Australian Gamer Review

BOXES AND STATIONS DON'T MIX

Halo 3

Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on: Xbox 360

Halo 3 is the game that will make, or break, the X-Box 360. Breaking the sales record set by its predecessor, big things were expected by both the casual and competitive communities alike in this installment. I�d like to say that they weren�t let down, but Halo 3 is not the ultimate Halo title I was quite expecting.

Players: 1 - 16 Players (xbox live)
Genre:
Release: 2007-09-25

Developer: Bungie
Distributor: Microsoft

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I suppose a lot of people will look at this review, see �Starks�, and think �Here we go. A biased, pro-Bungie, fan boy review of an over hyped, generic game.�

Actually, I�m fairly sure the second Joaby and J1n see I�m helping review this title, they�ll probably switch to Samo�s or Phil�s interpretations in their attempt to get an unbiased and relatively accurate presentation to the game.

Without going on too much about my whole life story, I�d say it�s a fairly accurate statement to say I�ve ~~wasted~~ spent a fair amount of my time playing Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and I�d say I�m destined to put a relatively large amount of my time into Halo 3. In that 5 year span, I�ve travelled to Brisbane and Melbourne to play in competitions, meet friends who I�ve only heard their voices over live, helped organise competitions and generally enjoyed time spent with people who have a higher than normal interest in this franchise.

Indeed, you could say that in many direct and indirect ways, Halo is the reason I am part of Australian Gamer. Had Bungie not created Halo, I would have never met Yug or Matt.

*Turns head slightly*

I think I just heard Matt cursing Bungie.

Anyways, I owe a lot to the game, because it brought me into the wonderful world of the gaming community. And in it, I�ve become much more aware of what the games industry is all about.

So what the hell does this have to do with Halo 3?

Well, pretty much nothing at all. I just wanted to see how long I could ramble on before *Slap*

Yes Yug, I�ll get a wriggle on now.

Halo 3 is the game that will make, or break, the X-Box 360. Breaking the sales record set by its predecessor, big things were expected by both the casual and competitive communities alike in this instalment.

I�d like to say that they weren�t let down, but Halo 3 is not the ultimate Halo title I was quite expecting.

�Shock and horror� says J1n and Joaby.

So let me begin in this little epic title I like to call �Starkemus Prime � Finishing his Fight.�

One of the major things I�ve always loved about the original Halo was the story line. Hours, and hours and hours were spent by myself and my brother playing split screen co-op to the point where we knew the levels back to front. Legendary was just hard enough, grunts never ceased to amaze me with how well the stuck their own kin rather than �The Demon�, gold Elites were mongrels to kill and Hunters at close combat hit harder than a cement truck.

Halo 2 was a major let down. Bland, boring, and leaving me with a bitter taste, the campaign really was rubbish. The brutes gave me diarrhoea, the later level designs on the Delta Halo were complete and utter garbage, and the ending to the story was the most anti climatic and disappointing I�ve had since I finished Bubble Bobble 15 years ago. Bungies attempt at a cliff-hanger was about as successful as The OC when Marissa shot dead Ryan�s brother.

�

Not that I watch that stuff�

So, I was expecting Bungie to pull out all their tricks for this one. Whilst I will not rave endlessly about the campaign story itself, it did leave me satisfied, and thankfully the entire design went back to its original concept; Sweeping landscapes, multiple methods of passing checkpoints and the key element to the game that I found was not in either of the last was that I was playing through each level with the intention to discover what happened next in the story � Something sorely lacking in Halo 2.

To put it bluntly, Bungie did justice to the story, and despite one of the last few levels being about as much fun to play through as passing a watermelon would be, the story itself captured my imagination. The developers themselves seem to have really emphasised the desire to make the game play as much like a movie with human involvement as possible.

Intermittent scenes where Cortana would break into one of her many ramblings was different, and although I found it to be somewhat distracting at times, it gave a new and alternative perspective to the game that I found interesting.

