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Halo 3 Review - Xbox 360

Introduction

While Microsoft has been in the gaming industry for some time now, it is far from claiming any respectable title as a one of the great gaming creators. However, few can dispute that the computing giant has no claim to fame. With its release of the original Xbox some years ago, Microsoft was given the chance to prove their metal in gaming industry, and prove they did. Producing one of the greatest console shooters ever developed, Halo, which summoned almost cult following in a matter of months. Yet, when the sequel hit the shelves, aptly named Halo 2, it was hailed as one of Microsoft’s biggest screw-up, (and that’s saying something!), with gamers seeing it as little more then an expansion on the original, offering very little in the way of creation or innovation.

This brings us to the current day, and after several months of hushed production, and minor sneak peaks, Halo 3 is finally here. With Microsoft claiming to have ironed out old issues, learnt from past failures and build on their strengths, the third installment is set to be the new Xbox360 benchmark, that it’s early predecessor was for the original Xbox.

Gameplay

I went for the Collector’s Edition when I picked up my copy of Halo 3, not because I’m a Halo collector, but because of the calibration tools that came with it, and I was happy with the money spent. While the basic version will give you the game, the collectors does offer a few nice little features, such as themes and behind the scenes clips, that I like in my games.

The first thing you may notice when starting up the game is the active background of the menu screen, and damn it’s pretty! Even on my 480p TV screen this menu is a thing of beauty. The menu it’s self is quite in depth, and I will get into that later, but even at a glance you can see that Microsoft have put a lot of effort into making this a well rounded, and user friendly system for both solo and multiplayer.

I was happy to see the inclusion of co-op play in this edition. While somewhat expected these days, a lot of games skip this function and it is sorely missed.

Getting into the solo campaign, the story picks up where Halo 2 left off (no spoilers). And as expected, you take on the role of the Master Chief again. The HUD itself is much the same with only a few minor working and aesthetic tweaks, still showing all the necessary info such as ammo, grenades, shield ect.

As I moved though the first level, I saw a lot of what I had already seen. While the graphics this time round are much more refined, and the sound crisper, the game play is fairly similar. The solo campaign is the same run around, shoot em up that the previous 2 Halos were. (continued next page)