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Ntruder · 10-16-2007, 02:35 PM

I told you guys I'd write a Halo 3 review. Well here it is, and its probably not what you were expecting. (From an avid Halo 1&2 fan)

Preface:
Following in the footsteps of a heavy hitter like Halo 2 is no easy task. A lot of what I have to say in this review is heavily influenced by the fact that I have logged over 15,000 games of Halo 2 in the past 3 years. A lot of what I have to say won't make sense to people who didn't play a lot of Halo 2, and newbies to the Halo franchise might love the things that I hate.

PRESENTATION

There's not a lot to say about Halo 3's presentation that isn't extremely positive. The menus are thorough, easy to navigate, and FULL of options. There are tons of controller settings, a gazillion options, the Forge, save films, etc. The multiplayer menus are stellar and full of options. The customizable armor is awesome and really fun to play with. The game is laid out very well. This game IS a full package presentation wise. The only downside to the presentation is that Halo 3 utilizes the absolutely RANCID Xbox 360 dashboard menu system for joining games, sending party invites, etc. The X360 dashboard is a horrific work of Satan. Everytime you push a button, there is a delay. I hate that shit and I wish Halo 3 would have had its own interface for all in game options. But as this really isn't Halo's fault, and rather an Xbox flaw, this doesn't change my scoring

Presentation: 10/10

GRAPHICS

Halo 3 is remarkable in the graphics department, especially when you take the time to stop and look at things. But it has one major downfall: aliasing. Jaggies ultimately damage this game graphically by preventing the full package. Every texture has tremendous detail, and every character has ridiculous amounts of detail. The use of the color pallet is fantastic and the HDR lighting blows you away. But those damn jaggies make the game look messy. Straight edges move when you move. This becomes bad on a larger TV. It is worth noting that I didn't notice jaggies on my 30" HD-CRT, but on my 56" HD-ILA TV, jaggies are everywhere. I don't know if this is a result of the strange resolution, or a lack of FSAA, but its a problem, it really hurts the game visually. Or, it prevents the game from being the best graphically. Overall, this game is still beautiful. And most people probably aren't playing on 56" screens and sitting 7 feet away. Besides the jaggies, the game looks phenomenal.

Graphics: 9/10

STORY

**Blank sections contain campaign spoilers. HIGHLIGHT the blank sections with your mouse to read if you have finished the campaign.**

Bungie told us over and over that Halo 3 would finish all the fights you started and tie up most all of the loose ends. At the end of Halo 2, the MC was on board the Forerunner Dreadnaught occupied by the Prophet of Truth heading toward Earth. A great deal of suspicion surrounds Truth, as his motives are highly questionable in Halo 2. I could write a book on the situation surrounding the mysterious Prophet of Truth and all of his deceit. The Elites have been betrayed by the Brutes, and are now at war. At the end of Halo 2, the MC is still killing Elites (whom are fighting Brutes) but the Arbiter, the Elite "leader" so to speak, has allied with Sgt Johnson to stop the activation of a Halo ring. All the while, the Flood, a horrific parasitic lifeform that consumes all has spread throughout High Charity, Halo installation 05 and installation 04. So now Truth is heading to Earth to both conquer it, and to activate the Ark, which will activate ALL halo rings.

The above are the major crises leading into Halo 3. Sadly, none of them are resolved to my satisfaction.
*spoiler section*
Halo 2 robbed us of our big fight with the Covenant on Earth. All we want for Halo 3 is to defend our god-damn planet. But we are robbed of that again. First, instead of dishing out some ass-kickery on the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief decides to JUMP off of it in orbit and land somewhere in an African Jungle. He survives, as most of the Spartans in the book Fall of Reach survive an orbit jump, but then in the campaign, the Master Chief takes fall damage when he falls from a certain hight.

So we are robbed of our battle on the Forerunner ship, and instead fight through a lush jungle, a level that was entirely built to show off graphics and not assist the story. Johnson and the Arbiter are there, and you fight along side them. So next you evacuate a military base, which works well with the "defend Earth" plot that we all wanted, then we dole out some death on the highway to the Ark, which the Covies are unearthing as we battle. You destroy some AA batteries, etc, all fun.

Now here's where things get messed up. The Ark opens up a portal or wormhole apparently to some remote destination outside of our galaxy?!?!?!?!? to which the Covenant fleet enters. We aren't told this, but APPARENTLY the ENTIRE covenant fleet enters the portal and just leaves earth. And when I say ENTIRE, I mean every last fucking ship in the fleet. More on this later. So the Covenant fleet leaves, and suddenly a new Covenant ship enters Earth's atmosphere, and its badly damaged and filled with Flood. So the goal now is to destroy the ship's reactor, melting the entire city, and eliminating all the Flood that just hit Earth so as to save the rest of the planet. Great, lets do it. But instead, when we finally battle our way to the ship, we just grab a transmission from Cortana and leave! We don't blow up anything!!! Ok, fine.