Probably my one main gripe is that Bungie didn�t attempt to do anything revolutionary. I would imagine that the backlash they suffered at the hands of fans who ridiculed Halo 2�s storyline and campaign would have contributed to their desire to stick to the basics and in the immortal words of Gold Five �Stay on target!� However, I thought there was room for improvement in the actual game play, rather than just adding new weapons, new vehicles and new gadgets.

The skull system, one of the shining lights of Halo 2�s campaign, was built upon and this I believe is a positive move and gives replay ability to the campaign. The Skull�s, for those who are thinking it�s a secret society for American College Boys, are items found within the campaign levels themselves. When you find one of these skulls you pick it up, and when you return to the menu it allows you to activate them when you play a level.

The activation will see special powers, abilities, added difficulties or just plain entertaining additions brought into the game. For instance, one Skull you can find means that for each head shot you hit a grunt with, party streamers will fly out of his dead head and the grunts around him will cheer. Amusing, to say the least. Especially when you�ve had a few beers and you�ve got some mates playing co-op with you.

The co-op system, now allowing you to have 4 players within the game itself, is not so much revolutionary as it is the creation of a benchmark. What Gears of War did was fantastic, and allowed two players to entertain themselves in the campaign whilst online. Halo 3 simply raises the bar a little higher by allowing four players to enjoy this option.

Probably one of the biggest drawcards the campaign offers is the exceptional music, sounds and atmospheric noises you will hear as you run, jump and drive through the game. Martin O�Donnell has done one of the most superb jobs that really gives the campaign experience that epic feel. Throughout the Halo series, O�Donnell�s music has gone from strength to strength, and this is definitely his finest work. Playing this game on a 5.1 Dolby at least once is advised, even if you don�t like the game.

Graphically, the game is superior to its predecessors, although you really have to look to see the major differences. Little things like water effects, back drops in both campaign and multiplayer to the maps, details on the MC, the enemies and vehicles are sensational, and the lighting effects are fantastic. Even to the point of walking out of a dark room to a brightly lit environment sees the screen adjust to the difference just like the human eye.

The graphics are bright, shiny, and different in look to, say, Warzone, Resistance: Fall of Man and Gears of War. The palette for these games is more drab and darker. Halo 3 is brighter, more intense colours, and in effect more attractive. They reflect the feel of the game itself, and I think this is an important thing.

In the end, the campaign finishes in a rather nostalgic and appropriate fashion. Again, I won�t go any further lest I ruin someone�s enjoyment but I will tell you to watch after the credits for what I am sure will be a much appreciated cut scene.

As much as I will enjoy replaying the campaign levels, the bulk of this game itself lies in the multiplayer itself.

Let me first start off by saying that there are effectively many levels of enjoyment received by a person when playing a multiplayer FPS. From the casual enjoyment of killing fellow friends (but most likely Americans) in Match Making, to hardcore custom games fuelled by the desire to win competitions through to drunken corpse humping; Many people get a rise out of the most unusual of elements presented in FPS�s.

For mine, the competitive slaughter that is found within custom games is an allure as strong to me as performing a Houdini by certain members of this site.

With a Battle Rifle start, these practice games are not only quite competitive, they�re also very loud and often require unbroken concentration in order to perform. For a vocal and passionate element of the community, this is the balls and bowels of the game.

Glitches, weapon spawns, accuracy and understanding the most intricate of elements the game offers is what separates the good players from the great. As someone who eagerly observes the game when not in the hot seat myself, there are a number of positives to this game that need mentioning. These positives are also metered with a few negatives, however.

Auto aim and reticule magnetism were two of the biggest problems this game needed to address. Halo:CE provided the competitive player with an almost uncapped potential for skill differentiation that allowed the best of players to put on show their incredible individual skills. People often complain the pistol was overpowered, and a 3 shot kill (I.E. Three head shots with a pistol resulted in a kill) was not desirable.

As a result, Bungie watered down the pistol for Halo 2, and implemented the Battle Rifle; a semi automatic, 3 bullet burst weapon requiring 4 shots to the head to kill. The only problem with this is that a player was able to place the reticule onto the head of an opponent and effectively the auto aim and magnetism took over; taking out a fair degree of the skill required for aiming.

