Halo 3

[TommyG]

Wow!! I?m mean just friggin' wow!!

This is the game Halo fans have been waiting for. The scale of the battles are just immense, as you?re tackling one group of covenant there?s a whole other battle going on just around the corner between them and your marines. The detailing on the grx is awesome with amazing lighting effects, sound effects are great also.
AI is what makes this game and it?s been ramped up to max. The maps are just HUGE, you now have several ways to tackle a scene and loads of weapons to choose from. I?m gushing a little but so far this is GOTY for me but then I?m Halo nuts so it?s bound to be.

I'm playing it through on Heroic and so far it's the perfect balance for a first time run through (if you've played lots of Halo before that is). I've been shot down a few times by snipers but never unfairly and they generally give you a warning shot first, unlike Halo 2's snipers.

I won't spoil the story but let's just say it ticks along smoothly and the cuts scenes are emotive and involving.

Brute hammer deserves plenty of !11111!oneoneones!!11!

Bring on teh co-op and as for the new multiplayer maps, they look shweet!

It's awesome guys no two ways about it

[Rossco]

FINISHED. Absolutely loved this from start to end with only one minor blip when on

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the second to last level, searching for Cortana. I was never a fan of those types of level in the Halo universe and there were a good few parts I kept dying unfairly and it just annoyed me, but I stuck through it, wasnt that long a level anyway.

But after that, it was plain sailing and the final level was just SUPERB.

What a way to end it, also... does this mean that

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Master Chief is still alive and kicking and they've left the story open for a 4th with the after credits clip of Chiefy saying "Wake me up if you need me..." If so, then what was the adverts all about as they were saying as if MC was dead and he gave himself up in battle to free the rest of the people. Thats what I thought it was saying.

Confused now slightly. But still amazing.
So many bits to talk about in this game, it seriously was fantastic. With games like Bioshock and Metroid Prime 3 out recently, which I've finished about half way and about 1 hour in respectively, for this to come along and me to finish it in a few days shows how good it is as I've been on a bit of a downer with games recently and nothing has really got my blood flowing. But this has.

Top notch. Totally lived up to the hype.

[Silvergun X]

Ok guys... Time for me to be honest.

Campaign wise, i'm just not feeling this at all. And I think I know why.

Before playing this, I came off playing the absolutely magnificent Half-Life 2, and HL2: Episode One, on PC. The day after this arrives and compared to that, it just didn't feel right. Your AI soldiers still keep getting themselves killed, the enemies don't seem to be very smart. I've also come across some nasty hitbox problems, where the enemy has a very large part of itself revealed whilst trying to hide, and my sniper crosshair shows red, yet I fire 10 bullets into it and no damage at all.

The story i'm finding I couldn't really care about...

It's disappointing. I was really, really looking forward to this.

I think i'm about half way through the campaign on Heroic at the moment, and co-operative or solo, I just don't feel motivated to complete it. Maybe the multiplayer will change my mind, as the things I HAVE had fun with, are the Forge mode and a few custom games played with Rossco just now. I think when matchmaking launches i'll get into it.

If it's a decent single player game you're waiting for, my honest opinion is wait for The Orange Box.

[ezee ryder]

Your AI soldiers still keep getting themselves killed, the enemies don't seem to be very smart.

Hmm. AI in this Halo is superb, enemies especially even on the normal difficulty. As far as the soldiers go, they saved my behind a few times during the campaign. They do die, you gotta remember they are just "soldiers" and not Spartans. Any particular situations where you found the AI to be not that great?

Rossco - To answer your question about the ending

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remember the people on earth think the Chief is dead and Cortana said it could be years before they are found.

Therefore in the adverts I assume

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the Chief (who is in a cryogenic sleep) and Cortana have not been found by anyone on the half broken ship floating around in space.

[MarioMark]

Got this yesterday and finished it today. Woah! Nobody told me it was this good! It's ****ing amazing! Been ages since i've been impressed with a game.

The single player is leaps and bounds better than Halo 2. The battles are intense and it had that classic epic Halo 1 feel to the game from back when I played that the first time. There is not much I can write about with out telling you what happens. The only chapter I didn't like was the one with

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the flood

, but other than that. I can't even remember ever finishing a game and thinking I can't wait to get straight back into it to start it again, but I'll wait for more players to get it to do co-op mode.

Had some multiplayer matches with some of the chaps on here too tonight, that was a laugh. It's Halo 2 but bigger and better and it's gonna be awesome when we get used to the maps and game modes.

They've taken the good from Halo 1 and the good from Halo 2 and made this gem of a game.

[glitch]

Anyone know where the skull is on Floodgate? only one I need then I have the full ninja costume

[dvdmike]

All the crap I get for saying it looks not much better than Halo 2 and the only bad point in every official review says the same !
Oh and legendary got very hard very quickly

[MJ]

I've noticed the Saved Film feature saves every game/level/session you play, then when you go to the theater/film/recent films it lists them with the option to save the ones you want to keep. I thought it only cached the ones you don't save until you quit Halo 3 but it doesn't and they are still there the next time you load the game. How do you delete the ones you don't want to save so they're not using unnecessary HDD space, I looked in the memory section of the dash and only saved films appear there?

