Rank system online, old multiplayer map favorites

Halo 3 is a must have.

Shame on me for taking so long to play Bungie's prized possession, Halo 3. I would blame them for H3 not exceeding all the hype, but that would be a slap in their face. Yes, Microsoft pushed the hell out of this release, but it was every person who fell captive to the original Halo and Halo 2's crack like addictiveness that hyped Halo 3 beyond any attainable epic standard.

To be fair, the only thing that fell short of expectations was the single-player campaign. On the Normal difficulty, even casual gamers can blow through the story campaign in less than five hours with the same reaction - "that's it?" It had been awhile since I'd played Halo and H2, but the story in H3 was hard to follow. Die-hard fans may understand it, though anyone who's played bits and parts of the games before it will be a little unsure about what's going on. The obvious bit of the story is that there is still a Halo that needs to be destroyed and Master Chief is also on a rescue mission to find Cortana who holds a secret. The game begins with Master Chief having crash landed on Earth in a jungle. After a short tutorial with the controls you confront the arbiter that you partially controlled throughout H2. He's now converted to assisting the humans after learning that the covenant's fight with the humans was irrelevant and the real dispute was with the flood (that lovely parasitic race we've loved so much). After a few words, the Master chief will go on his way to "finish the fight." Despite the quick play through and various instances where Master Chief has visions of Cortana filling his HUD and slowing the game down to a gritty interference, the campaign is interesting enough to play through and finish at least once (specifically the final mission, what a hell of a finale). Of course, for the God gamers out there, the ultra-hard Legendary difficulty allows for some teeth gritting replay value.

Tora! Tora! Tora! Err.. more, more, more! For those who wanted more, Halo 3 is loaded. More weapons, more vehicles, more multi-player maps (and some old favorites remade). There are a few more weapons like the blade tipped Brute Spiker that packs a load of bark and bite, the "force" hammer which is deadly as hell close range, and the spartan laser that can kill in one shot with the catch being it has to be charged, leaving you defenseless for a short period. Bungie also tinked with series favorites like the needler, which you can't dual-wield anymore (for obvious reasons) and is a bit more powerful than before. This may be my mind f*cking with me, but the deadly dual-wielding pistols that cleaned up like a custodian after a big event in H2 aren't nearly as powerful in H3. My favorite weapon adjustment is the energy sword. It's still deadly as sh*t in the right player hands, but the expected "god mode" that came with it in H2 was often times unfair and created very lopsided games. Now, when two players lunge at each other, instead of an "eenie meenie mynnie moe" the computer used to decide who won (or so it seemed), swords will clash and cause a temporary stun between the two players. After that it's left to whoever has the quickest trigger finger. Naturally, series favorites such as the Battle Rifle, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle (and covenant Beam rifle), and Plasma Rifle are back along with some not-so-favorites like the plasma pistol and sub-machine guns. Remember those turrets that left you open to snipers and gave your position away after the first shot? Players can now rip the turrets off of their bases and use them as your own personal weapon. This lets players who are up against a vehicle have a better chance of taking it out before it takes them out if a turrets near by. The major downfall to turning these turrets into mobile killing machines is you can't go faster than a brisk walk with them, so use it and drop it in order to stay alive long. There are also two new grenades in addition to the traditional and sticky grenade: a spike grenade that will stick to anything (walls, vehicles, players) and an incendiary grenade that goes up in flames after it's thrown.

The controls are pretty much the same as previous games, only with more buttons on the 360 controller to spread out commands and actions. Dual-wielding is still a viable option and was H2's big draw. This time around though I've found that sticking with the Assault or Battle rifle so that my left hand is open to throwing grenades with the left trigger while shooting away with the right trigger is much more effective. Vehicles have always been an exciting addition of mayhem to multi-player, but they were just a pain to control (specifically the Warthog). Bungie tweaked the Warthog so players have a lot more control this time around though. They also added the new Mongoose, an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) that's useful for quick runs since it's a little bit faster than the target heavy warthog.

