HALO 3 – IS THIS REALLY THE END?

I remember when "HALO: Combat Evolved" first came out. Halo was synonymous with the new XBOX gaming console. I didn’t own an XBOX at the time and was putting off purchasing one due to the price. The Nintendo GameCube and Playstation 2 games that were available at the time were more to my liking and enjoyment like Final Fantasy 10 and Super Mario World.

It was about a year later, the XBOX console was pretty stable now, the cost had come down a bit, but the buzz on Halo was still going strong and was actually more available for purchase. Even my kids were asking me when we were going to get an XBOX so they could play Halo. I owned a card gaming store at the time and one of our frequenting patrons asked if I would be willing to host a HALO night where he could bring in his multiple XBOX consoles, network them together and allow up to 16 players to battle each other. I agreed and thus launched my addiction to one of the most exciting First Person Shooter games I had ever encountered. I went out bought an XBOX console along with HALO so that we could enjoy hours of entertainment at home playing this futuristic version of battlefield interactivity.

It seemed like forever before Halo 2 was released, I pre-ordered three of the Limited Collectors Edition, since me and my sons had to have one of our own. Halo 2 brought about some additional and enjoyable functionality within its design. Instead of a local area network of people you could now sign on to Xbox Live and have multi-team battles across the country and world. The storyline provided a split type of game play in which you played not only as the Master Chief in portions of the missions, you also had the pleasure of playing as an Elite Arbiter, who eventually ends up on the your side and turns away from the Covenant beliefs. At the end of Halo 2 the Master Chief has left Cortana behind on the second ring to prevent its firing. He has stowed away on the Prophet of Truths ship on the way back to earth.

Three years in the making, along with the new advances of the Xbox 360, High Definition Technology along with superior sound quality made the anticipation for the newly released Halo 3 well worth the wait. I preordered our copies 9 months in advance this time. Bungie has released 3 options of the game which are the standard single game, a limited edition which throws an additional set of DVD’s and then the ultimate version that comes in a nice size box that includes the game, the essentials DVD set, and a replica of the Master Chiefs helmet. We got the one with the helmet which is very well made and is about ½ scale. Unfortunately the helmet is only for looks and can’t be worn.

History:
In the first Halo the Covenant, an alien race destined to exterminate the inhabitants of earth and crush the fledgling interstellar empire. The Master Chief, a cyborg super soldier ends up stranded on one mysterious Halo ring and begins to unravel its mysteries. The Covenant have been searching for this so called ring to fulfill their belief to a long journey of enlightenment. Unknown to both species is what lies hidden on the ring and its true purpose of existence. The humans unknowingly release a dormant parasite called the Flood which have the ability to take over any organic form of life. This is where we learn that the ring was developed ages ago by some other race to ensure that if the flood ever escaped the confines of the ring, it would fire and obliterate all living organisms within the galaxy to prevent the spread of the Flood. The Master Chief successfully destroys this ring and the flood in the end but as he does, we learn that there are 8 more rings existing hidden throughout the galaxy.

Halo 2 continues the story and the fight as the Covenant invade earth and establish a stronghold. The prophets of the Covenant are searching for something hidden that will reveal the location of the additional rings and able them to activate those rings so that they may take their enlightened journey. We learn that the journey of enlightenment as referred to by the Covenant is the activation of all of the rings thus destroying everything in existence, including them. The Master Chief and Cortana, his AI partner, must stop the Covenant from accomplishing this goal. The story leaves off with Cortana staying behind on the second ring in order to destruct its firing mechanism and the Master Chiefs stowes away on one of the Covenant ships headed back to earth.

And now the much awaited final chapter of man kinds struggle to survive the covenant onslaught. Halo 3 starts out in Africa where the Covenant have discovered the location of the hidden secrets to the rest of the rings and the ARK. Cortana who was left behind on the second Halo ring has been taken over by the Gravemind, an advanced form of the flood parasite. The ARK is the Master Control Center of all of the rings scattered throughout the galaxy and holds the keys to their destruction along with their activation. The Master Chief must battle his way through Africa and stop the last Prophet from fulfilling the Covenant Destiny. You are not alone in the fight though, the Covenant Elite soldiers have sided with the humans. The Arbiter fights side by side with the Master Chief on their journey to save not only earth but the entire galaxy. The Gravemind has become stronger and smarter making the flood more intelligent. Part of Master Chief’s mission is to return to the second ring and rescue Cortana from the clutches of the Gravemind. The Master Chief must also stop the Prophet of Truth from obtaining the secrets that lie deep within the ARK.

