*dons flame retardant suit*

omg ps3 ftw!! halo 3 FTL!

(jokes)

not out in UK yet, so i cant comment :P
But im sure ill give it a go in the next few days

Will rent...

Too busy playing Skate and Picross... original Gameplay !!!

I am one of the few who wont be finishing the fight, played both halo 1 and 2 and even endured the midnight launch for 2, but thanks to microsoft's shoddy console and price and not to mention the damage it does to one's electric bill i will not be buying the console. microsoft take a hint from the wii and ps3, if they have 0-5% console failure rate then its unacceptable to how high your freakin failure rate is, but now mind you i saw the ending online already and that ending was alone a big turn off for the game it wasnt mind blowing or anything interesting, ive seen some ps2 and psp game endings that blow away the halo 3 ending. now as for my review of the game i give it a 7/10. the game isnt groundbreaking on any scale, bungie couldve upped the graphics and push the 360 to breaking point since they had plenty of time to pole vault past gears of war and bioshock as the graphically beautiful game of the year. plus not to mention you really are fighting all the same enemies all over again and doing alot of the same crap you did in halo 1 and 2, but they did add some new things but it just looks like halo 2 in a wolf in sheeps clothing. so once again 7/10 for the whole game, but it loses a point for the shoddy manufacturing of the game cases that are loose during shiopment and that will cost microsoft in the long run, so 6/10 review. the music is the same just new tunes and remixes nothing new yawn. that is my 2cents.

I don't have a 360, and I'm not getting one soon, but I wuold love to have a go at Halo 3, if not simple because the reviews have been so damn good. Since it's so short, I could finish it real quick and get rid of it if I found a way to borrow a 360.

Far, far too many posts dedicated to a run of the mill, overhyped game series. This has felt like a Halo 3 site recently. There are lots of games coming out this year that will be way better but get way less coverage. Shameful.

Eye of judgment just showed up at the house. So I know what Ill be doing.

Where do I go to discuss Dewy's Adventure?

I don't understand the hype. They're solid console FPS games, but nothing revolutionary.

I'd rather keep playing bioshock than another Halo game that will be exactly like the last one. I'll get to it later after MS fails to outsell that queer wizard.

@Mezodon: Id agree accept for the sales figures. Hate or love it, it's selling a shitton of copies. Sorry.

What if I want to rail against the people railing against the people railing against the Halo hype?

Also, Snape kills Cortana.

Ahem.

To get back on track: If you haven't played the game, stop freakin' complaining about it. The true telltale of a fanboy post is from one who proclaims that Halo sucks without actually owning a 360.

Okay, you could probably proclaim that Halo sucks if you own an Xbox, since the series really doesn't change much from game to game. But, you get my drift.

I love how this post is almost like a trap and an occasion to swing the banhammer like a viking.

@crecente:

I'm uber jealous. I demand a review with many many pictures!

@crecente: How do I get your job again?

@D3Anon:
so you're posting a score for a game you haven't played and don't plan on playing? not only that, but you're factoring packaging into your review score? wha?

Can't say anything yet. Mine just came in at work via UPS and I am trying to figure out how the hell I can get out of here early.
Also, this post should be renamed from "Halo 3 Discussion" to "Halo 3 Bedlam"

I watched G4's countdown for 5 hours last night.

Haloooooooooooooooo

I must say, I am impressed. I played a little matchmaking, and beat the first two levels of campaign. Let me say this, the lighting in the campaign impressed me a lot. The water was more impressive than I thought it would be as well. Full body awareness was something I missed from bioshock, and now I'm glad it's back. When I played co-op, and saw my huge elite shadow cover an ally marine, it made me go "wow." It's the little touches like those that make the game feel really well done. Oh, and the action has been great, altough grenades are a little too strong in multiplayer...

I wonder who will be the first lucky winner of the Halo3 induced RROD

Right, let's get this show on the road.

