Halo 3

Announcement: Be excellent to each other.

Caravel Forum : Other Boards : Electronic Games : Halo 3 (Ugh...)

Poster

Message

Snacko
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 448
Registered: 06-08-2006
IP: Logged

Halo 3 (+3)

My reviews are generally positive, mostly because I tend to review games that aren't given a fair shake and are worth checking out. Yes, I'm saying that I am giving a more negative review of the critical darling "Halo 3" which I see as a victory for ignorance, fanboyism and general laziness.

I'm not the kind of person to go on a negative rant about a game just because I don't like it. I believe that Soul Calibur's lack of depth makes it accessible and possibly even fun for newbies and World of Warcraft has a great community and I am aware that (for some reason) people tend to enjoy mindless grinding. It works the other way too, I enjoy Assassin's Creed for example, but see how with extended play the game can get incredibly repetitive. Much like how a critic can appreciate Finnegans Wake for a revolution in stream-of-consciousness style, agree that the plot is brilliant and unique with poignant surreal symbolism and still get a headache whenever they read a paragraph.

Halo, on the other hand, has always been a mystery to me. A more primitive game than even Quake II in many ways, Halo's unbalanced weapons, uninspired campaign and antiquated multiplayer sold millions of Xboxes. Its sequel was even less balanced and sold even better.

Halo 3's problem isn't that it does anything wrong beyond what Halo 2 did, it just didn't do anything else. Halo 3 feels like a Halo 2 expansion pack and even some of the new features only highlight how far behind the curve the series is.

Take "The Forge" mode for example, it is billed as a level editor, but it doesn't actually let you edit levels. All it does is let you use a clunky interface to place random stuff down on existing levels. The objects aren't even things like ramps and buildings, these are boxes, weapons and vehicles. I acknowledge that you can spice some old maps with this but, damn, even Doom had a level editor less than a year after its release.

The single player exists but really doesn't serve any purpose but to fill in a feature that was expected. The plot is incomprehensible unless you're incredibly familiar with Halo lore and even then it is an entirely generic science fiction story. The AI is still the same as 2 meaning that it certainly isn't bad for a console game, but doesn't really shine through any other perspective. The same can be said about the level design, it isn't good but there isn't anything aggressively bad about it either. The campaign is boring whether you go at it alone or with a group of friends, and that doesn't seem to be the intended effect.

Multiplayer is marginally more fun, but also marginally more flawed. If you liked Halo 2's multiplayer, you'll like this and, as a whole, I'd have to say the level design is better and the mode editors are more robust than Halo 2, but everything plays and looks pretty much the same. The real downer is the weapon balance which is so bad that late in Halo 2's life, Bungie added a mode that omitted over half of the weapons. I know that in real life an SMG would rarely beat a vaporizing laser, but that is no excuse for making the game more about getting the right weapons than playing well.

The online systems and organization, just like 2, are top-notch. The party system that should be a requisite in every online game makes a return with some more updates, you can upload and download videos, Forge "levels" and game modes to your 360 and the matchmaking does a good job of pairing you up with those around your skill level. One notable quirk that carries over from 2 however is that you can't choose exactly what type of mode you want to play unless you are the host of a custom game nor can you search for custom games through the matchmaking service.

What really is astounding however is that Halo 3 still is such a primitive shooter. There are no leans, sprints, iron sights, modifications, cover systems, recoil or environmental interaction hotspots, many of which became standard in the genre before Halo 1. I know console fans adore this game, but I really can't understand why.

This isn't a rag on the Xbox 360 which I think is a fantastic system with a lot of fantastic games and is the technically superior system, but its most well known game is not a good one.

____________________________
Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions

05-31-2008 at 03:07 AM

	New Topic New Poll Post Reply
Caravel Forum : Other Boards : Electronic Games : Halo 3 (Ugh...)	Surf To:

Sign in or Register	Lost your password?
Username:	Password:
	Remember me