So the next cutscene shows the Elites and the humans working together, as if in the past 24 hours, we magically arrived at some monumental treaty and all Elites are now friends with the humans. Fine, feed me shit and I'll eat it, since after all, this is Halo 3.

Lord Hood says to the Elite Shipmaster "you've already glassed half my planet," and by that, we are to understand that the Elites have COMPLETELY irradicated ANY Flood threat on Earth. Ok, fine, whatever you say. Even though I was not aware of it at the time, apparently there is no more threat on Earth at this point. So off we go into the portal to some random spot outside the galaxy. We arrive on this weird Forerunner bowl like structure where all the Covenant ships are (even though only a small number are shown) and fighting ensues. So now as if Earth, High Charity, and 7 Halos weren't enough battlegrounds, we have a NEW place to fight OTHER THAN EARTH, WHERE WE ALL WANT TO FIGHT. This battleground is a big bowl outside of the galaxy connected to the Ark by a wormhole, and it is also called the Ark, and from here, you can set off ALL the halos. Fuck it, I'll believe anything at this point.

So we fight here, Kill Truth, stop the rings from going off INSIDE the galaxy, but then the flood shows up INSIDE portal, meaning that High Charity had to pass through the portal ON Earth. (but we are to believe that no flood jumped off the ship. Remember, Earth is still completely safe) Then magically, the Ark builds Halos, so we go onto High Charity, supposedly destroy it, yet the enormous explosion of High Charity's reactors detonating that would destroy an entire star system doesn't damage ANYTHING inside the Ark, NOR does it kill the Gravemind whom was living on High Charity. We then climb on board and activate the Halo that the Ark was building, OUTSIDE of our galaxy, kill all the Covenant, and trap the flood way the hell outside of our galaxy and close the portal. Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not six. There are so many retarded assumptions that you have to make to believe this shit. I gave you a preview of them. I have read all the Halo books TWICE, and I have 100x more questions than I did before I played Halo 3.

Problems with the story:
A) They completely abandoned the Prophet of Truth plotline and the entire Elite's plotline
B) Too much not-believable stuff that was WAY too far fetched for me to accept.
C) Minimal fighting on Earth, and too many new pointless battlegrounds.
D) Completely ignored the implications of our actions (like supposedly destroying High Charity; just one of MANY examples)

Good things about the story:
A) Without going into spoiler territory, let me just say that the actual END ending was perfect. A great story ends where it begins, and Halo 3 literally ends the trilogy right where it began. I don't think they could have had a better last 10 seconds of narration.
B) From a Non Halo freak standpoint, less storytelling and more killing might be compelling to smaller minded players. Some players with less complex functioning minds can't comprehend the vastness of an intricate story and may be turned off.
C) Fighting with the Elites kicks fucking ass.

Story: 4/10

MULTIPLAYER

This next sentence might shock you (coming from me). I absolutely fucking HATE the Halo 3 multiplayer. I think it is a slap in the face to everyone who played Halo 2 online after the first 6 months, and I'll tell you why. First I'll tell you what I like about multiplayer, then I'll tell you what I hate.

Multiplayer looks fantastic and is full of amazing effects. Explosions, armor permutations, crazy lighting effects, and superb multiplayer maps make for a fun multiplayer game for anyone who is new to the Halo franchise. Finding and getting into a game is easier than any video game in history (tied with Halo 2) and there is a great variety of playlists. The playlists, I feel, have improved in a few ways over Halo 2, but there are a few changes that I don't prefer. The equipment adds a whole new dynamic to the game which I really enjoy. The equipment isn't gamechanging, but it is fun. The game doesn't require you to collect the equipment to do well, but on the other hand, equipment can get you out of tricky situations sometimes. I think this was a great addition. The scoring breakdown post game, your ability to re-watch the game in your save film, and the tie in with Bungie.net is remarkable. The bar has been set ridiculously high, and it will be years before anyone can even TOUCH the bar that has been set by Bungie on this multiplayer game.

The maps are, in my personal opinion, pretty darn good. I don't really dislike any maps, and there are a handful that are extremely fun. They all look great, have good vehicle placement, and make for decent games. Most of them don't have any spots where people clump up and camp, so there is good map movement. I'm pretty happy with the maps.

