![]() ![]() The fact is Halo 3 will undoubtedly be called the best multiplayer shooter ever made, and I have no doubt it will soon replace Halo 2 on the all-time “most played” list on Xbox Live. Yes, there could, perhaps, be a finely-crafted, leather-bound story hidden within those shallow waters, but anyone truly expecting that entity to emerge fully formed from the head of Halo is probably high.īut let us praise Halo 3, not bury it. But let’s not kid ourselves: Halo is the story of a cyborg with a curvaceous hologram inside his head, a race of Predator look-a-likes (and their subjugated alien minorities) and an interstellar zombie horde. Pure, uninspired, contrived, hokey sci-fi pulp, which, if you’re fresh off the “ BioShock blew my mind, games really are art” boat, will make you want to curl up and die. There are a few tedious moments here and there (taking out that first scarab had me pulling my hair, wishing for a hint book and marveling at the realization I’d never experienced that feeling in Halo before), but on the whole, the game is as tight as a game can possibly be. The new weapons, vehicles and enemies all work. Whereas Halo 2, in many ways, felt like a bastardization, a mutated genetic experiment performed upon the near perfect console shooter that was Halo 1, Halo 3 feels more like a true evolution in design. ( Halo 3 is one of the first games that really “feels” next-gen in its menu interface.) In thumbing through the game’s menus and taking the occasional moment away from the action to peer across desert vistas gouged by war and yet, in other ways, strangely untouched by the hand of man, it becomes a little more clear where the three years of development time went: the little details. The Halo series has always had a strong design philosophy, and Halo 3 does not disappoint in that respect.Īll other elements of the production are equally excellent, from sound to interface. Skies are blue, water shimmers in the sunlight and everything has that faint cartoony patina that is the series’ hallmark, juiced up with next-gen lighting and shadow effects. And not “pretty” in that “every single blood droplet is more well-defined than Britney’s abs and yet, other than red, the predominant color is brown” Gears of War way – Halo 3 is actually pretty. ![]() Graphically, the game is as pretty as anything I’ve yet seen on a console. ![]() It is, in every respect, a worthy next-gen installment of the series. Those quibbles aside, Halo 3 is the game we’ve all been waiting for. If I worked at Bungie, and had just spent three years of my life perfecting this game, I’d be pretty damn pissed off that my mighty publisher couldn’t deliver a goddamn disc without scratching it. I’m starting to wonder if there’s anyone at Microsoft who has a fucking clue about how to deliver a quality product the first time around. Thankfully my copy of the game still plays, but it’s a lousy feeling opening up an expensive limited edition case to discover the equivalent of used discs inside. I didn’t believe this when I heard it, but it’s true. The result: The discs came loose during shipping, rattled around inside the metal case and got all nice and scratched up. Apparently the fancy, double-hinged metal tin containing the limited edition version of Halo 3, complete with mini art book and DVD full of extras, was mated with a chintzy plastic insert that is completely incapable of holding the discs in place. This one had me shaking my head for hours. The second shameful thing about Halo 3 is the defective Limited Edition packaging. Thankfully there are no endless hallway sections like the library level that artfully extended the length of Halo 2, but I would have appreciated a little more “game” in my $60 multiplayer trainer. Clocking in at around 15 hours (20 if you’re deceiving yourself), Halo 3 ranks right up there with the most embarrassingly short games ever produced. So short that one wonders what all those people in the credits did for three years. The first is the fact that many of those who waited in line for their copies of Halo 3 last night at midnight will have already finished the game at some point today, and I’m not just talking about the folks who have called in sick. There are two things the makers of Halo 3 should be remorseful about on Launch Day Plus One. ![]()
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