Halo 3
Review:
I would just like to say, I am a big halo fan. I do and still consider it one of the best console gaming series, neck and neck with Half Life (or maybe a little better). But Halo 3, the end of the series is "good" but could have been so much better. My short review really could be summed by saying that Halo 3 is Halo 2.1 for XBOX360. I think Bungie and Microsoft played it safe by just recreating Halo 2 with better graphics and sound. From a business perspective, it was probably a smart move. Literally, there were the same weapons, same ships, same friendly characters just super-sized for the Xbox. The enemy characters acted in the same way, going through the same movements. The sad part is that they didn't recreate those famous battles there were tough as h*ll. There were a couple of tough battles with the flood and that was about it, everything else was a cake walk. After about 2 checkpoints, I knew I had to go from Normal to Heroic.
I don't know, maybe I played Halo 1 and 2 too much, but Halo 3 just felt like a lackluster experience. The AI, to me, seemed a little weaker; there were times where I was actually waiting before the enemy would shoot at me and he never did. And my favorite enemy character, the Elites weren't present (I guess they are on our side now). That Halo 2 character was awesome and would act like a predator and hunt you down. Most of the characters in three were just dummy targets waiting to get shot. I remember playing Halo 1 - 2 over and over and over again trying find a better strategy. I have had the game for 3 days and I have already beaten Halo on the Heroic; it would probably take me 5 hours to beat it on legendary.
On the multiplayer, so far it seems pretty good. Good maps, same Halo 2 like system. Here is a quick run down of the good and the bad of the game.
Good:
1. Great music, really set the tone
2. Great continuation of story
3. Great 360 graphics; you could see the bullets, blood, metallic shininess
4. So far, great multiplayer
Bad:
1. Horrible maps that were too linear and too easy
2. AI lacked, I literally could stand there for a minute before some enemies would shoot me. Where were the Elites?
3. New weapons and ships were cool but I was just fine using the older weapons like the assault rifle.
In terms of the Xbox 360 games out now. I am not really a fan of Bioshock and think Halo 3 is way better. I might have to give Gears of War a better rating than Halo 3. Gears of War left you proud to have beat the game, especially on the hardest game setting.
Conclusion:
I think Halo 3 will get a bunch of rave reviews and hold people's attention for a couple of months or a year, especially to new fans but I don't think it will satisfy the serious Halo junkie.
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