Halo 3 Gone Gold

[Llyranor]

While it didn't sound from the review that they'd award it a 10/10, I like how only the first 2/3rd of the game being "among the most perfectly designed, streamlined and considered first person shooter levels you will ever play" = "poor ass level design". Yeah, so the last 3rd isn't as good as "the most perfectly designed, streamlined and considered first person shooter levels you will ever play", and the reviewer clearly points out that it's still better than in Halo1/2 (which doesn't say much - or anything, really), it just sounds like someone is trying to pull a Magical Volo. On the other hand, one does think that said frustrating level design should have at least been noted in the score somehow. But scores are for Hades anyway.

 

Glancing through most of those reviews, it sounds like pretty much what I've expected. Won't blow anyone away, but is more polished than the previous games, including in said level design. Graphics aren't a massive jump, but I'm glad they've opted for framerate, gateway to fun etc etc. Better audio is always a good thing. Gameplay being for the most part similar to the previous games sounds about right. This is pretty much for fans of the first 2 games. I didn't really notice the story so far, so seeing its conclusion here doesn't really do much for me. As for supposedly 'best?' console FPS PvP, not really caring either. 4p online co-op is all I could have asked for and more. It's a shame upon reading that Legendary diff won't be as hard with that many players, but the skulls seem like a nice addition, including the one that will remove respawns (thus mimicking Halo2's system rather than 1's); choice is good.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Well gentlemen, I am too old and too involved with the PC gaming platform to start playing consoles. Besides, my time is pretty much taken up either running sites or moderating, besides playing. And I'm not about to get into a debate over which is better. The reason for my post really was to take another shot at Gates and his DX10 via Vista only BS. For those of us who do choose to play on the PC, it's really a slap in the face from Microsoft and game developers, for the years of loyalty we've shown. I'm sure none of you, no matter what you play on, would not like to be forced to buy something you don't want just to keep playing. XBox might be his next target.

 

I was also extremly disapointed by Halo 2 being Vista only. It doesn't even look like a DX10 game.

 

Maybe they'll wait 5 years to port Halo 3 to PC and release it as a DX 11 game that only runs on the next OS.

[Tale]

I was also extremly disapointed by Halo 2 being Vista only. It doesn't even look like a DX10 game.

 

Maybe they'll wait 5 years to port Halo 3 to PC and release it as a DX 11 game that only runs on the next OS.

Halo 2 is not a DX10 game. It uses Windows Live functionality which is Vista only.

[Mr Tenacious]

My friend already has Halo 3 but I have yet to play it. I might get it but I was never crazy about the Halo games. I liked the 2nd game's co'op, but i always thought the 1st game was meant for single player. I'm not sure why but I do.

[Pop]

The first half hour has left me markedly unimpressed. Pressing on...

[Llyranor]

Alright, I've got the game today.

 

We played some 4p online co-op on Legendary. The first mission was ok, but I found much too easy compared to the previous games on the same diff. It didn't help that respawning made it so easy to rambo around.

 

After a break, I then replayed the level with my brother (who hadn't been in the previous session), and it was much more enjoyable this time around, namely because the game was much more challenging for 2p and we weren't abusing the respawning. We found the Iron Skull, which allows you to disable respawning optionally.

 

We then had another 4p session, with my brother guesting in. With no respawns. The challenge is when any player dies, the game reloads to the latest checkpoint, especially with 4 players. The second level took us about 2 hrs to finish, and I can't even count the number of times we've had to reload, many of those due to TKing. The game provides a good balance in terms of allowing you to play tactically (on a difficult setting, anyway), yet still relying quite a bit on reflexes. Great stuff, everything I expected and more. I can't wait to find more skulls to activate - some of them seem to be pretty cool in terms of enhancing the difficulty.

[Musopticon?]

I played the game through on Heroic yesterday in one 10 hour long 2 player co-op session.

 

There's some complaints, some broken promises and a several things that could have been improved, namely story distribution, but as a whole the game beats the second game out of the water: It doesn't feel like a pipe, good illusion there Bungie, there's a great amount of variety in combat and I also never felt like I was walking in a facade - the immersion is just grand. Furthermore, rather than the energy sword twitchfest that the 2nd game was, this one made you use strategy throughout and I constantly kept changing my equpment loadout. The new abilities, aka one time "spells" called "equipment", give yet more depth to the combat. On some levels, like Crow's Nest and Installation 00, bubble shields, regenerators and those godawful energy drainers made us switch from ranged to mid range to melee almost constantly. Add vehicles to that bunch, several which stand out immensely useful, and season the soup with the new enemy types like the constantly evolving new flood(Drone flood is gross and annoying), it is the best console fps ever. Perhaps one of the best fps ever.

