Halo 3

[icelt]

Figured the fans would like to know that IGN has the first reviews up:

IGN US Review

<intro paragraph>
The fight is finished. Anyone got a cigarette?
by Hilary Goldstein

September 23, 2007 - My father once told me, "Never start a fight you don't intend to finish." Master Chief's pappy must have said something similar to him long before John-117 became a Spartan, because in Halo 3, the iconic action hero does indeed finish the fight. There is no cliffhanger ending that will have you screaming at your television, no doubting that this is Chief's tale and everyone else is along for the ride, and no question that it is a worthy conclusion to the most successful trilogy in videogame history. But just like that girl you dated in college, Halo 3 has some issues. Don't' worry; the good far outweighs the bad. This is Halo 3, and it is indeed the game you've been waiting for the past three years.

IGN UK Review

<intro paragraph>
The fight is almost over, but is it legendary or an anti-climax?
by Simon Cauldry, IGN UK

UK, September 23, 2007 - Right, let's throw this out there right away. Halo 3's single player campaign is disappointing. There. Phew! Said it. For three good reasons I'll elaborate on in a minute. But before you frame letters to your MP, allow me to quickly qualify this and begin with a confession. I'm a card-carrying, bought-the-action-figure, tried-it-on-legendary, wasted-away-half-my-life-in-online-multiplay Halo saddo. Not read-a-Halo-novel mental, give me some credit, but you get the picture. That doesn't mean I can't step out of my fanboy funk for a few hours and review a game objectively, that's how crusts are earnt round these parts, but on completing the single player mission, I quietly set down my controller, and found I was left slightly cold. And without sounding too childish, that's Halo's fault, not mine. The game's so big and unwieldly, the hype so planet-dwarfingly massive, the expectation so high, that I think any sane gamer's reaction when it doesn't turn out to be pound-for-pound the best game ever, is a tiny vacuum of empty in the pit of the stomach. And that's the problem with judging Halo. By any other PC or console standard this is exemplary gaming. By Halo's ridiculous, unattainably heavenly standards, it falls short. Don't panic, though. It gets gushy later.

Check that... Eurogamer's is up too (their reviews usually make for a fun read):

Eurogamer Review

<intro paragraph>
by Rob Fahey

Let's cut the crap. Cut the platform advocacy, cut the ranting of Internet storm-troopers on behalf of multinational corporations who don't care if they live or die. Cut the agonised wailing and gnashing of teeth over whether something is "game of the year" or just "really good".

Let's cut the crap, and talk about Halo 3, the videogame - not Halo 3, the monumental "event". Let's talk about the next instalment in one of the most likeable and well-crafted science fiction shooter series ever created - the third part of a trilogy which, despite its occasional wrong steps, has held our attention for six years. Let's talk about that.

 

[YSSMAN]

The reviews are pretty much what I had suspected, pretty-damn-good campaign, stellar multiplayer. I'm looking forward to the next two or three years, this game looks like its got legs...

 

[Pebb]

I should be getting the game through on Tuesday.

 

[KSaiyu]

Good scores, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[DuckRacer]

Good scores, nothing out of the ordinary.

A 97 Metacritic rating thus far isn't out of the ordinary?

Obviously there's going to be another 50 reviews that'll take it down to 93 or something, but still.

 

[Jedi2016]

I would say "not unexpected" rather than "not out of the ordinary". This is Halo, after all. The name alone will give it a 9. The remaining one point breakdown will be the actual rating.

 

[McLaren_Rules]

12 hours 22 minutes until Australia release

 

[Zrow]

I would say "not unexpected" rather than "not out of the ordinary". This is Halo, after all. The name alone will give it a 9. The remaining one point breakdown will be the actual rating.

The name alone doesn't give it anything - the core Halo gameplay is what gives it the 9. If it wasn't fantastic, Halo 1 wouldn't have gotten the kind of reception it did which led to this whole mess now.

EDIT: Sorry, I wasn't aiming to be a jerk with this post if it sounded like that - just giving my point of view on the inevitability of high scores.

