User Reviews (1 - 11 of 398)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

No BS, just an opinion

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 118 / 189
Date: September 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As a longtime fan of Bungie (going back to the original Marathon) it's very hard for me to say this, but like HALO2, HALO3 is a letdown. That said, it's a much better game overall than HALO2, so with that out of the way, let's get cracking.

CAMPAIGN: In a word, crap. In a sentence: fight your way towards a mission objective, push the button, then fight your way right back out the way you came. Repeat for for 6 to 7 hours. That's it. To be fair, the story arc manages to wrap itself up nicely (not that there's anything in HALO3 story-wise that couldn't have been done in HALO2, which I guess just illustrates how useless the second game was). The Arbiter campaign is dropped completely; instead, he's either your buddy or an AI player who simply follows you around (a la Dom in GEARS OF WAR). The first couple missions, set in Africa, fighting the Brutes, are pretty intense and fun. After that, the game does it's obligatory "let's jump to a new Halo ring and rehash the original game's campaign." Seriously disappointing. That said, you can now kill Scarabs (the big walker things) and Phantoms (the Covenant dropships) if you've got the time and willpower, which can be entertaining.

GRAPHICS & SOUND: It depends. If you're playing by yourself, in HD, then the game reveals some impressive texture work, awesome lighting, and slick particle effects. If you're playing in split-screen, the game tones back the effects for the sake of keeping the framerate up and the game looks like HALO2. Seriously. My roommate came in and thought it was HALO2. Not good. Granted, it's a lot cleaner than HALO2, without any of the awful draw-in and texturing nightmares, but the models are pretty much straight from the last chapter. Still, while the environmental textures and lighting are excellent, the game can't help but look dated next to GEARS OF WAR and the Unreal Engine. Sound is about what you'd expect. Marty O'Donnell returns and hammers out as many variations as he can on the HALO theme, from soft piano to rockin' guitars for the big battles.

So the campaign sucks and the graphics don't impress. Does this game do anything right, you might ask? The answer is multiplayer. HALO3 is 100 percent multiplayer focused. Almost every change, from weapon tweaking to the new control scheme (which feels very weird for the first few hours, but makes sense after that), is geared towards the fast-release, twitch-kill nature of the multiplayer arena. And in this area, HALO3 absolutely rocks. To be honest, HALO2's multiplayer was pretty terrible in terms of balance and level design. It was simply the only HALO that went online, so people played it. Now that HALO3 is here, there isn't literally a single reason to play HALO2 (except maybe the map Lockout, which sadly wasn't included). From items that you can deploy, like Bubble Shields and Radar Jammers, to more balanced weapons (the battle rifle is no longer quite so dominating, and the classic assault rifle from the first game is much better suited for creating a nice balance between gun, grenade, and melee attacks), HALO3 is noticeably more even and polished. The maps, in particular, are a serious step up from the dredge offered last time around. Almost every single map is more interesting, more complex and more fun to play than anything has given us before. Coupled with the weapons tweaks and new deployable equipment, HALO3 rises up as the premier multiplayer console first-person shooter. Forget RESISTANCE, QUAKE4, or CALL OF DUTY. In multiplayer, this game owns.

Ironically similar to MARATHON: INFINITY, HALO3 is a disappointment from a single-player standpoint, and wouldn't stand out at all were it not for the franchise name. Still, with the addition of the Forge Editor (which allows players to create custom game modes and make changes to the maps) and the replay theatre (which allows you to share and re-live your greatest game moments) atop of all the necessary, but subtle, improvements to the overal online mechanics, HALO3's lasting appeal is almost infinite. It really is a great game.
So long as you have people to play it with.

A Must-Own - But Not Perfection

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 56 / 74
Date: September 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Halo 3 was, in a way, doomed before it was released. No matter how well it did, people are going to judge its "wow factor" against how amazing the original Halo felt to play back when it first came out. Now that we are used to the weapons, races, environments and plotline, nothing is as cool as it was that first time. It's the same issue that plagues any series, be it Dune, the Matrix, Star Wars, etc.