[mkreku]

Strangely enough I trust this Finn a lot more than those Eurogamer and Edge review 10's.

[Pidesco]

It's because you love him. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

[Musopticon?]

Of course, I don't know if it sucks when it's played single. Some areas are probably godawful without respawning, but this was Heroic afterall.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Just finished on Normal (normal because I suck at Halo) and I had a blast. Best FPS I've ever played. The Chopper kicks ass too.

[Musopticon?]

The choppers are definetly a great addition.

[Llyranor]

The Chopper is great. It's too bad it won't allow 2 people on it.

 

I'm enjoying the game quite a lot. 4p online co-op on Legendary with no respawns provides some awesome gameplay situations - though it can lead to a lot of reloading when some of us have some rambo tendencies. Though, I can't attest to how enjoyable the game would be on singleplayer. The story (after 3 levels) is nothing even remotely worthy of note (and Cortana's seizure-inducing appearances on screen are hilariously horrible, minus the hilarious part - good thing they last seconds at most). As mentioned, playing the first level with respawning was fairly ho-hum too.

 

Honestly, I can't say the game is that different from H1/2, so how much you enjoy it probably depends on what you thought of those games or how much of an elitist dorkface you are. 4p online co-op is the main selling feature for me here, and it sells it masterfully.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Yeah, the first 4 missions bring nothing to the story. But after the end of the fourth, things start spicing up.

[Llyranor]

Okay, 4 players driving around on mongooses with rocket-wielding marines in the back = best vehicular gameplay sequence ever. And that's even before the boss shows up. We were playing with no respawns (one player death = reload checkpoint), and that section took us forever, but every moment of it was pure bliss. Bungie was very cruel to put those ramps there - they knew we wouldn't be able to resist them, even though it'd often end up with us crashing into giant rocks or directly into enemy fire. Having cliffs on the side was doubly cruel. I lost track of the number of times I tackled Nick into oblivion.

 

Surprisingly, I've been playing around with the PvP - something I had absolutely no interest in when obtaining the game. I decided to just try it out a bit with a few buddies, and it turned out to be pretty fun. Now, admittedly, its standard format is pretty much that of any online FPS, but things seem to be fairly well-polished. The maps are nice, the core gameplay seems to be conducive to fun competitive gameplay, and the wide variety of gamemodes is pretty neat. I particularly like the latter. Playing zombies, VIP, planting bombs, CTF, King of the Hill, territories, oddball, specific weapons only, etc - it's probably all been done before, but the broad options is certainly pleasing. The good thing is how easy it is to set up sessions with friends. The ability to form up a party before joining a server is really appreciated.

 

Luckily enough, I haven't really been exposed to prepubescent trashtalk much (save for one match), and most matches have been strictly about actually playing (and us being destroyed :/ ). It's easy enough to mute specific players, though, so it shouldn't be so much of an issue.

 

I could get used to this game.

[Bokishi]

I hate the graphics they suck major stupid jaggies on my 60" screen make me throw up

[theslug]

I think the graphics are pretty good. Maybe it's just me but when you die its like things get 10x nicer.

 

Either way I definitely like the game however the fun has kind of run out. I've been playing doubles waaaaay too much. The maps have gotten extremely boring and theres pretty much one strat that fits all. Just camping/ducking in one area and just murdering left and right. Also once someone who is skilled with a sniper comes in, it's pretty much over. The radar and map layout are sometimes very confusing to me. Some maps it seems like they show up when they are underneath you and others it doesn't. There are also some balancing issues with weapons in maps. It's like epitath, one dude gets a rocket launcher and the other gets the hammer, you might as well jump out your window while playing. It also seems like a lot of flukes happen when I play. Sometimes I will nail a dude in the head with a battle rifle and he'll die in 2 -3 short bursts. Then other times the same thing and nada, then of course other games someone will consistently murder me with the former. Or I'll land a grenade right under a dude and no death, and someone will land a grenade under me and its insta kill.

 

But despite these things and a few others the game is definitely fun. I've had a blast, but I've yet to complete the story line because my friend is very irregular when we play. Always leaving right towards the end to do some stupid stuff and we have to restart the level.

[Pidesco]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/v...ctuation-Halo-3

[Musopticon?]

^So right.

[Sand]

Yahtzee rules!

 

Hmm... I wopnder how he would rate NWN2.