Game Review Essay: Halo 3

Game Review Essay: Halo 3

Ryan Harvey

Gerald Voorhees

Com 342 

February 9, 2010

The year is 2001 and you are sitting behind your Xbox playing “DOOM 3” and “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” anxiously awaiting for your copy of the highly anticipated “Halo: Combat Evolved”. It is 2004 and you are playing through “Halo: Combat Evolved”.  You and your friends need to see Sgt. Johnson hug the Elite and then after the explosion hear Master Chief and Cortana say, “Did anyone else make it? Just echoes and dust, but we did the right thing didn't we?” It is always good to recap the previous game before placing it to rest.  Then it is time for some red bull infused Slayer on Blood Gulch until the next morning when your copy of "Halo 2 “comes in the mail. After endless days of pwn’n some noobs on the new multiplayer function it is time to preorder your copy of Halo 3 Legendary Edition, ahh, Halo 3 in all its grandeur feeling recognizable yet fresh and thrilling. Each level begs you to unleash Master Chief’s wrath on the Flood and tempting you with an engaging plot.  Bungies Halo 3 brings more to the table than just an interesting story line and a helmet; there is also Forge, extremely fun and addicting multiplayer content and the ability to share videos of you killing your friends in interesting ways like never before. It is the final game in the Halo trilogy we all know and love, a total package, this is Halo 3.

We all know that Halo 2 is a fast paced shooter and Halo 3 definitely doesn’t disappoint.  The newest Halo does not try to take players away from that comfort zone but some new aspects of the game make it feel evolved from previous games. Players can now watch their enemies die in slow motion with the new ability to watch old game play as well as share it online. One aspect is the new vehicles in the game. The Chopper is a vehicle that brutes drive often throughout the game and one that players will use to smash through their enemies. The Elephant is actually bigger than an elephant, much slower, and has a lot more turrets on it. Gauss Warthog has a gauss rifle on it, which provides a new twist on an old favorite. The Hornet is a new human flying vehicle; much like a helicopter it can move up, down, backwards and forwards. Mongoose is a new vehicle that moves fast and is very unique compared to other vehicles.  The Prowler is another vehicle that players can look forward to; it is basically a Covenant Warthog. Some new and interesting guns definitely add some spark to the player’s arsenal. Not only did Bungie bring back the indispensable Assault Rifle from Halo: Combat Evolved but added some guns like the Flame Thrower, Missile Pod and Laser.  Those aren’t the only big guns added into the new Halo. The Human and Covenant turrets can be dismounted and wielded as a hand held meat grinder. But with great power comes… a limited HUD and slower player movement. An interesting twist on the Energy Sword is the dueling attribute. When two players fly at each other with Energy Swords drawn the players will clash (lowering shields) and then begin a race to strike the opponent first. Some interesting objects that appear in Halo 3 are things like the Bubble Shield, Power Drain and Regenerator which do exactly what their names say they’ll do. Guns in Halo 3 have positives and negatives and depend on how the player utilizes them within the game. It doesn’t seem to have any one gun rain supreme and become too powerful, for instance, in Halo 2 the lock on Rocket Launcher was ridiculously hard to avoid once in a vehicle. Players of Halo 3 will not encounter that problem; the guns are very well rounded.

Halo 3’s multiplayer function is definitely why most players bought the game. Multiplayer functions in games have been a staple since they really emerged in 2001 and Halo 3 is no exception. “…multi-player games, combine the aesthetic and the social in a way the old mass media, such as theatre, movies, TV shows and novels never could” says Espen Aarseth, and he is right. (Aarseth, “Computer Game Studies Year One”, par.3) Halo 3 will have players coming back for the multiplayer experience for years. Almost all of its maps include long and short range areas and weapons so no players will be without their favorite weapons and fighting styles. One thing that does disappoint is the amount of preadolescent squeaky voices that talk nonstop about belittling other players. This particular quality can make communication difficult.  So “partying up” is recommended to keep out the annoying voices in your head. Objects such as the Regenerator and Bubble Shield come in handy much more often than in Campaign and can really change how battles are played out. Another thing that both limits and changes game play is rushing to get main weapons. The rush to get main weapons, such as Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers, is a summary of the first minute of each game. Whichever side gets to these guns first really has the advantage early on in play.  Forge is something that is going to have Halo fans jumping out of their seats because now Halo players can edit all multiplayer maps and add tons of objects both common and exotic. This makes editable game play virtually limitless and adds for tons of new and exciting game modes.

There is more to Halo 3 being bigger and better than previous games in the series than added objects. Many changes came from players previous complaints of Halo 2. Players will notice very little down time in Halo 3; in previous games players had to track some large areas and maybe even back track. Halo 3 does keep its maps the big or small at exactly the right times. If it is a big map, there will be some sort of vehicle to make it fun and exciting. Ai is in Halo 3 like the others but better graphics doesn’t always mean more perfect game play. Let’s start with Ai enemies; they use the land and arsenal to their advantage more than before. The new enemies will be seen hiding behind objects much more, running and dodging more, but most importantly using bubble shields and power drains to their advantage especially in the more harsh difficulties. Sometimes players will find themselves fighting off waves of enemies, this is because they call in for reinforcements which adds an aspect of game play not seen before in the Halo series. This brings me to the difficulty levels. Players that have played through the past games and have become more skilled throughout the saga may want to play on Hard or Legendary settings. The reason for this is because when building Halo 3 Bungie needed to provide a level of difficulty for the average person.  The average person (which will account for a large portion of sales) playing on normal will experience the new Ai configurations but not to the extent for people playing it on harder levels. How does Halo 3 end you ask? Of course it ends in an infamous warthog escape as it does in a classic Halo fashion. The “Escape the fiery meltdown before its too late!” does provide a classic finishing point to Halo 3. There are many points of air born Master Chief that may seem cinematic but add a level of precision, especially when playing with four other players. The constant falling off the map and leaps of faith may take a couple of tries until teammates stop running into each other and following one another into the drop off/lava.

Halo 3 is a good game, but it isn’t perfect. Halo 2 really focused on the parallel between both sides, but in Halo 3 that effect is completely dropped from the game in a way.  This puts the concentration on Master Chief. Yes there are some negatives to the new Ai. Not only is the Arbiter basically a Human fighting right at your side (lack of story on the covenant side), but his Ai is atrocious, a step back even from Halo 2’s friendly’s. All you players will notice him continuously running right up the line of fire and constantly dying. He will however hide behind objects and use his weapons more efficiently than past friendly.  Although this off-putting characteristic is annoying in a lot of ways it does influence the games concentration on Master Chief being the only hope for humanity. Halo 3 follows the classic definition of a game; the player “interacts” with the game but the “rules” imply they can’t shoot their teammate but using him to solve a “conflict”, say using him as a meat shield, will help the “uncertain outcome” point in the favor of them reaching their “separate”, “voluntary”, “inefficient” “goal” then they can tell their “social group” about it. (Juul, “Video Games and the Classic Game Model”, 32-33)

Like I said before, Halo 3 is not perfect but does advance the series in a positive direction. The majority of the new additions to this game are very interesting, exciting and fulfill expectations of what Halo 3 should feel like. The replay value is still high and the multiplayer will be played for years to come. Master Chief is a celebrity and Halo 3 is his movie; it’s grown into such a mass culture that if you don’t play this and let it influence your life, you will be the nerd. Aspects of this game will influence many forms of media and cultures because of its grandeur. Games in years to come will be compared to this game because of its influence. (McAllister, “Studying the Computer Game Complex”) In one sentence Halo 3 is the whole package.