| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Xbox 360 | 9.30 |
| Overall | 9.30 |
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Halo 3 is the best of the original Halo trilogy. I say that being a huge fan of the original Halo's campaign and hating Halo 2's campaign (but loving its multiplayer). Halo 3 retains all the elements that made Halo 1's campaign so amazing while removing most of what was wrong with it. This is mostly a campaign only review but my score takes into account the incredible online modes included which I have dabbled in. As a total package Halo 3 is absolutely one of the best games this gen, I just wish I was there when the online was still new. Halo 3's campaign makes me want to scream at so many FPSs, I don't get how this genre is filled with so many basic corridor style games. Here is a game that has those in your face corridor like moments but effortlessly mixes those which large open environments. My favorite part of these games is when you jump into a vehicle and enter a battle, few games recreate the feeling of an actual war battle than Halo. Granted the scale is very small, usually it is you with a few AI helpers, a small group of vehicles against a decent amount of enemies; but it works for this game. I love the battles where you can choose between two or three vehicles and you go off against giant scarabs, wraiths, banshees. I would die over and over only to have the battle play out a different way each time. The biggest improvement over Halo 1 is that there is almost no backtracking or repetitive looking environments. The story keeps Master Chief moving from location to location and keeps the setpieces as varied as possible. The arbiter is reduced to an AI sidekick which is so much better than the terrible split story of Halo 2. The only area where the campaign really falters is when the flood shows up. For some strange reason Bungie believes removing the great AI enemies and exchanging them with mindless zombie enemies that simply charge at you is what players want for the grand finale. It reduces Halo to just another boring FPS and it sucks that the final two missions are basically just that. At least Halo 1 had a moment where there was a battle with all three factions going at it, here it is mostly kept separate, you either fight covenant or flood. Also Halo 3 really suffers from series fatigue as it does very little to move the gameplay forward. All the neat additions are well done but they are just neat, not game changing in anyway. Yes it is the best campaign but it still feels like Halo 1. It kind of looks like Halo 1 as well, this game is UGLY for a 360 game. If someone told me this was an Xbox game upscaled in HD I would have said "that makes sense". I need to commend Bungie for ending this trilogy in such an exciting and well crafted manner. The story stays exciting from beginning to end, the music is movie worthy and the game is immensely replayable. |
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Posted by Dvader Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:19:17
Halo 3 was a killer game but I still feel Combat Evolved was better overall, and my feelings were reinforced after playing the Anniversary Edition.
Mostly because I just loved the vibe and the setting of the 1st game...and the Flood were actually ENJOYABLE in CE...they added a horror element that, for some reason, was absent from the rest of the series.
I agree that Halo 3 did a better job of avoiding backtracking though.
343 should just remake Halo 2 and redo the entire campaign.