Finish the Fight? But I am having so much fun

As a late Halo fan, how fitting for me to finally get a 360 game system and buy Halo 3. Just like the first two games, I bought the 360 to specifcally play this title.

What can I say? The game is great, but the expectations I had for it were so high that it is almost a let down at how the game plays.

As always, you are the Master Chief and you have landed on Earth after escaping the last Halo. Cortana is not with you and the soldiers of Earth think you have died from your insane jump off the Covenant ship to Earth.

They are in for a surprise. Getting used to the controls of the new controller takes a bit of practice, but after you drop certain grenades at your feet and attempt to kill yourself instead of reloading your weapon you start to play well. (The X button reloads on the old Xbox on the new one, it drops special grenades)

Bungie over did it with the new weaponry IMO and it takes away from the game because you are wanting to use the old favorites and the new weapons work better sometimes. Back from Halo is the assualt rifle and it is welcome. The battle rifle is still at your disposal as is the rocket, shotgun, and SMG. The big loss is the pistol. