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HALO 3 MULTIPLAYER REVIEW
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Halo 1 had us toting toaster-oven-sized Xboxes & TV’s to our friend’s houses, and screaming back and forth between rooms.  Halo 2 let us do the same, without all the luggage (and without pants on) thanks to Xbox Live.  Now the third installment in Bungie’s labor of loot has landed.  This is Halo 3’s Multiplayer.

Maybe We Should Ask For Directions

We’ll go in order here.  First off, the 11 Maps.  The maps look great, and feel familiar, which is good… right?  Last Resort and Valhalla are re-imaginings of Zanzibar, and Blood Gulch/Coagulation, respectively.  Sandtrap is by far the largest multiplayer map in a Halo game ever, and just begs for you to set up some custom gametypes on those rolling dunes.  The other original maps are solid, and are a good mix of sizes, and symmetrical / asymmetrical layouts.
Just like the Campaign, Bungie’s eye for detail shows in these maps.   All the Pelicans parked outside the fence at The Pit, the chunks of snow kicked up by combatants on Snowbound, even the slowly advancing Flood forms in the underbelly of Isolation.  The maps are a pleasure to explore, if you can get a break in the action.  I still can’t shake that nagging déjà vu though.

Ratchet And Who?

Every weapon, vehicle, and piece of equipment available in the Campaign, is scattered around the multiplayer environments.  Or rather, they can be scattered around, if you wish, but more on that later.  The weapons seem to be well-balanced.  Bungie has their ‘holy pyramid’ of Weapon, Grenade, and Melee dialed in nicely here, as opposed to the lopsided launch of Halo 2’s multiplayer.  Back when dual-wielding was new, remember those days?

One big difference I noticed: the guns that can kill with headshots, have had their damage lowered a tiny bit, so those Battle Rifles and Carbines you gravitate to don’t pack quite the punch that they once did.  Maybe you should pick up that Needler, over there.  I’m not kidding.

There is also some thickening-of-the-plot around the Plasma Sword.  I found that I could intercept an opponent’s sword lunge, with a lunge of my own, and it would parry his attack, leaving us to circle each other, and try and get around the other’s defense.  Look forward to sword matches being a lot more backstabby.

Somebody with a Rocket Launcher giving you problems?  Grab a Gravity Hammer!  Timing your swing will actually bat incoming rockets away.  Be advised however that this is a dangerous ploy, but one that will certainly impress any ladies who happen to be watching.  Except for your Mom.  Who, let’s face it, will be the only lady to ever see you play Halo 3.  So let’s forget the whole thing and just hide until another Rocket spawns.  Sigh.

One piece of equipment that takes some getting used to is the new Flare.  It is essentially a flash-bang, but brighter, longer lasting, and the source of much hilarity since it is so hard to drop without blinding yourself.  Not to mention your teammates, and anyone who may have been watching from, say, orbit.

Fred Segal 117

A new addition to the Halo multiplayer-verse is the flexibility of your Spartan or Elite’s appearance.  In Halo 2 we were able to create logos that appeared on our armor, now we can swap out pieces of armor totally.  There are between 6 & 10 different pieces (for Elites & Spartans) that can be worn in the Helmet, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, and Chest slots.  Most of these will be locked when you start the game.  Achievements seem to unlock at least some of the sections, but only Bungie knows what will open up some of the more extreme models.

A sneak-peek at some future permutations was plenty of incentive to try and unlock all of these.  Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any differences between armors other than appearance, so balance won’t be an issue.  Note: the added feature of switching the gender of your character will not change his/her armor style, unfortunately.  It simply changes your character’s in-game voice.  So the Spartinas out there are stuck in men’s wear again.

Spartan Scrapbooking

The Saved Films/Screengrab feature is essentially the same in Multiplayer, as it is in Campaign, with the added ability to rewind.  Handy eh?  Beat up your foes (or your friends).  Review the fight from any angle.  Detach and reattach the camera.  Even pull clips from long battles.  Save the film.  Share the film.  Take a screengrab, run to your computer, and email it everyone you know.  You get the idea.

This feature seems so obvious, that you forget how revolutionary it is as you buzz your camera around.  It is a testament to Bungie’s confidence in their game that they would include a feature that allows players to look at every angle and texture from inches away, and it is a testament to the game itself that it holds up under the scrutiny.

Hammer & Tongs

The icing on the many-layered Halo 3 Mupltiplayer cake is Forge.  In Bungie’s words, Forge is an ‘Object Layout Editor’, which sums it up pretty nicely.  If you prefer even plainer language, it lets you put stuff on the maps.  Forge is actually a gametype of its own.  You can party up with buddies, or hop in on your own.  Each map has its own budget, and each item has a cost.  Delete pre-existing items to generate some extra cash, buy more stuff.  You are not able to make changes to structures or landscapes, but everything else can be changed out.  Turrets, crates, weapons, vehicles, even spawn points.  In addition to the map’s overall budget, there are limits to how many of each item you can drop.  So forget about wrapping a rubber band around your controller, and leaving it to pile up a Bazillion Scorpion Tanks while you go watch reruns of X-Play.  I’m not the only one that thought of that… am I?

