"HALO 3"
Released: Sept. 25, 2007
Genre: First-person shooter
Platforms: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Bungie Software
ESRB: M (Mature)

Official Site, Wikipedia, Halopedia

UNDER MICROSOFT'S EXCELLENT promotion and publicity, "Halo 3" became another blockbuster hit, surpassing "Halo: Combat Evolved" and "Halo 2" sales when it was released in September. "Halo 3" has successfully brought the Halo trilogy to a close, and fans of the franchise apparently have not been disappointed by it.

"Halo 3" is a great sequel. The storyline for all the plot threads left hanging by "Halo 2" are perfectly tied up in the Campaign mode. "Halo 3" continues the storyline of conflict between a future human race and technologically advanced aliens, centered on mysterious ancient structures called "halos." The story is interesting and doesn’t leave players with a cliffhanger like "Halo 2."

In "Halo 3," the different levels of the game are well thought-out and designed with twists and hidden surprises. A variety of the levels keep players busy with running and nonstop action. Its haunting theme music is impressive as well. Although "Halo 3"'s graphics are inferior to previous games on the Xbox 360, such as "Gears of War" and "BioShock," its graphics are still excellent.

Critics agree that the series’ game-play formula is one of its biggest strengths. "Halo 3" was built upon the concepts of "Halo" and "Halo 2" that ensure near-addictive replay value.

The game play is extremely solid. Besides innovative weapons, deployable combat equipment, and powerful vehicles, "Halo 3" provides a peerless online mode in which up to 16 players can compete in customizable battles crossing numerous maps of 11. It offers a Forge map-editing mode and a Theatre mode in which players can edit and update footage from previous battles separately. Those new features prove to be players’ favorites.

A handful of new weapons and gear are introduced in "Halo 3," and many of the previous ones have been altered.

One of my favorite weapons is the Needler, which has gone through serious changes and has become one of the most powerful single-wielded weapons. Although it cannot be dual-wielded anymore, the Needler is much more powerful, having the ability to track your enemy, has a very high firing rate, and allows you to kill your enemy with just eight needles.

There are a lot of really awesome things players can do in forge. Almost anything can be edited. Players are free to delete and insert game objects into any maps "Halo 3" offers. For example, players can place weapons in favorite locations they choose, and they can also insert vehicles that aren’t normally there.

In the Forge maps, up to eight people can play and constantly edit the map while in edit mode. One of my favorites is to put as many explosive objects together as possible to create a huge blast. Players have messed around a lot with the Forge, and they have created new ways to play the game.

One real cool thing to do in Forge is to flip the Elephant in the map "Sandtrap" by playing as many fusion cores as possible on one side of the elephant and then blowing it up with a plasma grenade and rocket launcher. Each map has a maximum amount of credits, so players have a limit of what they can add. Forge maps can be saved and uploaded to Xbox live so their friends can play in their edited maps.

These new features make battles more complex, challenging, awesome, and wild. All the tweaks and changes are included in "Halo 3" as a complete package so that they can enhance the game play and amuse players.

The most exciting thing about "Halo 3" is that it allows players to dream what they want to be by being courageous, strong, and lucky. What makes it exceptional to other games is that it adds onto the already successful game-play formula and continues to excel in graphics and music. Because of its many nice features, it draws in even the most cynical game players.

Even though I don’t own an Xbox 360, I’m really impressed with how far it's come. From the countless hours that I have been playing this game, it really has made a strong impression on me. In my opinion, the game play of the Halo series is so solid and fun that it will never die out.