Halo 3 does get a boost in that it is released for the 360, so you get an automatic upgrade in abilities there. We're playing on a high end HD TV, and yes, it looks really nice. The backgrounds look like a painting in motion, with swirling clouds and dancing dust storms. From the light glinting off the metal surfaces to the detailed shadows in the rocks, it can be really gorgeous. Is every detail as beautiful as every detail in, say Gears of War? Maybe not. Different developers focus on different items. There are always trade-offs for speed and visual appeal reasons. For a Halo world, I think they did a good job.

The sound and dialogue are really great. I like the background music, and I find much of the dialogue hilarious. There are some conversations that have me laughing out loud. This is a good game to play with your surround sound stereo system hooked up, and of course the subwoofers.

I hated the ending of Halo 2. I dislike it when a story finishes with a "and now wait a few years to find out what happened." They can at least have you feel like you achieved something, and ended a chapter. For that reason alone it's good to have Halo 3 here to wrap everything up.

Unfortunately, with all the time they spent in development, this third outing is a bit predictable. I really enjoyed the multi character play in Halo 2. I thought that was a great touch. They completely removed it for Halo 3, setting you back into a Master Chief only mode. To be honest, I really thought we'd get THREE races this time around, and get to play as the Flood too. Why reduce ourselves to just one?

Also, while there are a lot of "missions", some of them are maybe 5 minutes long. That's a bit on the short side. I realize you can go back and replay on harder and harder levels to challenge yourself - but they could have put more depth into the basic story line.

Now, all of those things being said, the key to any game in modern times is its multiplayer ability. No matter what single player game you play, it's pretty much a limited time game. Multiplayer is completely unlimited - and you're not stuck with the formulas built into the AI brains. Halo 3 is definitely the best multiplayer experience of the three games - the most balanced, the most fun, the best graphics. You could literally play this for years and not get bored of it.

So to summarize - if you don't have XBox Live, you could rent this game for a week, get through it and have a lot of fun. You'll be able to see how the story ends, get your Halo fix in and be happy. But if you do have XBox Live, you'll want to own this. Between replaying the base game on harder levels to improve your skills, and playing multi-player in a variety of maps and set-ups, you'll be happy for a long, long while.

There are many games we write a walkthrough for that we have to push ourselves to get through, but when we did our walkthrough for Halo 3, we really did have fun :) So that's always a good sign!

Halo has LIVED upto the HYPE! 1080P IS JUST CRAZY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 45 / 71
Date: September 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Since people are not reading the BOTTOM, I said Credit goes to X3F For this REVIEW, Just wanted to give people a review asap.

It's not often that we here at X3F get a chance to review a high profile title like Halo 3 before it hits store shelves, and it's an opportunity I'm not taking lightly. I've spent the last 48 hours (give or take a few hours for the requisite food and sleep) embedded deep within Halo 3, doing my best to categorize the experience as I went along. In this endeavor I have more or less failed. That's not to say I didn't enjoy what I played, because I absolutely did. It's just that with as many features as there are in Halo 3, there's so much stuff to test that 48 hours really isn't enough time to glean enough information and condense it into a review. Still, review it we must. Read on for a (hopefully) defining glimpse into Microsoft's great green hope.

First and foremost on any Halo fan's mind is the campaign. Even fans admit that Halo 2's campaign didn't quite get the attention it deserved. Even beyond the cliffhanger ending and the divisive inclusion of the Arbiter as a playable character -- which, for the record, I loved -- the campaign just didn't seem quite finished. So, Halo 3 has a lot to answer for. I won't spoil the story, but Halo 3 picks up exactly where Halo 2 left off: Cortana (the Master Chief's AI) is missing, the Prophet of Truth is leading an attack on earth, and the Master Chief is rocketing towards the planet on an ancient Forerunner ship. Again, we had to rush through it a bit to get it finished, but by the time the game draws to a close, all loose ends have been tied and questions answered. Old friends and enemies are reunited, alliances formed and broken, and plots are twisted. It's the stuff you'd expect in the closing chapter of a trilogy, with a few special tidbits thrown in for dedicated fans. Also, for those that are interested, locating the secret terminals throughout the game fleshes out the story of the Forerunners and the first firing of the Halo rings. The terminals are optional though, so if you're more interested in blasting baddies, feel free.

