Halo 3 Review: 8.5/10 (Digital Entertainment News)

The purpose of any review--whether it be for a video game, movie, or some sort of product--is to advise consumers on what to spend their money. Halo 3 can wholeheartedly be recommended for purchase within such a paradigm, despite a number of elements marring the experience. It's easy to outline the shortcomings of this much-anticipated title, yet what matters is not the incantations of rabid fans and bitter rejoinders of series naysayers; rather, the important point to be made is that Halo 3 is worthwhile play even if it isn't the perfect game everyone expects.

[Blasphemy]

Finally, honest reviews are coming in.

[ShiftyLookingCow]

did you even play the game?
"- Repetitive level design " yeah right like about 1-2/12 of the whole game there is backtracking. Their opinion about weapons seems to be a personal opinion that most people won't agree with. Heck Halo MP is popular because of its polish in that kind of stuff.

When I approved I was expecting something about perhaps story or graphics(the common complaints) which they maybe thought was not negatable by the other positives.

[MK_Red]

Good point DarthNihilus on lack of Graphics and Story problems in "What Doesn't"/Negatives part.

I was expecting the 8.5 to be because of graphics and to a lesser extend the story.

[MADGameR]

YES I have played Halo 3 today with my friend. Its good but..meh........... I dunno. The only thing I want to see is Halo 3 Multiplayer. The story seems boring.. AGAIN! Like Halo 2! The Master chief was modeled quite a bit better than Halo 2. If you look at Johnson's ear in the beginning of the story when they find the Master chief on the ground, his ear looks weird, its blurred. The game plays basically the same as Halo 2 with a slight difference, you have to hit the Right Trigger to get a weapon, into a vehicle, etc. I noticed that the map Zanzibar had some differences, with some of the areas, the water is more detailed than in Halo 2. It is enough to be considered next gen graphics but not enough for me to hype it. I consider Halo 1 multiplayer on PC the best and most fun. The X Box 360 controller on this game is.....meh. The game overall seems like a shaped into a great game. 9/10 I would give it, and I'm not even a Halo fan. And don't give me that BS because X Box fans themselves were complaining about the graphics so just be glad I gave it a great rating.

[MK_Red]

Article has few problems but biggest one IMO is:
"Its phenomenal online gameplay is second to none" I mean, Halo 3 multiplayer is superb and may be the best console one but come on. Have they (reviewers) ever played Unreal Tournoment, Quake 3, Counter Strike and BattleField 2?

[Genki]

"Second to none" "Best ever" "unparalleled" etc. are used very loosely these days.

Hell, I've run into several individuals that use the term "literally" when they really DON'T mean what they say in a literal sense.

"That ice cream is to die for! Literally!"

Sure...

[hgdaniel]

I think he meant the best shooter on a console

[Jdash24]

the IWHBYD skull has been found

ima do it tomorrow, but thats how to get it, make sure you do it right because the skull wont be there otherwise

http://www.halo3planet.com/...

[synetic]

humm in my opinion ( if someone wanna know ) i think the game deserve 9.0

8.5 single player
9.5 multiplayer

but indeed the game is not much diferent from halo 2 only the graphics are better

[Gizmo_Logix]

8.5 single player
9.5 multiplayer

[Noodlecup]

They should've just released Halo 3 as a multiplayer only game, the singleplayer isn't worth a penny when compared to most other FPS singleplayer modes out there. The multiplayer is where it shines if you enjoy console multiplayer, I personally think it's a mediocre experience when compared to PC gaming.

[NextGen24Gamer]

an 8.9. LOL....Lair has averaged in the 5's and 6's on every web site on the planet. But this site gives Lair an 8.9.

Every site on the planet has given Halo 3 an average score of 9.5. But this site gives it an 8.5.

Interesting Indeed. LOL....

Things that make you go....Hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Wii60_FTW]

owned

[cartman313]

Which tells you what? It tells you that every review given is based on.....OPINION. So this site didn't think Halo was the greatest game out there. I personally didn't think Lair was all that bad. Again, it's all opinion.

[REbirth]

why the latest reviews of halo 3 don't even get a 9? this is becoming intersting!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Half the sites giving reviews, good and bad won't even make it on gamerankings or even be noticed by anyone outside of N4G for that matter. It's used a flame bait on N4G (wich I like) it's just to sad for the Droids though, Droids look dumb and dumber with each new post that comes out.

[Noodlecup]

Maybe it's because the game isn't as great as the hype Microsoft was giving it.

[felidae]

they should rate the game's multi and single player seperately

single player: 6/10

multiplayer 8.5/10

[nanometric]

I probably agree on the single campaign score, but the multiplayer deserves atleast a 9+

[boi]

to me...

single player: 7/10 thats because apart from being short it feels alot like halo 2...nothing really new involve(my opinion)

MP: 8/10 well it lacks in matchmaking...apart from that its all good

[Close_Second]

...I thought Halo 3 multiplayer would be a first rate experience but I think I prefer COD4. The problem I have with Halo 3 is that it feels very much like Gears of War on-line. That is, spawn into the game, dash to the nearest weapon and go killing.

I much prefer COD4 how you enter the game with the weapons you select before the round starts. The only other weapons you can get are those that the people you kill leave behind.

Also, the primary machine gun in Halo 3 feels as effective as throwing paper darts. I was so hoping to get many hours of on-line fun out of Halo 3 but it appears its just not my thing...

[Bathyj]

The more I play this game, the more I agree with this score. There's no way H3 deserves a 10. Thats score is based on hype and expectation and nothing more.

Like every review has said, theres nothing really wrong with it per say, but thats no reason for a perfect score. A game should be outstanding to get that.

