exhaustnote

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Halo 3: The Anger Inducing Solo Campaign and Me


Halo 3: The Anger Inducing Solo Campaign and Me
SPOILERS

I know that by now everybody and their mother has played Halo 3 who is going to.  I know that it doesn’t matter what the title’s solo campaign experience was like, it was going to sell like the Dickens just so we could all frag each other into the next century via the internet.  I also know that I’ve played my share of online matches as well and multiplayer aspect of the game holds few flaws.  I am not one who can keep playing it forever and ever unfortunately, and at this point I wouldn’t be able to hold my own in the cutthroat battlenet world.  It was most definitely fun while it lasted.

I just borrowed the game from RMC because since the first Halo I have been intrigued by the story and I wanted to finally see how they wrapped up what I thought was supposed to be the finale.  I must say that I was quite disappointed.  Please understand me here.  When I first picked up an Xbox controller to play co-op Halo: Combat Evolved I was like that guy in the Maxell Logo. Blown away!  The sheer scale of the missions combined with an intriguing storyline made it more than your average FPS.  There are still levels of that game, mainly the Silent Cartographer that I could probably play over again until I die.

Then there was Halo 2.  The series had made the shift to online gaming brilliantly and by this time Bungie knew what kind of success they had on their hands so it seemed that they didn’t put as much into the solo campaign experience.  There are only 2 missions that excited me and they still weren’t on par with the presentation of the original.  I felt that the story had lost an element with the addition of all these new characters and brutes that just seemed to distance itself from what made it great.  Reminds me of movie trilogies that didn’t know they were going to be trilogies until the first one made millions.  Although Master Chief riding the bomb was good. Really good. I’m not made of stone.

Finally, I beat Halo 3 yesterday.  I cannot stress enough how disappointed I am with the entire game. Firstly, the way that I have to stop every five seconds so that a vision of Cortana flashes before my eyes to induce a seizure was the main thing that brought me out of the experience.  Then when I finally get her back, I’m subject to more of it through that Barry White sounding alien. I mean, I guess it was an alien. Tell you the truth I had no idea what was going on or what it was!  If I can’t move while that thing speaks, why didn’t he just record himself doing the HMS Pinafore and play it on repeat so that Master Chief would be stuck in that eternal hell forever.  That was by far the worst mission in any FPS that I’ve played.  At no time was I having fun.  By that point in the game I was just trying to get through to see the ending.  I didn’t care one bit about Cortana or the flood.  It was just disheartening.

Anything that I found remotely fun in the game was something that was a bad copy of a mission from the previous 2 Halos.  There is a beach level where you have to infiltrate a bunker to shut down a shield.  There is a highway driving mission where you have to open up a pathway between cities.  These were the best missions and they were both rehashed.  It was cool having to drive my way out of all the explosions during the final mission… but it just seemed so familiar.  And what the hell was I driving on by the way?! Did someone build that just so they could do sweet jumps off these ramps in a warthog?

Then there are some minor bits that I could’ve done without.  I miss having to kill the Elites and it’s just not as satisfying to take out the Brutes.  Also what’s going on with the Brutes’ armor? It falls of off them leaving them vulnerable after some hits?  That just wasn’t how I pictured it.  I think I touched a sniper rifle once and the Marine Pistol manages to suck even worse than it did in Halo 2!  Like I said, minor bits that just added to my misery.

Now here’s the kicker: the ending.  Can someone explain to me how the heck the Arbiter and Master Chief both land on the same ship via the Warthog, but only the Arbiter makes it back? Did I miss him detach an escape pod and fly back alone?  What was that all about? It was so very anti climactic that I just couldn’t help but agree with that Admiral when he told the Arbiter that he can’t forgive the elites for what happened in the original game.  Me too Admiral! Now let’s go kill those jerks huh?! Their armor won’t fall off them at least!  The only thing that could’ve made it worse would be to show us Master Chief’s face because that would be disappointing.   “Return of the Jedi” disappointing.  Hey, at least we got to hear Chief’s name though… John.  John!?  Did we need to hear that? It’s the most common name in our recent history! Why couldn’t it be Rutger or Gil?  Okay, well now I’m just looking with a microscope for things to complain about.

All in all I guess you can tell that I was unhappy with Halo 3’s solo campaign as a whole.  The reason I am so passionate about this issue is because of my experiences with the first title.  Now it seems that Bungee obviously knows that they could dump in a box, have online play, and make their millions.  They even have a tongue in cheek blurb before the end credits about ass kicking and money making.  This decline of the franchise seems unfair to those of us who want more than just another forum to kill each other virtually.

There is no reason to own this game unless you have an Xbox Live account.  The next Halo (which it looks like there will be one judging from the ending of Halo 3) should just be a full out online multiplayer game because I can’t stand to have my heart broken again.  Obviously, these are just my opinions and I’d like to reiterate that this is a must have for online multiplayer matches, but as a credible story with characters that I care about, Halo has gone the way of the buffalo.  If way of the buffalo means crappy.