But how does it play, you ask? I plowed through the campaign on Heroic (with a few snippets of 4-player co-op on Legendary), and I can assuredly tell you that enemy AI is much improved, and sometimes a little scary. Brutes, ape-like monstrosities introduced in Halo 2, are definitely not the bullet sponges they used to be. This time around they are smart, mean, and, appropriately enough, brutal. One of their most fascinating behaviors is how they use equipment to their advantage. More than once, I found myself launching ordinance towards a pack of Brutes only to see one of them deploy a bubble shield before my shot had landed, rendering it useless. Oh, and watch out for Brutes with gravity hammers. They tend to carry equipment that makes them invulnerable for a few seconds. An invulnerable Brute with a gravity hammer is the stuff of nightmares.

Don't think that the Brutes are the star of the show though, every enemy, in one way or another, can be pretty terrifying. You see, not only are enemies smart, but they use sound tactical thinking. So, if you clear out a pack of Brutes and Grunts, don't celebrate right away, because there's a very good chance you're about to be sniped by a Jackal that you overlooked. Hell, even a pair of Jackals with carbines can be a pain, especially if you thought it would be a good idea to pack a short-range arsenal. And yes, believe it or not, even Grunts can put you away if you're not careful. Oh, and remember what I said about Brutes and nightmares? There is one Grunt behavior that's worse. I'll leave you to discover what exactly the behavior is, but rest assured you'll know it when you see it.

And then there's the Flood, the body-snatching enemy that's threatening to devour all life in the galaxy, Covenant and human alike. Now, I'm not saying one thing about the Flood. Nothing. You play. You find out. I'll just say this ain't your Granddaddy's Flood and leave it at that.

Honestly, my biggest complaint about the campaign is that it's over too quickly. It's not like the game has a bad ending, far from it, but I wanted more. Don't misunderstand, the game isn't too short, I just didn't want it to end.

Fortunately, the campaign is far from the end. This time around Bungie has included plenty of incentive to go back through the campaign multiple times. Of course there is online co-op, but there are also skulls to be found, campaign scoring achievements to be earned, as well as finding terminals you may have missed. Campaign, to put it simply, has been done right. Now, let's look at everything else.

Unfortunately, online matchmaking wasn't activated at the time of this review, but I did get to mess around with some local multiplayer. Those who participated in the beta have a good idea of what to expect. More or less, Halo 3's multiplayer is a refinement of the multiplayer in Halo 2. Certain things have been tweaked, most notably the re-invention of the assault rifle. Given a decent starting weapon, multiplayer is no longer about a mad dash for a better weapon the second you spawn. Sure, there are great weapons to find, but the assault rifle is a competent weapon in most situations. Another addition is the ability to edit all kinds of traits in the game. Traits can be given to all players or the team / player in the lead. How you use this is up to you. Want to boost everyone's shields, increase running speed, reduce gravity, and give everyone a gravity hammer and a Spartan laser? Go for it (it's pretty fun, actually). Multiplayer is now (literally) what you make of it, and it's a blast.

Now, if you really want to control how a game plays out, there's the Forge. Succinctly, Forge is some of the stupidest fun you can have with a game. At least, that's what it is at first. Forge allows players to create map variants by placing, deleting, and editing objects. These objects include simple things like scenery, weapons, and vehicles, but you can also edit more complex things like spawn points and CTF capture points. Inevitably though, your first instinct will be to find a flat surface, pile it with fusion coils, and launch a Mongoose to the moon. Follow that instinct. Follow it hard. You won't be disappointed. In fact, why not cue up the film of my first attempt right now? No, really, you can click here, find the movie titled "Boomtastic-X3F", click "Download to Halo 3", and once you pop Halo 3 into your 360, it will begin downloading automatically.

And that brings us to saved films. Basically, every game of Halo 3 you play, be it campaign, multiplayer, or Forge, is automatically saved as a film. Once you wrap up a game, simply head into the theater lobby and load it up. The game caches your recent sessions, but you'll have to manually save them if you want them permanently. During a saved film, players have complete control over the camera, allowing them to frame the best view of the action. If you see a particularly cool piece of action, you can record it as a smaller clip. Also, players can take static screenshots of the action on screen. In fact, every screenshot in this review was taken in game using the saved film feature.