Now the interesting part; why Halo 3 was specifically designed piss me off. My girlfriend/eventual wife is in her first year of Nursing school at a prestigious University in my city that only admits 150 out of 500+ applicants to their nursing program each year. That means that she studies her fucking ass off 5 nights a week, and I don't have shit to do! I was counting on Halo 3 to fill that void and keep me busy at least for another year or two when she graduates. I have a friend with no life whatsoever and we played Halo 2 several nights a week for 3 years. Now, obviously with 15,000 games under my belt, I got quite good at Halo. I played smarter than most people, I shot straighter, sniped more accurately, had much quicker reflexes, etc. Those are qualities that resulted in exemplary play in Halo 2. Halo 2 was a game where the very strong were rewarded by success, and the very weak were slaughtered like pigs. But Halo 2 was balanced enough by various tweaks to make it fun for everyone.

Anyways, Bungie decided "to hell with the people who will be playing in 2 years, lets make a game that appeals to the dumb fucks who can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground." And off they went, handicapping EVERY aspect of the game that could give STRONG players an advantage over weak players. The next few paragraphs will describe different ways that Bungie has crippled this game for long term players.

The first order of business was to hand every player a massive killing machine upon their spawn. Make no mistake, the AR (starting weapon) is the best weapon in the game. There are seldom situations that an AR won't get you out of. Most battles in Halo 3 include one person killing another, then instantly being killed. This is because the AR deals out so much damage that its literally impossible to kill two people with it at once without dying (unless one person is completely unaware of your presence). Sure, you can take out two people with a grenade and a few shots, but two people shooting you with the AR is INSTANT death. 5 AR bullets + a melee attack = INSTANT death. This gun shoots about 7-10 rounds a second, and only 5 bullets will be enough to wound a player enough to kill him with a melee attack. The AR starts makes the game boring. Every battle is short and uninteresting. The AR sounds like a pellet gun and its stupid. The AR starts also render 90% of other weapons in the game useless. EVERY dual weldable weapon is now useless. You CAN dual wield weapons, but they are ultimately a handicap to do so. Why? Because although SOME dual wielding combos WILL do more damage than the AR, you cannot throw a grenade while dual wielding. Some control schemes will allow you to melee (which drops a weapon) but the grenade button is shared with the left gun. Without grenades, you won't last more than a couple kills. So basically there are all these sweet combinations of weapons laying around on the maps, but nobody uses ANY of them! They just sit there! And that just sucks.

The second horrible flaw is the melee system. In Halo 2, the first person to melee gets the kill (assuming that both players have taken enough damage). In Halo 3, if two players (who have both taken enough damage) melee each other within about .5 seconds of each other, the person with MORE HEALTH gets the kill. Let me explain: Suppose I spot an enemy and we both run towards each other shooting. Lets say I fired six bullets and timed my melee attack perfectly so that I hit him right as he comes into melee range. But he has slower reflexes, and he kept firing, and fired seven bullets at me, then meleed me AFTER I meleed him because he REACTED SLOWER and kept firing instead of melee attacking. Since I took seven bullets and he took six, I would die and he would survive, even though I meleed him a half second earlier than he meleed me. This single feature alone severely cripples Halo 3 to the point that I honetly don't even want to continue playing it. What was once a slight advantage is now a handicap. Being quick witted with fast reflexes is now a DISADVANTAGE. So the slow minded weak players who are slow to react ultimately are able to topple the quickest and the strongest players in battle. I cannot even begin to imagine what was going through their heads when they decided on this.

Another way that Bungie has crippled their own masterpiece was by handicapping every single power weapon to the point where they are hardly usable by even the great players. #1: the Sniper rifle. The sniper rifle has been horrifically handicapped. It both fires slower, and it is incredibly difficult to hit people. (and it occasionally hits people but does no damage) In Halo 2, I was a magnificent sniper. When I had a sniper rifle, bodies started dropping. In Halo 3, I am a downright awful sniper. There is basically zero magnetism or friction with the sniper rifle when zoomed. And analog control sticks are not very friendly. Bungie will have you believe that "the sniper takes more skill." Saying that something "takes more skill" is just another way of saying that its a huge piece of shit that doesn't work. By this logic, it "takes more skill" to play football in high heels. It "takes more skill" to drive with your putter and putt with your driver. It "takes more skill" to read in the dark. It "takes more skill" to masterbate to a baseball game. This logic, or lackthereof, makes me want to vomit in a ziplock bag and UPS it to Bungie Studios. Now I'm not saying that since I was a rockin sniper in Halo 1 and Halo 2, I deserve to be an awesome sniper in Halo 3, but they have again crippled the power weapons to the point where you are almost at a disadvantage to using them.

