Halo 3 Review

Halo 3

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Bungie
Price: Legendary Edition - £70, Collectors Edition - £45, Standard Edition - £35
Play while listening to: The in-game music.
Previous Games by the Developer: Marathon Trilogy, Myth, Halo 1 and 2.
Genre: FPS
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Release Date: Out Now

I know I'm a little late with this, thats because I 've been petrified to write this review ever since the game came into my hands last week. If I'm to harsh I'll have hordes of Microsoft fanboys/girls coming after me. If I'm to soft I'll have hordes of Nintendo and Sony Fanboys/girls after me. This is one of the rare occaisions where reviewing becomes an art form (Thats gonna bite me in the arse. Screw up count: 1).

Instead of reviewing Halo 3 as an entire package I've decided to split it into segments to avoid the possible 10/10, these mini reviews are as follows; Campaign, Multiplayer, and Forge + Saved Films. Let us begin.

Campaign

Halo: Combat Evolved made its name with its astounding campaign and plotline, Halo 2's campaign was equally outstanding yet many gamers hated it due to the inclusion of the Arbiter, who took them away from the Master Chief although adding alot in terms of plot and gameplay. Halo 3's campaign is very much the same as the other two games in terms of gameplay, but takes the plot back to its roots with the player being Chief and only Chief (except in co-op).

Unfortunatley this leaves the Elites split from the Covenant, and the ensuing civil war slightly in the dark as the Master Chief runs through the nine levels obliterating the Covenant forces; as he does. Although this is all well and good, I felt kind of annoyed at the lack of an Elite plotline, and although I support Bungies Desicion in not making us play as the Arbiter, I still think they should have openly continued the plotline, rather than allying all of the Elites with Humanity, which just feels wierd.

Other than this one small gripe with the plot I have a gripe with one of the levels, this being the second to last one. The level feels more like a plot device than anything else with gameplay constantly brought to a screeching halt for a lot of dialouge (Which isn't a bad thing as the dialouge of Halo 3 is outstandingly written and performed), which dosen't really compliment the style of Halo.

Other than these gripes Halo 3's campaign is effetively more of the same, but improved upon tenfold. The events within the game do "Finish the Fight" but also leave room for more adventures. As with every Halo Campaign the features complement each other fantastically.

Campaign Score: 9/10

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is another area that Bunige has conquered with utmost vigour and judging from the fact that Halo 2 is STILL being played on live, I don't think that they can screw up Halo 3's MP. Well they haven't, Muliplayer is as fresh as ever, with both new game modes and maps avialable in abundance.

Theres not actually that much to say a bout multiplayer, with all the new things being either un-noticeable or available within the campaign, all I can really say is that this is why Xbox Live exsists.

Multiplayer score: 9/10 (It wears thin after a week or so)

Forge and Saved Films

The two newbies to the Halo-verse, are both interesting and fairly new. I'll begin with my favourite; Saved Films.

Although watching playbacks of your own gameplay should be a fairly easy feature to implement, it has never been done before in any video game ever. So Bungie have pioneered yet another outstanding feature, but with saved films in Halo 3, everything is perfect. The footage isn't edit by Bungie at all, so effectively you can see any glitches (and thanks to file share, publish them) from any angle, at any speed, or you could simply use it to look at the (occaisionally orgasmic) enviroments.

Forge I'm not so keen on as it takes a huge amount of time to be able to use effectively and doesn't let you design your own maps, just edit Bungies. Although Map editing in real time, with battles going on around you may sound incredibly cool, its acctually very frustrating as your "monitor" is constantly shot out of the air and other players tend to spawn objects on top of yours. Not Bungies best idea.

Forge and Saved Films Score: 9/10

Overall

Halo 3 when reviewed as an entire package is enevitabley a 10/10, one would think unfortunatley after a week or so it wears thin, the campaign matches that of the first game but the game should be t a progression it isn't, its the same! The multiplayer is unrivaled on the 360 in todays market and saved films should be a standard feature from now on.

Although Halo 3 is almost assuradley Game of the Year, I hope something beats it.

9/10

Must Buy!