And that, as briefly as I can put it, is Halo 3. Honestly, as long as this review is, it's really not long enough. Regardless of how players receive the story's conclusion, the amount of content contained in the Halo 3 package is just staggering. With campaign co-op, multiplayer, Forge, and saved films, the game offers plenty of bang for your gaming buck. Many will claim that it's not as pretty as Gears of War, and arguably they'd be right, but it was never meant to be.

I never intended to write a review filled with nothing but praise for Halo 3, but it's just damned hard to criticize. Sure, there are things I could point out that are disappointing. The graphics aren't perfect. You can't save clips in campaign. The story will be confusing to newcomers. Yeah, I can pick nits all day if I wanted to, and doubtless many Halo detractors will do just that, but the game is good. The conflicts are huge, the levels are vast, and the gameplay is solid. Not only that, but the extras ensure that players will still be playing Halo 3 for a long time to come. Love it or hate it, Halo is back on top, and it's probably there to stay.

credit goes to x3f, but I have played it in 1080P, WOW

One of the best FPS' to ever see the light of day

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 49 / 98
Date: September 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

To call Halo 3 eagerly anticipated is saying it quite lightly. Thanks to Bungie, the game has been more than worth the wait, and the end result is undoubtedly the best first person shooter to hit the Xbox 360 yet, and maybe ever. Picking up after the cliffhanger ending of Halo 2, Master Chief is in pursuit of the Covenant, who is hell bent and heading to Earth. You'll be happy to know first and foremost that Halo 3 improves on everything that has been seen in the previous two installments of the series, from the game's epic story to the overall gameplay mechanics. The story provides enough closure and answers many of the questions raised in Halo 2, and nicely ties things up while leaving enough room open if there ever are any more installments in the series. As for the gameplay, which is the reason enough to pick the game up even of the story were a disappointment, is everything you could hope for and more so besides. The single player campaign is lengthy enough to satisfy jaded gamers angry at the incredibly short length of Halo 2, but what even makes it more enjoyable is the four-player co-op mode, which can even be taken over Xbox Live. And yes, speaking of Xbox Live, the multiplayer options is where the real meat and potatoes of Halo 3 is to be had, but you already knew that. Besides the standard deathmatch modes, there are some new options, most notably Infection, which involves zombies trying to convert you. New map modes and options really let the player let loose with creativity as well, and result in an incredible amount of replay value that an FPS hasn't seen in quite some time. There are new weapons, brilliant graphics, solid voice acting, and the game isn't hard at all for new gamers to the series to pick up either. Yes, Halo 3 is finally here, and it's quite simply the best FPS to hit the Xbox 360 yet. Whether or not you'll prefer it over Gears of War is another story entirely, but needless to say, there is plenty here to keep you occupied for quite some time.

I don't get it.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: September 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

To me, Halo 3 is a classic example of a game that is past its prime. The examples are glaring throughout the game. However I also understand that this is a third installment to an already insanely successful franchise, so Bungie and Microsoft would be ill advised to make too many changes and upset their already established fan base. So when I bought Halo 3, I expected a game with some upgrades, but not a completely new game separate from the previous two. I think the real problem with this game is that it is just plain out-dated when its competition is games like Gears of War, Bioshock, and The Darkness. I'm not making a pitch for game of the year here, nor am I trying to talk about PS3, XB360, PCs, or anyting else. I am just going to try to be objective in my review:

Sound. Holy crap. The sound on this game is actually terrible, and for a game this 'next gen' that is just unacceptable. I have a 5.1 surround sound system, and every other FPS I play has good to great sound, to the point where you can actually react to directional sounds in your room. Halo 3 does not. The guns barely even make ANY sound! The vaunted assault rifle that every one is so excited about sounds like the wimpiest gun I've ever heard. Does that thing have a silencer on it that I just don't know about? And to compound that problem... there are NO SOUND OPTIONS!!! Who does that? You can't change the music, sound effects, or voice volumes at all (but you can change the multiplayer voice options for some reason)... so when Bungie decides that you are gonna hear their trademark music, that's all you hear. Dialogue and battle sounds are completely drowned out.

Campaign length. This is, without a doubt, the shortest FPS I have ever played. I understand they tried to expand it by making it super replayable with all the cooperative modes and unlockables, but come on guys. This game is 5-7 hours, tops. That's 10 bucks an hour. Wow. I could do better than that at an arcade. And beyond the time aspect, there is very little depth to the campaign. In Halo 2, you got to play two completely different paths that eventually crossed, so you essentially played two stories simultaneously... an awesome idea that was well executed! Halo 3 did away with that, I wish I knew why.

