Halo 3 Review

Well, it has been done. At 8:23 p.m. on Monday night, I drove the two miles south from my house to the local GameStop and sat down on a line of already around 30 people. One hour later, I'd had my receipt "finalized", otherwise known as "stamped", and went back outside to settle in for the long haul. At 12:00 a.m., the line began to move, and at 12:08 a.m. I was driving north again with a copy of Halo 3 sitting in my lap. From that point, until around 6:00 a.m., I plunged through the Campaign. Soon after, I went to sleep, only to wake up later that day, and hit it again, finally watching the supposed death of Master Chief shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday night. The Halo Trilogy is supposedly complete now, so lets drop the dramatically-written dick-sucking of this franchise and get down to the review:
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The Good...
First of all, despite the many publicized complaints about the graphics being underwhelming, let me say that game just looks fantastic. I think most people were too ingrained with the Gears of War aesthetic, and hence took the unusually bright colors associated with any Halo game as not-so-realistic by comparison. However, for the style that Halo has already well-established, everything looks crisp and detailed, with more than a few moments that literally take your breath away. And what hammers this previous point home is the frame-rate. I have never in all of my days of time-wasting on shooters seen a game that ran as smooth. There are almost no loading times, provided your 360 is working correctly, and I did not percieve one moment of chugging in all 15+ hours of gameplay. Its very rare that one would notice something like frame-rate unless it was in a bad context, so understand that I don't comment upon it lightly.
Secondly, the game is just plain 'ol fucking fun. The new weapons (the Spiker, and its big brother, the Mauler being my favorites) are sick. The new vehicles (the Hornet and the Chopper come to mind) are some of the most fun you've ever had to date in a F.P.S. And the enemies, now noticably Elite-less, are smart and interesting. For example, 3 Brutes and a dozen Grunts stand before you. Kill only the 3 Brutes leading them, and all remaining Grunts run for the hills, shouting "The Demon! The Demon!". Its little moments like these, peppered throughout every last firefight that expose the strengths of Halo.
Lastly, the newly revamped combat accessories add an entirely new dimension to an already well-rounded game, and a dimension that contributes positively rather than takes away. Two new grenades: a Covenant-variant of the frag, and an Incidenary device that is intensively useful against the Flood; and the addition of the various "deployables" such as Cover, the Bubble Shield, the Flare, the Regenerator and many, many more. All in all, these add yet another dimension to an already powerful series.
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The Bad......
However, all in not quite perfect in the land of Master Chief. First and foremost: the story. After the recent avalanche of commercials, it was infuriating at worst, and confusing at best, as to why Bungie choose to advertise a supposed "ending" to the series that never actually happened. I won't spoil the particulars for you, but lets just say that actual Halo 3 ending has nothing, I repeat: NOTHING, to do with the several commercials supposedly detailing such. It only kinda takes place on Earth, as a matter of fact. The entire desperate final battle between humans and Covenant on Earth never happens. And to boot: the Chief recieves the most inconclussive death in video game history. Finish the Fight, my inflammed asshole.
Also, with the exception of the first few, the level design again leaves a little to be desired. Some parts are shining stars, but yet again, there is a plethora of identical rooms which you will pass through twice in each section of the game. Missions goes as such: One mission to enter _____, activate (bomb/reactor/Halo), and then another mission to escape. Repeat five or six times. Game over.
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The Summary...
All in all, Halo 3 is a fantastic video game. It is far above Halo 2, and might give the original a run for its money. Unlike Halo 2, every addition made to this game is a welcome one, which deepens the replay and strategic strongpoints of the game as a whole. Any disappointment you might feel comes from the feeling that you expected Halo 3 to be great, and it was, infact, merely great. The problem is if you expect something to be great, you can only be pleasantly surprised if it is mindblowingly awesome. So, with this game, you are getting what you paid for, but nothing more. Which is more than adequate. It could even be called quite impressive. But Bungie left just enough room for us nerds to bitch, regardless. And maybe, just maybe, they realized that somewhere in our dark and lonely hearts, THAT is what we really wanted anyway.

Overall Rating: 9.6 out of 10.
- Fantastic new Weapons, Vehicles and Deployable Items. -

- The Forge Map Editor, Co-Op Four Player and the Replay Monitor are all excellent, creatively designed concepts. -

- Impressive Enemy A.I. -

- The Story COULD'VE Been Better. -

- The Chief could've ACTUALLY died.-