The Fight is finished...Halo 3 campaign review

For the first time ever, I actually waited in line for the launch of a video game related item. Sure, I waited at Wal-mart for the Wii when they received a dozen or so, but it wasn't a line. Just a dozen or so people standing around the Customer Service desk. In contrast, there were hundreds of people waiting to pick up Halo 3.

Anyway, it took a couple of hours to get through the line just to get a ticket. Personally, I think this was time-burning hoop-jumping. After that, we had to stand in line again at Midnight to redeem said ticket. Demolition and I rolled our eyes in shame as obviously disturbed individuals ran off into he night with 2-3 Legendary editions in hand. "[WTF]," is about all I could muster.

In the end, I can say it wasn't worth it. No console or game has ever been worth standing in line for hours in my experience. It seems to be a practice in futility by building an overwhelming tower of unrealistic expectations. But I digress.

Continue reading...

The first thing Demolition and I did was play through the campaign. Immediately I can say that anyone who complained about the graphics can stop. Halo 3 is a beautiful game, although the human faces were quite a letdown. The Elites and Master Chief looks solid and highly detailed, and the shadows aren't grainy as many 360/PS3 games seem to be to this point.

The gameplay was as expected; the real problem is the story and presentation itself. While completing the campaign, I couldn't help but find a correlation to Terminator 3's pacing. It felt rushed and the story itself seemed slapped together for a disappointing finale. They even resulted to copping out on re-using a Halo 1 level mechanic (you'll know what I mean when you get there). Bungie, unfortunately, failed to get us re-attached to any of the characters, and they made Arbiter and MC way too much of yes-men.

The last few levels ended up being a mad-dash just to get through it...we stopped trying after a point. I can say that the length is about right, but the missions themselves lack quite a bit of oomph. Comparing to the previous Halo campaigns, I would rank it 2nd place. The first Halo has to come in last because it was just too repetitive. Halo 2 had a good bit of action and battle scenarios, so I'll keep it at first place. Halo 3 is somewhere in the middle.

However, we all know that we really buy Halo for the multiplayer...the story is only for hardcore fans. I'll touch that part after playing it more. From the beta and the few matches I've played so far, this looks to be the best Halo yet. See you online!