So Halo 3 has been out now for 2 weeks and I am sure everyone has gotten a chance to check this out in some way shape or form, so now it’s time to tackle a review. Halo 3 is Bungie’s follow up to its two predecessors Halo 1 and 2 and picks up right where they left off. After months of advertising and hardcore marketing now gamers get a chance to put Master Chief into action and judge just how good this behemoth really is?

Presentation and Graphics: Halo 3 is polished, not light years beyond Halo 2, but you can see the difference when viewing the game on an HD screen, especially during the cut scenes. Master Chief’s visor never looked so shiny! A nice new distinction now is that you can customize your characters appearance for multi player matches, now you don’t have to always use the same Spartan armor and can actually get the Ninja Gaiden helmet if you collect all the skulls. 4 out of 5

Sound and Music: Halo 3 in 5.1 surround sound does extremely well; there is enough Gregorian chant and inspiring orchestra music to fill a room at any time. From the opening credits the familiar sound of Halo comes booming out of the speakers and carries all the way through. The music plays a big part in the game in that when you hear the inspirational music begin you know you are headed up to a big encounter or cut-scene. AI commentary is pretty funny too, a few times I found myself laughing after hearing grunts yell out that I killed their brother. 4.5 out of 5

Gameplay: The newest addition to the Halo 3 game is the 2 – 4 player coop action over Xbox Live, which is handled much in the same way that Gear of War took it on, so that if you reach a checkpoint and your buddies are way behind you, they will warp over to the next checkpoint.

Battles are big and can vary depending on what difficulty you choose, either easy, normal, heroic or legendary. Each difficulty brings a different number of enemies along with a smarter AI that dodges and is more lethal. A couple of nice additions have been made in the vehicle department, which include a new mini warthog, a new covenant motorcycle and the marine hornet. The hornet plays a pivotal part in the latter part of the game especially in the stage called Covenant where you need to neutralize some banshees and find a safe way to land.

There have been quite a few weapons rebalanced like the needler, covenant pistols and the shotgun, each tweaked to make them different from Halo 2. The needled can now be only single wielded, the shotgun is less deadly and Covenant weapons have been made a bit stronger. Another nice addition to the game is that you can now see your secondary weapon on your character’s back.

There are also new secondary weapons/items that you can put down to aide you in your fight to the death. You can now place down regenerators, bubble shields, deployable cover, grav-lifts and power drains. All of these secondary items are deployed using the X button and really add another dimension of tactics to the game especially in multiplayer where a well placed regenerator can mean the difference between a loss and a stomping victory.

Halo 3 also focuses much more on vehicles; the latter part of the single player campaign has you in warthogs driving around to save your life. Battles in the vehicles are much more fun in online coop with friends so you can mock each others driving skills, especially in the last board.

Halo 3 is very solid and will provide good fun for single player action for about 10 hours with countless multiplayer hours. The replay value is in getting all the skulls and beating the game in legendary with some buddies. 4 out of 5

Online: This is where Halo 3 and Halo in general shines it’s ass off, there are all the usual suspects still available like team slayer, team objective, There are all kinds of available game types ranging from 2 to 16 versus or team matches over Xbox Live, Lone wolves – single player free for all, team slayer – 4 vs. 4 slayer type matches, team objective – 4 vs. 4 CTF/territories/etc., team tactical – 4 vs. 4 advanced team play.

Matchmaking makes its triumphant return to Halo 3 and for the most part works well to keep matches balanced and find games quickly. Some individuals already have begun to abuse the system by de-ranking themselves, but you can’t avoid this type of shenanigans. 4.5 out of 5

Lasting Appeal: Halo carries a certain loyalty with it as well as an ability to cross different markets. Halo fans are not all hardcore gamers, but more followers of the franchise from its days on the original Xbox. Although there have been a good degree of add-ons, new maps, new weapons and new features, this game really boils down to being very similar to its previous two iterations. The game is good and is a solid multiplayer game, but the single player does not offer much aside form the online coop play. I will be playing a lot of online multiplayer, but can’t see myself touching much of the single player anymore. 4 out of 5

Final Word: Halo 3 delivered what it promised – more fast paced FPS action in the world of Halo. Aside form that don’t expect ground breaking new things from this title, if you loved Halo 2 you will also love this iteration, if your more of a casual fan than expect a similar reaction. Halo 3 takes Halo 2 and polishes it up real nice and finishes off the story, but don’t expect terrible amounts of innovation. Lets see what they do with Halo 4 and another iteration of Master Chief blasting his way to save humanity.

Overall: 4 out of 5

1 = Not worth the bandwidth.

2= Demo is enough, not worth your money.

3= Game is good, depending on the price, seriously consider picking it up.

4= Worth your money. Should provide some good times for quite awhile.

5= Buy the game. Lock your door. Pick up a case of beer. This could take all night.