Weapon #2: The sword. Weak players hated the sword in Halo 2. Why? Because they would always get slaughtered by it. Strong players loved the sword, because if they didn't have the sword, they would attack whoever did. And when they got it, they would dominate. The sword has been handicapped in 4 severe ways.
1) It holds a charge. I agree with this one. If someone is dominating with the sword, make it eventually run out. Perfect! Done? NOPE! LETS FUCK IT UP SOME MORE!
2) It is no longer a secret. Smart players would whip out the sword and instantly slash you to death. Now it sits GLOWING on your leg! Oh look, that guy has a sword on his leg! Better back away and spray him with my AR!
3) It takes about 1.5 seconds before you can use the sword, after you pull it out. So lets suppose you do sneak up on someone, you whip out your sword, but he can actually kill you with his AR before you even have the OPPORTUNITY to use the sword. Pathetic.
4) the Lock range has been reduced by about 50%
So the sword is now actually a handicap. The only way to actually do good with it is to camp around a corner and wait for someone to walk by. Its pathetic.

The only weapon that actually improved was the shotgun. The shotgun works now, and it works like the H2 shotgun should have. But it has only a 6 shell capacity and holds 12 in reserve, but usually spawns with only 6 or 12 total. All in all, this is one weapon that was drastically improved all around. There are more things that I could bitch about weapons wise, but I'm sick of it for now, so I'm moving on.

[i]Basically, you should be getting the point that multiplayer is built for the weak. It caters towards the players who will not be playing Halo 3 in a year. They call it "balance," but don't be fooled. There is nothing good about this so called balanced in Halo 3. Balance means a state of equilibrium. And every weapon is in a state of equilibrium with every other weapon, meaning that there is much less opportunity for good players to excel. Where in Halo 2 I was 20 kills 5 deaths, in Halo 3 you are 13 kills, 11 deaths. More games end 49-50. This is good for newbie players, but this will ultimately turn people away from Halo 3 faster. People keep playing a game because they can excel, do well, and have fun. Halo 3 just ensures you that you can't dominate like you used to, no matter how good you are.

Anyway, moving on. The next section of multiplayer that I hate is the voice system. In ranked games, there is open chat. (which I hate) When I get killed by a guy, I don't need my team to hear me yell "WTF?" And I don't need to hear my teammates yelling the N word when they die. Push to talk worked perfectly in Halo 2. They hear you when you want to be heard. Unranked games have push to talk chat, but the push to talk button is the D-Pad, which is horrendously inconvenient. Instead of having it conveniently located at LB, we need individual fucking reload buttons, so now chat has been bumped to D-Pad. (nevermind the fact that there are only THREE dual wieldable weapons that even require a reload, and nobody even uses them, nor do they reload them separately!!!) Anyway, they waste a whole button on reloading your left weapon. These flaws in logic are unforgivable.

So anyway, ranked games, open chat. Unranked, push to talk. OR SO IT SEEMS. Random maps and random playlists have open chat. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this system at all. Here's the worst part: In push to talk games, there is no proximity voice enabled for YOUR OWN TEAM. So if you are standing in a circle of teammates and enemies, and you speak WITHOUT pushing the D-Pad, the enemies will hear you, but your own team will not. WTF??? So when my friend and I are in a warthog for 20 minutes, we can't hear each other without pushing the D-pad and talking to the ENTIRE team. Un-friggin-believable. We have to go into a private chat when we play unranked, just so we can talk to each other without annoying everyone else in the game, but then we can't hear anyone else on our team and they can't hear us. Its pathetic.

My overall assessment of multiplayer is a bit cynical. The multiplayer is excellent at face value, but when you really break it down, its pathetic. Now let me just say that my entire view of this game's multiplayer is ENTIRELY based on the fact that I have played 15,000 games of Halo 2, so I have certain expectations and I am used to certain things. While I predict that these things I've noted will ultimately cause me to stop playing this game earlier, (or hopefully stop playing video games altogether) it doesn't change the fact that multiplayer is still the best experience in online console gaming. For this reason, and to be fair to Halo 3, I am listing two ratings for this section: one is based on my finicky expectations and is comparative to Halo 2, and the other is comparative to all other console games and from an outsider's perspective (or someone who won't be playing this game for the next three years).

Multiplayer (my perspective): 6/10

Multiplayer (outsider perspective): 10/10

CONCLUSION

I know I just bitched for an hour, but I can't lie, this game is still great. I am just very frustrated with it because of a handful of small things that really hurt the experience for experienced players like myself. This is not to say that 75% of the people playing this game don't 100% disagree with me. (this would be expected, as most people playing Halo 3 havent bee playing Halo 2 all this time) This also isn't to say that if you buy this game, you won't absolutely love it. These subtle "balance" issues hurt the lasting appeal to me, whom was planning on taking this game well into 2009. But that probably won't happen, as I can only tolerate a K/D ratio of 1.2 for so long...

The fact is that this game blows away every other game ever created by man, but it is far from perfect. Its in a class of its own. To rate it as an 8 would not reflect the industry, but it certainly is no 10. Therefore, I agree with most reviewers scores. Thanks for reading.

Overall: 9.5/10