Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
The Halo series is much-lauded for its online multiplayer. I don’t care about that, as you should well know, so I’m going to look at the single-player campaign mode.
In Halo 3, you play space marine Master Chief on his quest to save his holographic buddy Cortana and stop the Covenant from killing everyone in existence. No pressure. The combat in this game is… serviceable. Unlike the fluid, precise shooting of Half-Life 2, Halo is more in the military mindset of “shoot a bunch of bullets/plasma/whatever at it until it dies”. Seriously, I don’t think it’s possible to kill a single enemy (aside from the little munchkin-sounding things that spend more time running around in a panic than they do shooting at you) without unloading half a clip on them. Lucky for you, you spend most of the game with a squad of Space Marines or friendly alien dudes, so the herky-jerky shooting doesn’t mean you’re stuck facing all these enemies alone.
The dreaded vehicle sections show up every now and then, but they’re mercifully brief. I don’t understand who made the decision to have the controls be: press forward, move in the direction the camera is pointed. So you’re stuck trying to move with one thumbstick and steer with the other. It’s kind of ridiculous. You can let the computer drive, but it has worse driving skills than a paparazzi in the Channel Tunnel.
Really, there’s nothing particularly bad about the game, at least until you get to the last part. You get thrown into some nasty alien organism thing that you have to find your way through, and fight hordes of Flood (who are basically a ripoff of the zombies, headcrabs, and other nonhuman enemies in Half-Life 2), while the complete lack of light gives you eyestrain and a headache from squinting. It was at this point that I had to put the game down, so it may have the best ending ever, I don’t know. The whole experience is like eating a good, but somewhat bland sandwich, but the last bite has a dead cockroach in it.
That was kind of a strained simile. Anyway, I’m sure if you like shooting things in the first person, you already have Halo 3 and think I’m an idiot, but if you don't, I wouldn’t recommend it.
2 out of 5
The Halo series is much-lauded for its online multiplayer. I don’t care about that, as you should well know, so I’m going to look at the single-player campaign mode.
In Halo 3, you play space marine Master Chief on his quest to save his holographic buddy Cortana and stop the Covenant from killing everyone in existence. No pressure. The combat in this game is… serviceable. Unlike the fluid, precise shooting of Half-Life 2, Halo is more in the military mindset of “shoot a bunch of bullets/plasma/whatever at it until it dies”. Seriously, I don’t think it’s possible to kill a single enemy (aside from the little munchkin-sounding things that spend more time running around in a panic than they do shooting at you) without unloading half a clip on them. Lucky for you, you spend most of the game with a squad of Space Marines or friendly alien dudes, so the herky-jerky shooting doesn’t mean you’re stuck facing all these enemies alone.
The dreaded vehicle sections show up every now and then, but they’re mercifully brief. I don’t understand who made the decision to have the controls be: press forward, move in the direction the camera is pointed. So you’re stuck trying to move with one thumbstick and steer with the other. It’s kind of ridiculous. You can let the computer drive, but it has worse driving skills than a paparazzi in the Channel Tunnel.
Really, there’s nothing particularly bad about the game, at least until you get to the last part. You get thrown into some nasty alien organism thing that you have to find your way through, and fight hordes of Flood (who are basically a ripoff of the zombies, headcrabs, and other nonhuman enemies in Half-Life 2), while the complete lack of light gives you eyestrain and a headache from squinting. It was at this point that I had to put the game down, so it may have the best ending ever, I don’t know. The whole experience is like eating a good, but somewhat bland sandwich, but the last bite has a dead cockroach in it.
That was kind of a strained simile. Anyway, I’m sure if you like shooting things in the first person, you already have Halo 3 and think I’m an idiot, but if you don't, I wouldn’t recommend it.
2 out of 5
posted by Cole at
5:46 PM
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