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On September 25, 2007 Halo 3 was released. It was the final installment in the epic trilogy that spanned three games. Millions of pre-orders were made and it was hyped to be the greatest game of all time. Was it. Like I said in my Grand Theft Auto 4 review, no. The professionals said it was and the fan boys said the same but many shared my opinion of it being over hyped. To all Bungie fans I'm not saying Halo 3 was bad , I found myself enjoying it but just confused of why it got perfect scores. With that being said lets take an honest, unbiased look at Halo 3.

Graphics

The graphics are mixed bowl of next and last gen. The lighting and bloom effects looking impressive when they're not blinding you, which would be all the time. The textures are passable but the faces are not. They look like something you'd find on a Dreamcast game. The plant and vegetation are so pretty that they rival Farcry's plants, which probably sapped the game's graphics department's funds if I may add.

Story

Any Halo fan will be familiar with the story. The Covenant are on a conquest to destroy all of mankind, claiming that we are an affront to their gods. Here's a bad example of just throwing a contrived motivation for the sake of the plot. What caused the Covenant to draw to this conclusion? How are we a threat to their gods? Please explain. If I'm mistaken and if the reasons for the Covenant's assault on Humanity are adequately explained, then please correct me. The main character that you play as, Master Chief, travels to various locations to fight the alien menace. Unfortunately through Master Chief comes one of my most hated aspect that is most commonly found in a first person shooter. The Master Chief is a silent protagonist. I understand Bungie's motivation behind this decision but in my opinion the main character should be the most involved story wise, not the least. The story is fairly good and it provides a few surprises here and there.

Gameplay

The gameplay revolves around shooting aliens with guns and vehicles. You have many different weapons, Human and Covenant, to help you do this. All of the weapons are unique, diverse, and serve their own purpose. The health system is simple and straight forward. If you get hurt then get to cover to heal yourself. Many have criticized this system and I find it to be a little unrealistic, but it sure beats having to wander around a level for several minutes searching for a health pack only to die while in your fruitless search. Besides shooting you have the melee option that you can use while up close and the animation is different with each weapon and the way the enemy will react to the hit will be different depending on where you hit them. I overall found the gameplay very fluid, mostly because of the Havok engine's seamless design.

Multiplayer

The best part of the game is without a doubt the multiplayer. Whether or not you have XBOX live or not makes or breaks your experience with Halo 3. It's simplicity is almost genius in it's own sense. Nothing about it is new or innovative and nothing has been brought to the table to make it exceptional. What makes it great is it's balanced gameplay and it's execution.

Conclusion

Halo 3 without the multiplayer function is an average, fun first person shooter. When you include the fantastic multiplayer with it's balanced and fun nature, then you have a very great game that's a must own if you have an XBOX 360.

Learn more about this author, Thomas A. Polymath.
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