Video Game Analysis: Halo 3

I'm starting a series of threads, each beginning with "Video Game Analysis". These threads will be used to discuss and debate about how good a game truly is. Readers are encouraged to tell us what they think about a game as well as respond to others thoughts. If you do so, however, be sure to post your reasoning and not just blindly praise a game.

If anyone else wishes to start one of these threads for a game that I have not done (likely because I have not played it), feel free to do so. All I ask is that you make the title in the same fashion as I have.



Halo 3 is, in my opinion, a wonderful game. Recently it has been receiving a lot of negative feedback. However, I can't see why people would dislike the game with it's simple (yet effective) map and character customization, thought-out storyline, efficient matchmaking system and multiplayer gameplay, wide gametype variety, and beautiful graphics and physics.

For a game that is two years old and came out almost immediately following the release of the 360, it has a near-perfect control system that has yet to be beaten. It's forge system has many limitations, but not so much that it doesn't allow for a limitless map selection with many well-thought out and unique gametypes. It has a very strong community backing it as well as the best matchmaking system I have ever seen.

Many accuse the game's storyline of lacking the wow found in the original Halo. Well, it's also funny how all of these people are (or used to be) major fans of the Halo series. The most likely reason for the lack of magic in the story is that it is not only a sequel, but the end of a trilogy. By now everything is well developed and familiar; there is no new universe to be in awe with. It's still UNSC, Covenant and Flood fighting over the fate of humanity and the halo rings. But isn't that the way we want it? Would you honstly be happy if they added something else?

I'd say that this game is a great game and I would put it as one of my top three favorite games of all time, even above Halo: Combat Evolved.

Kinda Short...

The only think i dislike about Halo 3 is its limited Gametype customization...

I hope this is a joke...

I can go on a pessimistic review of the entire game, and tell you everything that sucks.

Gauz wrote:I can go on a pessimistic review of the entire game, and tell you everything that sucks.

Do it. That's what these threads are for.

I have mixed feelings on it. The campaign was a total let down, compared to the story-lines of the previous two. While it had better gameplay than Halo 2, it felt like an expansion to it. It wasn't an original story, and didn't tell us too much either. CE set the scene for the whole series, and Halo 2 told us about the Covenant, and somewhat brilliantly had the Elites being betrayed.

Halo 3 was just...dull. Stop the Covenant from firing Halo, and then kill the Flood. I also didn't like the way it seemed that the UNSC was now wiping out the Covenant, whereas in the first two games it felt like your back was up against the wall, and only you, the Master Chief, could stop them.

Okay, i'll start writing it down then i'll copy paste it. Might take a while to go into detail.

Wolverfrog49 wrote:I have mixed feelings on it. The campaign was a total let down, compared to the story-lines of the previous two. While it had better gameplay than Halo 2, it felt like an expansion to it. It wasn't an original story, and didn't tell us too much either. CE set the scene for the whole series, and Halo 2 told us about the Covenant, and somewhat brilliantly had the Elites being betrayed.

True, though there was some major characterization of the flood and forerunners in this game that wasn't evident in other games. I think that simply because they didn't let us play as flood (which I agree with), we didn't get the background that we could in Halo: CE with the UNSC and Halo 2 with the Covenant.

Wolverfrog49 wrote:Halo 3 was just...dull. Stop the Covenant from firing Halo, and then kill the Flood. I also didn't like the way it seemed that the UNSC was now wiping out the Covenant, whereas in the first two games it felt like your back was up against the wall, and only you, the Master Chief, could stop them.

Yah... the campaign was a bit of a repeat, I'll give you that. Still, that is the Covenant's ultimate objective, so what would you expect?

And the reason it's easier is because the elites are now fighting on our side. With the loss of half of their military force and humanity at it's last stand, I can't imagine the Covenant would be as powerful as before.

The Covenant should still lolomgrofluber-stomp the UNSC.

Where to start? Well, background helps I think. Halo 3 is the third and final installment in the Halo trilogy, quite obviously. Personally I think the first one, Halo: Combat Evolved was the best of the three. I really should re-play Halo 2, because I really feel indifferent about it as of now. It being the third and final game made it a highly anticipated one at that.

