Hands-on Review: Halo 3 (Verdict: Wow)

The hype surrounding tomorrow's release of Halo 3 is unbelievable; that said, this is a truly unbelievable game. From its revamped graphics and thrilling gameplay to clever community features and rock-solid multiplayer modes, Halo 3 is a blast—a more-than-worthy follow-up to its groundbreaking predecessors. If you don't already own an Xbox 360, here's a great reason to buy one.

Let's get one thing clear right off the bat—I'm not a hardcore gamer, so if you're looking for the ultimate, no-hold-barred review of Halo 3, check out Yahoo!'s Halo 3 Launch Central. I'll happily admit that I'm not steeped in the lore of Halo (although I've played hours and hours of Halo multiplayer in my time)—I don't know every twist and turn in the Master Chief's struggle against the Covenant (check out Yahoo! Games' video retrospective of the plot), nor do I really care. However, the single-player mode of Halo 3 is so much fun that even a casual gamer like me could get into the story, and the graphics—while not up to the near-photo realism of Gears of War—are so cinematic that at times, I could've sworn I'd walked into a Star Wars movie.

And we're not just talking single-player action and multiplayer madness here. Halo 3 adds a bunch of cool community aspects that equal more than the sum of their parts. Taking screenshots (all the images in this review are shots I took in the game) and video clips of the action and sharing them online may sound pretty basic—that is, until you freeze the replay, detach the "camera" from the standard first-person view and fly around the suspended scene, complete with bullets and smoke hanging in mid-air, Warthog engines still revving, and alien foes still grimacing (think of the bullet-time scenes in "The Matrix" and you'll get the idea). This alone is an awesome experience; indeed, re-watching Halo 3 gameplay from a third-person perspective is almost as fun as playing the game itself. Once you're done snapping pictures and recording, you can then upload your snapshots and clips to Bungie.net (home of the Halo developers), where other players can view and rate your work. I can't wait to see the galleries of Halo 3 "art" that will doubtless emerge in the coming weeks.

Anyway, back to the actual game. I've typically had more fun playing Halo multiplayer matches than solo missions (indeed, that's true for most games I've played), but the Halo 3 solo campaign is truly compelling. I haven't finished the entire game yet (I got my disc Saturday afternoon and had relatives come to visit Sunday—the nerve!), but I've already witnessed some in-game sights that I won't soon forget. In one sequence, you and a squadron of soldiers (all zipping around on dune buggies and armed with shoulder-launched missiles) mount a ferocious attack on a towering "scarab tank"—a 30-foot-high mechanized tarantula of a thing—and between the dazzling graphics, the swirl of sounds, and the challenge of downing the beast, it was probably the most thrilling gaming experience I've ever had. Also, as a casual gamer, I appreciate that the hard-fought battle is, in fact, do-able; if you're stumped for long enough, you get enough hints to move the action along without giving the whole game away.

You'll also find plenty of new weapons—including the close-range, enemy-annihilating gravity hammer, my personal favorite—plus a new class of deployable objects, including the much-discussed bubble shield (which protects you from missiles and bullets, although baddies can walk right though it and knock you over the head). New vehicles include the two-person Brute Prowler, and there's also a too-cool motorcycle that's a cross between a Star Wars pod racer and a Harley. Great stuff.

I didn't have much of a chance to test out multiplayer—Bungie had yet to turn on the Halo 3 multiplayer servers during my tests—but I logged several hours of multiplayer during the beta in June, and what I saw looked more than promising (among the new features: the ability to muzzle annoying opponents). Halo 3 also comes with a Live-ready co-op mode, a welcome surprise that I can't wait to try.

So, is Halo 3 perfect, then? Not quite. As has been widely noted, the game's graphics aren't quite on a par with Gears of War, which looks practically photo realistic. Faces in Halo 3 still look pretty flat, at the overall feel can be cartoony at times. That said, the sheer scope of the Halo 3 vistas can be pretty awe-inspiring, and I saw few if any dropped frames during the epic battle scenes (such as the scarab tank attack). And when I popped Halo 2 back into my 360 and played a few rounds, there was no comparison—Halo 3's graphics are substantially better.

Also, while I found the "theater" mode (where you watch clips of recorded action) to be way more fun than I expected, some of the controls are clunky—for example, I'm still having trouble rewinding the action, and editing clips is harder than it should be. Hopefully, Bungie will iron out the kinks in the coming weeks.

Overall, though, Halo 3 is a spectacular entertainment. I often hear talk of games that drive people to buy a console—the original Halo did that for the original Xbox, and Halo 3 will do the same thing for the Xbox 360.

OK, Master Chief wannabes out there, sound off. Have you tried the game yet? Going out to buy it tonight at midnight?

Related:
Halo 3 Launch Central [Yahoo! Games]