I would let Joe Biden send me to the space army any day just to experience the levels of hype this game generates. If I saw Master Chief and Arbiter doing the shit they do in this game not even Jesus Christ parting the clouds and descending back onto the mortal plane could make me look away. It doesn’t matter how pointless the oil conflict is, if One Final Effort is playing I’m charging into battle. If the level of raw energy in this game was converted to fuel there would be no energy crisis. If you shanked this into the Mohs hardness scale it would score an 11, and then an additional point extra for every person you’re playing with over one. There are no bad levels, no weak characters, no boring enemies, no downtime. JUST. STRAIGHT. GAS.

Name a more hyped release than Halo 3. Then name a game that lived up to the hype like Halo 3.

One of the greatest single player FPS campaigns ever made. All the buildup from Halo 1 and 2 pays off in 3. I’m one of the weirdos who didn’t like Halo 2 very much, but loved Halo 1. Such a tight gameplay loop and it gives you so many new toys to play with in the Halo sandbox. Then, the story payoff at the end is emotional and so satisfying for people who love the series.

Multiplayer in Halo 3 was the place to be in 2007. Some of the best map design around and amazing weapons to play with. The progression was purely cosmetic, yet it kept people playing for years. Compare that to CoD nowadays where they are constantly giving you items to keep you interested, yet people bounce off faster.

Forge and theater were the first of their kinds, and they haven’t been matched in several aspects. The amount of time I spent in both of these as kid, not even playing, was more than I spend in modern shooters now.

Halo 3 wasn’t a game, it was an event. So much love and care went into this, and it shows 17 years later. So many memories were created because of it, and I’d never trade them for anything. There will never be another release this hyped ever again.

Halo 3 is like a thrilling action movie that is constantly in its climax. Once the campaign begins it doesn’t hold back. Lulls in the action are minimal, set pieces are plenty, and the action is constant. You would think this would get old after a while, but Halo 3 does not overstay its welcome. Clocking in at an average of 8 hours the time flies by. The story is admittedly pretty lackluster especially in comparison to Halo 2. Instead of setting up characters like the Arbiter, fleshing out the motivations of the Covenant, and establishing the lore of the Forerunners and Flood, Halo 3 opts to stick to its guns--literally. We just blast our way from one set piece to the next leaving any desire for lore or character development to take a backseat. Mechanically, it plays a lot like Halo 2 but improved. The new brute weapons, addition of the badass Spartan Laser, and the new equipment feature add to the already break-neck pace of firefights. The new vehicles were a blast to ride around in as well, especially my new personal favorite the brute Chopper. In the end, Halo 3 is a thrill-ride that leans into fast-paced action but sacrifices depth and greater narrative. It is a blast to play but lacks that extra push that could take it over the top and complete the package.

Played the game again on legendary difficulty and it was a lot more fun than halo 2. The difficulty felt well balanced and less reliant on RNG and the sandbox is also well balanced as every weapon felt useful in some way I didn't have to just rely on a plasma pistol and a BR the whole time. Ammo was plentiful and the whole adventure was just really fun to go through again. My only issue was the transforming flood guys especially the long range one's they almost got me soft locked a few times.
And yeah the story kicks ass

it's better than halo 2!
lol at the background image for the backloggd page
i cant believe there was actually an ending to this story
like yeah there's a "oh what will happen next?" kind of ending but they wrapped up basically every outstanding plot thread before it so they could literally continue it however they want
the arbiter just being your homie in the game is pretty fun
side note- i looked up mods for the game to see if there were any sort of revamp projects to make it more faithful to the OG release (like how there are for sonic games) and the only thing i found was big booby arbiter mods
like 5 different versions too it was kind of wild
in this game cortana is really goofy looking and is shown in the most unflattering angles throughout the majority of the game (for lore reasons)
im kind of sad there were less "gun down your enemies with a turret" moments but it was very much made up with the whole "just take the turret with you" mechanic
my god people look ghoulish in this game, like genuinely disturbing faces
everyone except miranda for some reason, miranda looked pretty normal
why are the boss fights in all these games so anti-climactic, like idk if it's because there's no health bar or clear attack-defend cycle like in other games but i basically just shot the boss, and then they died
i think this game was a pretty good length, not repetitive like the first and not dragging on too long like the second
its right in the goldilocks zone (thats a space reference)