 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Halo 3 by Grumah 09/28/2007, 11:22pm PDT | ||||
 |
 |
|||
| Everyone else is gonna form their own opinion on some of the major and minor details, this is supposed to be something like the "biggest game release ever made" ever this year (until Orange Box), so here are what I think are the most important positives and negatives.
Pros: Awesome new graphics. The xbawks 3shitty makes Halo look totally new. Almost every old asset from the first two games are gone, replaced with new higher detail stuff. There's also some blewm and motion blur, but one of the most frequently used new-fangled type of effects is when they do some of that tunnel vision insane stuff when Cortana or the stupid flood little shop of horrors plant use their telepathy on you. It's sorta like a Bioshock or FEAR kinda fps whatever thing as seen in a ton of recent MORE ORIGINAL games, where the game stops so some characters can taunt you while you are forced to listen. Is that a pro? The weapons are more satisfying. They finally fixed the Assault Rifle, altho it seems like it needs a few more games worth of development. They reduced the clip size but increased everything else (damage/accuracy/general usefulness over the smg). The needler got changed again but now the needles are super fast and can never miss unless they hit a wall. The shotgun, which was amazing in Halo 1, and ruined in Halo 2, is slightly buffed. You can now pull a heavy stationary weapon off it's mount, giving you an extra temporary weapon. It loses the infinite ammo and you walk slower with it out, but it's undeniably powerful. There is of course a billion new weapons, most of which just do the same sort of things other existing weapons already did, like the Spiker and Gravity Hammer. However there is a new change to some existing weapons that hasn't been seen before: two new grenade types and a new "equipment" item. The new grenades are a brute type of hooked grenade which can stick like a plasma grenade but flies through the air a bit faster. All the grenades have unique characteristics now, like the plasma grenade being thrown the highest, the frag can now detonate in midair, and the incendiary grenade which flies the shortest and lowest but burns an area for awhile. The different little bits of new gear are a lot like the camo and overshield pickups, except you can choose when to activate them and even trade one for another just like how you would pick up different weapons (same button even, the right bumper). They invented a lot of new devices for you to use, most of them are thrown onto the ground such as the deployable cover, shield grenade, grav lift, flares and emp bombs and whatever. They put a lot of work into all these things, and they are a very nice idea, altho you can only carry one at a time. This is supposed to be the final game, and you certainly get the feeling that everything is wrapped up when it is done. The story events and cutscenes do hold your interest when you see them, and most of the voice acting is very good. The new loading screen is neat also, and loads faster than the Halo 1 and 2 screens (a Halo mockup is assembled particle by particle). The objectives in most of the missions are not arbitrary "reach the fucking map transition did we forget to replace this text with something more descriptive oops?" filler notes like Halo 1 and 2. Similar to the second map in Halo 1 where you are suddenly outside in the most amazing looking gaem EVAR running under the waterfall and riding around rolling hills and inside a giant metal tunnel, you actually get the feeling that you are doing something by completing the objectives. Maybe you don't get to choose which ones you take and complete dynamically like an emergent sandbox Stalker ripoff I mean uh homage, but it's better than the previous Halo games. The outdoor locations are incredible. They include a human made flying vehicle called a hornet or whatever, can't fucking remember. The point is, you get to fight those massive scarab walking tanks, in real time, from VTOL helicopter type gunships, and you can carry 2 people with you. The vehicle portions are even better in coopertive, where you can usually find a whole lot of various jeeps and ATVs and tanks and alien transports and whatever. This was some of the most fun parts of the entire game, and you wish they could go on for the whole game. I don't even have to mention how well made multiplayer is (because I don't care about it much, especially after years of TeamDM and Battlefield Awesome now TF2 being out overshadowing everything else in existence), but it is very quality and decent. One of the best ideas was stolen from the UT of old, where the server host could add mutators to change the entire game style, without having to load different mods or anything. Aside from many fine details, the overall game is well designed and polished. Despite any negative comments I would still say it's a decent or ok game. Better than Timesplitters and Perfect Dark Zero and FURsona 3 and Warhawk/Heavenly Sword(s)/whatever the fuck. Cons: The motherfucking controls are as unresponsive as BF2142 when you are surrounded by 3 people and trying to set down some roller mines or health/ammo and getting shot at and pulling out your weapon-o fuck you just died. That should just never happen, ESPECIALLY as a super cyborg Marine asskicker from hell like the Master Chief. While playing on heroic, my top 2 causes of death were trying to wrestle with the controls and getting instasniped by the newer better beam rifles (which I never actually got ahold of in normal mode, ever). One thing I can't figure out is why you aren't allowed to switch between a dual-wield setup and another weapon or even a second dual-wield