I have devoted a lot of time and energy to Bungie with a product, Halo 3, that is awesome. However it could have been more impressive. Am I a jerk for even suggesting that? Probably. Does that mean I should keep the sentiment to myself? Maybe. But when something is great, it often drives you to ponder all of the attributes that lead you to that conclusion. In doing so, it also allows your imagination to consider missed potential. With that in mind, my thoughts follow.

Bungie seems to have felt that Halo 3 needed to be jammed packed with da da da dummm and run and gun intensity. Well, they are right in that it does need both. However, I feel the game would have been better served with a few more huge open tracks of land after some of the more intense battles. I am not suggesting significant additions, but just a few more pauses to notice beautiful vistas, the great Halo score, or perhaps a hoard of wildebeests sweeping majestically across the land. Perhaps these scenes could have been punctuated with the occasional sniper shot or the slaughter of 50 or more grunts caught in the open. This would have added to the experience and further distanced the game from all that was wrong with Halo 2.

Halo 2 was nothing more than tight quartered running and gunning with insane amounts of backtracking. Granted, Halo 2 was more, but that is what I feel when I think back on the game. The pause is what allows you to notice the beauty of the game. It is what made Halo so groundbreaking. You were lead to believe that you were in an open world ravaged by vast battles in which you were granted some amount of freedom in how to approach them. As with certain moments in Halo 3, you could watch the battle begin to unfold and enter it at your convenience.

Again, it is the pause, that break, the time when you climbed to the top of the mountain after an intense 20 minute battle. The score breaks for one second, you see the enemy in the distance through falling snowflakes, you hear the wind in front of you and then SLAM! A wraith comes into view, a guitar opens a high riff and you plunge into battle. That is ALL that is awesome. Sure, the scene changes according to the player, but we all had that moment when we drew our breath, got lost in the moment, and then were pulled back by the desire to move forward, the desire for progress.