Halo 3 completed and reviewed

First published 14 April, 2008 | 2 Comments

Without too much fuss I finished Halo 3 on the weekend. That's not to say I found it a bad game, I just didn't find that it lived up to the hype and expectation I'd had following Halo 2.

Gameplay wise, Halo 3 is largely the same as Halo 2. Point, shoot, kill, run, point, shoot kill, duck, point shoot kill... etc. It's classic first person shooter stuff, and it's enjoyable. It just didn't rock my world the way I'd hoped. After playing Call of Duty 4 I found Halo 3 to be lacking in style, difficulty and excitement. Weapons and enemies are all largely the same as those from Halo 2. The new addition is the 'equipment' feature, which allows you to pick up things like shields and auto-sentries, to use at your leisure. It's a nice touch.

The game begins with the Master Chief crash landing on earth, to find that the Covenant have all but wiped out the human resistance. The Master Chief is charged to bust the Covenant party up. After notching a number of Covenant kills, the Flood crash land on earth. It's part of some big plan the Flood 'Gravemind' hatched. All going well you jet off to another planet, save the day, and if you stick around until the end of the credits, learn that the Master Chief survives. Halo 4 anyone?

All in all, the plot in Halo 3 becomes "nonsensical". Having just finished the game, I'd struggle to recall any major plot points. I've heard rumours the Halo franchise will be turned into a movie, but based on the last two installments, it's going to be very hard work for the screen writer. One slightly annoying facet of the game is the number of 'false' conclusions. The last 4 or so stages all feel like the end of the game, and it's almost like the plot was stretched out to accommodate more game play.

In summary, while you'd no longer consider it ground breaking Halo 3 is a good enough game. It seems to have been developed using the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' model, which is not necessarily a bad thing, however with games like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 on the market, you could be forgiven for wanting more.

I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.