Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Halo 3

1. Official Site
2. Platform: 360
3. Publisher: Microsoft
4. Developer: Bungie Studios
5. Release Date: 09/25/07
6. Genre: Action/Adventure

by Justin Pauls

This is the review of Halo3 from a longtime fan of the series. I remember hosting a LAN game in my basement about a decade ago with 25 of my dearest acquaintances, and between Rainbow 6 matches and a little game called Counterstrike, we would watch game trailers. The one that wowed us the most was an upcoming Bungie game called Halo. That moment determined my eventual purchase of the Xbox and Halo. From there I waited for Halo2 at a midnight launch. With promises of Live Coop play and HD hookup, Halo 3’s imminent release had me picking up a 360 in anticipation. The Halo3 launch did NOT have me waiting in lineups though, and I’d pretty much blacked out any media exposure (besides the Crackdown beta) as I didn’t want to over-hype myself or spoil the experience.

The third installment from Bungie sees the Master Chief team up with the Arbiter on Earth to fight off the remaining Covenant forces, discover the heart of the Forerunner's Halos and confront Gravemind and the Flood. If you don’t understand that sentence, I would heartily recommend reading up on the storyline of the previous games. Halo3 doesn’t recap, reintroduce or in any way make attempts to bring new people up to speed with what’s happened in the previous two games. If you are new to Halo and don't want to play the two previous versions, go visit wikipedia or find YouTube videos of “the story thus far” to hit the ground running.

And run you will; the single player campaign can be a compelling, even though it is the weakest link in Halo3, but it is still a story worth enjoying. Halo2’s ending was met with a lot of criticism due to its abrupt and anticlimactic nature; with Halo3 in your hands you can now replay Halo2 to experience it all with none of the disappointment. Don’t think you’re getting a 20hour single run-through though; you’re still looking at a shorter storyline and an ending that isn’t terrible, but it isn’t nearly as exciting as it could have been.  Halo3’s multiplayer components are by far the strongest parts of the game, and even if you’re sitting on a couch beside your friends or playing through the wire, it holds a pedigree in balance and control that few games can touch.

Halo3 picks up the pace with a much more polished look and feel from the previous iteration. It is crisp, clean and virtually free of graphical anomalies (such as missing textures or hiccups). Halo3 isn't the graphical showcase that Gears Of War is, but since this game uses large open spaces the engine is expected to be tuned different. There are really only three topics where the game’s visuals have any knock against them.

The style and presentation is consistent, with the only blemish on the face of the game is… the faces. They’re too overwrought; too detailed. The worst offenders are Lord Hood and Commander Keyes; they look as if a host of tiny tanks waged war across their faces. Perhaps they were supposed to look worried; they end up looking creepy rather than convincing.

There is the occasional hiccup, mostly during the autosave checkpoints or loading of scripted events. The only gameplay that is any way impacted is the final driving sequence in the game. It wasn’t disruptive, just noticeable.

The final issue with the graphics is not a single player issue, but instead 2 player co-op. The game forces a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you want to enjoy the game in all that 16:9 widescreen glory then your co-op experience is going to require either system link or Live hookup. It’s still very playable split-screen with the black bars on the sides, but I’d rather have more screen real estate.

From the soaring classical music to the familiar sounds of battle, the standard Halo fare is here, plus extras that add nicely to a complete the audio experience. The single player campaign has soldiers giving standard combat chatter, and with one of the hidden collectable skulls they alter to add dialog that is, in some cases, laugh-out-loud funny. I’ve always hated backseat drivers; these marines put anything I’ve experienced to shame.

The highlight of the multiplayer is the radio-talk vs. proximity; you can communicate with your team via the team chat, but you also generate noise for those in close proximity to you. If you just killed someone and you’re near their corpse, you may just gain some insight into how the world has wronged them in some way. I’ve never heard so many laughs and direct threats of revenge as I have in the multiplayer sessions with the Gamingtrend forum members.

Now admittedly I prefer playing with friends rather than ranked matches, but that’s not to say that you don’t have full control of what you DO want to hear. The mute player option (and this is something you will use, mark my words) is as easy as holding the back button and selecting the offending player in the list. The talk indicators show in the menu so you can be sure to silence the trash-talker.

