All Ringed Out

Halo 3.

I wish I could just post that and end it right here and now. I really do. But I'd be neglecting my personal goal of cross-analyzing the library of games I have so far played as Halo 3 was one of the first trio of games delved into. Therefore, in the interest of accuracy, my thoughts.

Allow me to start with the Campaign. Having played through Co-op on Legendary and halfway through solo on Heroic (I don't have the time nor drive to solo Legendary), the first thing I really noticed was the massive difference having a teammate makes on the gameplay. When I played by myself, more often than not I found myself clenching my jaw in frustration and concentration. Somehow, the game was a chore, something I was struggling through for the sole purpose of garnering achievements. However, as soon as my bro popped his controller on and joined me, the game suddenly became fun. We sat next to each other, screenwatching both screens to make sure we were cooperating well, yelling back and forth for the little things we were or weren't doing. The sensation of working with someone made it quite enjoyable whereas playing it alone made it a chore.

The plot and achievements based on it are both well done. There's achievements per level, per skull found, and per meta-campaign mission completion. It gives several layers of depth to the otherwise bland achievement list for the campaign. That, and it made it easy to tell my first time through when I had reached the end of a level rather than just a checkpoint. I won't spoil the plot, but the ending was well done in comparasion to the last two iterations of the series, sealing off the Halo trilogy quite well (if they do indeed leave it finished).

Overall, the campaign is good, but in a way, it is merely a shiny cover for the real draw for most people (excluding myself): multiplayer. Thing is I'm all for pwning people in a match of twitching trigger fingers. I have nothing against it. I do however prefer the people I'm pwning to be people I know. For one thing, it eases the ego blow for myself (or them if I get lucky in a match) when I know legitimetly why that person beat me. That, and I know where the said person lives so that if they do try to verbally bash me, I know where to go to bash their face. It's a simple system that works well. Unfortunately in an online setting, it's quite impossible to effectively utilize this method.

Which brings me to my biggest grief with Halo 3: the community. Of course, I can't blame Bungie for it; annoying idiots are inherent to any group of anonymous people. It does detract from my enjoyment of the game, however. In the few rounds where I had logical, reasonable people on my team, I enjoyed myself immensly. For the majority of the rest, doing anything was a chore. Now, before everyone and their uncle jumps on me and complains about how I'm being unreasonable, allow me to clarify. Not everyone playing Halo 3 is an immature imbicile, just most of them. In all reality, I should be somewhat unbiased when it comes to reviewing, but I find it difficult to seperate the community from the game itself since the multiplayer is what is placed on a pedestal.

As for the multiplayer achievements, I can see their use and their purpose, but they still frustrate me immensly. First off, I think it's somewhat lame to have achievements that you have to pay Microsoft through the nose to get, and even when you do pay, you still need to be the gaming equivilent of Batman to finally get them. Top on that offending list is "Two For One" which is nothing more than being able to line up a near impossible shot (assuming it's being done legitimetly instead of asking people to nicely stand in a line) on a specific playlist. It's frustratingly difficult. Grats to those who have it, but I don't think I'm going to kill myself to get it.

In the end, what Halo 3 comes up being is nothing more than something one either loves and plays straight for five years or is ambivilent towards and plays because they have little else to do. As of this post, I have achieved 910/1000 points and doubt I'll get much more beyond the few meta-campaign missions I have yet to get. It's a good game, one I enjoy playing casually, but I don't think I'll kill myself in an attempt to perfect the game.

Overall Gamerscore for Halo 3: 820/1000
+ Good Campaign with great Co-op
+ A legitimate challenge if needed, casual enough otherwise
+ Achievements are varied for the most part
- Online Achievements. 'Nuff said.
- Annoying / Imbicilic Community