Graphics. The graphics are gorgeous, colorful, and it runs pretty smoothly. There are a few hiccups here and there with framerate, but nothing bad at all. On an HD TV it is everything its advertised to be and more.

Story. I think this is my biggest beef. No spoilers here, but I will say I did not like the story at all. With all the directions they had things going after the second installment, they had all kinds of options to pursue in this one, but for some reason they kept the story extremely narrow this time around. And the whole flashback thing that Master Chief keeps having about Cortana... lame and played out. Disappointing.

Multiplayer. This is obviously where the Halo games shine, and I think Halo 3 is no exception. There is no single game mode that you can't play some aspect of multiplayer on, which is impressive. And 4 player co-op is huge. They have lots of game modes, a method to match you up with similar skill levels so you don't have to get killed by 'professional' gamers who have nothing else to do with their lives, and an easy to use system to make sure you can always play with your buddies, either in house or across the globe. It's extremely customizable too.

Overall, Halo 3 was a disappointment to me, even though my hopes weren't that high to begin with. It's a decent game for 4-5 years ago, but by today's standards it's average. There are some awesome aspects to it though, and I really think Bungie catered to the multiplayer crowd well, giving them endless possibilities to use for the coming years. If you're a die hard Halo fan, well you already have it by now. If not, I suggest renting it before taking the $60 plunge. Just my two cents.

Overdone hype but awsome game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: September 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Personally all this hype was blown out of proportion. All done for more marketing sales to make Microsoft very happy of course and to squeeze every last dime out of Halo fans by creating three types of editions. I was there for the midnight release and played Halo3 for a good two and half hours until I crashed out on my couch. I'll break this review down into a few cat orgies.

Gameplay: The game to me has improved on many levels. With new enemies with better AI, they don't just stand there waiting to get killed. Along with the same layout has Halo 1&2, 3 is pretty much the same (point, shoot, cover), but you have more areas to get creative with new content. Halo3 gameplay was given a polished look and finish and even though it can feel old at times, it's really all about finishing the fight and finding out the storyline.

Graphics: I was quit surprised to see how clean and detailed the graphics were on my regular TV. Bungie really went to attention to detail and left nothing out. I have a 24' HDTV but with no speakers so I have to resort to my older TV, but if Halo3 looks as good as it does on regular, I can only image what it would look like HD.

New Content: Who doesn't like new content? Halo3 has more to offer then ever. There is new equipment to help you defeat your foes when it gets rough. New guns, new fighting tactics, its awesome.

Overall: I gave this 4 stars out of 5 because the gameplay feels the same in certain parts of the game, but with the graphics and new content I can easily get over it. Only reason why I got an Xbox 360 was for Halo3, since I found out there was no plans to start working on a PC version of Halo and I didn't want to wait long to play.

Advice: Don't play Halo 3 until you played Halo 1&2, get familar with the storyline and controls, otherwise this game won't be "the hype" you expected. Remember, when Halo first came out, there was mixed reviews, playing Halo 3 first is no exception.

Hey look! It's more... Halo.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: October 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'll make this quick and to the point. Halo 1 was an amazing game. Halo 2 was average at best. Halo 3 is simply more of the same thing. It's somewhat fun, but you feel as though you've played this all before.

Bad:
-Started first campain run-through on heroic. Took me around seven hours to complete. Second run-through on legendary took me eight hours. Co-op with my bro took me five hours on heroic. Not a very long game. Feels like "Gears of War" all over again.
-Small variety of enemies. You will be fighting Brute after Brute. Then some flood (how original) No bosses either. Basically, you get no sense of accomplishment for anything you do. (Achievements don't really count, they're useless IMO)
-Same weapons as the previous games. There's a Brute Hammer, and Slicers to add to the bunch. But they're nothing ground breaking. They're just... More weapons that all feel the same.
-Very outdated A.I. Enemies will stand there if they can't see you. They never search for you, or flank you out. If you have a long range weapon, you can fire at them from a distance and they will never move. Even after being hit numerous times. They simply act like robots.
-Fellow officers drive like a drunk on Xmas day. They crash into rocks, trees, and any other type of terrain that can easily be maneuvered around. So terrible A.I for those boys too.
-Plenty of driving. While the vehicles are the best parts of the Halo trilogy. I was expecting something else in Halo 3. Halo 1 already had plenty of all this. Were seeing stuff we played five years ago. Can they not think of anything original?
-Last level involves shooting a small, floating, metal Orb. Thats the big finale to the Halo trilogy!? You shoot a small silver ball, that shoots lazers at you! You'll also drive the Jeep (Warthog) as things explode. Thats actually the very last thing you do (shortly after the orb battle) You drive a jeep while broken bits of building conveniently make passage for you. Some ending indeed.