The only thing I found to get drowned out were the voices during cut scenes. I changed my sound setup but for some reason I had to crank it to get the center channel to spit out what was happening, especially when the Arbiter was talking.

What is there to say about the defacto standard controls that Halo helped to make? The point of Halo3’s controls is to run and gun. You can take cover, or you can go out guns ablazin’. There is no picking types of ammo, or carrying 12 guns on you at any given time. The most you can carry is three different weapons and 8 grenades (2 x 4 different types). You normally can only carry two types of guns, but in a situation where you pick up a special weapon such as a gun turret your two weapons go into storage.

The game is responsive and you really feel the polish on the controls; they haven’t changed it much since the previous versions and for good reason: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Jump, pick up/switch weapon, reload, zoom, crouch, throw grenade, switch grenade, pistol-whip and flashlight are all back. They’ve also added a new function: use equipment (more on that later).

They’ve improved the controls now that we have LB and RB (as opposed to Black and White buttons on the Xbox1 controllers) and so it makes sense to have those buttons used as reload and correlate to their respective left and right triggers. I found the “Boxer” setting was my favorite so that I had a trigger on the left for beating people down (with LB set to change grenade type), or if I was dual wielding it would be the gun trigger and reload button. (you can’t throw a grenade when both hands are occupied).

If this is your first time behind the wheel in a Halo games, it takes some getting used to (point to your destination and mash the “go” button, or reverse to back away from it). You may find yourself spending more time flipping the vehicles back over because you crash them rather than actually driving, but of you merely let off the gas in corners you’ll find a lot more success. Each vehicle has its own distinctive feel, and are well balanced. Flying takes a minute or ten to get used to, but in the end it’s worth it to soar through the sky, raining down death to your enemies below. I found it easier to pilot the flying vehicles in Halo3 than the previous iterations, and all of the returning ground vehicles have the same controls.

With all that hype, there has to be a downside, right? You’re not going to find a lot of negativity in this area; the gameplay is smooth, polished, accessible and something to be mastered. You aren’t just sneaking through corridors in this one; there are vast open spaces with giant enemies, ground and air tactics as well as a plethora of weapons and vehicles at your disposal. If there was one thing I was disappointed in, it would be the limited vehicle time in outdoor terrain. I think they could have added 2 extra levels that focussed more on the outdoors areas and exposed us to all the different vehicles. For instance, there is never an opportunity to drive a Behemoth (found only in the multiplayer game) or the covenant ground-to-air vehicle.

They’ve righted the off-kilter balance from Halo2, and now the Shoot / Grenade / Melee trifecta is more equal. The previous Halo/Halo2 weapons have been further balanced, and we’ve got more types now (such as the brute spike gun and shotgun/pistol and the brute hammer). The marine pistol is still not equipped with the scope ala Halo1. The “n00b” combo that dominated Halo2 has been removed (where you use a grunt pistol at full charge to drain someone’s shields and then switch to a rifle and with a light peppering you’d finish them off). They’ve reduced the splash damage from all explosions and added new grenade types, vehicles and game modes. They’ve also removed the dual wielding of the needler, and made it a little more powerful.

It’s worth noting that vehicular combat is just as fun as the two-legged approach. Each of the vehicles provided in the single player campaign have their individual roles, and I found that even if they had an equivalent peer that it felt like you were driving a different vehicle.

Bungie saw fit to add equipment to help you out, so you can shield yourself with a bubble shield or deployable cover. The items aren't just for protection; you can also use radar jammers, shield regenerators, trip mines, deployable turrets and even drop a gravity lift (shoots anything upwards, including vehicles). These items can drastically alter game play, so getting to know them is pretty important as you can only carry one at a time. The campaign treats invisibility, invincibility and overshield as usable equipment that you can carry and use as you see fit; in multiplayer they deploy right away. Even in the single player campaign all of the items are worth looking out for; they’ll help you through some pretty steep combat.