I totally do not see what all the fuss is about with Halo. It seems an extremely standard FPS to me (which is saying something in a genre that is not known for its variety in the first place).
I have played only a moderate amount of FPS's myself, but the majority of them are more diverse, better looking, less restricted and more original than Halo.

Seriously, somebody (preferably not a fanboy) tell me WHAT'S THE DAMN DEAL WITH THESE GAMES!?
I appreciate that they have massive multiplayer potential, but as a stand-alone one-player game it is beyond mediocre.

Enlighten me!

Anyway, I'm too busy playing Freshly-picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland to go buy a 360. If I had a 360, though, I'd likely buy it, since pretty much no other multiplayer game is likely to be very active over the next few weeks.

I'll pick my copy up after I stop being a productive member of society for my allotted 8 hours...and study for my upcoming exam. Why is it all the good games have to come out when I'm f**king swamped w/ schoolwork?! Bioshock...Metroid...Halo 3...and Mass Effect coming in November...

my 360 RROD on me...

oh well...

i'll play Halo 3 when it comes out on PC....

Microsoft's gameplan:
1. Release an unfinished console, but first
2. Release a *meh* big-name game, but first
3. ??
4. Profit

Halo 3 > *

hOW THE FUCK DOES SUCH A GAME GET SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMUCH ATTENTION?!??!

People treat it like it's the meaning of life. Do you have to be so braindead to think a simplified FPS is the greatest game in history. Not even for this generation will is set the bench mark for interactivity or storytelling or visuals.

It's just a super tight multiplayer game with an obligatory single player campaign that they started and couldn't stop because it would look stupid if it didn't continue.

I would make a long post about this. But, I just picked up this awesome game last night and I need to get back to it.

BTW, Halo 3 rules.

i don't understand why i can't quit a game before it starts in matchmaking. then if i quit after the match has started, i lose experience points. what's up with that?

that being said, i see myself jumping ship to call of duty 4 when that hits. actually, i'll probably jump ship later this afternoon. co-op is where it's at for me with halo.

I love the anti-hype for this series.

Sales figures > Fanboys

@icepick314: D: so you mean we wont be able to shoot eachother over the net now that we are finally friends on XBL?

Btw I heard we are screwed and have to buy the J version (Unless you have a US system) since like the US ver isnt region free and the asia version is in cantonese. :/

i think the reason for all the halo hate, is the amount of media attention is has been getting for the past few months.

And short of this game coming with a free car i dont think it would ever live up to the hype.

And im sure people who have waited years for this game and listened to it being hyped up as the greatest game ever, im not surprised some people arent too impressed

This two-thread format reminds me of that Mr. Show sketch about the "pre-taped call-in show", for some reason.

As someone who never played either Halo 1 or 2 for more than a couple of hours combined total, after reading the reviews, I'm looking forward to giving this a spin tonight. I <3 co-op games.

If I end up with a 3rd player, though, they're going to have to try playing with the Guitar Hero controller. :(

@poopsonlawn:

yes sir

@Raine:
1. Collect Underpants
2. ?
3. Profit

lol :D

so by your logic, crecente, its okay for the better games to get less coverage due to the simple fact an overhyped game is selling a lot of copies? just seems a little out of place, if you ask me. i think mezodon has it nailed, personally. i'll rent the game just because its another game to play until something worthwhile comes out, but yeah, i'll be so glad when i can visit any website and not hear about this mediocre-at-best series

@Amazingu:

If you simply play halo, you'll understand. It just feels right, more right than almost any other FPS out there. Prey was really original, with some cool gameplay changes to the genre, yet your character controlled weird, over half the weapons were useless, and it was shorter than Halo 2, but with bad multiplayer.

What makes Mario different than all the other platformers back in the day?

What makes God of War different from all the other hack and slashes? (don't say the story, changing well known stories and using well known characters is hardly creative.)

Those games really offer nothing new to their genre of games, and tons of other games in their genres have more content, but the fact is, some games are just more fun to play end of story.

For the record, I've had my console since launch and it hasn't crapped out on me yet! Neither have any of my friends' consoles. From experience, they seem like very solid machines. I'm almost tempted to say all those red rings out there are probably due to flagrant abuse.

