Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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59 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent finale to the trilogy., 22 Oct 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
My husband and I are fairly avid Xbox gamers and played the original Halo and Halo2 back on the black box. Enjoyed Halo, Halo2 less so. So, I was not expecting brilliance from Halo3 having read some dodgy reviews prior to release.
Luckily, I took the plunge and am glad to say I have not regretted it.
Enjoyment factor: The game is very engaging. The NPC (non-player characters) are varied and well-voice acted. The weapons have been vamped up a little. Some old favourites are there (I personally love the target-seeking needler) and some cracking new BFGs have been added (eg you can rip off turrets & carry them around and there is also a Gravity Hammer which sees off pretty much anything with one close-range swipe).
Graphics: Lovely - no need to say more. Clear as crystal on a good screen. Surprising in much the same way that they were on the original game, even allowing for our new expectations, and with added bells and whistles! There are still the sneaky back ways that let you creep up on the enemy and no issues with lag at all. Very immersive play as the arenas are interesting and large-scale.
Play-ability: excellent. I agree with the comments elsewhere that Normal is for newbies and Heroic for old-timers. I like a reasonable game that I can pelt through a level or so in a hour of an evening and Normal is perfect for that. My husband likes a challenge and Herioc certainly provides one. We have yet to sample Legendary, but even the most hard-core of gamers will find a level to suit their tenacity.
Another excellent feature of this game is that 'save and quit' puts you back to the last checkpoint (which occur regularly in the game). NOT back to the beginning of the level. This means it is great for people who have to get up from their games from time to time - eg to eat with the family. You can rejoin where you were without having to lose hours of gameplay.
I rarely give great marks for games. The last 5/5 was Oblivion. This is a different kettle of fish - but still a 5 star game in my opinion.
Good for those who:
- liked Halo and Doom (in all its iterations),
- don't have lengthy periods of uninterrupted playtime at their disposal,
- play with others present - it's visually a good watch even if you're not playing yourself.
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39 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immense., 26 Sep 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I had major trepidations when approaching Halo 3 - I've been gaming since the early 80's and thought that the original Halo was a brilliant game. PC purists might point to other arguably more impressive games but they did not combine key gameplay elements into a cohesive package as well as Halo.
Having been a Sony PS1 and PS2 owner I bought both the original X-box and my 360 primarily for this game. I am naturally suspicious of Microsoft but must say I have been won over by Xbox live and feel they are more responsive to Europe than the other big firms. I own both a PS2 and a Wii so am not biased.
So my first impressions are ones of relief, awe and gratitude.Bungie have done an amazing job here, the game is absolutely immersive - I was up till 2 on heroic trying to 'sort out' a nest of Covenant troops. The feeling of satisfaction when I turned around to survey the smoking bodies cannot be overstated.
Anyway, to help you get a feel for why I rate this game so highly here are my ratings:
Graphics - 9/10 - top notch on my HDTV, its the sheer scale which impresses and the amount of activity in intense situations which amaze, the actual graphics are probably beaten by Gears of War and Bioshock but neither of those games have the variety of environments and scale.
Sound - 10/10 - music excellent again, atmospheric and adds to the filmlike intensity. Squad and Covenant voices really help you immerse into the world - shouts of 'here he is' and 'you are doomed' helped motivate me to kick some serious posterior.
Gameplay - 10/10 Brilliantly balanced the AI is awesome compared to earlier games, play on at least heroic though (Bungie recommend this by the way so ignore the comments from games magazines saying that normal has been dumbed down to help new players - so what, bring em on I say) Getting back into dual wielding was fun, and I found the new weapons balanced well. Can't wait to see the additional features - had fun with a grav lift last night inadvertantly bringing a truck down on my head.
Extras - 10/10 - The forge feature is something I haven't looked into yet but seems very interesting and will give undoubted extra longevity. Have played some intense games online,liked the menu structure and quick matching. Replays brilliant but haven't figured out how to fast forward through in a quick fashon.
To sum up, after criticism of the offline features made me wobble prior to purchase I have to say I think that some magazines went overboard marking the game down in this area. This game is an absolute must have and I'm happy to recommend it to anyone, 360 owner or otherwise.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bungie, unashamedly proud, and rightly so, 29 Feb 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I am really surprised and baffled by the negative reviews on Halo 3. Bungie put a whole lot of effort into the Halo trilogy and deserve to be really proud of the end result.
Halo was groundbreaking and had the sort of complete, well-finished story and concept that most game studios completely fail to achieve. The story was picked up convincingly in Halo 2 and the gameplay was taken up a notch or two with better environments and more interactivity.
Halo 3 carries the story forward brilliantly, and as soon as you start your campaign it has you captivated.
I had read various comments about it being woefully short, so, with some doubt as to what the trilogy's finale would really be like, I bought it anyway to find out. I jumped into a campaign on Legendary (hardest) difficulty level and was surprised again and again by how long the game was.
It easily took as long to complete as it's predecessors, and had just the same ballance of fun and challenges and new experiences.
I don't know why so many people have found it "too short"....maybe they were playing the pre-release demo and not the full game ;-]
Gameplay is great. Although you only get to play as the 'Chief in this one, it's plenty to keep the fun factor high, and in many missions you have the Arbiter alongside you as your partner. Towards the end of the game I found myself regularly checking to make sure he was allright, having got quite attached to the character, and thankfully, he was not tragically killed off as I thought might be the case.
You also still get all the same opportunities for using different weapons and types of combat....everything from long-range sniping to close-quarters shotgun action, to air assault, to ground assault in a tank. Plus, you can rip mounted weapons off their tripods and walk around with them, as well as having the use of chuckable utilities like energy shields, flares, mines and more.
You'll encounter all the same environments....beach, jungle, snow, Halo, scorched earth, covenant ship and also, new to Halo 3, a Flood hive and a desert!
This time though, it's all built for next-generation-only hardware, so it looks simply stunning. The environments, the lighting, the textures, water effects, fire, explosives, animation....they're all top quality and without the slightest sign of error or poor programming.
Sound in Halo 3 is also really well done, and has had the attention it deserves. Just like Halo 2, environmental sounds and character dialogue are rich and varied, and a solid score/soundtrack keeps the epic story moving along with epic energy, without being excessive.
I haven't started investigating Halo 3's multiplayer yet, but to be honest it doesn't matter to me...the game is absolutely worth every penny, deserves all the credit it gets, and is most definitely one I'll be playing again. I do recommend playing it on Heroic or Legendary difficulty though...it's a compelling challenge.
As for the story ending....I didn't find it disappointing, I thought it was appropriate. And it's confirmation from Bungie that they are ready to start something new!
Unless you're too young to understand the whole Halo 'thing' and get the feeling of what it's about, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Halo 3.
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