Halo 3 // Xbox 360 - Pantheon Game
Finishing the fight

// The skinny: When last we saw Master Chief, he was hurtling towards Earth in an alien ship to try and stop an impending Covenant invasion. As the cliffhanger teaser promised, he's back to finish the fight.

// Review: This is the game that launched a crap load of Xbox's. Hell it's probably the reason why there is even the 360 and why the PS3 is floundering like a puppy with no legs. This game is so insidiously addictive it rang up $170M in first week sales and probably cost high tech companies as much in productivity loss with their employees sneaking out or feigning illness to play.

/ The first thing you immediately notice is its next gen graphics make over. When I saw the beta videos I was not impressed, but the final version looks really sharp. The environments are highly detailed and look great. Transitioning from the previous installments to 3 is as if you put on glasses for the first time.

/ The story picks up right where it left off. Since the Elites have fractioned off from the Covenant, they now play as your allies which is great because it was easy to confuse the good aliens from the bad ones in Halo 2. You really have to pay attention to the cut scenes and the VO's are a bit unintelligible, but the storyline comes to a satisfying conclusion. And of course Bungie left a little wiggle room to continue the mega cash cow of a franchise. Probably the most exciting thing about the campaign mode is the ability to play co-op with up to 4 people.

/ While the campaign is fun and all, where you get your money's worth is in multiplayer. It's awesome. If you are familiar with the series, the controls feel just as they should. Many of the new weapons are forgetable but the Spartan homing laser rifle (power of a rocket launcher needing the skill of a sniper) and gravity hammer (whack people across the screen) are very fun to use. If you are new to Halo, playing online can be a little intimidating. I'm probably average but I can finish anywhere from first to last place. When it's going bad, it's downright demoralizing. But the matchmaking system tries its best to balance teams and keep you playing with others your skill level.

/ A few of the Halo 2 maps make an appearance. So far everyone seems to play the same four. Another incredible new feature is the Forge. You now have the ability to customize maps by re-arranging and changing all of the objects, weapons, and vehicles, which you can then share with anyone. And your last 25 games are automatically saved, which you can replay to analyze or use to show off and you can also share those videos as well.

/ I also wrote a skull collecting guide. Does that make me a nerd or a loser? It's all really semantics.

// Wrap up: Just giving Halo a new coat of paint would've made it a great game. But with the solid storyline, new innovative features such as 4 player co-op, the Forge and saved game videos, Halo has ascended to a rarified place shared by very few other games (Bioshock).

Entertainment rating: 5