Frustrating to players worldwide, this drop in the skill gap saw people vocally rejected Halo 2 as a lesser skilled game, although to its credit the level of teamwork required for success was a much higher evolved element in the game than what was seen in Halo:CE.

Halo 3 builds on the groundwork laid by Halo:CE, and takes successful parts of Halo 2�s focus on team work to leave us with what Halo 3 is.

Auto aim and magnetism have been reduced to almost Halo:CE levels. Little things like grenade jumping, weapon nading and even the hint of leading have been reintroduced to combine with a cleaner HUD, better game customisation and an emphasis on superior team work have all been mixed into the Bungie melting pot and voila � We�re left with a game that has untapped competitive potential.

There are, however, some very frustrating components of the game that need to be worked on. The map design is one that irks me. There are some fantastic maps to play games on, with Guardian, Narrows and The Pit the main three and are superbly designed. But maps like Isolation, Snowbound, Epitaph and Construct just� lack something to me. I don�t know what it is, but they annoy me.

Construct and Isolation possess the most potential out of those maps, and should be played competitively. But there�s something frustrating to the map itself that I have yet to put my finger on.

Last Resort, Sand Trap and Valhalla are reasonable even though they�re not necessarily competitive maps. They�re concise, well designed and considerably enjoyable when in large parties. You do require a BR start for the map, as the AR�s short range will leave you stranded if you spawn in the open.

High Ground is good. It�s solid, enjoyable, and quite a lot of fun when playing 1 Flag CTF or Team Slayer.. However, the spawns need to be tweaked a little to prevent spawn camping.

My main gripe is I think Bungie needs to make a lot more maps. And they need isometrically interesting ones similar to Chillout, Damnation, Lockout etc as well as symmetrically appropriate maps like Midship, Sanctuary and Derelict. I�m not saying they need exact design remakes (Although I�d like to see this done for Middy and Chill Out), but designing good maps is a key to the game. So far, I think Halo 3 is lacking in this department.

Two new and interesting features that have certainly been huge hits so far are Forge and Theatre.

Forge, which is essentially a map editor rather than creator, allows the player to fly around as Guilty Sparks and edit what weapons are on maps, where players spawn, placement of fusion cores, boxes and the like as well as impacting weapon respawn times as well.

Whilst I have no doubt this will be used in creative and fun ways, this is a blessing for competitive players who can turn otherwise unbalanced maps into level playing ground for tournaments. Take Ivory Towers from Halo 2 as an example. The map itself was a brilliant design, but the amount of power weapons that affected level control and balance was skewed towards the team who spawned at bottom elevator.

From there, they had access to the Over Shield, Sword and Sniper. This made it quite a one sided affair for the team that locked down that area. However, Forge gives you the ability to tweak this and turn an otherwise lop sided map into one that is fair for both sides.

Theatre, on the other hand, is a fantastic resource to those wishing to create montages, record cheating behaviour, machinima artists and just people who want to spread funny pictures or movies.

With the ability to swivel, contort and use the X, Y and Z axis in game to record, screenshot and just view any game you have played in is not only a cool feature, but one I am sure will be adopted by many more FPS� in the future.

So what is my final verdict on this game?

Not one that is easily given. Halo 3 is what the general public should have received in November 2004 as Halo 2 in terms of campaign design and multiplayer. In some ways, I�m loving what Halo 3 can and will be: An extraordinary console shooter that will be the benchmark for competitive console gaming in years to come. Its level of depth, required skill and the enjoyment people will receive will no doubt stand the test of time. Future console shooters will, rightfully or not, be measured up to this title and the comparisons will likely dictate the success of the new release rather than being allowed to stand on its own as an alternative to Bungies FPS.

But this game really feels to me to simply be Halo 2.5. No extraordinary advances to the game play have been made. The engine feels the same, albeit slightly slower and more in tune with H:CE, but definitely not new. The story was finished, and satisfactorily, but without Bungie taking risks or contributing something new to the genre.