set. It's like going from Diablo 2's alternate weapon selection on your character screen to World of Shitfuck where you have a bag full of alternate fire resist gear that only helps you raid and had gay bullshit stats but enough about that before I go off on another surprisingly-angry Wow tangent. Even if you use a piece of equipment it throws down your offhand weapon, causing you to lose half your firepower while you run tiny circles hoping you find what you dropped. This is the third game in a row where the needler has been changed. Can't they decide what to do with it? You can't dual-wield it anymore. On the subject of weapons, it always seems like you have too much ammo or not enough. The AR can hold a large capacity of extra clips, but the brute shot can only hold 12. Even with the AR you might find yourself surrounded by ammo until you have been using some of it, then you realize "hey where is the fucking ammo?" By this point in the life of the Halo series, the ability to only hold 2 actual weapons really frustrates me. It would be so nice to store a double plasma pistol AND a rocket launcher while I burn up some plentiful carby ammo before throwing it on the floor for whatever else is around in the giant pile of slaughtered enemies. Carrying a mounted weapon is a slight crutch, but they are rare in the end game maps, and you can't put them "away," but rather throw them on the ground with the rest of the fuckin mess of other shit. This could be considered another control issue as well as a weapon issue, but I hate having the "reload/weapon switch" button be the same, but only depending on how long you hold it, and if you are standing in a heap of guns good luck picking up the best ones. Halo PC let's you bind a key specifically to swapping weapons, Halo 3 needs to at least bind something else to the d-pad other than the flashlight (equipment or grenade selection). In my humble o, the two female main character voice actors are fucking horrible. Cortana whoever was always kinda fucking shitty since day one, and Ayussnteets Keyes is even worse. You hear them CONSTANTLY. It really hurts the presentation of the story, especially when things get very serious. However, the nameless female soldier characters are very well done. Too fucking late to fix that tho, bungie is going with the "original" cast members from the previous games. Wouldn't want the faggy dumb jocks who made Halo 1 and 2 multi-platinum sellers to feel "betrayed" by replacing the inferior voice actors with superior ones. One of the most disappointing negatives to me was the game's opening level. I was pretty excited about starting up Halo 3, THE FINAL HALO GAME FOREVER OF ALL TIME HULAGUAGUALA, until the first minute of gameplay. We followed some npcs around a fucking hallway-with-a-skybox. An ok looking one with plants and some water and a nice sky and HDR, but it's a fucking hallway with a fucking skybox. Crazy shit doesn't happen, paradigms are not changed, you aren't blown away by the first few minutes or really the first few entire fucking levels. It's almost funny how hard they worked to dress up the interior maps. The result is that Halo 3 still has some of the worst indoor levels in game history since fucking I don't know what. The amazing outdoor areas look better than ever which just exaggerates that problem. Just like Halo 1 and 2. The vehicle portions are over before you know it, because it's such a relief from the usual gameplay that you seriously enjoy the game until you return to slogging everywhere on foot as usual. Last thing I can think of: remember the TV commercial where the kids are talking about outer space or some shit and then Master Chief wakes up in the middle of a battlefield? That doesn't happen. Once again, the yappity version of Gordon Freeman is given a voice and yet no personality at all. I had hope for something actually interesting to happen, ANYTHING AT ALL BUNGIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE. Nope, nothing At the very least I wanted one of these things in the main character, in descending order: 1. a real personality with a real soul 2. some back story 3. more badass one liners Bungie and Halo 3 strike out with a whopping NONE OF THE ABOVE. It's a fucking shame. It shows the obvious superiority of Half Life 2's characters. Despite the fact that you are mute, to immerse you into the game's universe, all the other characters have well developed stories and personalities. You can feel what that person is like just from the dialog. The final post-credit cutscene in Halo 3 defines the game's "story." This might be considered a spoiler, if it was at all important to the "lore" of the Halo universe, but the only substance to be found is how astoundingly little substance there is to the plot of the whole series and Halo's 2 most primary characters. MC and Cortana arrive somewhere in the middle of the empty vastness of space, unharmed but alone. Everyone on Earth thinks they died. It will be years before they are discovered. Master Chief enters a cryo chamber and says "wake me up when you need me." Cortana: "I'll miss you." Chief: "SHUT UP BITCH DON'T WAKE ME UP UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE IS HERE." That perfectly captures the emptiness of the game's story. Multiplayer doesn't allow browsing for fucking coop games. FUUUUUUUUCK!!! FUCK YOU BLIZZARD FUCK YOU EA. Verdict: I dunno. I always liked the Halo series, but I was disappointed the moment that I found out it wouldn't be a tactical squad based third person combat and command game for the PC. It looked good on the ecksbawks and they had a lot of good ideas, but it's ultimately just another run and gun shooter not far removed from the FPS genre's infancy of Doom and Quake. |
||||
 |
 |
|||
|
