Finishing the Fight.....and this review

This review took a bit longer then expected, thanks to my Xbox 360 which broke (the three red rings) in November. But now I'm back in action having just finished Halo 3. The trilogy has been completed and Halo 3 is the books, so how did it do?

On the multiplayer side, which lets face it, is the main part of Halo, everything good from Halo 2 returns while returns from Halo 1 are welcomed with open arms. Theres also, of course, new additions which enhance the franchise. Just as in the single player, the X button deploys a gadget which can take away from your shield, heal your shield, jam enemy radars, or-as seen in the commercial- be a protective bubble that surrounds you. I think these gadgets make more use than in single player simply because you can time them perfectly to work for you team or against your human enemies who respond to them better than the A.I. in the game does.

The online community, once again, is massive. I know that Halo 3 made $170 million on its opening day, but I wasn't expecting it to be this big. Xbox Live even had some server problems because of the Halo 3 usage online. I've seen up to 78,000 people in 1 server out of many servers on Halo 3 online!

I know multiplayer is a big deal, but I was very interested in the single player game when I bought Halo 3. I wanted to know how the story would end (although I had a pretty good idea). I can say without a doubt that you do indeed Finish the Fight with no holes in the story left over from the previous games, although you might need to read an analysis of the Halo trilogy online to fully understand everything.

The story picks up almost directly after Halo 2 where we saw the Chief flying towards Earth. All the important Characters return and, having played alongside them in the previous games there is definetly something emotional about Halo 3, especially when those first strums of the Halo theme song start when your playing. The emotional experience when I played Halo 3 certainly felt like it brought the trilogy to a close.

The gameplay in Halo 3 is almost to similar to the previous games but there are additions. First off the reload button has been moved to the bumpers and now the left bumper changes grenade type. The flashlight has been removed and now there are gadgets that can be deployed with X. As I mentioned earlier, the gadgets can take down an enemy's shield or charge your own. Some other gadgets shoot you up in the air a while others can be used as deployable shields or invulnerability and even cloaking. The gadgets offer another aspect of gameplay to think about as even your enemies can use them. Certainly the run and gun gameplay of the previous games is back with some weapons from Halo 1 returning while the majority of Halo 2 weapons come back and a few new weapons like the Spartan Laser and gravity hammer come into play. There is also new weapon balancing making some weapons more powerful, like the needler, and others less powerful, like the energy sword. New vehicles have also come into play since Halo 2. Theres a brute vehicle that can tear through enemies called a chopper, a fast human vehicle called a mongoose, and a new air vehicle called a hornet, a few more as well as improvements on the previous vehicles.

The A.I. in the game is improved over the previous games and is pretty in the range of difficulty levels, rather then just upping the amount of damage an enemy can give. In Easy and Normal the A.I. is pretty easy and can be played through quickly with almost no problems. The Heroic and Legendary modes provide much more challenge and how the way Halo was "meant" to be played. There are parts that you'll need to play through several times to beat, unlike in the easier modes. All in all the game is probably about 10-13 hours depending on if you try to collect the skulls and stuff. Along with that there is co-op for up to 4 people (1 as the Master Chief, one as the Arbiter, and 2 marines) split screen or online.

The biggest additions to Halo 3 are the Forge mode and the replay mode. The Forge mode is essentially a map editor that can be changed in real time. Instead of creating your own maps you use the current maps and move weapon placements, respawn points, gadgets, exploding barrels and, well anything in the game. This can all be done during a multiplayer game where 2 people are fighting while 1 is changing things around and even giving his friends weapons. It is a pretty neat mode but not something that I'm all interested in to much. What I really like is the replay mode which allows you to save and view any replayed of your single player or multiplayer games. Up to 30 of your previous games stay on your hard drive and you can choose to save them to your hard drive if you want. You can look around the map or through the eyes of any player even in slow-mo. The replay mode is surely going to enhance the already massive community surrounding Halo. The replay value in Halo 3 is the highest of any game this year or years to come.

Graphically the game is like a high-res version of Halo 2. The game retains that colorful look and vibrant feel that the previous Halo games had. The alien weapons and structures are gorgeous and look much better than every other FPS that has brown and black as the color tone for the game. Everything is well polished and flows quite well, especially the menus and multiplayer options. The character models of all sides are artistically done with excellence. The new weapons and vehicles are all beautiful as well. Its not the most impressive game, visually, but it is attractive nonetheless.

As I said before, the Halo theme makes a return obviously and strikes that emotional chord with fans that brings that feeling of "Halo" out from inside. The voice actors again do an excellent job and the orchestra music and production values are through the roof.

To finish this review I have to say looking back, the three Halo games don't seem very consistent. It doesn't "feel" like a trilogy nor does it flow quite well. For instance, in Halo 2 the Arbiter was a chief part of the game. Now in Halo 3, I hope I'm not giving any spoilers here, hes not a major player and not even playable in the single player game. Not only that but you have guns that disappear from Halo 1 that don't make it into Halo 2 but some how find their way back into Halo 3. Theres also different weapon balancing, like in Halo 1 the pistol is like a high-powered rifle and not even usable in terms of power in the last two games. Then the needler is terrible in Halo 1 but in Halo 2 it can be dual-wielded and deliver some intense damage, however in Halo 3 it can't be dual-wielded but is much more powerful. Another way to look at it is like this: The assault rifle from Halo 1 disappears in Halo 2 and comes back in Halo 3. It seems out of place that the weapon just disappears and comes back. The pistol does the same thing, only when it came back it lost its scope. It just seems out of place and weird for a game to do this over a series. I don't know, maybe I'm just nit-picking here but it irritates me that the game can be wildly inconsistent through a trilogy like this. But that doesn't mean Halo 3 will feel out of place with those familiar to Halo 1 and 2 and is will most certainly be worth your 60 or 70 bucks (although I don't think the Limited Edition is worth it unless you know you'll use it).