The multiplayer itself is a massive step in the right direction, but still suffers from some poor map designs. The weapons are generally better, and the Needler is finally something you can use with some degree of success. But some attention to detail, such as Plasma guns stunning opponents, is just lacking a little bit for me. Add to this the fact that most Covenant weaponry is simply human weaponry with a different name and skin to it, and you can definitely see where people get the impression that the game is �generic�.

I really see no use for the Spiker, or the Mauler for that matter. The SMG seems totally pointless to me, especially since the Assault Rifle has been re-birthed. The Pistol confuses me, as it�s useless when wielded singularly due to its pathetically slow rate of fire, but when dual wielded, seems somewhat capable.

A couple more little things bug me. The Rocket Launcher, a 15kg + weapon not doing any more melee damage than a 15g plasma pistol is frustrating. The Brute Shot, with a giant freaking blade on it, does not do more damage with melee than an SMG. Considering past incarnations of the game have seen one hit beat downs when you jump and melee takes some of the skill away from using these weapons.

Previously, one hit beat downs with the flag and the oddball have been the norm, and added some variety and skill to taking the objective. However, both now possess a melee strong enough to kill an opponent without requiring you to jump and melee to the head.

Little things like this is the attention to detail that fans expect from Bungie, and were a part of Halo:CE, and in some cases even Halo 2, but are lacking in Halo 3.

Add to this the fact that I�ve noticed a few problems with the hit boxes when using the sniper and I suppose you could blame me for overanalysing. Suffice to say that a few head shots I�ve made, where I see blood coming out of the player, have not resulted in deaths, and its a little frustrating.

When reducing the number of grenades a player can carry, Bungie then included the Incendiary and Spike grenade. However, they failed to place the Incendiary on any of the multiplayer maps that I can see, and for that matter made them scarce in the campaign, which begs the question of �Why include it if you don�t at least use it?� The Spike grenade is useful, although more of a duplicate of the Plasma. I personally think that whole element to the grenades could have been better thought through.

Perhaps I�m being too harsh? I�m not really sure, but it�s better to be truthful about the game than over complimentary. If I wanted to rim MS and Bungie, I�d have applied to Gamespot or IGN or something.

I guess as a fan, I feel like I�ve been waiting for this ultimate game for so long, that when it came along and didn�t meet every single expectation I held, then I feel slightly gypped. That�s not to say the game isn�t good. I�m merely suggesting that Bungie could have done a whole lot more for it than what they have.

In any case, I have so far enjoyed my experience with the game. The reduction of auto aim and magnetism for mine have been such huge improvements that it�s overshadowed a few of the negatives I�ve mentioned. The Match Making system now having a regional focus (Or �Find Best Connection� for those not quite sure what I�m getting at) means more enjoyable, less lag-affected games. This generally means I�m playing more Aussies or ~~sheep shaggers~~ Kiwi�s, and that�s a positive improvement for the local gaming community.

The elements of Forge will benefit the competitive community to no end, and is something I�m really looking forward to exploring. The Theatre will help in the eventual creation of my long awaited � Read �No-one really cares� � montage to show off my ~~fluke kills~~ skills, and I don�t doubt that Bungie will support the game with continuous updates and content.

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Final Verdict

The game is good. Groundbreaking? No. Phenomenon? Yes, especially for what it will do to the X-Box Live population and the million people playing it. For the hardcore, it satisfies many competitive needs, but I do believe it could have done much more. For the casual, it's perhaps a rehash, and looking very generic against story driven games such as Bioshock, but the multiplayer side of things will no doubt keep the part time player enjoying his experience.

Perhaps I'm too harsh? Perhaps I'm not a fanboy? I'm going to enjoy this game. A lot. But I guess I can just see that I could enjoy the game a whole lot more had a few other things been included.

Pros
Competitively, the game will be brilliant. High level of skill required, solid teamwork, and Forge will help create competitive gameplay. The fight is finished rather appropriately. I think most fans will be happy with the way the game ends. The sound by Marty O'Donnell is fantastic.
Cons
Some attention to detail in the multiplayer is lacking, as well as more maps. The campaign was really a rehash, with no real ground breaking advances. Would be more appropriately titled Halo 2.5 in some ways.