Gamers Evolved

Halo 3 has arrived and all of you who weren’t able to pick one up are waiting for the review. Right now I can tell you that it is still an addictive game that you won’t easily get bored of. Also because it comes from Microsoft you can expect a few problems, but none too extreme.

It is important that you remember where the second one ended off because you won’t be caught up on much. Be assured though that the action picks up right after the Gravemind’s infestation of High Charity at the end of the previous game, and the Master Chief’s escape from the doomed city in the Prophet of Truth’s stolen Forerunner vessel. If that makes no sense to you, go to Wikipedia for a brush-up on Halo’s lore(yes, wiki has everything). Basically there are aliens on Earth, trying to dig up an alien artifact and you have to stop them.

Everything in Halo 3 is about Master Chief, yes the Arbiter is there by your side at all times but the game revolves around the green clad Spartan warrior. Some may be turned off by this as much of Halo 2’s story had to do with the former but for me Bungie made the right decision, this series is Master Chief’s baby and it needed to end that way, enough said. Halo 3 is full of diverse environments, which was a big problem/complaint with Halo 2, and our hero’s adventure will take him through jungles, space stations, and other epic battlefields that you have to play to see. Unlike other first-person shooters the single player campaign does not take place entirely on foot.

Many times throughout Halo 3 gamers will be given the option of taking a vehicle (warthog, ghost, etc.) and traversing throughout the level with the pedal to the metal. While this may not be the best way to take in the scenery it is still the best option on some of the harder levels, especially if playing on legendary. Some of gamers favorite weapons are still here from the previous Halo games, but Bungie has added some all new weapons, which make the game feel entirely new. Something that makes it even more worth having!

Halo 3 looks really good, especially in motion. That said, compared with a game like Gears of War or Lair, it doesn’t particularly scream ‘next-gen’. The water is pretty good, the explosions are works of art, and reflections off of the Chief’s visor are satisfyingly accurate, but for the most part the game looks a lot like Master Chief’s previous adventure. That’s fine, though, because the framerate is pegged at 60fps and never wavers. There is hardly a stutter or slowdown, even with dozens of fastmoving objects on screen, swarms of enemies, or a speedy vehicle sequence.

Halo 3 is everything that people were hoping for and much more. Some may have thought that all the hype surrounding it wasn’t worth it, but once you play the game you’ll see that it was. It gets A’s all across the board for gameplay and graphics. So hurry and buy your copy before others beat you to it.