The campaign for Halo 3 I thought was its best feature, although it had its faults. The entire campaign was rushed, as in you were moving from major location to major location much too often. In the first game, you stayed on instillation 04 the entire time. In Halo 3 however, you move through multiple areas. You move through the African jungle and the UNSC base and then make your way to the ruins of New Mombasa, and then you take a road trip to the ark that is also postponed by going to High Charity. After that, you finally destroy High Charity and save Cortana, shortly following you destroy the ring and float off into space nearing some Forerunner shield world. All in all, you move, a lot.
Another thing I don’t like particularly is how they cut Cortana, the best character in the game IMO, for half of the freaking game. You are left alone with the Arbiter instead so you don’t feel lonely. Only problem is, he sucks as an actual character during the ENTIRE GAME! The Arbiter has little important dialogue at all. His only important part is when he kills Truth, and then he goes back to being sir sucks a lot. He doesn’t help you in High Charity, which was a bitch of a level, leaving you to fight a horde of Flood.

The Gravemind had a large part in Halo 3, comprising 50% of the dialogue basically. But you never once see him at all, unlike in Halo 2. I think that is strange as he did appear in Halo 2 on Delta Halo. He clearly manifested himself on High Charity, so why he didn’t show himself made me wonder. If he really wanted to kill you he could’ve, but of course that couldn’t happen because of game play. The “Boss Fight” with 343 Guilty Spark was not a good boss fight at all, it was too simple and I actually liked Spark as a character. Johnson died at the end as well, along with Miranda Keyes. Johnson was a really good character, and he died. I am indifferent about Miranda Keyes, only rant about her is how she got the muscle to dual wield a shotgun and pistol at the same time, not even the Chief has been seen able to do that. He probably could, but again, game play interferes. Canon was sacrificed for game play in some instances also, something I wouldn’t of have done if I were making the game. Although it was probably necessary.

All in all, the campaign in Halo 3 was its best feature, although it also had its faults. It was still an enjoyable campaign to play nevertheless.


Multiplayer is that part of the game I hate the most, mainly because I just hate the controls for Halo 3. To me it seems just very repetitive, the killing and all. Whoever gets the first shot it seems always wins, unless you really fucking suck. It’s not always the case, but most the time it is. It is hard to be caught off guard and still win the fight alive. Yes you can turn around and stick them before you die but you still both die. I just don’t like how unfair it is to be caught off guard and not have so much of a fighting chance. The controls for Halo have not had any major breakthroughs either, through the entire series. I wish there were more features in Halo 3 that would make the game more creative and different rather than the same thing just plastered with different maps/ armor. Armor customization gives you some diversity, but it doesn’t affect shit. The maps in the game are mostly bad, there only few good maps that everyone plays and the rest just suck. They killed lockout from Halo 2, which was the best map in the entire series IMO, then they tried to bring it back and that failed. Forge was brought into the game at late notice. What would Halo be without Forge and Custom games? People would still play it but it would be shit. Forge I think is just a lazy excuse for map making. Personally I would rather play a map created by a professional map designer rather than some amateur who can’t even line up the wall correctly or make the map look…. “Clean”. The only part of Forge I like is when someone makes some awesome idea for a map, I mean like some crazy one that isn’t just mad shooting each other. Lava pit and its variants were fun, where you had a platform over sandbox and vehicles and tried to ram people off the edge. Or flaming ninja, where it was basically a Halo style Ninja Warrior. Those obstacle courses were quite fun, that was a good part of Forge. When people make good creative maps I’m happy with it, other than that Forge is an excuse for new, good maps. Rather than a barren field and some wall…

There is definitely more that I can rant on about Halo 3, but I’ll let the rest of you do that for me. Besides, I am writing this off memory. Don’t expect me to update this either or give another review.

Halo 3: The insane blcokbuster.

Campaign

I find the campaign quite fun and involving until... Mr. Arbiter... I would rather him something like Halo 2, and they just give you another Elite or something. He says random stuff and never responds to actions like meleeing him. The beginning levels were great, such as running through Voi in a Warthog and blowing the fuck out of a UNSC Firebase. However, the later levels dulled down that level of extreme jumping and shit. And of COURSE, the end was ANOTHER mad chase to get off the first ring, again! And this time, you can do it with four other people! FAIL! But I still loved that level, just because I got to enjoy the HD version of The Maw.

I liked the campaign, but it had its flaws.




Multiplayer


Three words: Shoot. Him. First.

Gauz wrote:

Single Player Campaign

The campaign for Halo 3 I thought was its best feature, although it had its faults. The entire campaign was rushed, as in you were moving from major location to major location much too often. In the first game, you stayed on instillation 04 the entire time. In Halo 3 however, you move through multiple areas.