Press Up on the D-Pad and you take the form of a Monitor (like Guilty Spark).  In this form you can fly around, place objects, and delete objects.  D-Pad Up again, and you change into your Halo character (Chief or Elite), and can test your creation immediately.

When combined with Halo’s detailed Custom Match generator, the possibilities are nearly endless.  Interestingly, this seems to remove most incentive to play modded Halo, except for blatant cheating, I suppose.  Crank up the run-speed.  Turn down the gravity.  Go crazy with this, Bungie is watching…

Bungie Is Watching

The integration of all-things-Halo-3 with Bungie.net is just another way for Halo 3 to take over your life.  Everything you create can be shared from your 360.  Bungie is also keeping their eyes peeled for ingenious game types, and brilliant map layouts, and will make these ‘Flavors of the Day/Week/Decade’ available to download through your game menus.  The creative freedom afforded by Forge and Custom Match creation is hard to describe, you really have to get in there and monkey around with them to see the full potential.  Yesteryear’s fan-created ‘Zombie’ gametype made it into the final version of Halo 3, so who knows… maybe your creations will be the next hot ticket at Haloland.

Go, Go, Go!

While the feel of the multiplayer is very similar to Halo 2’s, it is hard to find anything to complain about.  Halo 2 was one of the most polished multiplayer experiences ever, so Bungie’s tweaks this time around thankfully don’t disturb that balance.  The maps are all well-designed, the equipment adds strategic elements to matches, and the creative powers granted to players are unrivaled, at least for a console game.  Add to the recipe that unmistakable Bungie polish, and you have a Multiplayer experience that will be enjoyed for thousands of gamers for years to come.  See you in there.  Round starts in 3… 2… 1…

Review by: Scott Robison

HALO 3 CAMPAIGN REVIEW

Halo's back, and Master Chief is finally getting to finish what he said he'd finish 3 years ago.   But this time around, there's more to resolve than a Covenant incursion, or an outbreak of The Flood… there is the burning question that has weighed heavily on Halo fan's minds for endless months.   "What the hell is going on?"

The Short Version

The Covenant believed that activating the Halo installations was their ticket to winning the war with humanity, and eventually achieving godhood.  While scrapping with human forces the parasitic Flood was released.  The Flood spread quickly and threatened to devour all life in the Galaxy.  Word got out that the Halos are actually meant to combat The Flood by destroying its hosts… us, and the Covenant, and all other life in the Galaxy.  Bummer.  The Covenant split.  The Brutes sided with the crazy Prophets and the Elites decided to go ronin.  Chief and the Arbiter, a Covenant assassin, actually even ran some errands for a giant oyster that called itself Gravemind, and seemed to be the brains behind The Flood.  The Arbiter stopped a Halo from firing, and Chief, sans Cortana headed back to Earth to blah, blah, blah.  And that, ladies and gents, is the short version.

Arbiter, No More

The story picks up, presumably, minutes after Halo 2's credits rolled, and you embedded your controller in the drywall of whatever room your Xbox is in.  Halo 3 does an admirable job of collecting Halo 2's loose ends and knitting them into something a bit more coherent.  However, this is a tall order, so if you don’t pay close attention to the cutscenes and in-game dialogue, you will quickly find yourself following the Arbiter around like a lost puppy, and have no real idea what your objectives have to do with anything.

Halo 3’s story takes you from alien locales to places that you will know your way around by heart, and is a throw-back to Halo: CE’s campaign in more ways than one.  There are homages to some of Halo 1’s really fun parts, and a pinch of the dreaded retracing-of-your-steps.  There is one level in particular that requires a grueling descent, only to have you do an about-face and battle your way right back the way you came… after a quick cry.

Arbiter, the Elite who we took turns controlling in Halo 2, has a strong presence in Halo 3, but thankfully not as a controllable character.   Instead, the Arbiter runs as your AI sidekick, and he’s actually more likeable now that you don't bounce between he and Master Chief.   He holds his own in shootouts quite nicely, and the friend indicator over his head proves to be a valuable guide when wading through the jungles of Sierra 117, or some of the more expansive battlegrounds.

Brutal

It’s no secret that the face you will usually be seeing through your crosshairs will be the snarling maw of a Brute.  The Brutes fill in nicely for the Elites of Halos past.  Their behavior is much more complex than the dumb-animals we fought in Halo 2, and at some point in the last couple minutes of Halo-time, they must’ve invented chin-straps, because shooting their helmets off is not a one-shot job anymore.

