GenieKnows Games Narrowing the field

If you wanted the short answer, YES… Halo 3 delivers on nearly every promise the hype machine has created. Not only does the tried and tested gameplay return but Bungie still manages to impress with some new innovative features that are sure to become standard years from now (kinda like the party system which is only now being adopted by other developers).

First off let me start with the campaign. This time around, Bungie wanted to make sure there were no cliffhanger endings and I’m pleased to say that those of you that play through the entire game, won’t be left wondering who didn’t finish their level design. Master Chief aimed to finish the fight and does so in style. I won’t give anything away but I’d definitely recommend completing the game on Legendary to see the entire uncut ending (just make sure you don’t skip the credits!). Also this time around, coop is both online and offline for up to 4 players. This is incredibly fun especially with Bungie’s new Meta Game addition which keeps tracks of team or individual scores during campaign mode. If the difficulty levels aren’t enough to challenge you, try turning on some Skulls (14 of which can be found throughout each level). These skulls turn various effects on which not only increase difficulty but also scoring multipliers, making the game more challenging for even the most seasoned Spartans. The Campaign, new modes and a slew of other easter eggs unmentioned here will keep you occupied for month to come and are easily the best the 360 has yet to offer.

And now for the real meat of Halo3, the multiplayer! If numbers are any indication (over 1 million playing online last night alone), Halo3 multiplayer is a huge hit. For good reason too! Bungie managed to capture the frantic gunfights of Halo2, but balanced the weapons so that they felt more skill based like in Halo1. Many complained that in halo2, the weapons especially dual wielding weren’t balanced. but more importantly, that some combinations like the popular “noob” combo in which a player ran around with a plasma pistol and battle rifle, were far too powerful and decidedly enough, didn’t require skill to use. To fix this, Bungie made dual wielding a more personal in your face affair which doesn’t give players any advantage at a distance. they also added some new weapons into the mix and tweaked several others like the needler which is now a deadly single wielded weapon! the plasma pistol returns but now requires pinpoint precision to shoot and no longer tracks its target as accurately once released making a more balanced (if far less used) weapon.

The addition of brute technology like the Mauler, and Brute hammer seem fittingly enough, brutal type weaponry and lend themselves well to some of the tighter spaces you’ll find this time around. While weapons like the “not-so-new” assault rifle seem to help balance the use of battle rifles and almost make the dual wielded variety obsolete. Old favorites like the sniper rifle and shotty still kick ass but seem to require more skill to use as aiming magnetism is reduced. Sword has been balanced quite a bit and now requires the player to be much closer before a lock is initiated. Sword duals can also take place as I found out when I locked swords no less then 5 times with another player.

New to the halo franchise is equipment. Equipment comes in many different flavors in halo3 but all of them taste the same…. deadly! since there are three types of equipment in halo, I’ll cover them all. first off, deployables. These are items you pick up by simply walking over them and can be used by tapping the X button to “deploy” them. All of these are extremely useful when used in the right scenario. They consist of the following, Bubbleshield which created a dome like structure around a player that can only be penetrated by other players, not their projectiles. Next is the radar jammer which creates a mess of radar signatures that become almost impossible to decipher. Another is the flare which although useful, tends to blind the user as well unless thrown properly. Then comes my personal favorites, the power generator and power drainer which as you might of guessed either kill shields or regenerate them. These ones become very useful for attacking power weapons. Another type of equipment you’ll find are heavy weapons. These when picked up actually switch the camera to third person and slow the character movement down considerably. Gone is your ability to crouch and crouch jump, gained is your ability to decimate anyone within range. Some of these aren’t as useful as I’d of liked - the flame thrower which seems only capable of throwing a flame a mere 5 feet and loves to engulf you if you attempt to move in too soon. Another is the rocket launcher which has just enough delay to render it useless in close quarter battles. finally there is the turret gun which although deadly at midrange, cannot compete with a good BR shot at long range. Although these weapons are fun to use, you won’t find many pros making use of them as your limited speed becomes a surefire way of getting yourself killed. And finally, although they aren’t exactly defined as equipment the new grenades do merit some attention. The spiker grenades and fire grenades (please Bungie add these to more gametypes). The spiker grenades have a slightly different trajectory then the plasma nades and although tricky at first, are quite satisfying to land once you master. They shoot out 4 spikes which instantly kill anything without a 15 foot radius assuming they cross paths. Great for clearing corners of campers. The next is my favorite new weapon in halo3, the napalm nade covers anything it hits with a thick wall of flame which doesn’t dissipate easily and as an added bonus tends to blind the enemy in envelopes causing him to run around mindlessly.

The 10 maps you’ll find in the multiplayer have become somewhat of a love hate relationship with me. On one hand, I love the new placement of weapons, but on the other hand, I sometimes feel that with all that new detail, hiding has become far too easy for those wishing to cower as oppose to finish the fight! One thing is certain, Bungie has spent a lot of time tweaking weapon placement around each map so that there will always be one dominant weapon that both teams tend to spawn equal distances too. The rocket launcher on pit, hammer on guardian, shotty on snowbound… you get the idea. All maps were designed so that talented players would eventually be playing them like a game of chess, evaluating risk and reward at every turn. In this respect, the developers have hit a homerun and although I may dislike dying from a nade toss while attempting to grab rockets on pit, I appreciate the design choice made in placing them there.

Matchmaking has made a triumphant return and more then ever, shows why console gaming is the place to be when it comes to tracking player achievements. Not only does Bungie match players based on skill level, but they also allow players to record their every action using the new theater mode to create custom film clips which can be saved and shared with friends! Unlockables have now been added such as armor and new emblem types so that those with enough skill, can show it off with hard to acquire armor types and the sought after katana. Bungie website tracks several achievements which won’t show up on your xboxlive profile but are still awesome to complete. One example being the steaktacular which is awarded when beating an opposing team by more then 20 points overall. Apparently some Bungie inside joke where one poor lad had to buy the losing team steak dinners after a humiliated loss hehe. I swear reaching a certain milestone in Halo3 multiplayer is as addictive as any drug on the market today, Bungie is definitely on to something with those ranking schemes! Matchmaking once again proves why Bungie is the definitive leader in its class and will no doubt serve as the new benchmark to which all games should aspire to reach.

Bungie and Microsoft love to hype Halo, in fact they’ve done so for every title in the series and somehow always manage to deliver on their promise of gameplay, cutting edge graphics and innovative features. Halo 3 is no exception, not only does it use the power of the 360 to deliver rich visuals and new technologically advanced effects like the amazing water and hdr lighting! It somehow does this all while keeping a steady 60 frames per second and solid multiplayer netcode which is so good, Bungie invites us to save our games just to prove it! Although many might hate Halo3 for what it doesn’t do, it innovates in so many areas that I’m at a loss to find anything bad to say about it. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go play slayer, see you online!

Halo 3 - 9.8 out of 10