Genuine5899d ago (Edited 5899d ago )

I disagree. Halo 3 is the pinnacle of the series. I question whether or not you've even played the game. If you got no enjoyment whatsoever out of the variations of large vehicle battles, taking down scarabs, 4-player co-op, theatre... Your either playing at a difficulty that doesn't challenge you or your not much of a shooter fan. Either way, I question your views of what a fps should be, that's assuming you actually have views on the subject.

Rocko5898d ago (Edited 5898d ago )

Playing Legendary with 3 friends was insane. Halo haters get lost.

LastDance5898d ago

genuine.. Man.. all sh!t aside. okay .. Forget about xbox and ps3 and Betamax and coke vs pepsi and watever.

Halo 3s solo campaign sucked a$$ on a big level.
The game as a whole was plain mediocre.

lsujester5898d ago

While I did enjoy the MP of Halo 3, the SP aspect fell short of the mystique of the first game. I do, however, think that it's way ahead of the retarded mess of a story that Halo 2 was, and it offers a little more bang in things like taking down the Scarabs. However, I hated the Cortana level as much as I hated the Library, especially having to stop every five seconds for those fracking acid flashbacks.

I really just don't think it holds it own even against other FPS's like Bioshock when it comes to storyline (this is even after reading the novels), or COD4 when it comes to the "HOLY @#$%" moments.

So if (okay, okay... WHEN) they do a Halo 4, I really hope they do it as the Marathon series. The story was much better, and I think that with some refinements to the gameplay and level design, we could see a Halo that eclipses all of the previous ones. I know Bungie owns the Marathon series still.. but I honestly don't see MS not paying the beau coup money to make another game for them.

5898d ago
Richdad5897d ago

Yeah dissapointing it was like a average FPS it didnt take grip on you it was not abt grpahics the gameply and narration was not done like Halo and Halo2, but anyways I would say that the dissapointment was that it should have been better than COD4, but still its much better experience than FEAR, GRAW, COD3 and Lost Planet on 360 if we count single player well and multiplayer is solid its really good not dissapointing anyways.
But COD4 has a slight edge may be mainly due to grpahics and intensity but the new maps coming have smaller map and they look way better than anything in Halo3 till now. Looking at the screenshot they look better than COD4.
COD4 looks good yes but tress, distant objects and some of the terrain looks terribly bad. But in Halo3 everything has the same quality in graphics and they really made a huge draw distance to support vidoe recording if they have just done smaller maps and had not gone for Huge draw distance they would have got much much better graphics than they have now. I think dlc 2 of Halo would prove this.

Show all comments (9)
160°

Fallout 4's 'next gen' update is over 14 gigs, breaks modded saves, & doesn't change much at all

We were expecting problems with mod support, but there are a lot of other issues.

isarai7h ago

Wow what the actual hell 🤣🤣🤣

just_looken6h ago

This is why you get the GOG version on gog you can select the version of the game to download.

On pc fallout 4 fallout new vegas and skyrim are all broken on steam because they all got the same "next gen" update.

Skyrim dec 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/sky...

Can not find new vegas but anyone that modded it knows the script extender there was also broken

Valkyrye5h ago

Not accidental, they want modders to stop modding their older games to force them to mod Shitfield.

just_looken3h ago

There doing the same on starfield with a mods store and blocking mods

There goal is like blizzard and what they did with fallout 76 you make mods they can sell and you become a slave.

On skyrim they have "trusted" mod devs now basically a badge that lets your mod on the store you get a crumb of the sale when someone buys it.

Inverno1h ago

lol to the disagrees, the last Skyrim update broke mods too. They've been trying to kill mods to monetize them in creation club for years, it's not a stretch that they purposely put out patches just to break free mods.

porkChop35m ago

The disagrees are from people who have common sense. They aren't trying to kill mods. Most mods for any game will break with a new update because they rely on files/code that have been changed. This isn't new. Even with Bethesda this would happen way before the creation club. Mod support is literally one of the things that got Bethesda to where they are, and they're one of the only devs that releases comprehensive mod tools for each of their games.

Chocoburger1h ago

Over 14 GBs and doesn't change much at all? What? Taking up that much drive space for a pathetic 'remastering' is shameful.

Par for Bethesda.

Aussiesummer23m ago

It's not a remaster, it's a next gen update.

badz1490m ago

LOL people are actually expecting massive improvements or something? From Bethesda?? the same people who released Skyrim multiple times and the all look like shit? THAT Bethesda? are people for real?

100°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein5h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno2h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k458m ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson17m ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu1h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson19m ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

90°

Gears of War Voice Actor Hints At New Game Announcement Coming In June

A voice actor from The Coalition's third-person shooter series, Gears of War, has hinted at a new game announcement coming in June.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
Ra303032m ago

Hopefully Microsoft will go back to the original story line and get away from that woke nonsense from the last Gears game Gears of Woke! But were talking about Microsoft so all the betting money is on more of the same woke nonsense.