Xbox 360 Review: Halo 3

The Halo franchise is the fattest cash cow Microsoft has for its Xbox 360. With over 11.5 million copies of the first and second Halo games sold worldwide, Master Chief is the closest thing to a mascot the Xbox has. Needless to say, with a console that is struggling to keep up in sales numbers with Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft desperately needs Halo 3 to be a hit.

Of course, with the size of the fan base Halo has generated over the past six years, the question is not if Halo 3 will make money, but whether or not developer Bungie Studios can recapture the sci-fi magic that made the series a success in the first place.

Halo 3 picks up right where its predecessor was cut off - with earth on the brink of destruction, Cortana (The United Nation Space Command Marines’ artificial intelligence program) trapped half a galaxy away, and the five remaining Halo super weapons primed and ready to destroy everything within a radius of 25,000 light years.

After having to wait almost three years to finish the fight that was started in Halo 2, the expectations for the final chapter of the Halo trilogy couldn’t get much higher. Thankfully for the millions of fans who have endured the Halo hiatus, Bungie has developed the best game of the series.

Halo 3 is fantastic – the best game yet on the Xbox 360 in fact. Bungie has managed to bring a satisfying conclusion to their story arc, expand upon the multiplayer greatness of Halo 2, and pack in new, innovative, and useful features like Theatre and Forge that will have players bashing Grunts and sniping Jackals until the end of the 360’s lifecycle and beyond.

The campaign is comprised of nine levels that take the player from the forests of Africa to the deserts of the artificial mega structure the Ark. Missions are paced well and setup to keep the action full throttle throughout. The level entitled “The Covenant,” in particular, stands out as a triumph of design – tasking the player with no less than four objectives, all of which could have stood alone as independent missions.

In total, the game should take players from nine to fifteen hours to complete, depending upon their skill level.

Graphically speaking, Halo 3 is a joy to watch. The sun’s dusty light falls through the tree limbs in the game’s opening level The Arrival; real-time reflections bounce off of Master Chief’s iconic helmet; vehicle explosions provide a level of visual satisfaction never seen in a video game before. There is always something worth watching, shooting, or blowing up in Halo 3, even if your only reason for doing so is the pretty visual effects that follow.

Article Author: Ben Wood

Ben is a junior at the University of Oklahoma. He is majoring in Journalism with a minor in Film and Video Studies, but that's probably not what it's going to say on his degree certificate when he graduates.

Visit Ben Wood's author page — Ben Wood's Blog