Halo 3
2007
- shooter
- action
- science fiction
- sandbox
- warfare
- single player
- multiplayer
- co-operative
- split screen
The story
Halo 3 is a shooter game where players primarily experience gameplay from a first-person perspective. Much of the gameplay takes place on foot, but also includes segments focused on vehicular combat. The balance of weapons and objects in the game was adjusted to better adhere to the "Golden Triangle of Halo": these are weapons, grenades, and melee attacks, which are available to a player in most situations. Players may dual-wield some weapons, forgoing the use of grenades and melee attacks in favor of the combined firepower of two weapons. Many weapons available in previous installments of the series return with minor cosmetic and power alterations. Unlike previous installments, the player's secondary weapon is visible on their player model, holstered or slung across the player's back. Halo 3 introduces "support weapons", which are cumbersome two-handed weapons that slow the player, but offer greatly increased firepower in return. In addition to weapons, the game contains a new class of gear called equipment; these items have various effects, ranging from defensive screens to shield regeneration and flares. Only one piece of equipment can be carried at a time. The game's vehicular component has been expanded with new drivable and AI-only vehicles.
What it’s like
Grim, sun-scorched alien landscapes under hard daylight give way to dark interior corridors lit by cold blue plasma glow, and the whole game carries the weight of military sci-fi in its sound: a thundering, choral orchestral score that swells over firefights, the crack of Covenant plasma, the heavy thud of a Scorpion tank rolling over rock. Combat is fast and physical, with the first-person view kept close to the weapons, grenades and melee strikes that players swap between in quick, muscular rhythms, while vehicle sections open the frame into wide, dusty vistas. Its tone is earnest and heroic, with a steady undercurrent of dread as swarms of Flood infection crawl out of the dark. Intensity is high and continuous: frequent gunfire, explosions and alien gore, with blood splatter and bodies that twitch and burst, though the violence is stylised and cartoonish rather than graphic. This suits long multiplayer nights with friends, couch co-op sessions split across one screen, and anyone who wants big, loud, adrenaline-driven action with a sense of camaraderie. It is not gentle, quiet or slow.
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