[dlittley]

Anyone else getting 'Halo 3 Service Record Not Found' when trying to view their Halo 3 stats on bungie.net ? A few people I know have it working fine, but no matter what I do, it doesn't show my stats (altho strangely I can get to my screenshots directly via the URL).

:S

[Uli]

snapped up from the IGN review:

Most of the nine levels are hunky-dory, but the penultimate chapter is so bad, just thinking about it puts a rotten taste in my mouth. It's the kind of level where, if playing through Halo 3 again, I might just stop once I reached it and not bother finishing the skirmish, much less the fight.

so what's wrong with the last chapter? can someone point this out spoiler-free?

also, none of the reviews i've read so far has answered my most important question: does Halo 3 match or come close to brilliance found in Halo's best levels, most of all the Silent Cartographer!? what do the lucky Halo 3-early players say?

[Nisa]

Finished single player last night on Heroic and I'd say it's easily the best in the series and in fact is probably the best game I've played this year(I'm no Halo fanboy either). I wanted to go through the game on Legendary imediately after finishing it but I'll wait till some mates have it first so I can try out the 4 player coop.

Although the graphics aren't as detailed as Gears or Bioshock, the game is often beautiful especially during some of the incredibly cinematic cutscenes, whoever says this is just Halo 2 HD needs their eyes tested. Sound is excellent as well, taking down the Scarabs with the music blaring away in the background brought back memories of Shadow of the Colossus.

Only real complaints I have are that the length of the single player is pretty short, the AI of your team mates leaves a lot to be desired at times and the end is a bit of an anticlimax (nowhere nears as much as Halo 2's right enough).

Really can't wait to get stuck into some multiplayer now.

[jimtendo]

Well, i'll try to be as spoiler-free as possible...

->Open Spoiler<-

it starts with a firefight with a certain type of enemy we love (irony used here) and that carrys on for a bit until you reach a 'boss' fight, if you can call it that.
Then it ends with an action sequence, very similar to the way Halo ended.

it's the shortest (time wise) and just an unsatisfactory way to end the trilogy, in terms of gameplay.

As for levels reaching 'the silent cartographer' standard... well funnily enough, there is a stage near the last quarter of the game where it starts off similar. But i do like most of the stages, since mainly they are outdoors and expansive. A couple i really dont like and they are in the last half of the game.

[teddymeow]

Finished single player yesterday (on Normal...yeah, yeah what a wussy) and I was thoroughly impressed. Certainly one of the best games I've played this year (not that there's been that much great stuff released imho. Plenty of good but no real greats).

Some excellent levels, nicely done cut-scenes and fantastic "holy crap look at that" gameplay moments

Graphically it's nice and solid. No, it isn't up there with your Gears or Heavenly Sword in terms of sheer "oh wow" factor but there are moments when everything comes together and things look beautiful.

The best praise I can give it is that once those final credits had finished rolling I went straight back in and started on the next difficulty level. The only game I've ever played that made me do that before was Resi 4.

Multiplayer-wise I've already had some fun games with plenty of you guys and I'm sure as I get better I'll enjoy them even more.

->Open Spoiler<-

Rocket Race

is a quality game mode and I look forward to many games of that!!!

The "Theatre" mode is cool. Got a great clip of Bigniges' Mongoose getting stuck with a plasma grenade and then launching 150 foot over a hill ready for sharing!

Bungie; mission accomplished!! That mission being make me forget how much I disliked Halo 2

[Enemybreather]

I d like to say that Halo3 is the best.....well.IT IS!Finished it on single player and co-op Heroic with Ezee Ryder and we both found ourselves in awe at how good this game is!Animations are fantastic,lighting fantastic,A.I absolutely stunning,storytelling brilliant,the freedom to play through the levels as u see fit.
Ive also spent so much time watching replays of the levels from loads of different angles its scaring me lol,Im not gonna mention anything about the story but its up there with the best,and alls left to say is THIS GAME ROCKS!!!!!Thankyou Bungie ps ive included a couple of screenshots I took from game in theatre mode,dont worry doesnt ruin anything

[ChrisF]

Also finished this at the weekend. It was fairly enjoyable. I thought that the last part

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in the warthog

was a total stinker though. Really felt quite lame and tacked on.

A.I absolutely stunning

I totally disagree with that.

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There's several bits where you have to get in a vehicle with someone and let them drive to where you need to be. I waited for ages as the driver tried to get up a nigh on vertical hill when there was clearly an easier route next to it. Then for ages he kept driving us into trees and at one point crashed the warthog. I had to flip it back over and get in again.

Far from stunning

I'm sure this game has made Halo fans very happy, but for those of us not totally caught up in the hype, its just another fairly good game and nothing to get too excited about.