Halo 3 would mark the series debut on the Xbox 360. The hype surrounding Halo 3 before it was released was just insane. This was no reboot on a new console either. Halo 3 was a direct continuation from Halo 2.
Story & Presentation
Halo 3 would see a great and interesting progression in the Halo story. By now the Halo universe had greatly expanded thanks to the novels which had been released. Now mankind is fighting alongside the Covenant Elites as they try to not only save the planet, but the universe as well. The Flood and The Brutes are your main enemies this time around. And as well as Master Chief trying to stop them you are also trying to find Cortana as well. Halo 3 from a story point of view is amazing. The Halo universe now was much more fleshed out.
Graphically this game at the time was pretty jaw dropping. There was a noticeable leap in the quality of the graphics from Halo 2 to Halo 3. The levels now looked amazing and there was a great variety as well. Jungle, underground bases and snow covered levels are just a few of what the game has to offer. Some people will say that the games character models are not too great, but I have never had an issue with them.
Gameplay
Halo 3 has that same core game play. While he makes an appearance during the campaign you do not play as The Arbiter this time around. You are Master Chief for the whole campaign which is something many people were very happy about. The campaign is amazing. I love the way that it makes you really feel like you are involved in this huge intergalactic war. The game is harder than the previous two games and on many occasions you will have you back firmly against the wall trying to survive.
There are some amazing set pieces where you need to take down some of the Covenants huge hulking vehicles. These are some of the highlights of the game for me and now even after all these years. These are sections of the game that I have fond memories of. The campaign will take you anywhere from 10-15 hours to beat. But it’s so much fun you will probably want to go back and beat it on the higher difficulties as well.
The multi player in Halo 3 was just huge. Now I will say right away that the Halo 3 community had a pretty bad reputation. But if you played with people you knew then the various different multi player modes were a great deal of fun. Forge was the big new mode that was added and in Forge you had a great deal of customisation at your finger tips. You could place weapons, barricades and pretty much anything you want onto the map. It was a real blast putting your own spin on multi player maps.
Final Thoughts
While many see Halo 2 as the pinnacle of the first part of the Halo trilogy to me this is the superior game. It has a better story, better graphics and it has more action as well. Halo 2 is a great game, but for me Halo 3 beats it in pretty much every way. I think even someone who was not sucked in by Halo 1 and 2 would appreciate this game as a great shooter.