Anyways, I got Halo 3 this morning. I beat the first mission and then played some multiplayer. It's a solid game. The script is campy, but that's Halo for you. I'm really digging the equipment and the new weapons. They add a lot of strategy to the multiplayer and everything seems well balanced. It's not game of the year material, but it's still a great game and a must for fans of the series.

Why is everyone so upset about this game? I could see why being pissed if there was this much hype for Heavenly Sword - but Bungie actually put a lot of work into this game. They offer tons of options for customizing the gameplay experience, bringing your friends together without hassle, 3 dimensonial replays that you can send to friends...you can even edit the games multiplayer levels (which are fantastically designed) with the forge. Seriously, this is a fully featured game that has a ton of material that Bungie didn't need to put in - but went beyond expectations to deliver. Now the single player campaign was apparently just decent - but even if you hate the single player the multiplayer offers so much. Why cant people just appreciate all the hard work developers put into games anymore and blame MS not Bungie for Game Fuel?

Halo 3 hype or not, I am impressed. It takes an awefull lot to do that. for those who didnt cough up the extra cash to get the legendary edition, you screwed up royaly. The helmate is awesome. It is a case for the games. and is a supurb replica of master chiefs helmate. The game after going through each little detail is shearly awesome. From folliage to terain the detail is amazing. You can zoom in on the bark of the trees and it does not get pixilated. I have gotten through the first level on legendary and the AI is a pain in the butt. OMG how can they stick me from 300 yards lol. whelp im off to play more halo.

Is that guy in the asbestos suit doing the robot?

@uppitycracker:

do you think that good games sell for no reason? The reason is people like playing them because they're fun. Look at Nintendogs.

@Sgt. Bilbo: Agreed. I just took a genetics exam (owned it in the face! Take that transgenic mice with genotype XY that express a female phenotype!) and I have an organic chem exam and lab tomorrow.

Being pre-med fucking sucks sometimes. Oh well, hopefully I'll have time to beat Bioshock this weekend with those exams out of the way. Maybe now I can buy/borrow MP3. I feel like I'm about a month behind... so I probably won't pick up Halo until November/December.

Just thought I'd pop in and ask that you Halo 3 owners please give me a good run-down about forge that wasn't covered in that vidoc and most of the incredibly general details others have been posting. Tell me if it feels right, if it allows fine detail, if you think it's possible it will indeed be the RTS version of "UMS" matches for Starcraft. Tell me, do explosive things re-spawn? Can you use Forge without having to start a Live match? Have they allowed for hand-of-god dependent rulesets? (Such as, "only allow this person or that person to use it" and "this item costs this much and this is how you gain more money" etc etc) If I make a Forge map and host it, can I completely turn off hand-of-god? Most importantly, is it easy to identify and jump into Forge games online?

It seems like I'm the only person who wants Halo 3 for the possibilities that Forge gives considering how little information I can mine from players about it. C'mon guys, the story wasn't that good... why are you playing single player?

@FOGGYNOTION:

You must best him in a swordfight and cut of his head. Then endure some lighting and epic soundtrack.
Or you could just take a journalism course and go the boring way.

In topic, yes, it's getting a bit annoying now, but I'm all over that co-op action. I mean, if a game like this can reach so many and show them the joy of co-op, only good things can come of this.

At the risk of the "I TOLD you so" chants, I played a copy of it this morning. Fortunately, my opinion still stands. The massive amounts of money spent on saying how amazing this game would be put it on an unattainable pedestal. There are those of you out there that swear it's worth every penny. I'm glad you're happy with your purchase. Without going into another rant about how marketing blitz mentality affects gaming culture (again) I'll just say this:

1. I'm glad it's out so the world can move on.
2. I tried to give it an unbiased try, and I just can't.
3. Congrats to Microsoft, you made one hell of a juggernaut, now STFU and go roll around in your piles of money.

@uppitycracker: No, by my logic the top selling game (of all time?) might get a bit more coverage of its launch then say, Kameo.