 

[KSaiyu]

Heh, nothing out of the ordinary as in based on what we were expecting, (low) scores for other big games like Lair and Heavenly Sword I didn't see coming.

 

[slackbladder]

I have only one question about Halo 3. Could it have been made on the Xbox? If it could (minus the HI Def picture and extra graphical wow-ness) then it doesn't deserve anything more than 8. If, however, it's truly next-gen and would have been impossible to produce on the Xbox then it should be judged accordingly.
To put some perspective on this, I feel MGS4 could not have been made on any other console than the current PS3 or 360. That is what I mean about being a next-gen game. Until I play Halo 3 I won't know. But I wonder, will I be disappointed?

 

[toyomatt84]

I have only one question about Halo 3. Could it have been made on the Xbox? If it could (minus the HI Def picture and extra graphical wow-ness) then it doesn't deserve anything more than 8. If, however, it's truly next-gen and would have been impossible to produce on the Xbox then it should be judged accordingly.
To put some perspective on this, I feel MGS4 could not have been made on any other console than the current PS3 or 360. That is what I mean about being a next-gen game. Until I play Halo 3 I won't know. But I wonder, will I be disappointed?

Huh? I guess I'm just lost in what you're trying to say here. You think that Halo 3 could run on a regular Xbox? Because that's far from the truth. Even considering the extreme graphical upgrades, which comprise of hundreds of thousands more sprites (aka. needs tremendous power to make), the game is far greater in overall size, than it's predecessor: Halo 2.

And, the same could be said for Metal Gear Solid 4. Take away all of the beautiful graphics, and high definition gameplay, there's still more than what a Playstation 2 could handle.

 

[Zrow]

I have only one question about Halo 3. Could it have been made on the Xbox? If it could (minus the HI Def picture and extra graphical wow-ness) then it doesn't deserve anything more than 8. If, however, it's truly next-gen and would have been impossible to produce on the Xbox then it should be judged accordingly.
To put some perspective on this, I feel MGS4 could not have been made on any other console than the current PS3 or 360. That is what I mean about being a next-gen game. Until I play Halo 3 I won't know. But I wonder, will I be disappointed?

Not a chance. People look at Halo 3's graphics and aren't very impressed initially, because it doesn't look as good as Gears of War. The graphics are not what's next-gen about this game, though. It's absolutely chock-full of features, modes, and tools to make things interesting. It's how much actual crap is in this game that's amazing - there's no way something as complicated as Save Games could have made it on the Xbox.

And the graphics alone wouldn't have been possible on the original Xbox anyway.

 

[YSSMAN]

I have only one question about Halo 3. Could it have been made on the Xbox? If it could (minus the HI Def picture and extra graphical wow-ness) then it doesn't deserve anything more than 8. If, however, it's truly next-gen and would have been impossible to produce on the Xbox then it should be judged accordingly.
To put some perspective on this, I feel MGS4 could not have been made on any other console than the current PS3 or 360. That is what I mean about being a next-gen game. Until I play Halo 3 I won't know. But I wonder, will I be disappointed?

The simple answer is no. I mean, if we were to look at only the "core" of the game (campaign and multiplayer), of course it could have been done on the previous system. But, Bungie wouldn't have wanted that, Microsoft wouldn't have wanted that, and I'm absolutely positive that the fans wouldn't have wanted it either.

So, yes HD graphics are reason number one. Improved AI is presumably reason number two. The new save-film feature is probably one of the biggest reasons, being number three. On a similar note, the Forge feature is another biggie at number four. The new online XBL features, not just multiplayer but the stuff on Bungie.net is almost as big, sitting at number five.

 

[DuckRacer]

I have only one question about Halo 3. Could it have been made on the Xbox? If it could (minus the HI Def picture and extra graphical wow-ness) then it doesn't deserve anything more than 8. If, however, it's truly next-gen and would have been impossible to produce on the Xbox then it should be judged accordingly.
To put some perspective on this, I feel MGS4 could not have been made on any other console than the current PS3 or 360. That is what I mean about being a next-gen game. Until I play Halo 3 I won't know. But I wonder, will I be disappointed?

