Halo 3: Best Game Ever or Best Game Ever?

So, as I'm sure a handful of you know, there's this little game franchise called Halo. This is no ordinary game though, it has a great storyline filled with plot twists and more sci-fi action than you could shake a Spielberg movie at. Not to mention the actual gameplay or graphics. Halo 3 is certainly a game guaranteed to make any real gamer giddy. Now, the storyline is great and the conclusion to the trilogy: spectacular, but everyone is hyped up about one thing and one thing only: multi-player.

A game with one of the best-selling releases of all time, selling 1.7 million pre-orders, grossing $170 million profit in the first 24 hours and $300 million in the first week*(1) Halo 3 quickly became the most successful game for Microsoft this holiday season. More than just games itself have given Microsoft profit from the Halo franchise though. Reports show that since the release of Halo 3, Xbox 360 console sales have more than doubled. Xbox Live usage has increased so much that the servers could barely hold everyone (there were a few downtimes for me personally).

Halo 3, however, is more than just hype. It is a game that really delivers. Stunning graphics and gameplay so smooth that you never want to put it down, this game is a must have for any 360 owner. Lots of things have improved from the earlier games, including: intense swordbattles, more accurate weapon portrayal, improved chat, 4 player Co-op, the always fun Forge game mode (Build-a-map), some wonderful easter-eggs to stumble on, and one of the best replay theaters I have seen in any game.

Not everything can be good about this beauty of a game though and I have encountered many problems while playing. Some of the things I have personally found wrong with Halo 3 are: the agonizing load times for the theater, a bit of control problem when placing items in forge, flooring glitches in the campaign mode, and so few multi-player maps for matchmaking that you almost want to be mutilated by Flood.

Bungie has really pulled through with Halo 3, and I must say it was worth the wait. However, another very surprising plot twist was when Bungie pulled out from Microsoft and went independent shortly after the Halo 3 release.*(2) As a gamer, I couldn't be anything other than happy about this though. After all, what does a split mean? It means more games. It means more consoles. It means more award-winning action from Bungie Inc.

-Hopefully, and almost certainly there will be more maps and content downloadable from Xbox Live for Halo 3, and they even fix some problems as quick as they know about them.-
--Justin

*(1)http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo3/news/20071004-oneweeksales.htm
*(2)http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=news&cid=12835