The good:
-Smooth controls. The controls have yet to change since five years ago. But thats for a reason. It's no Metroid Prime 3, but they are some of the best.
-Good looking graphics. Nothing to brag about by any means, but curtainly nothing to complain about. Plenty of bright colors here and there. And decent physics to top it off.
-Lots of driving. This is also a complaint because it's nowhere near being original, but it IS fun. And thats what counts. You will be driving atleast half the game. They give you plenty of choices too. I prefer the Warthog to all others.
-Good multiplayer. I don't really like playing online. I play games for the story. But If you're a fan of online. This is a game for you. There's plenty to play around with. Halo allows console gamers a taste of what PC gamers have been getting for years. (I'm talking about Forge) Plenty of freedom to do what you want. So I have to give it props for that. Even if I'm not a fan of that stuff.

There ya go! I may be a bit harsh on it. But I play a lot of games. After playing Halo 3, I really don't see a reason to revisit it. It doesn't bring a single thing new to the FPS genre. It's not a bad game, but it just doesn't have what it take to be a such a highly rated game. I still love Halo 1, but Halo 3 feels like an updated version of a five year old game. Even a game like Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) has more going for it then Halo 3. So buy that instead because the single player campain is much more engaging, and took me 25 hours to beat. Or better yet, wait for the Orange Box edition of Half Life 2 (PS3, 360, PC) and pick that up. Even by todays standards, you will find a much more unique experience in both those games.

Just have fun playing, thats what counts.

The Fight is Over, but the War Will Last Forever.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 19
Date: September 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Halo. Not much as to be said when it comes to the most populer and best selling game of all time. The first game sold the Xbox and the second game was a huge seller for Xbox Live service and was still played through today. Now Halo 3, the last game that follows now ledgedary Spartan Master Cheif. And its a great game while being a little disapointing at the same time.

The STORY. The story starts off where Halo 2 badly left off. Cheif returns to Earth in hopes to stop Truth from finding a activating the Arc to kill the Flood along with everything else. Joining Cheif is the shuned Elite, the Abriter. But don't worry this is the Cheif's story and the Abirter is left to tag along.

Here you'll finish what Halo 2 started and left you off. The campain mode is easy and if you played the other two games you need to up the level. The game is action packed and doesn't slow down too often the score helps set the mood for the action on screen and really gets you pumped up. The game will take roughly 8-15 hours depending on the level you play and/or if you play Co-Op.

The GRAPHICS. I have to point out the graphics of Halo 3. They are not the best but not the worst. We've seen better looking games in the past and future games look to trump this tenfold. The lighting and most enviroments look good but like I said its not the best or what you might be expecting, but Halo wasn't never about graphics but its gameplay.

The GAMEPLAY. The gameplay has always been Halo's bread and butter. Halo made the FPS cross over from the Keyboard and Mouse set up to the console controller and includes great vehicle control and combat and this game plays the same way. Why fix it if it isn't broken? And Bungie didn't change a thing. They added a few new weapons and a few new vehicles and called it a day.

The MULTIPLAYER. This is where game shines. Just like in Halo 2 the MP mode will be played 3 years from now. All 11 maps have a great feel to them and are all diffrent. The matchmaking system returns to put you in games with players of your skill type. New modes like The Forge allows you to completly edit (not terrian) the layout of weapons, spawn points, etc. to create anything you want on the battle feild. Here you can save it and upload it to Bungie. The only downfall is the lack of options to search for custom and Forge games. You must Invite friends only. The same goes for the co-op mode. The same was said about Halo 2 and Bungie did nothing to help this.

