Finished the Fight...

So this is it. This is how gaming ends. Every single game starting from Pong has led up to this moment, and now it's over...OK, not really. I guess the question on everyone's mind is whether or not Halo 3 exceeded, or even met, the hype. Well, I'm happy to say it did, at least in my eyes.

For those who have never played any of the Halo games, this is not the review for you. Go play them, beat them, and then come back...OK, I'll give a quick rundown, but you're really doing yourself a disservice if you play the third and none of the others.

The Halo series redefined the way first person shooters are played. You play the Master Chief, a Spartan fighter enhanced for Earth's military. Your enemy: the Covenant, a bunch of alien religious zealots who want to wipe mankind out seemingly for the hell of it. Well, they have their reasons, but it's all in the plot that I'm not going to give away. As Master Chief, along with your chatty AI unit Cortana, you would blast your way through tons of Covenant forces wielding earthly and extraterrestrial weapons, and commandeering earthly and extraterrestrial vehicles. Your mission: stop the Covenant, and specifically stop them from activating Halo, a weapon with the power to destroy all life in the galaxy, which the Covenant believe will take them off to paradise. That's it in short form.

Now, moving on to Halo 3, which picks up where the second left off, with Master Chief pledging to finish the fight. He crash lands in the jungle, helpfully right by a group of comrades, and the beginning of the end starts.

So what's new? What's old? What's fixed? What's still broken?

So much is new I couldn't cover it all here, but I'll give a basic rundown. First, most of us will be happy to know that the Arbiter, the lone human sympathizer, is no longer playable, instead given a supporting role. So no more will you play in the Covenant's shoes, unless you opt for the new four player co-op, which is highly recommended.

You'll also notice that the enemies are tougher, even the little grunts. Brutes have replaces the Elites as the feared enemy, and they move smarter, stronger, and faster. Grunts and Jackals carry heavier firepower, so they're actually a force to contend with now, especially the little Kamikaze Grunts, strapping grenades to themselves and running at you at inopportune moments. Don't get me wrong. This isn't Tom Clancy's Halo, so you won't be overwhelmed, but Bungie is giving Halo vets a little something new.

Speaking of new enemies, the Flood is back. Yes, I know they're not new, but they've got some new designs, and they're definitely worth looking at. They even manage to invoke that creepy feeling they did when Halo was brand new.

And new weapons. Ah...new weapons. New to the human arsenal is the Spartan Laser, an absolutely awesome laser that takes timing and patience to fire successfully, but when done right, the effects are great, whether they be on a vehicle or on a combatant. New to the Covenant are...well, they aren't in the instruction book, so I'm assuming they're a surprise, so I won't spoil them. What you do have now are new support weapons, carried like grenades. You have a bubble shield that you can put around yourself and your friends, a smaller, deployable shield, a flare for blinding your enemies, a power drainer for taking out pesky vehicles or your enemies shields, and a few others. Also, instead of just mounting turrets, you can now pick them up and take them with you, putting you in third person perspective. They slow you down, but they carry a lot of firepower.

And new vehicles. You still get the host of old vehicles, for better or worse, but the most notable addition is the Hornet, an earthly flying vehicle, complete with missiles and a turret. This vehicle, while not prominent in the campaign, does give you one of the best moments in the entire thing. The rest, like the Brute's chopper (yes, it is a motorcycle, of sorts), are definitely cool, but the Hornet was my favorite newbie.

Now, onto the campaign. One of biggest beefs about Halo 2 was that it seemed to dumb itself down to just being a corridor shooter, complete with a lame boss battle at the end. Halo 3 brings back the old school open field battles, and when I say open, I mean open. One sequence in particular has you battling a Scarab (that huge robotic spider type thing in Halo 2) in an open field, with tons of Marines fighting with you to take it down. Take a second and look around if you have a chance. While you're dealing with a huge battle on the ground, there's a battle going on in the sky as well. Both human and Covenant vehicles are sending in reinforcements, troops are storming the field...it's absolutely chaotic, and an absolute blast.

All through Halo 2, I found myself trudging through level after level, just trying to get to the end. Here, I was hoping the game would never end. On the other hand, Halo 3 doesn't toy with you like Halo did, where you kept thinking you'd made it to the end, just to find you had one more task to complete. This finds a happy medium. Well, I guess there is one level towards the end that's a dud. You'll know it when you see it. You'll get turned around and lost and stuck, all in a place that's not very pretty to look at. Kind of a pity about that one, but 8 out of 9 ain't bad.

