Halo 3: Great Expectations

By: Tyler Henderson Hill

Monday June 25, 2007

Can they Deliver?
Every so often a game comes around that almost everyone seems excited about. Halo 3 is one of those games. The first Halo was one of the most popular video games ever. Halo 2 was a great follow up that was also extremely popular. It would be hard to find anyone that hasn’t played one of the Halo games. Now, it is Halo 3’s turn, and in the Master Chief’s own words from the end of Halo 2, it’s time to finish this war.

The player will again be thrown into the war between the Alien Covenant and the human race. The Master Chief is back on Earth fighting the Covenant, who is on Earth searching for something that the Forerunners have left behind on the planet. The Elite are engaged in a civil war against Covenant and the newly favored Brutes, and both all are fighting the destructive power of the Flood. This storyline is reason enough to buy the game. What Halo player does not want to know who wins the war? This is one of the strengths of the Halo franchise. It is not just a first person shooter where you just go around shooting everything in sight, although that does happen. There is an intricate and well-developed plot in a brilliantly created universe, and this is the final game that will show what happens in that universe.

Along with this interesting plot come all the great features that gamers have come to love about Halo. All the weapons and vehicles are back; the graphics will be vamped up for the Xbox 360. The great multiplayer battles that Halo is known for will be back. However, this doesn’t really seem like that much. Besides some new weapons and better graphics, what else does the game have to offer? When browsing the games official site there is no link for new features, or a page dedicated to what has been added. This is troubling to me. Yes, the game is following the success of the previous two, but is that enough? Although the storyline will be different, the player will still march through levels blasting everything in sight. Although there will be new levels, the player will still be running around shooting other players. I am not denying that this will be fun, just as the last two games have been. There is nothing truly original about this game though. Usually, there is a lot of hype for a game that is going to be groundbreaking, such as having amazing new graphics, or mind-blowing features. Halo 3 is not one of those games.

I’m not saying that I still won’t go out and buy this game when it released on September 25th, or that others shouldn’t either. I am saying though don’t expect too much from this game. Expect the same great fun that Halo and Halo 2 gave.




Available September 25, 2007