There are now power-ups available that you are able to throw out onto the ground. You can only carry one at a time, but the advantage received can turn a firefight instantly. Some of my favorites are the bubble shield which creates a force field bubble that keeps out gunfire and explosions, but not players. Then there's the energy drain that drains player shields within a small range, and the energy refresh ball that regenerates shields within the vicinity, as well as other small useful power-ups. These power-ups are thrown using the "X" button and can be tossed even if you're dual-wielding, so now dual wielders aren't completely screwed when both their weapons are reloading and they can't toss a grenade or two in those sticky situations.

Before, Halo was basically a cluster f*cked frag fest. Now with Halo 3, Bungie added in enough content and re-tooled with others to balance out and add some variety to the gameplay. Don't get me wrong, cluster f*cks are inevitable in Halo, they just happen with a little more strategy involved.

Now, Halo 3 didn't break entertainment and sales records because it had a deep and meaningful single-player story line. So, for me to say that the game failed to reach it's super-stardom hype because the single-player lacked much to desire is like giving a celebrity a parking ticket. Pardon my grammar, but IT DON'T MATTER. From four or sixteen player with a LAN (local access network) hook up frag fests in the original Halo on Xbox to playing online over Xbox Live against an unlimited range of skill levels in Halo 2, Bungie had quite the pressure to make Halo 3 an ultra hybrid of what made those two games work and do it better and for next-generation.

I hate using the phrase "if it aint broke, don't fix it," but it captures Halo 3 perfectly. The online structure stays very similar to that introduced in H2. There are two different playlists; Ranked and Social, with various game types each like free for all, team slayer, team objective, etc. There are also a few new gametypes like Hardcore for the more serious gamer, and of course the custom game type. Those who could never complete the game on Legendary can now have a friend jump in and help in the new campaign cooperative play. You can choose to play any mission that you've already completed in the regular campaign, and if you're just trying to finish the last level to earn all the achievements up to completing Legendary then you can. In ranked playlists you start at skill level one, and as you play and do good, your skill level raises. Your skill level is what the computer uses to match players for games so that your'e not a skill level 14 playing against a 36. The system is great, but it's flawed. Each ranked game type is a separate skill level counter. For example, as of this writing I am a 15 in lone wolf and a 10 in team slayer. In my case there isn't a big difference, but you never know when that 15 you're playing with isn't a 50 in another gametype (50 being the maximum skill level attainable).

H3 brings another breed of skill levels to the plate with military ranks that are earned through playing well in ranked or social playlists. Every player has a Halo 3 service card in addition to their XBL (Xbox Live) gamer card that lists their medal accomplishments, what difficulty they've completed campaign on (if any), and how many ranked, social, and custom games they've played. Players can also view a much more detailed stats report on bungie.net. Experience is earned by playing matches, and every so much experience that you earn will level up your rank. I'm not entirely sure about the order of ranks, but you'll go through Lieutenant, Sergeant, Colonel, Corporal, Captain, etc. with different grades each like Sergeant Grade 2. The rank level and skill level have no correlation with each other, as it's possible for a level 37 to have a higher rank than a level 50, so working for both gives players a little more incentive to play better.

When I finally got an Xbox 360, this beauty of a game was the first one I fired up. Wow. Halo 3 is absolutely stunning. While environments and characters in the original Halo and Halo 2 were slightly blocky and had a grainy kind of look to them, Halo 3 smooths all of that out for a movie-like experience. Explosions throw debris everywhere, the maps are ultra detailed, and the transitions from gameplay to cut-scenes back to game play are seamless. Bullet cases fly from your [human] weapons onto the ground, and I'm still in awe that the assault rifle's ammunition count shows on the rifle itself. It's easily one of the top most graphically powerful games on 360 right now.

Explosions, more smart-a** dialogue from ally AI, and the always entertaining covenant grunts and their crazy alien antics provide the rich sounds in the game. We're not talking groundbreaking Emmy awards here, but the voice scripts keep the story interesting with a touch of dry humor. I've got to give out mad props to the musical score as well, it's very piano driven and really sets the epic mood and the game's pace.

Overall
If you didn't like Halo before, there's really no reason to like it now. Halo 3 takes everything that made Halo and Halo 2 so damn replayable and revamps it in one ultimate finale to a hell of a trilogy. Keyword: multiplayer. Beat the campaign in five hours and thousands of hours later in multiplayer and you know it's a good game. Chances are, 90% of the world already has Halo 3, but if not and you have a 360 or were thinking of buying one... DO IT.