System: X360
Dev: Bungie Software
Pub: Microsoft
Released: Sept. 25, 2007
Players: 1 - 16
ESRB Rating: Mature
Review by D'Marcus Beatty

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

The new weapons, vehicles and equipment also bring a lot to the table. The new additions are spaced out in a way that keeps the experience fresh, as you won't encounter some of the new additions until the last few stages. The new equipment, which consists of the new famous bubble shield, which protects you from projectiles but is porous to enemies, a regenerator, which replenishes your shields, and even old favorites like active camouflage, although you can carry it and activate it at will now instead of using it as soon as you pick it up. The equipment adds a new level of strategy to the gameplay, allowing you to deploy cover or initiate temporary invincibility in times of need. Your enemies can use the same equipment however, so caution is warranted.

Speaking of the enemies in the game, the A.I. is as incredible as it ever was. The enemies will do their best to outmaneuver you, acting intelligently at all times. If you kill the enemy commander, the subordinates all flee or lose focus, but you can distinctly hear the orders being barked and see the enemy doing their best to outflank you.

Beyond the single player campaign, Halo 3 also offers co-op for up to four players. This means that you and up to three friends and hop on Halo 3 using split screen or through Xbox Live and play through the campaign. This is a lot of fun and adds replayability, especially considering that many people play the Halo games repeatedly anyway. To add icing to the cake, Bungie has included a Metagame that gives each player points for kills and various actions, which basically allows you to play against your co-op team and brings a bit of friendly competition to the game outside of multiplayer versus.

The multiplayer versus is where a vast majority of gamers are planning on spending their Halo 3 time. Halo 2 is one of the most widely played Xbox Live games ever, and there is little doubt that Halo 3 will take and maintain that title, especially considering the additions that Bungie has crammed into the game. Perhaps in appreciation of their huge fanbase, Bungie has included the ability to record, save, and share video files of multiplayer and campaign. You can also create game types and share them with others online. Perhaps one of the most anticipated features, however, is Forge, which is a map editor that allows you to reconfigure the maps and share them with others. Forge is a great addition to Halo and is simple to use as well, allowing the player to switch between "god" mode and normal with a button press, so that you can create objects, move them around the map, and then test them out immediately.

All the new additions to the multiplayer greatly enhance an experience that is incredible to begin with. Halo 3 allows up to sixteen players to battle one another on eleven maps in a variety of modes, including the popular Slayer and Team Slayer as well as CTF. Each of the various modes all have different variants and different variables that you can tweak, from infinite grenades to damage modifiers to allowing the players to leech shields from one another. Bungie even included a Zombies game, acknowledging the online favorite with an actual game mode. This brings almost unlimited possibilities to the gameplay, but the game is fun if you only try good old fashioned Classic Slayer.

Ultimately, Halo 3 will not disappoint fans of the series. Halo 3 takes everything that made Halo a favorite game and tweaks it until it has achieved near perfection. The single player experience is a thrill ride from the beginning to the end and the multiplayer will probably be the king of Xbox Live until another game in the Halo series releases. Halo 3 is the undoubtedly best in the series and a game experience that shouldn't be missed.

By D'Marcus Beatty
CCC Co-Site Director

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