Halo 3's story gets a big F, for 'Freakin ridiculous" and the graphics arn't that great...BUT...the ease of control and the intense combat provided via brilliant level LAYOUT design is what wins this game it's A-. it's halo's control scheme that made it so popular int he first place,when halo one came out it's control scheme was so accessable that it allowed the console audience access on a grand scale to 1st person shooters. that is why halo became so popular. all 1st person shooters post halo, use the same double stick control scheme.

My only gripe with the game is that the gameplay felt a little short for me ... not as short as Gears of War but fairly short. But I like the fact that you can get a 16 player campaign game going with your friends. That is fun. Overall, Microsoft is going to make a butt load of money off this game.

Keep in mind I didn't say this was the best game ever. Read my reviews, I think I was fair, and didn't buy into the hype.

My main problem with Halo is that it is, as people say, nothing special as far as FPSs go. Without the massive amounts of hype (for the original and then pushed through the sequels) I don't see Halo really doing much of anything.

I find that very sad, considering how better games (not to mention more original) are consigned to the scrap heap because they didn't catch MS Marketing's eye and had millions pumped into them.

@lotkrota:

i think its more a matter of making something simple that can still be challenging for all audiences. halo always seemed to me like a natural feeling you could experience on the PC, just on a console. nothing amazing, nothing that should certainly produce this much hype. just fit well on a console. but there are MUCH better FPS's out there, that never got the marketing or easy access. sure it can be a decently fun game, but hell, it doesnt warrant all the obsession in my opinion, and certainly shouldnt cast a shadow on all the other great games coming out. but thats just my opinion of things.

I got the Halo 3 limited edition and the disks is fucked up badly..Damn you Microsoft!! They always screw shit up. I have to traded it in for the regular edition.I am having some frame rate problems I don't know if its my system or the game?? yes Halo 3 is over hyped don't get me wrong its a good game but there is other games that is better..

Well to be honest, all the hype has left me in a weird state.

It's definitely discouraging to see a franchise everywhere you go. I'd go absolutely insane if I hear another radio ad from Walmart for Halo 3.

As for the game itself, I got to say that I kind of like it. Not as much as I liked Halo 1, but waaaaaay more than Halo 2. (I didn't like Halo 2 at all. D:)

The gameplay is the same, yeah, but it feels slightly different for me enough to let me truly enjoy it. Plus the network code feels a lot better. Although I wouldn't have waited out in the cold to get my copy, I got it this morning from a local vendor.

But really, that advertising they did kind of made me feel really bad mostly. Ugh. >_<

- MP

I wish the Gradius series had this much marketing hype so they could sell millions worldwide, then the 2D space shooter genre would make a killer comeback.

The world would be a better place. :(

@MrPulsar:

Agreed. A little bit of marketing fatigue.

@DB9: I take it you never played System Shock 2? I get the impression you haven't because you mention how you don't want to play Halo yet because it's like Halo 2. BioShock is very similar to System Shock 2. In fact some would say BioShock is a dumbed down version of System Shock 2 in terms of gameplay.

"Eye of judgment just showed up at the house. So I know what Ill be doing."

@Crecente: You lucky SOB. You better get some impressions up about this game ASAP. I cant wait for it.

All I can say is that I'm way too grateful not to live in the US. All that hype for one game that is really nothing so special (you cant assert that that Halo is the "ultimate FPS", I could name about 20 pc shooters that are better). It's the hype that earns these scores, not the game (I don't mean to say that halo aint a good game, but it's not this good).

Oh yeah firing the weapons is really disappointing you can't hear anything..

I posted this on the other Halo thread, but I guess this is a better place. So, here goes.

I played it, and I am underwhelmed. Its ok, to me its like yet another FPS. What really gets to me is all those pseudo gaming rags falling over themselves giving it 10/10 or 100 or whatever. I am kind of disappointed after all this hype. But I guess I am to blame as much as anyone. We saw the hype with GOW, we saw it again wi