The Brute’s fancy armor behaves in many ways like the Elite’s energy armor used to.  A fully-charged Plasma Pistol will break their armor, leaving them vulnerable, but it also tends to really upset them.  This time around though, they’re just as likely  to drop a Bubble Shield, as they are to go totally Brutesh*t and charge you.

There are too many new vehicles, weapons, and Equipment to go into.  Most impressive is that balance is maintained in Campaign, and that you end up using just about every weapon in the game, without feeling like you are being forced to switch it up.

Halo 2.5?  Gears FTW?

Ever since the multiplayer Beta, Halo has come under fire for its graphics, and comparisons to Halo 2 and Gears of War have been numerous.  With the release of Halo 3, many of those dissenting voices will be silenced.  Halo 3 is beautiful.  And much of that 7 beauty lies in its depth.

The game cranks along with no slow-down even when you climb into some troop-carrier Warthogs filled with UNSC Marines, weave between Brute Choppers, and storm a marauding Scarab filled with enemy infantry.  All under a sky filled with dogfighting Banshees and Hornets.  Then after the smoke has cleared, and you’re picking through the bodies, melee a Grunt’s backpack, and watch as it vents breathing gas.  Kick a corpse into a pond and watch as it bobs back up to the surface, and slowly floats away.  Take a moment to appreciate your cutscenes starting with no texture loading, ala Halo 2.  The graphics debate will be fought in fanboy forums forever, but Halo 3 is undoubtedly one of the best reasons to invest in an HDTV of some sort.

“Tank Beats Everything!”

Amazing audio is pretty much par for the course in the Halo world, and Halo 3 doesn’t disappoint.  In fact, there are moments where the sound effects, and ambient music will actually cause you to stop finishing-the-fight, and just… listen.  The voice acting is great.  A view celebrity names made it in there, but all the dialogue seems much more natural this time around, particularly the Marines.

Re-re-re-play

Playing through the Campaign on Heroic will take between 7 and 10 hours, depending on how you approach it.  BUT, Campaign replay value is where Bungie has stepped up its game the most.  The much-celebrated 4-Player Co-op mode is everything it’s cracked up to be.  Player 1 assumes the role of Chief, Player 2, the Arbiter, and Players 3 and 4 are two Elites with unpronounceable names.  Each character’s abilities are identical (this means no cloaking for Arbiter), and I guarantee you will shoot your friends in the face a few times before you get used to all these Elites hanging around.

If cranking up the difficulty with some mates isn’t enough, turn on Campaign Scoring, and compete with each other to rack up the greatest score by level’s end.  Melees, headshots, and combos will net you big points, as will finishing the level in a respectable time.  This feature not only has achievements waiting at the end of each level for you, it is also is some of the most fun to be had in Halo 3.

Still not enough?  Fan out and find yourself some skulls.  Hidden around the Campaign, the skull’s effects are now easy to toggle on and off.  They also provide point multipliers in scored campaign, and can add difficulty on a masochistic level.  A Legendary game with all Skulls turned on is akin to trying to break a cinder block with your face, except it’s harder.

The straw that will break the camel-that-is-your-sanity’s back, is the Saved Film feature.  Halo 3 is always recording, Tivo-style.  Thanks to some super-sized servers at Bungie, you can pull any of your favorite recent films, save ‘em, replay ‘em, share ‘em, whateva.  You can take screengrabs, which are instantly uploaded to your personal gallery at Bungie.net, to be done with as you please.

One small difference between the Campaign Saved Films, and the Multiplayer Saved Films was the inability to rewind in a Campaign film.  You can only go back to the start point.  Bungie says this is due to the linear nature of the Campaign levels, and while it was a minor inconvenience, it didn’t detract from how amazing this feature is.  In fact, the replay proves to be an wonderful exploration tool.  Go back into a level you’ve recently played, pause the action, and fly the camera around to every nook and cranny.  Who knows what you’ll find?

Sir, Finishing This Review.

Whether or not Halo 3 lives up to the hype depends on how much foam you have coming out of your mouth while you stand in line at Best Buy on the 24th.  What minor nits there are to pick with Halo 3 are dwarfed by the sheer amount of GAME on this disc, this is truly Bungie’s Orange Box.  That people will be playing multiplayer Halo 3 for years to come is a foregone conclusion, but that people will be playing all the iterations of this campaign for just as long is a pleasant surprise.  The game is so fun, and so complete, it makes us want to go back and dock Halo 2 a star, to put this game in proper perspective.  Buy a 360.  Buy Halo 3.  Buy an HDTV.  Buy a surround sound system.  Then declare bankruptcy… your credit rating will be clear before you stick your head out of the house, I promise.

Review by: Scott Robison