I haven't experienced the repetitive level design yet, only about 5 missions in, but thats one of the things I hated about the first game. The library he mentions and the belly of the beast in level 3 of Halo were pretty bad. It was eccentually a great game in need of some levels. Repeated blocks of corridors over and over killed bits of the game. I hope that doesn't pop up too much here in part 3.

One thing I love is the theather mode. I've wanted this in a game since GTA3. Heres hoping GTAIV get it. Imagine all the car chase shootout movies you could do. Theather mode just made this easy for Rooster Teeth to put the next Red vs Blue series out. Good stuff.

[Asgorath]

I'm actually amazed so many people claim that the Halo 3 campaign is like Halo 2 but just prettier. Perhaps because just before Halo 3 was released I re-played Halo 2. You really see they took the criticism they got for 2 to heart and changed a lot for the campaign in 3. The only problem here is.... you don't notice this yet on the first mission. That one is basically Halo 2 indeed.

The main issue with Halo 2 was that it was to much small confined spaces. Basically the same places with different texture maps so to say. Halo 3 of course to a degree also has this (it's a FPS after all), but you see they tried to break this up now with large open battles. They really made an effort to break up the more monotone feel that a FPS (and Halo 2 also) have of just moving from dark corner to dark corner so to say. Some of the battles you get involved with are huge, large open spaces and a lot of different things going on (and a lot of choices and options on how to tackle it).

The problem however is that the first mission (in the jungle) is nothing like that. That is basically just a run of the mill FPS. And I think that was a huge mistake in terms of generating responses (and even reviews) like found here. It gives a bad first impression. And of course you can still find this again later throughout the game (the Cortana mission for example - by far the worst designed one in my opinion - that is classic FPS stuff - with just a very confusing layout to boot).

I found the "boring missions" mainly become fun when you play them above the normal level. Then suddenly it's not a walk in the park anymore and you really get involved in position, etc. While I noticed it a bit on normal that the levels are designed to have ways to sneak up behind, crawl behind, hide here, snipe from x, only when you play it at the 2 levels above normal you start to be forced to use those. And then you discover how well they actually have been designed.

Halo 3 if you play it casual in campain on normal is a blast-fest with some big giant battles trown in. So any casual gamer can beat it within 8 hours I'm guessing (prob. shorter?). Which is good.. even if your not really into FPS you can have fun and "finnish the fight". And if your into more hardcore stuff you can crank up the difficulty and start to experience the full level design.

The enemies also make a lot more sense then in previous Halo games on higher difficulty. If you placed Halo 2 on a harder difficulty yeah the enemies became better, but not this smart. Down right to the fact that if one of those smaller dudes finds itself in a hopeless losing fight he will now try and suicide on you with 2 pulled grenades. The AI really steps up compared to previous Halo's (save the ones on your own side, they just seem to dumb down even further - if that was even possible!).

Also the campain mode is really suited now for replay value with friends. The scoring mode (which can also favour griefing!) and the skulls can give you a sh!tload of options.

I'm not a halo fanboy, I think they really made some mistakes in some parts and not all the levels are that well designed and 1 is actually down right bad and not fun. But I wouldn't say Halo 3 is Halo 2 with better graphic's. That's only if you've not come past the first mission/level imho.

[kngri]

i bet every one saying this is an honest review hasn't play the game or even own a 360, they are commenting base on the negative thing they had
read or hear from other people like them. famboys=not real gamers, sing out and go play a game. this game is a AAA whether you like it or not .
I bet sony boys aren't getting to much sleep this days they are probably
having nightmares with master chief pwnig them. I feel sorry for you
is just a game not the end of humanity so please get a grip.

[strongbad1441]

why are you so quick to say that everyone who thinks this is an honest review has never played the game? i myself have not played it yet, so i have no clue what my opinion on the aspects of the game will be. but you don't know who has and has not played the game, so get off your fanboy @ss and do something worthwhile.

[ReBurn]

I plan on grabbing a copy today and finding out for myself what this is all about.

[otherZinc]

This F*****G site gave friggin LAIR an 8.9?!

What the FU(K is that?

I just finished HALO 3 on HEROIC this morning and any reviewer that gave this game anything under a 9.7 is a complete FOOL!

*LAIR: an 8.9 & HALO 3 an 8.5 this clown site should be slapped!

[P1MPDADDY]

How we keep finding these other websites with below 9 scores for Halo 3, when all the major gaming websites such as 1up, Gamespot, IGN gave Halo 3 a 9.5 or higher. Sony fanboys need to give it a rest already. 640 resolution, scoring cpmpaign and multiplayer seperately, etc... Just suck it up and buy a 360 and see for yourselves what your missing. I played the campaign mode on Legendary with 2 other people the other night. I got my A$$ handed to me for 3 straight hours. Damn that was fun. I'm going to go play some more campaign mode, my 3 boys are over this weekend they want to watch DADDY "Finish The Fight".

[snoopgg]

I own a 360 and Bioshock shows what the 360 can do. Halo 3's gameplay is sluggish, has the ugly jaggie thing going on and really isn't as glorious as some xbox 360 owners want you to beleive.Ihave the game, Ive played it, I'm just not as impressed as all these other 360 owners are. Its not the best 360 shooter Ive played this year. I thouht Rainbowsix Vegas, Fear, Condemmened Criminal Origins, Call of Duty 2,3, Prey, Quake 4, Gears of War, Graw 2, and Bioshock were all better then Halo 3. I know this is just my opinion, but I think alot of other gamers just might not be impressed with Halo 3 as much as all the Halo-freeks are. You all know who you are. I bought it, but its not the $60 fragfest I was hoping for. Peace