Halo 3

I keep telling myself, "Next, I'm going to do a No. Boot Sheep hasn't said No yet, and he really should, since that was the first thing I ever drew him saying".

I really thought Halo 3 would be it. Despite its pedigree being a pair of games that, while enjoying massive critical and financial success, always annoyed me, this is actually... not...bad.

There, I said it.
The original Halo was a well-meaning, if unfinished game, and it's flaws were mostly niggles about level design (I'm looking at you, Assault on the Control Room). But it made up for it in the quite good combat, the recharging shield, and the vehicles that were actually fun to drive. Halo 2, on the other hand, made no attempt to rectify the shallow identikit (and often nonsensical) approach to levels, and felt more like a substandard expansion pack than a true sequel; aside from new guns and levels, all that was really new was the ability to duel-wield, which was hardly earth-shattering.

So I approached Halo 3 with not-quite-anticipation, expecting a shoddy maze composed entirely of the same room over and over, with a couple of new guns. The multiplayer beta earlier this year had done nothing to persuade me that this was anything other than Halo 2 all over again, with the reload button moved. I was pleasantly surprised.

The levels, while still fairly standard restricted room-corridor fare, are now at least well-disguised. The first level, a jungle, is quite pretty, and there are some areas that are incredible. There's no repeating canyons, and the final showpiece, on a hydroelectric(?) dam, is challenging. Throughout the game, there's never a feeling of "wait here and fight off three waves of bad guys before you move on" in the mission design, and there's a steady sense of progress. The levels are varied, and for the most part very good; some of the setpieces are phenomenal.

Character animation is occasionally a letdown - some of the lipsynch in cutscenes is jerky and unconvincing, and marines occasionally skate about a bit, but, somewhat strangely, it gets much better as the game goes on. After Gears of War and Rainbo Six Vegas, the lack of a cover system also makes itself felt, no more so than when you see AI-controlled marines take cover, then lean out to shoot.

Halo's always prided itself, to an extent, on the story. I've long said the setting has a lot of depth, and much more than really fits a game that's mostly shooting. Here, the player's dropped in the deep end. No explanation or backstory is offered - you want to know how we got here? Go play the first two. Reading the books might also help.

A big deal has been made of Halo's multiplayer, which is something I never really got along with. Any online experience, be it playing Halo or otherwise, that didn't involve only people I know has never been good. I've only played a couple of rounds of Halo 3, and those with friends, but some of the game modes are hugely inventive, and I can see multi providing many hours of chaotic fun, even without venturing near Ranked matches.

Overall, then? Even if you've played Halo before and not enjoyed it, I think this is worth a go. The campaign is good, especially on Heroic. Easy and Normal lobotomise the enemies way too much and a little too much respectively, and Legendary is just a trudge of frustration and despair. Multiplayer has enormous scope, especially with the custom game modes, and the as-yet-untried Forge, which allows for map customisation. I'm still not convinced it's a 10, like Edge and so many others have given it. But it is a Yes.