Now to multiplayer. Yes, the multiplayer still can't be beat, but Bungie has gone the extra mile and made sure it'll stay that way. You get everything that made Halo 2's multiplayer the best, but also two new game modes, and possibly the greatest map editor of all time: The Forge. The Forge allows you to not only edit almost everything about a map from respawn points, to vehicles, to weapons, but allows you to do so interactively, meaning you actually go into the map, make your adjustments, test them out on the spot, and rework it if you're not happy. Repeat. Bear in mind you won't be altering the map designs themselves, save adding a few bits of scenery. The maps will stay the same, and you do have a "budget," allowing you only a certain number of weapons, vehicles, etc. per map, but it's fun and easy to use. Up to eight people can edit a map at once, and you ccould literally kill hours screwing around with it.

And, if that weren't enough, Halo 3 records everything you do, whether in Campaign or multiplayer. Want to prove that you were having a really good night and got three triple kills in a row? Just save the film, and play it for your friends. Want to look at what you did wrong, or maybe something you missed in the campaign? Play it back, zoom out, zoom in, whatever you want to do. You can also take snapshots of certain moments, or just share a snippet of your film with friends. This adds a whole new level of depth, allowing you to look for mistakes, find hidden objects, or just brag.

Now's the time for complaints. While I recommended four player co-op, I should give warning as well. My brother and two of my friends went through the campaign, my brother and I on my Xbox, the other two on another over Xbox Live. While there are the initial "which person am I? Who am I shooting at? Where is everyone?" moments, those aren't my problems, because it's just an adjustment. My problem was that we experienced a ton of lag, glitches aplenty, and respawing was really iffy, sometimes putting us in places we shouldn't have been. But, that comes with the territory. I mean, there's so much going on, you're bound to have a few problems, so just consider yourself forewarned.

On the bright side of co-op, there's now a competitive side to it, if you choose. You can let the game keep score, and see who really is the better campaigner. A small touch, but a nice touch.

Another problem is a plot problem. In Halo 2, as you all probably remember, the Master Chief was separated from Cortana, but while you're out searching for her, she still manages to speak to you. At certain moments in the game, everything freezes, her face fills the screen, and she gives some kind of cryptic message. It's a nice touch at first, but it gets really annoying after a while. Remember that dud level I mentioned earlier? Not only does it have the problems I've mentioned, but Cortana drops in a lot, as does Gravemind, the tentacled underwater plant thing from Halo 2. He doesn't fill the screen, but the action stops when he speaks. It was a touch that could have been done much less dramatically to better effect.

Also worth mentioning is that the campaign, for all its thrills, is a little on the short side. Running through it with friends, I timed it at just a few hours, not counting time to eat, use the bathroom, and stop our girlfriends from yelling at us. Going solo, you're looking at more time, and ramping up the difficulty adds a lot more, but there's still not too much to it.

That being said, those are really my most major beefs. Other than that, you're looking at fantastic game. Bungie really listened to everyone's complaints and praises, took them to heart, and took the best elements of Halo and Halo 2, and put them together in a great little package. Now for the breakdown:

The graphics, while maybe not seeming so at first, are fantastic. Characters look better, and the environments are top notch. I wasn't awed by Halo 3's improvements until I looked at Last Resort, a map carried over from Halo 2 (Zanzibar I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong). Play this map, then go back and play it in Halo 2. You'll see just far the game has come.

Sound is great as well. This is still great material to irritate your neighbors with. Turn up the surround sound, and let them think a war has broken out in your dwelling. The voice acting can border on cheesy, but that's only for the nameless Marines and the Grunts. Everyone else sounds fantastic.

Controls are still part of Halo's trademark, and still excellent. The only problem you might have is in the adjustment. X is no longer the reload, but the right bumper is. X deploys support weapons. I kept finding myself throwing flares to the detriment of my friends as opposed to just reloading. But, you'll find that this is an improvement overall, you just have to unlearn what you've learned from previous installments.

For those who are wondering, they tweaked the difficulty levels once again. Easy and Normal are easier, but Heroic and Legendary are harder than in previous games. Beating it on Legendary is still a worthy gaming achievement, giving you lifetime bragging rights.

And for those who are following the story, don't worry. By the end, all loose ends are tied up, all answers are given, mystery characters who popped in Halo 2 are no longer mysterious, and yes, the fight is finished. No more teaser endings. They could truly end it here, and they say they will. I wouldn't mind jumping back into the fray again, but if this is indeed the last of Halo, I'm happy with it.

Here's the Deal: Really, this can be summed up by a moment my brother and I had playing through the campaign. He looked at me and said, "What is it about playing Halo that's so awesome?" That's a really good question. In terms of FPSs, it's not THAT different, but there's just something about it that you have to play to understand. Halo 3 is no different, maybe even a bit more so than the original, and definitely more than Halo 2. This is the way to give a trilogy the proper sendoff.

Parent's Note: Halo 3 is a little more gruesome than its predecessors. You'll see some actual blood fly, and there's more gore. The language is still pretty mild, but you might want to keep a closer eye on this one, as it's not only more violent, but darker in tone as well.