To HALO 3: A Hands on Review

The long awaited title had arrived, and I know, despite what I say here, people will buy this game and had already bought this game. With that tone in mind, you have probably guessed that I did not have a great experience with this game. In deciding whether or not to purchase this game, I decided to try some hands on before making a decision. I have played deathmatch and some story campaign. I have played Halo 1 and 2 multiplayer but not single player and enjoyed them immensely; ergo, I had a generally good bias towards Halo 3, but no story background.

Now on to the hands on review.

Pros:
1. Everybody has it. This is a definite pro because the online population is great *though annoying at times*. It makes multiplayer intense and fun, which is what the Halo series have been all about: multiplayer, specifically, online multiplayer.

2. Solid framerate. You will not find any dips in frame rate at any point of the game. There may be explosions, enemies running to take cover *somewhat, more on this later*, planes taking off and landing, without any hitch in framerate.

3. Solid Gameplay. Nothing revolutionary. Nothing that will "WOW" you like Bioshock did. Did not attempt to innovate. Halo 3 was meant as a conclusion to the Halo series; thus, it's not to create something new, it's to revisit and perfect the old; and Halo 3 definitely did perfect Halo. It took the old gameplay, and barely expanded it with a selective few weapons and vehicals.

Cons:

1. Graphics. A lot of journalists have commented that Halo 3 did not have stellar graphics like Gears of War did or that Halo 3 had a "subtle" beauty. If beauty does exist, then it must be highly and expertly subtle because I had a hard time finding anything to like about the graphics of this game. The water looked terrible, texture looked bland, Anti Aliasing needs work, lighting is either too bright or too dark. This game looked, literally, like an upscaled Halo 2, given the cutscenes looked fantastic. The trailers that you may have watched or seen on the internet, are all cutscenes. Real gameplay fell way short of the cutscenes, which, by contrast, makes the graphics seem even worse.

2. Level Design. Everything is predictable: here's a corner, something's behind it. Sometimes, the level design can get confusing, making you wonder where to go, even with a linear design. It is an attempt at free roaming, that just fell apart. It's tedious to try and find the path to trigger the next event. The level design also was subjected to being a standard "enter this room, clear this room, enter another room..." I call it the Rainbow Six: Vegas syndrome, or RSVS for short. It also seemed like the developer tried to implement some form of "cover" system by having walls or boxes randomly in the middle of a path. That doesn't work either, because there is NO cover system. Road blocks were exactly what they were, road blocks, nothing more.

3. AI. The AI in this game is somewhat improved but is still bad. Enemies seems to just simply run around shooting. Enemies had the illusion of using tactics, but in reality, they are just running around randomly. Friendly AI seems better than some games. In most FPS, friendly AI would walk to a cover, get behind, and shoot. The Halo 3 friendly AI had the soldiers actually move from cover to cover, but still shooting at random targets and choosing random covers. Or if it's not random covers, they have poor choices.

4. It's just Halo 2. There are less than 10 new weapons/items, less than 3 new vehicals. This game is VERY halo 2. This is a good and a bad thing. It means that it is just as enjoyable as Halo 2, deathmatches are just as intense, etc. However, at this day and age, Halo 2 may seem a little dated, but that's what you get with Halo 3. If you liked Halo 2, and ABSOLUTELY had to find out what happens in the end, then you might consider getting this game. I have warned you, it's basically Halo 2 in HD-ish.

5. Multiplayer can get boring. This is the worst thing that can happen to a Halo game. It's supposed to be all about multiplayer; however, unless you have a large party of players, the multiplayer gets boring fast. The maps are too big in most cases for small parties. There's nothing new to excite me, the player. Multiplayer played very vintage. It's antiquity multiplayer. Standard guns, standard modes. Very standard. When you play it, you get a real sense of "been there, done that."

I have not used the map editor in the Legendary edition, or tried any extra modes. This is based on a single impression as deciding factor for justifying my purchase. It did not warrant a purchase, and should definitely be tried out before buying. This is a very mediocre game.