Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Bungie

The third time is the damn charm. Let’s cut to the chase right off the bat and skip the beating around the bush part. Halo 3 is superior to its predecessor in just about every way. Indeed this game was hyped up like no other and indeed it is expected to be a record setter for multimedia sales, but we can honestly say that for once the title lives up to the hype. Not many stories maintain any momentum by the third installment and even fewer end in a fashion that meets the expectations of its followers but Halo actually seems to step up a notch this time around.

Halo 3 begins where the second left off with the Master Chief crash landing to be recovered by a squad of marines and the Arbiter. After that warm welcome between the Master Chief and the Arbiter, the action immediately starts and doesn’t ever let up.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is just how vast a difference there is between the visuals of Halo 2 and the latest installment of the series. This game really shines on a high definition TV with a smooth and seamless framerate and after countless hours of play not one slow down occurred. Without ruining the story, we’ll just mention that you’ll visit some areas that look very similar to some of the locations in the first Halo. The difference in the visuals is staggering. There is still a beautiful contrast between the natural environments, drab indoor areas, the colorful aliens and bright projectiles that always seem to be on screen. Is this the prettiest game on 360 so far? Probably not though some fanboys may disagree. However the polish is top notch, the levels never look or feel barren even when in the wide open, and they never seem to feel repetitive. There are so many minuscule details that are added to every environment that it keeps things feeling lush and lively at all times. Another reason things never seem barren is because there is so much going on at once most of the time as areas seem to fill with wreckage from downed vehicles and newly created cover.

Halo 3 makes you feel like Master Chief really is a one man wrecking crew. As opposed to let�s say the Call of Duty series where you often felt like you were just trying to survive, in Halo 3 it’s obvious that Master Chief turns the tides of the battle everywhere he goes. With the AI obviously stepped up this works like a charm. Allies behave like allies should (although the Arbiter seems to swing from worthless to badass in zero seconds flat) and enemies apparently hold their lives with a lot more value than they did in Halo 2. More often enemies will choose to take cover and recharge their own shields versus going for the finishing blow. Take out your first scarab and you�ll know just how empowering it feels to be the chief.

But what would the Master Chief be without his marines? The answer is on co-op, because the biggest addition in Halo 3 is perhaps the online cooperative play. This finally allows you to enjoy the whole TV screen while playing with someone thousands of miles away to progress through the campaign on Legendary. The beauty is that the game is still a challenge even with human backup and at times strategy is essential to success. One strategy that seems to work well is one player carrying energy draining weapons and the other direct projectiles to finish enemies off. People familiar with the Halo series will instantly be comfortable with the multiplayer with the main differences in strategy arising from the new weapons and items. For instance, a well placed shield can completely nullify a snipers stranglehold on one side of the map while a grav lift can lead to a round winning sneak attack. Your creativity is really the only limit here because if it sounds possible it probably is.

Especially neat this time around is the new Forge mode of gameplay that allows for customization of the objects in a map to change the strategy of it. Forge allows you and up to eight other players to edit maps by changing spawn points and weapon locations, as well as placing vehicles and moving terrain objects. You can even do things like flip vehicles over and rotate spawn points. Once finished you can save your edited map and load it to play on Xbox Live against friends or foes.

Another interesting addition is the ability to record your gameplay into videos that you can share so that you can actually prove how amazing you really are at the game. The free roaming camera views are truly impressive to behold.

Halo 3 is all in all an impressive experience. There isn’t anything bad that we can really say about the game, it’s exactly what we expected and little bit more. What you get is more than enough to satisfy and many will be replaying the game on different difficulties with the online co-op now available. With enough plot twists to cause neck pain, you probably won’t be putting Halo 3 down for a while.