Halo 3 had a strange sort of fame, didn't it? If you're gamer and you were of conscious mind in 2007, you can't possibly have forgotten the hype surrounding the Halo trilogy's conclusion, and indeed the impact it had upon its release. News stations everywhere were astounded by the numbers of copies sold, and online matches being played at once, while games magazines and sites threw review scores of 9s and 10s, accompanies by the classic over-excited juvenile gamers shouting in comments, 'this is the best game everr!!!!!!!!!!'. It didn't take long before almost every Xbox 360 owner had a copy, and this is, arguably, the point which put console gaming on the map as one single project dominated the entire industry.
And while it would be foolish to say that Halo 3 is undoubtedly the best game ever to be created, it's also hard to say they're far from wrong in terms of what the game offers. Put aside arguments of the storyline not being finished, or the gameplay being 'slow', or the physics being 'dumb'. Bungie, in Halo 3, seek to give you two things. Firstly: everything. You've got a campaign which, while fairly brief, is brilliantly varied in its mission design and locations. It's available to play co-operatively with four people - online, split-screen, or both at the same time. This is presented with absolutely stunning graphics and an unmatched attention to detail, and an unforgettable soundtrack complementing every moment. After that, there's the multiplayer, featuring probably the most innovative ranking system ever, the perfect balance of competitiveness and silliness and, perhaps most importantly, admirable amounts of support from Bungie, with new playlists and updates on a regular basis.
Put together, this makes an incredible game. But then, you're given Bungie's second gift: more. Playing a few rounds with your friends in Custom Games is a blast due to the innumerable amounts of settings that can be tweaked. How about a game of Rockets with 50% gravity, or just Magnums with 25% health? Even doing this would just be scratching the surface of the possibilities. Playing these matches on normal maps is fine, but you're also given the option of creating your own. The community has shown the vast potential of this; a quick look at the Millennium Falcon map, or the flying Elephant troop transport on Sandtrap shows this well enough. Lastly, you're able to record your gameplay via the Theatre, capturing your funniest or most skilful moments from either campaign or multiplayer, and being such a well-built tool that it even kicked off the Machinima movement.
This surely sounds like pathetic Bungie worship from a fanboy, but think about it. This game came out at retail price, but gives you twice, perhaps threefold what your average shooter does. The first six months of my Xbox 360 ownership were spent on this, and I can scarcely remember a moment I wasn't enjoying it.
Yet given a month or two after its release, and the cynicism began. Damning remarks of 'boring campaign', or 'overrated kid's game' echoed across the internet, often from the ever-so-intelligent PC fanbase. Even fans of the Halo franchise expressed their disappointment in the ending of the story arc (no pun intended), and many gamers, wanting a faster shooting experience, turned to Call of Duty 4, giving no better reason than 'Halo 3 sucks'. So much so, that while it remained consistently played by millions every day, it was still commonplace to hear how the game was a waste of time, only to be played by kids.
I understand, to a degree, the kneejerk response of Halo 3 being 'overrated'. In fact, I think I agree it was. It's not the best game ever; it hasn't revolutionised the FPS, and isn't so much fun that I'm still able to play it for hours today. Half-Life 2's perfection of physics, graphics and characters still ring brilliantly true whenever I see it in play, but for me, Halo 3 says something different. It set a standard, a best possible benchmark for what we should be expecting of our games. Gaming is coming closer and closer to its place in mainstream media which, arguably, it deserves, and the development of games is a million-dollar industry, and yet we are accepting time and again games which offer a six-hour campaign and a tacked-on multiplayer. Halo 3, a whole three years ago, let me save a screenshot of me headshotting an enemy with a bullet that bounced off the floor, make a map that mimicked the Omaha Beach D-Day Landings, play hundreds of unique custom games and give me one of the most replayable campaigns and multiplayer experiences I've ever had. Like Halo or not, this is a package willing to be built and released by so few developers today.
I don't ask you to like Halo 3, but I believe it at least warrants a great deal of respect. I do ask that you look at what you're paying £40 for, and wonder if anything near the amount of time and effort has been put in in comparison, now that the Xbox 360's best-selling title has shown the potential. There are games I have enjoyed more, but there have been none that have been bigger.
