The Reigning King: Halo 3 Review

Legends are made, not born. Legends earn their keep, and they earn the rightful places in history. Events, figures and even ideas become legend through unwavering perseverance, meticulous labor and unrivaled perfection in their fields. Even as a young form of media, video games have a hefty number of legendary titles. Their names are known in each household, and their significance to entire communities still resonates, regardless of their age. During the past decade, one title has risen above any other in terms of its style, design and perfection. As 2007's Halo 3 nears its tenth anniversary, we here at Game Chop find it necessary to review the title that embodied the most memorable video game sensation in recent years. Let's begin.

Where do we begin, exactly? It's difficult to describe the nature of Halo 3's release - it simply was the most sensational release of the decade, and has yet to have been beaten. Following the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, and the outstanding Halo 2, Halo 3 puts players back in the super soldier boots of the Master Chief. The year is 2552, and the genocidal alien alliance known as the Covenant is on Earth's doorsteps. Humanity's military, the United Nations Space Command is beaten down after over two decades of losing billions in the bombardment of their planets. The planet's only hope is the Chief, their last Spartan super soldier. Following his escape from the Covenant's Holy City of High Charity during Halo 2, the Chief has followed the dastardly Prophet of Truth to Earth to defend against the invasion and "finish this fight." Welcome to Halo 3.

Waking up from our insignificant crash in the jungles of East Africa, we are met by two our favorite characters. The rough and tough Sergeant Avery Johnson, our comrade and brother in arms, and the notorious Arbiter. The alien warrior is an Elite, the race that was the former base of the Covenant's military might. The Arbiter and the rest of the Elites have pledged themselves as new found allies to humanity, following a sobering discovery and a grisly betrayal. During our time playing as the Arbiter throughout Halo 2, we learned much of the Covenant's religious icons, the Halo rings. Previously thought to be machines that usher in eternal life, it is revealed that an ancient alien race called the Forerunner's built the megastructures as weapons of last resort to combat the Flood (which we will discuss later). These rings, sought after by the Holy Prophets will wipe out all life in the galaxy upon activation, much to the Arbiter's dismay. Pair that with the Prophet's replacement of the Elites with the barbaric Brutes, the Elites have little patience for the lying and treasonous Prophet of Truth.

With Chief's old and new friends and a platoon of the fan-favorite UNSC Marines in tow, we head off into the jungle, aquatinting ourselves with the very familiar mechanics as we fight the various hostile aliens of the Covenant. The towering ape-like Brutes toss spike grenades, while their more timid counterparts, the Grunts and Jackals patter us with plasma bolts and beams. Halo 3's combat is a fluid motion of user-friendly movement and strikingly straight forward abilities. Attacks are singular and simple - the traditional "hip firing" cultivates a wonderfully nostalgic feeling as we mow down dozens of flying insect-like Drones.

We pilot the Master Chief to a secret UNSC base and link up with returning character Commander Miranda Keyes. Keyes, with UNSC Supreme Admiral Lord Hood, let us in on what we've missed since we dropped back onto Earth like a giant super solider rock. Truth's fleet of Covenant Loyalists have found some sort of Forerunner object under the surface of Africa. We're going to go blow them up. We navigated ourselves through some fantastic introductory missions, wrought with driving warthogs and other vehicles, using a litany of amazing new alien and human weapons and watched in awe as our enemies and allies collided in remarkable battles. We need to stop Truth from accessing this mysterious Forerunner relic, being referred to as the Ark.

Our new goodies include the barbaric Brute weapons. The spike rifle, a large handgun with duel bayonets fires lightning hot spikes that line a Marine's form. Meanwhile, the infamous Gravity Hammer blasts anything around it away with devastating effect. Certain tools like the bubble shield or the flare are also available for the Chief (and his enemies). These new items are fun and wonderful to use during combat. Just because the gameplay is the best its ever been (seriously, it's the perfection of the past two games), doesn't mean it's the biggest perk of Halo 3. What shines along with it is the story.

Arguably not as crisp as Halo 2's script, Halo 3 is a thrill ride of amazing and genuinely gripping plot developments. We have no idea how our battle against the Prophet and his Brutes will end, and what's worse, we have no idea what this mysterious Forerunner Ark is or what it does. As we continued our early play-through, we beat through the Covenant's blockade and Lord Hood blasted the hell out of whatever the alien ships were uncovering. Beautiful cutscenes let us know that our attack failed, as the machine activates. But we're not dead. The device opened a portal and Truth's fleet has gone through. Before we even have time to regroup, a darker enemy makes itself known. Following its invasion of High Charity, the vicious Flood have followed us to Earth. The terrifying zombie-like infection led by a manipulative super-organism called Gravemind has sent an infected ship to Africa. With the help of our new Elite allies, we burn the infection away, but learn there are more coming. Only one thing to do - the Elites, Commander Keyes and Johnson's Marines, and the Chief head on through the portal in hopes of finding a way to stop Truth's plan to activate the Halo Rings, then deal with the Flood. This also brings the quest to reunite with Cortana into the game. The savvy artificial intelligence may be key to defeating the Flood, and we can't have Master Chief without his trust holographic companion.

The majority of the game takes place on the Ark, which is revealed to be a massive Forerunner structure at the edge of the Galaxy. It's capable of firing all seven Halos, and the Prophet of Truth's fleet intends to see that done. The environments of Halo 3 are more of the same - a wonderful synthetic world populated by a variety of ecosystems. Scarce and wide deserts turn into beautiful forests. The graphics and physics engine run excellently, as this title is the culmination of the previous games' accelerating graphic ability. Interacting with other characters is especially improved. Marines are funny and loyal as ever, as are your Elite brethren. While human character diversity is fairly mild, the templates for UNSC Marines are dynamic and reactive. Kicking it up on the horror notch, Halo 3 features very vivid Flood transformations - humans and aliens alike are twisted and contorted by the hive minded infection with dazzling (and disgusting) visuals. The bright flashes of plasma grenades are gorgeous, and still hold up today. Shadow work and lighting is surprisingly advanced as well, especially for a 2007 game.

If you have never had the pleasure of familiarizing yourself with Halo 3, you may look to invest some time with it. The game impresses Game Chop to this day. Its depth, plot and frivolity pleases us beyond measurement. Halo 3's story leads players an a larger-than-life adventure across the wondrous Halo universe. The fun this game provides is one that is rarely matched, and any gamer would be overjoyed to take this Xbox exclusive for a spin. You better get to work and finish this fight.

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