Gameplay:
There are 9 missions to Halo 3, with each mission consisting of 3 major check points. One of the first things that you will notice is the new terrain that has been developed into the game. It is no longer a simple 3D map as you battle your way through. It is very apparent of the painstaking detail that Bungie has put into the surrounding environment to further increase the enjoyment of gameplay. The scenery is spectacular with moving grass, flying birds, waterfalls that look realistic, ponds that ripple as footsteps or bullets disturb the surface.

The battle action of Halo 3 is fairly constant. Unlike the previous Halos, you do not have to back track through cleared areas. And in the few missions that do require back tracking through an area, new enemies with new agendas spawn. The enemies have a much improved AI built into them which makes them seem more real. Their actions vary during combat and are sometimes unpredictable. A Jackal may be resting in a tree awaiting to snipe you as you make your way through the jungle, or if you are too slow, he may drop down and sneak from behind to defeat you.

Halo 3 has four levels of difficulty when playing solo, Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary. These levels are not new to the Halo series, however in Halo 3, Bungie designed the game to be best enjoyed in Heroic mode. Easy mode is just too easy and rather boring because you can zip through the enemy without any problem at all. Normal mode provides a better challenge, especially for first time Halo gamers. In Normal, Heroic, and Legendary you’ll also get the satisfaction of better enemy AI challenges and events that are missed during Easy play. You can zip through the missions in Normal mode in about 6 hours. It’ll take you about 15 hours in Heroic mode and over 20 hours in Legendary mode. This is if you are playing solo and not campaign. If you successfully complete the game in solo legendary you will be treated to a special cut scene at the end.

You’ll find the much enjoyed Assault Rifle make its return debut back into Halo 3. It was greatly missed in Halo 2, since we were with the hard to control dual-wield sub machine guns that did not seem to be too powerful. You’ll also get to experience new weapons such as the Gravity Hammer, Missile Launcher (to defeat those pesky enemies in the sky), the Laser Canon, the Grenade Launcher, and Spiker. These new weapons make for a well balanced long range and close combat scenario and you’ll want to have the ability to do both.

Being able to drive vehicles in 3rd person form has always been one of the fun aspects of playing Halo. We were limited to the indestructible warthog in Halo 1 and the Covenant Ghost, both of which were strictly land based vehicles. In Halo 2 the Warthog was no longer indestructible and could be damaged during battle. We could drive the ghost but we also got the ability to fly in the Banshee, the Covenant version of a single manned airship. In Halo 3, along with the standard vehicles, some new ones have been introduced.

One of those new vehicles is the Chopper, driven mainly by the Covenant Brutes. This new vehicle is designed like a Harley and is quite appropriate for the overgrown, over muscles Brute enemy. The front of the Chopper does exactly as its name implies, with blades intertwined within the front wheel, it’ll chop up any unsuspecting vehicle or person that is unlucky enough to get in front of it. A less useful but very fun vehicle that is introduced in Halo 3 is known as the Mongoose. It’s designed like a 2-stroke 4-wheeler that allows you to zip around your enemy and provides for an additional passenger to stand on the back of it.

Campaign and Online Matchmaking online:
Campaign play ability in Halo 2 allowed for two players to complete the missions in story mode. Halo 1 did not allow for a multi-player campaign scenario. In Halo 3, Campaign mode can now be played with up to 4 people to complete the missions in story mode. It’ll still take several hours for 4 experienced players to zip through all of the missions in legendary mode.

Matchmaking is the heart of Bungie. Halo 1 only allowed for a maximum of 16 players to battle each other and it had to be done in a closed environment (multiple Xboxes connected on a LAN). Halo 2 introduced on-line play with the advent of Xbox Live. Here you could battle other members throughout the world in free for all or team matches. Online play is where the hardcore Halo players converge to test their battle abilities against other players. Halo 3 has 11 maps currently with more to come that can be downloaded. One of the new options that Bungie has introduced is called Forge. This allows you to create your own environment and custom battle arenas using the pre-done maps. You are able to delete and place objects wherever you want including spawn points, weapons, vehicles, fusion coils and warps through out the chosen map. Once you have your ideal map setup you can save it and invite your friends over either local or online to enjoy a custom battle with you.

Graphics:
The XBOX 360 with it’s new blue ray and HD capabilities has truly advanced the world of gaming. This will be immediately apparent when you start to play Halo 3. The maps utilized are amazing and you can tell that Bungie took pain staking steps to ensure that you could feel the environment around you rather than just passing through it.

Sound:
To best experience the sound and sound effects of Halo 3 make sure you have 5.1 or better surround sound. One of the things I really enjoy about playing the Halo games are the different sound expressions of the Marines and the Covenant during battle. There is some humor to this game which makes it part of the fun in playing it. The sound is clear and does its job when portraying the effects of a bullet passing along the left side of your head barely missing you.