We went from Earth to the Ark and finally to Installation 04. That's only three areas... Halo: CE had two. Not a huge difference if you ask me.

Gauz wrote:You move through the African jungle and the UNSC base and then make your way to the ruins of New Mombasa, and then you take a road trip to the ark that is also postponed by going to High Charity. After that, you finally destroy High Charity and save Cortana, shortly following you destroy the ring and float off into space nearing some Forerunner shield world. All in all, you move, a lot.

That's six places. In Halo: CE there was the Pillar of Autumn, some random area on Halo, the Truth and Reconciliation, an island, the control room, the flood containment area, and the Pillar of Autumn's crash site. That's seven areas. Seven is bigger than six.

Gauz wrote:Another thing I don’t like particularly is how they cut Cortana, the best character in the game IMO, for half of the freaking game.

I don't know. I saw her quite a bit (just never when I wanted to). Would you rather her have magically appeared with you?

Gauz wrote:You are left alone with the Arbiter instead so you don’t feel lonely. Only problem is, he sucks as an actual character during the ENTIRE GAME!

It's him or your freaky twin from the other Halo games. An AI can't do the work for you, Gauz, or the game is no fun.

Gauz wrote:The Arbiter has little important dialogue at all. His only important part is when he kills Truth, and then he goes back to being sir sucks a lot. He doesn’t help you in High Charity, which was a bitch of a level, leaving you to fight a horde of Flood.

He's your partner. MC's only true importance was when rescuing Cortana. Otherwise, you guys do things as a team. That's like saying Dom was stupid in GoW.

Gauz wrote:The Gravemind had a large part in Halo 3, comprising 50% of the dialogue basically. But you never once see him at all, unlike in Halo 2. I think that is strange as he did appear in Halo 2 on Delta Halo. He clearly manifested himself on High Charity, so why he didn’t show himself made me wonder.

And this made the game suck how?

Gauz wrote:If he really wanted to kill you he could’ve, but of course that couldn’t happen because of game play.

Meh... I'll give you that much.

Gauz wrote:The “Boss Fight” with 343 Guilty Spark was not a good boss fight at all, it was too simple and I actually liked Spark as a character.

So? The real boss fight is the big driving scene at the end.

Gauz wrote:Johnson died at the end as well, along with Miranda Keyes. Johnson was a really good character, and he died.

It's dramatic. Much better than when Dom's wife died.

Gauz wrote:I am indifferent about Miranda Keyes, only rant about her is how she got the muscle to dual wield a shotgun and pistol at the same time, not even the Chief has been seen able to do that. He probably could, but again, game play interferes.

So?

Gauz wrote:Canon was sacrificed for game play in some instances also, something I wouldn’t of have done if I were making the game. Although it was probably necessary.

What instances? The shotgun/pistol thing?

Gauz wrote:

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is that part of the game I hate the most, mainly because I just hate the controls for Halo 3.

Are you kidding?

Gauz wrote:To me it seems just very repetitive, the killing and all. Whoever gets the first shot it seems always wins, unless you really fucking suck. It’s not always the case, but most the time it is. It is hard to be caught off guard and still win the fight alive. Yes you can turn around and stick them before you die but you still both die. I just don’t like how unfair it is to be caught off guard and not have so much of a fighting chance.

Almost all FPS multiplayer is like that.

Gauz wrote:The controls for Halo have not had any major breakthroughs either, through the entire series.

Don't fix something that isn't broken.

Gauz wrote:I wish there were more features in Halo 3 that would make the game more creative and different rather than the same thing just plastered with different maps/ armor. Armor customization gives you some diversity, but it doesn’t affect shit.

It's more than any other game (well... I've heard Farcry has a good map maker, but that's one game).

Gauz wrote:The maps in the game are mostly bad, there only few good maps that everyone plays and the rest just suck. They killed lockout from Halo 2, which was the best map in the entire series IMO, then they tried to bring it back and that failed.

I happen to like the Halo 3 maps.