Saved films couldn't be done on the original Xbox. Nor could the Bungie.net integration (downloading others' saved films to your Xbox by clicking a button on your computer, the insane stat tracking, etc). Same with the improved AI. And Forge. And 4-player online co-op.

It's not Halo 2 in HD.

 

[slackbladder]

Well, I'll see for myself before long. I'm sure there's a lot to Halo 3 and I have'nt followed it much because I want it to surprise me. It probably will. And a good game should always do well. But we should never blind ourselves to flaws if they exist in anything, regardless how much we like something.
I'm sure Halo 3 will be great.

 

[G.T]

My brother's copy should be coming through the post tomorrow... so if I manage to get him off the game () then I may play with a couple of you online.

 

[Blackbird.]

Since I can't go to the midnight launch I'll guess I'll have to do with tomorrow afternoon. Man school tomorrow is going to seem like forever!

 

[YSSMAN]

I hear ya. I scheduled work off tomorrow, but apparently I'm working anyway (someone changed the schedule without asking me). But, I have Wednesday off, so I'll be doing some GTP frags for a while...

 

[bennyrrr]

My friend and I are going right after school (I ride to and from school with him in his Caddy STS with flowmasters) and were gonna grab a few pizzas and then play it all day on his 65' Mitsubishi 1080P plasma. Schools gonna suck. Its like a 7 hour waiting room

 

[Zrow]

Haha, I hear ya. I'm gonna grab all of your Gamertags later and maybe I'll get a few games in today.

 

[Pebb]

Oh, look someone from England has invaded New York's very own Halo 3 launch:

Note: Look to the right

 

[Joey D]

I'm still debating whether I want to shell out the $60 for this game right now or wait a week or two and save $10 by getting it used.

 

[Zrow]

I'm willing to bet you'd only save 5 bucks anyway, if you're referring to getting it used at Gamespot.

Get it now!

 

[Joey D]

The thing is I'm not all about "Oh my God Halo", I mean ya it's a cool enough game but there are other games on my list I enjoy more. I don't know I think I'll stop by Best Buy on my way home from work and if they have it in stock I'll get it, if they don't I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[CDailey]

Woo I got mah Halos. I was the 2nd person to buy one from my local Wal Mart.

 

[YSSMAN]

I was first in line at Best Buy, then I had to go to class, and then I came home and played the campaign for a few moments... For some reason my Brother had it set on "Easy," so I need to re-play it on something a bit more difficult.

Early Impressions:

I looks pretty good on my HDTV, and they seem to fill in the holes as they go. However, reading the comic book helps a bit, unfortunately, they're not all out yet...

 

[V1P3R]

Gotta post it up for you non premiums too.

Again... BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRN

 

[Steeda]

(Tries to hold the $60 for PGR4..............)

 

[TopHat]

I'm impressed. 👍 Overall, its a little harder than the last game was on Normal, which is good, and the people seem to be nicer overall.

 

[Jedi2016]

Rather than fight through the crowds last night, I just picked one up on the way to work this morning. Just walked into Wal-Mart, asked for it, got it, and walked out. Three minutes, tops.

I'm still way behind on the story, wanting to finish the first two games before I go full-tilt into the new one (I'm currently only about halfway through the first game), so all I did when I got home was pop it in and play for about five minutes.

First impressions.. VERY nice. From the beta and early videos, I was on-board the "Halo 2.5" comments regarding the graphics, but I'm pleased to say that they've improved significantly, and it's now a damn pretty game.

After I finished playing around for about five minutes, I went back and watched the replay in Theater mode. OMFG.. this is the coolest feature I've ever seen in a game. Ever. I spent more time in Theater mode than I did playing the game.. stopping it, oogling the pretty graphics, etc. Pausing when Master Chief is firing is jaw-dropping, panning around while he's lit up by the burst of fire from his weapon. Then following the bullet to see where it hit. I think RvB is going to be back in a big way with this feature.

I heard in the review that it only saves replay data temporarily... Anybody know what the deal is with that? Or is there something in the manual that tells you how to save it permanently?