MyGEN’s Halo 3 Review.
The Halo Series has captivated fans for several years now, with a great in-depth storyline and one of, if not the best multiplayer game experiences on the Xbox. Halo 3 has launched and is THE game Xbox fans have been waiting for. MyGEN was invited to attend the Halo 3 Press Review session before launch but a game of this magnitude requires more hands-on time than the few hour’s we would have had. Without the extra time, the overall score may have suffered. Whether you are playing the campaign or playing multiplayer, nothing compares with being able to expand the experience from a local situation into a massive online experience over Xbox Live.
Halo 2 left us hanging on the edge of our seats, with the covenant forces in turmoil. The Elites, protectors of the prophets were overthrown by the brutes and because of the prophets plan to destroy life as we know it, the elites rebelled, created a civil war between the covenant forces.
This caused Master Chief and the Arbiter (An Elite) to team up to stop the prophet of truth from activating The Arc, which will set off every halo in the universe, initially destroying all life in the universe, starving the flood of their food supply.
Halo 3 resumes this story focusing on the Master Chief, leaving the arbiter’s story in the darkness. We start off with Master Chief crashing to earth and needing to work his way through waves of covenant forces to the earth military base. The Halo series has been deeply story driven and Halo 3 doesn’t differ, Halo 3 takes place across multiple terrains and at no point in time feels as if it is repetitive in any way. The maps are combined with some spectacular visuals and effects, which really improve the overall feel of each level.
Master Chief continuously pushes through waves of covenant, defeating the highest ranked brutes, hundreds of grunts and counter-sniping many jackals in the process. Halo 3 has the battles which Halo 2 was expected to have, with close quarter combat through hallways and dense forest for a large duration of the game, which really puts the emphasis on this being a full blown war.
Halo 3 adds a large amount of weapons to the existing arsenal, with a few classics returning from Halo 1. The Assault Rifle and the Classic Pistol make their way back into Halo and offer some devastating damage. The pistol has been toned down slightly and doesn’t have a scope anymore, but still offers some direct headshot ownage. The Assault Rifle’s return adds that close combat weapon which was lacking in Halo 2, sure the SMG played its part, but now it has been pushed into the shadows in Halo 3.
With multiplayer back in full force with two brand new factions to master and a pretty robust single player campaign that provides plenty of good challenges, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is easy to recommend to players that enjoyed the first game. Because of the complexity of the British and Panzer Elite factions, it may be a bit more difficult for first-time players to get into, which seems to go against the point of creating a stand-alone product that you’re hoping new players will see and adopt. Either way, Company of Heroes is still an exhilarating experience on all fronts and Relic is showing again why they’re firmly in the top tier strategy designers in the business.