Then you have the sweet Theatre mode. Here the game saves all your progress and you can move the camera around, take pictures, and make small movies to share with your friends. The only complaint is you can not rewind campian mode nor can you record any of it. But that's just a small complaint.

The END. In the end Halo 3 is a must have for anyone who enjoys a good Multiplayer game along with anyone who enjoyed the other Halo offerings...I'm sure they already got their copies of the game. Halo 3 will still be played years down the road and Master Chief will be looked upon now as a legendary video game personality.

Review for Non-Gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: September 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a gamer, just a regular 30something who wants an easy way to take out my frustrations. This review is probably most helpful to middle aged men like me, not hardcore gamers.

I have tried many other games but Halo is the only one that doesn't tax me too much with choices and complicated controller requirements. I give the Halo franchise 5 stars because it is so simple, one mission, kill everything in sight. You don't need to investigate, open your pouch, choose between a million weapons, read maps, or think for even a second. It's the only game I've found which I can stand for more than 5 minutes and which is completely uncomplicated. And you can skip the story and all that nonsense by just hitting the main button.

As compared to other Halos: I'm not crazy about the weaponry. The needlers run out of ammo and the other guns don't do much. You also need to press a button to reload some weapons, it seems, whereas before they would reload if you walked over the same kind of weapon. THere are 3 kinds of grenades, which is unnecessary and just harder to switch between. You can also only carry 2 of each instead of 4. Since the new grenades stick like the plasmas, they don't add much and just add another layer of choice and button-pushing. Too complicated. Also, the little bonus things like flares and landmines are gimmicky and add too much comlpication. Again, advanced gamers probably love it, but I'm too old to learn all this new stuff. Just give me a gun and some grenades.

In previous games you'd come across more types of things to do, like a lot of sniper rifles so you could sit on a hilltop picking off aliens or use other strategy. In this game you don't find a lot of useful weapons, so there's a lot more direct hand to hand, on the ground type combat. I've also found that it's easier to kill things and easier in general to solve the levels. Also, it uses the "follow me" arrow and the voice gives you suggestions if you seem to be missing the point, which I like, since in previous Halos I've spent hours wandering around wondering what I'm supposed to be doing. No such problems here. They've sufficiently dumbed it down.

I've had a few graphic glitches in this one, which has never happened before. I've also gotten stuck and unable to get out of things twice. THe sound and graphics are great, of course. I've never paid any attention to the story, unless it required me to, so I can't comment on that. Kusdos to Bungie for making it easy to skip over.

Overall, this is the same experience as the others, though it seems easier than Halo2. As little thought as that required, this one requires less. I've not had to think at all about weapon choice, strategy, or anything, Just pull the trigger and kill! I wish there were more FPS games like this -- fast-paced, completely intuitive hand controls, easy storyline, simple mission, and FUN.

Very far from what it should have been.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: September 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

After an hour with Halo 3 my initial reaction was "so what?...big deal!". The gameplay seemed like a slurred and half-hearted version of Halo's 1&2, the graphics were scarcely next gen (compare with Gears Of War and Bioshock), the storyline wasn't gripping and the whole thing kind of lamely chugged along. There was little or no responsiveness and I felt cheated by the OTT hype.

Persisting with the Halo 3, however, eventually brought rewards--albeit not the Tiffany diamond sized ones I was expecting but nevertheless they were satisfactory. I did get lost in the game and managed to ignore the bland indoor environments and the constant glitches . The pop-ups even melted away as I wasted squadrons of alien slime.

The review for this game then runs thus: it's a well above average FPS which will entertain you for a fair while. The multiplayer options are great and the replay is value is pretty good. Those are the straightforward points if you ignore that other whopping, gargantuan issue.

Namely, is this a fitting end to the Halo series? Well, in that case the answer is `no' about 3500 times. On that score the game is shoddy and truly disappoints. There is hardly a sense that you're even playing a title worthy to be called Halo. If you've played and loved the other games then I bet you'll be off-loading this baby soon. The lousy programming, the sense of ennui, the collapse of creativity and the dull story will probably turn your stomach. It's the biggest let down for quite some time and is fairly insulting to the gamers who've been eagerly waiting for it.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions