Gamernode: Reviews

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Halo 3
Xbox 360
Bungie Studios
Microsoft Games
September 25th, 2007

The gameplay in the campaign is fastpaced, and there was only one level I didn't love playing. Sure, the little interruptions of gameplay via Cortana's giant blue face and flashback speech are annoying (basically, it halts gameplay and it looks like MC is having a seizure), but that's a very minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. Overall, the campaign is just incredibly paced, has a lot of homages to the original Halo and Halo 2 (including an awesome "drive the warthog while shit explodes!" portion a la Halo's ending), and unless you're stuck as players 2-4 you never have to touch Arbiter or anyone other than Master Chief.

For most people, that's decent news, but nothing great -- because most people are going to get Halo for the multiplayer gameplay outside of the campaign. Well, don't worry, because that's a blast, too.

Literally.

Even if you don't have a Live account, you can still enjoy the game. With up to four people per 360 sharing one Live account, you can have 16 people playing online with 4 Gold-enabled accounts. (It's nothing too new, but it's still a great addition a lot of other games really need to copy.)

The maps in Halo 3 also feel a lot better than Halo 2's offering. I loved Halo 2 (not as much as some people, I admit), but there was no map that really stood out as THE map; of course there were a couple that were avoided at all costs. In Halo 3, however, there are several maps that rise above even Halo's multiplayer offerings, and none that stick out as maps I hated playing on. (Although in hindsight, Sandtrap was a horrible choice for 8 player Infection...)

Rock beats scissors, hammer beats Warthog.

Playing the Forge mode with other people is a lot of fun, but I can see a lot of people getting bored with it quickly. It's a really nice idea, having a level-editor built in with the normal gameplay, but it's almost too much being offered at once. Half the people I played with wanted to just move stuff around and spawn items/vehicles, while the other half wanted to take it seriously and would just ruin everyone's fun. I guess you can decide to play only with friends or by invitation, though, but even then there's never a consensus on what's going to go on. (One example of that split? We played 3v4v1 [one guy wanted to be alone...] in Forge -- everyone wanted to build and mess around, except the one guy who took it seriously and ended up with far more kills, declaring himself the winner.)

The features Bungie added to Halo 3 just to give more back to the Halo community are just awesome -- especially for a console game. Not only can you save your created maps in the Forge and share them with other players, but you can record videos of all your matches, take screens in-game (all of the ones in this review came from a few games friends played), and more. While you can't upload videos online, that's offset due to the fact that they're saved via the game's code, not actual video. What that means is you can have extremely long videos (an hour or more) take up less than 6mb of space. Perfect for the guy who wants to try to create the next Red vs Blue, or for those who want to study games to get an advantage over opponents and friends.

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Posted by Brendon on 09/23/2007 at 02:19PM

I have to admit, I came closer to giving this a 10 instead of a 9.5 than any game I've ever reviewed. Only my belief that only the PERFECT games should get a 10 kept me from doing so, and Halo 3 has enough tiny things (not-so-great graphics, stupid ally AI, short campaign) to keep me from doing so.

Posted by grega t on 09/23/2007 at 02:32PM

One thing bad about this is that it means less people will be playing team fortress 2 for the 360....i really don't know whether to buy this or not....I hated the second game and i haven't played the first game....so perhaps i don't have the best viewpoint.

Posted by rtanger on 09/23/2007 at 02:36PM

Excellent review Brendon =]You've made me even more excited for this game.
"all the little things Halo 3 does and how it's done that makes it great. The gameplay isn't far superior to other FPS games, the story isn't as epic as we like to think it is, and the multiplayer modes really aren't unique if you ignore the "for a console" moniker. Like I've said before when talking about the Halo franchise, it's how Bungie fits it all together that makes it such a special experience. While Halo 3 doesn't do a lot innovatively, it does everything right. They've had years to perfect their Halo craft, and they did it damn well this time around."
Why did I quote that?Because it needed to be QFT

Posted by Dr.Aaron on 09/23/2007 at 02:45PM

This game will be played well past year 9999, so that kid who got banned may have a chance if he freezes himself.

Posted by StarborneRanger on 09/23/2007 at 03:29PM

Thank you so much for this great review. I was growing increasingly fed-up with other reviewers' inability to show their genuine excitement. It's like they don't even enjoy playing video games anymore. Gamernode just became the top gaming site in my bookmarks.

Posted by jedipoodoo547 on 09/23/2007 at 04:53PM

I really thought it would get a 10, it is good to see an honest, not over bloated review that i am sure the other sites and magazines will surely give next week. As i said before, i am not a multi-player kind of player, but 4 player co-op sure sounds fun on Live. Almost makes me want to renew my Live account.

Posted by grega t on 09/23/2007 at 04:56PM

But this IS an excellent review...well done :D

Posted by Brendon on 09/23/2007 at 05:02PM

jedi, if you have a friend who has a Live account you don't need one. You can have two people on one console playing online co-op, so only one of you needs a Gold account.

Posted by Atomic Waffle on 09/23/2007 at 05:18PM

Wow. I'm suprised. I did actually expect this to suck, but it looks like it delivers.

Posted by BahamutBBob on 09/23/2007 at 05:19PM

Just so you know, Microsoft didn't develop it, and Bungie didn't publish it :P

Posted by Brendon on 09/23/2007 at 05:25PM

That's weird, Bob. I have no idea why they got switched like that. Everything's fine behind the scenes.

Posted by Brendon on 09/23/2007 at 05:32PM

It seems to be happening on every review. I'll have people look into it. Thanks for the heads up.

Posted by jambo on 09/23/2007 at 06:23PM

I had a feeling that Halo 3 would be insanely good and look what happens =] Have fun with this one all you 360 players.

Posted by Bigspfan on 09/23/2007 at 09:21PM

Well, I sadly saw that 9.5. Silly Brendon, don't you know that until they get a perfect ten from almost EVERY reviewer then the halo franchise will continue to be made into different games. First they make an RTS then a movie. IT WILL NEVER STOP!!!!!! Soon we will all be up to our necks in Halo RPG's and musical based guitar games.

Posted by Bigspfan on 09/23/2007 at 09:22PM

Posted by FLIPINOMAD on 09/23/2007 at 09:57PM

Halo 3 deserves a strong standing score, can't wait to pick up my copy.

Posted by silkmonkey on 09/24/2007 at 03:17AM

Brendon, was my 12 minute drive the reason you feel the need to rip on sandtrap's infection value? :-P

Posted by Altontowers on 09/24/2007 at 04:25AM

Great review. I'm really on the fence about getting it now...

Posted by 7ty714 on 09/24/2007 at 04:26AM

I want a 360...

Posted by jedipoodoo547 on 09/24/2007 at 09:53AM

Brendon, thank you for the information, i did not know that, saves me money.

Posted by bull 53 on 09/24/2007 at 12:44PM

Now that the launch is inching closer and closer ... who is looking at this and wondering how Halo Wars will fair? Alos, what other Halo universe games will be spawning up? This formula is GREAT but is the universe deep enough to nurture different types of games. I would hate to see Master Chief in a Subzero type game.

Posted by jedipoodoo547 on 09/25/2007 at 09:41AM

Personally, i can't wait for Halo Wars. The dev vids looked promising. I hope it doesn't get swept under the rug. I will be playing that alot more then Halo 3 when that finally comes out.
Speaking of different Halo genre's, i think the only way to go from here is a mmorpg in the style of maybe Tribes? I can see that happening with pvp and clan vs clan, but not so twitchy in your face, button mashing game-play like current Halo multi-play. I am thinking along the lines of adding more RPG type of elements.
Additionally, Bungie can always release a totally separate multi-player only game like Shadowrun if people want a more fast paced style of game-play.

Posted by Archem on 09/27/2007 at 07:56PM

Personally, I'm hoping for a tactical shooter where you play as Marines, or perhaps even a Battlefield clone. Halo 3 is seriously delivering so far, and I'm only on the third level. Multiplayer is a blast, and I haven't been disappointed with a single aspect of the title so far.

GamePlay: For the most part, it's the same Halo gameplay we've seen time and time again. A few new additions vehicle and weapon wise spice things up, but mostly, Halo 3 is about Bungie perfecting their craft.
Graphics: If I had to pick one area Halo 3 was weak in, this would be it. The visuals look nice, but not as good as other recent titles. Still, they aren't bad -– just not fantastic.
Sound: There's a very good reason that the Halo OST is so popular. Sure, the music hasn't changed too much -- but does it matter? It rocks.
Replay Value: There is absolutely no reason this game shouldn't last well past the 360's life cycle. There will be people playing this as long as there's the ability to do so, and user-created content adds a lot of unknown replay value.
9.5	Final Word: You probably already put your money towards the game. Don't worry, because it's worth every penny. Halo 3 is an incredible game which goes above and beyond the insane hype machine preceding it.

Gamernode: Reviews - Halo 3