The game that was going to finish the fight...the last call for the MC and endgame for all we know.

User Rating: 9.5 | Halo 3 X360
Halo 3 as we all should know by now is a first-person shooter which it might not have been if things in the past had been differant because before there was a halo the guy behind the game (Bungie) had plans on making this into a RTS game...But as we all can see plan can and indeed do change and to be fair i think they made the right move...Weather or not they would have made more money with a RTS game is a very differant story....;)

Anyway back to the meat and bones of the review. Set in the year 2552 Halo 3 has you playing the role of a man called the Master Chief. Before we get to him a little digging is needed Many years before these events humans had developed faster-than-light travel and colonized dozens of planets. All seemed to be going well for them untill the year of 2525 when first contact with the Covenant was made. Seeing the humans as an affront to their gods the Covenant set about destroying the human colonies by bombarding the planet with a barrage of plasma, turning its surface into glass. Despite efforts to keep the Covenant from finding further human worlds, a Covenant fleet discovers Earth during Halo 2. Which to be fair does not seem like a nice thing to do.

Then there is what the game is called...You see the word halo could mean many things but in these games a halo is a massive ringworld which is several hundred kilometers in diameter. These rings were constructed thousands of years ago by a race known as the Forerunners as weapons of last resort against the parasitic alien species known as the Flood. When activated, the Halos would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy, depriving the Flood of its food. Nice plan but i am sure it has its set backs. In Halo: Combat Evolved, a small human ship fleeing the Covenant stumbled upon one of these ringworlds, Installation 04. The humans manage to destroy the ring, stopping the Flood; the Covenant, unaware of the destructive nature of the rings, attempt to fire another ring during Halo 2 in order to fulfill their religious prophecy. One race in the Covenant, the Elites, learn the truth about the rings, and join forces with humanity in order to stop the firing of the ring. Though they are successful, the unexpected shutdown of the installation triggers a failsafe protocol-all the rings are ready to fire from one location, referred to as the Ark. Still oblivious to the true nature of the rings, the Covenant High Prophet of Truth and the remaining loyalist Covenant proceed to head to Earth, where they believe the Ark is buried.

This is the point that Halo 3 picks up from as you have to stop them from finding what they need to find before they make a huge mess of things. With the backstory out of the way i will now take a look at the gameplay and try and give you an idea what it is all about.

As i said at the start of the review Halo 3 is a FPS game. In which you take control be it in a single player mode or online with friends or in online arenas where players fight it out in differant modes with differant weapons and vehicular combat. Most of the gameplay is onfoot but there is a good mix of weapons to pick from and use during your time in the game. The balance of weapons and objects in the game was adjusted to better adhere to the "Golden Triangle of Halo": these are weapons, grenades, and melee attacks, which are available to a player in most situations. Players may dual-wield some weapons, forgoing the use of grenades and melee attacks in favor of the combined firepower of two weapons. Many weapons available in previous installments of the series return with minor cosmetic and power alterations. Unlike previous installments, the player's secondary weapon is visible on their player model, holstered or slung across the player's back.

New to Halo 3 are the support weapons these are exceptionally powerful but cumbersome two-handed weapons that slow the player, but offer greatly increased firepower in return. In addition to weapons, the game contains a new class of gear called Equipment; these items have various effects, ranging from defensive screens to shield regeneration and flares. Only one piece of equipment can be carried at a time. So you always have to make a choice and sometimes you may make a mistake.

Aside from the single player mode and online side of Halo 3 there is also the Forge. This is a map-editing tool that enables players to insert and remove game objects, such as weapons and crates, into existing multiplayer maps. Almost all weapons, vehicles, and interactive objects can be placed and moved on maps with Forge. Players can enter Forge games and edit and manipulate objects in real time. A budget limits the amount of objects that can be placed. Not only does this give people the power to make there own maps to how they want them to be but also opens the door to differant kinds of games within the game itself. Players may also save up to 100 films of gameplay to their Xbox 360's hard drive, viewing the action from any angle and at different speeds. Halo 3 offers a form of file sharing, where items such as saved films, screenshots, and custom variants can all be uploaded to Bungie's official website, Bungie.net. Anyone can browse user created content that has been uploaded to Bungie's website and tag it to automatically download to their console next time they sign into Xbox Live on Halo 3.

The game modes for Halo 3 run like this there is a campaign mode can be played through alone or cooperatively with up to three other players via Xbox Live or System Link. Instead of having each player be an identical character as in previous Halo games, the first player plays as Master Chief, the second player plays as the Arbiter, and the other two players control two Elite characters; N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham, each with their own backstories. Then there is the multiplayer side of the game which has up to sixteen players in versus multiplayer matches, with game modes including variations of deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Players must actively seek out other players through their Xbox Live Friends list, using the party invite system, or the LAN search feature to play multiplayer matches with their own custom rules and customized maps. If they are connected to Xbox Live however, a player can choose to have the game decide for them the exact rules and map to play on, as well as finding additional people to play against or with, using the Matchmaking system.

Halo 3 came out on the 360 in north america on September 25, 2007 australia on September 25, 2007 and in europe on September 26, 2007.

You may or may not have played the other game already if you have but you have not played this one then it is never to late to jump back in...if this is your first time with a Halo game then hold on tight because your going to be in for a very good ride.