Halo 3

[CMcK]

I snatched a quick shot of Halo 3 before I left yesterday. Very nice indeed. Feels just like Halo should, the controls are superbly weighted. Kept pressing X to reload at first though! Is it just me or can the Chief jump a bit higher now in the Campaign mode?
The Brute Shot gun doesn't half do some damage even at range. One for players that like the slow and steady approach I think.
Special mention to the audio in the game. There is so much chatter from the Marines and Covenant and it really adds to the experience.
I'm wondering why some reviews have been a bit harsh on the visuals I think the game looks superb. The lighting is fantastic, very realistic and not all in your face ala Gears Of War. I suppose the art style was really dictated a long time ago by Halo but it's still very easy on the eyes. All the subtle wee effects like the explosions and weapons discharging are really well done.

Hopefully I'll manage to get a wee bit online play when I get home on Sunday.

[talizker]

So far played some of the Campaign on Heroic and a little MP with some friends and although on first impression it seems like a solid title, I can't help being just a little disappointed ...maybe my expectation were too high or CoD4 MP Beta has spoilt me. There's no denying there is a lot of quality content but in terms of the individual parts I have tried so far, it wasn't the WOW I was expecting.

I'm am however definately looking forward to continuing both SP and MP tonight and also trying some Co-op.

[cavalcade]

Disastrous single player. Archaic graphics. Out dated game mechanics. Poor story. Nice music. Good multiplayer.

No surprises for me.

[Dogg Thang]

It's taking awhile now. But you need to make sure that you have had one file put on your file share so that the Bungie servers recongise your gamertag for it to upload automatically into your image folder. Otherwise plant the image in your file share and then view it on bungie.net and save it to your folders.

Thanks EL Leone. Does anyone know how I set up this file share? It's listed in the instructions as part of general multiplayer but I can't find a menu to set it up. I checked bungie.net and all I ca find out is that I don't have anything uploaded, though I'm pretty sure the game said it was uploading my screenshots.

Edit: It's okay, think I found it.

[Bleeders]

So does the exp gained through MP equate to games won (i.e. your team winning a match = exp gained).

[Swallow]

The first two levels (in split-screen co-op, my favourite way of playing games) are two of the worst I've played in along time.

[arcnas]

I agree surely it has to get better from here you would think, i hope so after all the hype , what i cant believe is how generic it feels, compared to say Bioshock, which sucks you in from the beginning.

Im going back to Skate i think.

[Swallow]

I played Anno 1701 over this for most of yesterday evening...

[Dogg Thang]

Okay, I've figured out the file share thing. But my screenshots aren't up in the screenshots section. Now that I've put some in my file share, should new screenshots go up automatically?

By the way, check out this cool effect - http://www.bungie.net/stats/halo3/sc...ue&ssid=471874

[cavalcade]

I played Anno 1701 over this for most of yesterday evening...

"This thread is for first play impressions only." See? I could've been a mod here.

Anyway, japery aside, I must admit for the first 5 minutes I had a little tingle of excitement when starting Single Player. But it turns out to be the same tingle of excitement I got when I sat in the cinema and the titles for The Phantom Menace began to roll. A short lived tingle.

I think my specific problem with the single player is that it feels like a game from 2001. Which of course it is. You cannot, really, have a mainstream FPS/combat shooter delivered today that doesn't have a cover mechanic. It feels archaic, outmoded, and clumsy. Also, I still remain to be convinced by the art design. Humanoid designs are all well and good in Star Trek, where it's not like you haven't got a choice due to budgetary constraints, but gaming should allow a far more creative approach to alien life, rather than helium voiced bipedal idiots.

Also, you can't help but compare some of the key moments of the game to its peers. Case in point the dropship "incident" near the start. Compare this sequence to a similar one in Gears, and you can't help but feel Halo 3 is struggling to stay in the heavyweight league of 360 titles in terms of graphical fidelity and emotional impact.

[arcnas]

Totally agree, i mean Gears of War was a year ago, and blew me away, oh and another thing why do the aliens speak engilsh, that really annoys me, well at least the sound is excellant.

[chosen_one666]

Quick question, that may have been answered already, but I can't be bothered searching through 45 pages.

->Open Spoiler<-

Do we get an explanation as to how Johnson, Keyes and the Arbiter made it back to Earth so quickly after the end of Halo 2?

A one word answer will suffice. Don't want any plot details spoiled.

[chopemon]

Personally I absolutely loved the single player from beginning to end. There were no bad bits and I was continually blown away by the scale and set pieces.

I disagree about cover mechanics, a shooter nowadays doesn't have to have one at all. Some games don't need one, do you think that UT3 will need a cover mechanic?

Also, why do people keep comparing the graphics to Gears? Gears is a corridor shooter with about 8 people on screen at once where as Halo has huge vistas and expansive levels with sometimes around 20+ characters on screen.

For me Halo looks fantastic in it's own way and I am completely happy with the level of graphics.

I am in love with this game and I think it is definitely the best Halo yet and one of the best shooter available. Stop the hate and start the love!

EDIT -

oh and another thing why do the aliens speak engilsh, that really annoys me, well at least the sound is excellant.

The Locust speak English in Gears.

I think the Chief has a translator in his suit as they haven translated a lot of the Covenant language. I think this is explained in the novels.

[peeveen]

So does the exp gained through MP equate to games won (i.e. your team winning a match = exp gained).

Don't think so. There is probably a detailed explanation somewhere, but my impressions are that you get EXP from just playing, with bonus EXP based on performance and whether it's a ranked match or not.

chosen_one666: There's obviously a wee bit of story between the two games that doesn't get shown, like there was between Halo 1 and 2.

[PeteJ]

I think my specific problem with the single player is that it feels like a game from 2001. Which of course it is. You cannot, really, have a mainstream FPS/combat shooter delivered today that doesn't have a cover mechanic.

Are you serious? The best shooters at the moment are CoD4 beta, the Half Life series (and TF2 ), Bioshock and Halo3, none of which have cover!