Even if you have never played a video game before in your life, chances are you've heard of the "Halo" series for Xbox, especially considering the hype surrounding the release of "Halo 3." The popularity of the series, created by Bungie, has spawned a pro-tour circuit for "Halo 2" with prize money for the championship reaching $1 million. NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards sponsors one of the top ranked teams in the world. The success of "Halo: Combat Evolved"and "Halo 2" is evident, but the question remains: Can the final chapter of the "Halo" trilogy, released Tuesday only for Xbox 360, live up to its own fanfare?
"Halo 3" straps its players into the helmet of Master Chief, a biologically enhanced ultra-soldier in the 26th century, to begin where "Halo 2" left off. The alien civilization called the Covenant has now taken over Earth, and it seems that Master Chief is the galaxy's last hope.
It is immediately clear that controls for the game are incredibly easy to master, due in part to their simplistic design and the Xbox 360's ergonomic controller. If you want to look up, you move your right thumb up. If you want to jump, you hit the "A" button. And if you want to the blow the head off of a Covenant alien, you squeeze the right trigger button until your blood thirst is satisfied.
"Halo 3" also returns its main three game modes from the first two games.Playing Campaign mode sends players alone as Master Chief to try and save the world. Cooperative mode offers the ability to team up with a friends to share the glory. The Multiplayer modes give players the option of earning bragging rights amongst their friends, or jumping on Xbox Live to challenge the best — and often worst — gamers out there. "Halo 3" alsoreturns some of the more enjoyable multiplayer game types from "Halo 2," like Slayer (kill, kill, kill!), as well as some that were more of a hassle, like Capture-the-Flag.
While it may originally seem that Bungie merely rehashed the success of the first games and added (much) better, high-definition graphics, the capabilities of the Xbox 360 allowed them to include some very new features. Forge mode allows players to modify the 11 existing multiplayer maps in whatever way their hearts desire. Players can then save these newly modified maps to play later. Also, video of each game, whether it be in Campaign mode or on Xbox Live, can be saved on the 360's hard drive to be viewed and edited later. Bungie secured a place on their servers for File Share so that gamers may post these modified maps and videos for anyone on the Xbox Live community to download.
While the gameplay and storyline is guaranteed to keep players riveted until the final chapter of the "Halo"trilogy (no, no spoilers here), watching, listening and playing on an HDTV with 5.1 channel surround sound gives the true video game experience that any hardcore gamer or novice can enjoy and appreciate. But if you really want to enjoy "Halo 3" to the fullest, don't drink Mountain Dew's new "Halo 3"-inspired "Game Fuel" soda while you play, or you may just ruin your experience with one of the best video games released this year.
4 1/2 stars out of 5
