Halo 3

(chorus of lovely men start singing) Ahh… it’s good to be back…

Halo 3, what more can I say. My personal favourite game of all time and a massive hit when it first came out all those years ago. It feels weird to talk about this game when speaking about the past and my own personal childhood because it doesn’t feel like such an old game. Indeed it still holds up today as one of the greatest amounts of fun you can have when you play it with your friends and the nostalgic rebound of memories that are sure to follow will make you happier than you could possibly imagine. Here then, is my incredibly biased “review” of my favourite game of all time (yeah yeah don’t judge).

The story to Halo 3 is considered by many to be one of it’s weakest points. If you haven’t played a halo game before then you are going to be completely lost and have no idea what is going on. Personally when I first played it I hadn’t played a Halo game before and all I got was that a dude called master chief wears a big green suit of power armor and shoots aliens, but not all the aliens because some aliens are good and some are silly and some are bad and some are crazy. Honestly to describe the incentive story of a Halo game you really need to be involved in the backstory and the mythos in order to feel truly involved. Outside of that the story is rather generic, with characters who you will see a few times then forget and the main character himself, Master Chief, being a rather bland set of awesome one liners. Strangely enough though I love playing the single player campaign over and over due to the fact that at the time it felt like a fitting conclusion to the halo series (pahaha, we all know what happened there). The scenarios you are placed in are suitably epic and the battles can be packed to the brim with things happening, making you feel as though you are actually in a war. So… we’ll give the story a ‘meh’ on this one.

See left, Master Chief. See right, Awesomeness.

The presentation of this game, while seemingly lackluster these days, still continues to impress me to this day. The graphics are beautiful and the environments are always varied, a far cry from the washed out browns and grays of more recent shooters. Each of the locations you visit have their own unique quirks which also helps them to tie in with the gameplay and provides a set unique gameplay options depending on your environment. Sound design is nicely done with voice acting being top notch and the sounds of the world feeling rather fitting, although some would say that the covenant (the aliens of the Halo universe, bad guys, kill them) enjoy their “pew pew pew” lasers a bit too much. The one thing that always gets me however is the soundtrack, my god the soundtrack. Realms of nostalgia just course through my body even when I just hear the title screen, I could sit here and listen to the title screen on repeat for hours, and love every minute of it.

Of course however nobody cares about sound design in a Halo game, we’re here for the gameplay, and the gameplay is some of the best in the series. Simplicity really is the word, no sprint mechanic, no iron sights, no stupid loadout mechanics. Just you, a gun (maybe a piece of specialised equipment too, don’t ask) and an enemy to shoot. This combines with the tight control scheme to make the gamplay superb, there’s a reason why this was the most popular MLG game of its day. In terms of the single player campaign, as mentioned the scenarios are varied however there isn’t anything really unique when it comes to actual gameplay mechanics, instead it’s just shoot things, which considering it’s a shooter isn’t exactly a bad thing. The multiplayer however, is where this game is best. Normal ranked matchmaking is fun and makes for a simple but competitive environment, with plenty of memorable maps to choose from and the game being incredibly balanced. This game does one thing better than most shooters, balancing, everyone in the game starts on the same level, same weapons etc etc. This means that a good player is actually determined by their skills rather than how much they have unlocked, which I feel is how games should be. The best part about this game however comes in the form of custom games and forge. The custom games lobby allows you to set up your own games with your friends and customise the experience by an insane amount, from changing the gravity to setting what weapons people will start out with. This combines with the aptly named Forge, a gamemode which acts as a level editor, allowing you to change the terrain in game. What this means is that even while you can be serious and make really professional looking maps, you can still just screw around and spawn 15 rocket launchers to shoot your friends with. This blend of complete control over your games makes Halo 3 my favourite game to play with friends as anything really is possible. Ask an avid Halo veteran his favourite moments in the Halo series, and you will probably get him telling you about his custom infection zombie game-mode that he played with 9 other friends on a forged map that he created. Simply bliss. Outside of this there is also a Theatre mode which allows you to look at all of the games that you have played in, single and multiplayer, and rewatch, edit or even view in terms of training and tactics. This is what made machinima accessible  to the masses, and machinima owes its very existence to Halo 3.

Some gameplay from the first level of Halo 3 (note all the badass explosions n’ stuff)

This game however is not perfect by any means. As mentioned the story is rather weak and the ending doesn’t feel as well payed off now that we know that the fight isn’t really finished. Along with this the game is rather dead now due to lack of popularity, sure hardcore fans like myself will still play it from time to time however if you’re looking to help find people who will play it online with you, good luck. Outside of that it really comes down to nostalgic value whether you believe these flaws are 0utweighed by how the game is, which I do, so that’s all fine.

Overall then, this game, my god. This game was a landmark in gaming, it created machinima, forged (lol punz) a custom experience and control of a multiplayer experience that hadn’t been seen before and also is part of some of my most fondest childhood memories. Halo 2 was praised as being the game that brought online multiplayer shooters into being, this game is heralded at being the game that allowed creativity to spur and the control of your gaming experience to be whatever you desired it to be. Play this game, just do it. Maybe you will love it just as much as I do, and if not, well… you’re silly.