Gauz wrote:Forge was brought into the game at late notice. What would Halo be without Forge and Custom games? People would still play it but it would be shit. Forge I think is just a lazy excuse for map making. Personally I would rather play a map created by a professional map designer rather than some amateur who can’t even line up the wall correctly or make the map look…. “Clean”. The only part of Forge I like is when someone makes some awesome idea for a map, I mean like some crazy one that isn’t just mad shooting each other. Lava pit and its variants were fun, where you had a platform over sandbox and vehicles and tried to ram people off the edge. Or flaming ninja, where it was basically a Halo style Ninja Warrior. Those obstacle courses were quite fun, that was a good part of Forge. When people make good creative maps I’m happy with it, other than that Forge is an excuse for new, good maps. Rather than a barren field and some wall…

There are plenty of clean, well done maps out there. And once again, it's more than most games have done to keep replay value.

Gauz wrote:There is definitely more that I can rant on about Halo 3, but I’ll let the rest of you do that for me. Besides, I am writing this off memory. Don’t expect me to update this either or give another review.

It doesn't really sound like you hate the game, more like you loved it so much that you want more.

Nocbl2 wrote:Campaign

I find the campaign quite fun and involving until... Mr. Arbiter... I would rather him something like Halo 2, and they just give you another Elite or something. He says random stuff and never responds to actions like meleeing him.

Mhmm... well, I kinda like what they did with the arbiter.

Nocbl2 wrote:The beginning levels were great, such as running through Voi in a Warthog and blowing the fuck out of a UNSC Firebase. However, the later levels dulled down that level of extreme jumping and shit.

They got harder.

Nocbl2 wrote:And of COURSE, the end was ANOTHER mad chase to get off the first ring, again! And this time, you can do it with four other people! FAIL!

That's only happened once before... and what else would you have them do? Just end it after killing sparky and let MC die?

I respect your views and agree with most of what you said, I loved what they did with Arby. Even if I couldnt play as him in single player. Only problem...
Halo 3 better than Halo CE? Stay your toungue boy

Hey, i also like halo 3 more than halo ce, but its just MY opinion. I just plain like it more, more boom! more enemies and more blood. The only thing i dont like about halo 3 is that you dont find the elites, they were fun opontents and that the brutes were super easy, even on legendary, considering the fact how strong they were in the First strike.

I liked Halo 2 more than Halo 3. Halo 1, was the best.

Halo 2 was better than Halo 3 because it had the Arbiter and Master Chief apart. Telling 2 stories from 2 different factions against each other. It felt good to play with the Covenant for once. To fight among side the elites and grunts, it was good.

Halo 3 killed that feeling, made the Covenant feel like the bad guys ( which in reality Truth is a good guy.)

The repeated Scarab parts were boring. I liked the Halo 2, invincible Scarab.

The levels repeated themselves. Cortana was easy on Legendary. The Brutes, were not brute, and I didn't want to fight with the Elites.

Basically, Halo 3 tried Halo 1 and Halo 2 together, which were almost opposites, together and made a perfectly over hyped below average game.

Hate is an overstatement, the game was decent I think. I just thought that the multiplayer got boring and I don't want a game that I can only play Singleplayer with. If I played it through once, I don't think I would often pick up the controller to play it again.

All in all it wasn't bad, but it sure wasn't.... really good.

mcz wrote:Hey, i also like halo 3 more than halo ce, but its just MY opinion. I just plain like it more, more boom! more enemies and more blood. The only thing i dont like about halo 3 is that you dont find the elites, they were fun opontents and that the brutes were super easy, even on legendary, considering the fact how strong they were in the First strike.

Are you stupid or just had a lapse of memory?

[quote="Angatar"]

mcz wrote:Hey, i also like halo 3 more than halo ce, but its just MY opinion. I just plain like it more, more boom! more enemies and more blood. The only thing i dont like about halo 3 is that you dont find the elites, they were fun opontents and that the brutes were super easy, even on legendary, considering the fact how strong they were in the First strike.

So I guess a captivating story is... unimportant to you? I guess you also liked Transformers 2...

Zaki90 wrote:Halo 2 was better than Halo 3 because it had the Arbiter and Master Chief apart. Telling 2 stories from 2 different factions against each other. It felt good to play with the Covenant for once. To fight among side the elites and grunts, it was good.

Halo 3 killed that feeling, made the Covenant feel like the bad guys ( which in reality Truth is a good guy.)

The repeated Scarab parts were boring. I liked the Halo 2, invincible Scarab.

The levels repeated themselves. Cortana was easy on Legendary. The Brutes, were not brute, and I didn't want to fight with the Elites.

Frankly, none of these issues really did anything to make me dislike the game. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad.

Besides, any way you look at it, Halo 3 still has Forge, theater mode, and four player co-op.