Speaking of difficulty, Halo3 has Easy, Normal, Elite, and Legendary. For the person who’s comfortable with Halo and Halo2, the first run on normal might seem a bit easy, and Elite would be challenging but doable. When you play cooperatively you should definitely play on Elite; if you have 4 good players then try out legendary (note: only 2 on one console for co-op play so a second 360 and game are required). The enemy AI flanks, takes cover, uses items (such as bubble shield, flare and power drain). They don’t shoot each other, and I can’t think of anytime where I’ve personally experienced a “what the heck is HE doing?” moment while fighting the AI. I have died many a time at the hands of an Elite AI, and rarely thought it unfair. Once you’ve collected some of the hidden skulls, you can make normal mode with coop VERY challenging, so don’t worry too much about your first run through, just enjoy the ride.

So you’ve heard the single player game weighs in at a paltry 10-12 hours right? That’s the end of it? No more? Wrong. Just because you’ve played it through once doesn’t mean you’ve mastered it. Halo3 lets you replay your favorite section of the single-player game, and even keeps track of which difficulty you've completed each level for both single and cooperative play. 

And you know what? The second go-round you should bring a friend and definitely turn on my 3 favorite silver skulls (if you've found them): Grunt Birthday party (headshots to grunts shoots out confetti and has children laughing), Cowbell (which increases explosion radius) and IWHBYD (adds funny /sarcastic comments from AI). Coop also adds on top of that, as friendly fire (ability to kill your own team) is on and can end up with some pretty fun moments in gaming.

So that adds up to what, 20+ hours at normal and Elite? Then there’s skull hunting and achievements and trying to reach the level points, and unlocking costumes, and … I’m forgetting something… oh yeah, Multiplayer!

Now I know what you’re thinking: I don’t play online because of all the trash-talk and harassment. Worry no more; not only does Halo3 allow you to play ranked matches with strangers, you can also build up cool people as you play and ditch the ones that aren’t worth bearing. They don’t even need to be added to your friends list; Halo3 has an incredible solution to the biggest detractor to the online gaming experience. They call it the party system; here’s a quick rundown of how it works.

When you start an online game session you are in a party. You can choose from open party, friends can join or invite only. Your party follows you as you travel through different games. You may have invited a friend or fifteen, and if you meet some cool new people in the last round and have room in your party, in the post-game lounge you can invite them in to stay on with you.

Bungie borrowed the replay idea (often seen in racing games) and gives you full control. The fact that you can now watch ANY battle via the replay theater, see what you did right or wrong with full camera control just raised the bar for the industry. That feature isn’t just for death match either; the storyline has the same features (the only limitation in campaign is that you can’t rewind). Bungie even saw fit to let you post your videos (which use the in-game engine so the videos themselves are tiny), screenshots, and even and custom game types that you can create.

They’ve even included Forge, a place where you can modify the items on a map and even play it “open” so that people have money they can spend to buy weapons, items and vehicles. Bungie is also releasing new maps and game types via Live (some free, some not).

On top of that there is Bungie.net, the most complete leader board in the history of video games. You can see any online games you’ve played, medals you’ve earned, and compare against friends and the masses alike. It’s free to go there an peruse, so if you like your bragging rights then you might want to check it out now.

There is no way any game can live up to the natural hype that a game like Halo3 garnered. This game will not define you as a person, but it certainly is put there to entertain.

While the campaign itself isn’t the greatest strength of the game, I enjoyed it and I think if people can put aside the hype, and that it isn’t the greatest tale told, you can truly appreciate the space opera that it is. The only problem with the Microsoft advertising campaign is that they were telling a story with the diorama that is more compelling than Halo3’s, and in doing so out-competed itself.  

Clearly Bungie's efforts were focused on the multiplayer facets of this game; and that alone makes it worth owning. With up to four players taking on the Covenant forces through the entire campaign, as well as a multitude of online gaming options and full DLC support from Bungie make this a no-brainer. The balanced controls and gameplay, amazing replay theater, Forge, Party system, leaderboards in a game presented with strong graphics and audio make this a must-play title.

Gaming Trend Score

92

1. Graphics: 90
2. Audio: 89
3. Controls: 92
4. Gameplay: 92
5. Value/Replay: 98
6. OVERALL:92