclude(finally), Halo 3 was sadly disappointing to me for more reasons than I can list off. But I don't want you to get the idea that I'm some kind of cynical Halo hater, I love Halo. That's why I hold it to such a high standard. And I love Halo 3. I really am having a great time with it, and I have the feeling I'll learn to like in more as I play it more. But the extraordinary hype machine that MS and Bungie ran Halo 3 through set the bar beyond the realm of possibility and actually deterred from my Halo 3 experience because of some misleading ads. The Prophet of Hype may have prevented a great game from being a masterpiece. But then again, maybe it was Halo 1 that set the bar too high...(Sorry for the extreme length of this, I just felt the need to get all of these points across.)