Gauz wrote:So I guess a captivating story is... unimportant to you? I guess you also liked Transformers 2...

And what was uncreative about the story?

CivBase wrote:

Gauz wrote:So I guess a captivating story is... unimportant to you? I guess you also liked Transformers 2...

And what was uncreative about the story?

Halo: CE- Stop the Covenant, kill the flood, stop the ring from firing.

Halo 2-Stop the Covenant, kill the flood, stop the ring from firing.

Halo 3- Stop the covenant, kill the flood, destroy the ark (AKA stop the ring from firing)

Gauz wrote:

CivBase wrote:

Gauz wrote:So I guess a captivating story is... unimportant to you? I guess you also liked Transformers 2...

And what was uncreative about the story?

Halo: CE- Stop the Covenant, kill the flood, stop the ring from firing.

Halo 2-Stop the Covenant, kill the flood, stop the ring from firing.

Halo 3- Stop the covenant, kill the flood, destroy the ark, fire the ring

Fixed. From what I can see, that's more creative than the previous two (the two that you can't stop praising.).

I don't praise Halo 2...

And the order is mixed up, you have to fire the ring prematurely to destroy the ark. In reality though, you are just destroying the ark so no more rings can be fired. Coincidence?

Would it kill any of the games to not have the flood in them?
Like maybe in Halo 2, there shouldn't of been flood, and the flood make a big reintroduction in Halo 3, that would be awesome.

But obviously, a monotonous game is the best game.

Gauz wrote:I don't praise Halo 2...

And the order is mixed up, you have to fire the ring prematurely to destroy the ark. In reality though, you are just destroying the ark so no more rings can be fired. Coincidence?

No, you're firing the ring to kill the flood. The ark still works when the ring is fired, all the rings do is kill sentient life.

Gauz wrote:Would it kill any of the games to not have the flood in them?

Considering the fact that the rings were built to destroy flood... yes.

Gauz wrote:Like maybe in Halo 2, there shouldn't of been flood, and the flood make a big reintroduction in Halo 3, that would be awesome.

But then how would the flood have made it to Halo 3?

Gauz wrote:But obviously, a monotonous game is the best game.

Hardly. Halo 3 had the biggest twist in the series, and you obviously love the series if you were on HWF (and eventually here).

CivBase wrote:

Gauz wrote:I don't praise Halo 2...

And the order is mixed up, you have to fire the ring prematurely to destroy the ark. In reality though, you are just destroying the ark so no more rings can be fired. Coincidence?

No, you're firing the ring to kill the flood. The ark still works when the ring is fired, all the rings do is kill sentient life.
And what does firing Installation 04 v2 do? There's nothing living on the Ark.

Gauz wrote:Would it kill any of the games to not have the flood in them?

Considering the fact that the rings were built to destroy flood... yes.
They were built to kill sentient life, which indirectly kills the Flood.

Gauz wrote:Like maybe in Halo 2, there shouldn't of been flood, and the flood make a big reintroduction in Halo 3, that would be awesome.

But then how would the flood have made it to Halo 3?
Different, better plotline.

Gauz wrote:But obviously, a monotonous game is the best game.

Hardly. Halo 3 had the biggest twist in the series, and you obviously love the series if you were on HWF (and eventually here).
No it didn't. What about the introduction of the Flood, finding out Halo kills all life, the Prophets betraying the Elites?

It's funny, all the people who think Halo 3 is better than Halo CE don't know a thing about story.

CivBase wrote:
No, you're firing the ring to kill the flood. The ark still works when the ring is fired, all the rings do is kill sentient life.

You're right, you fire the ring to destroy the flood. Although the ark was obviously damaged after the unfinished ring is destroyed. That is why Cortana and the Chief are in some unknown space.

CivBase wrote:
Considering the fact that the rings were built to destroy flood... yes.

Perhaps they could have innovated the plot to not involve the same basic idea of their previous game? I'm talking about Halo 2.

CivBase wrote:
But then how would the flood have made it to Halo 3?

They would've changed the plot to Halo 3, should the flood not have been in Halo 2.

CivBase wrote:
Hardly. Halo 3 had the biggest twist in the series

Halo CE was the first one, so that was epic already, because of its story. Halo 2 was kind of a copy of Halo 2, and Halo did have a plot twist, although it wasn't really a major plot twist...

CivBase wrote: and you obviously love the series if you were on HWF (and eventually here).

I do love the series, I like the stories, although it could be better.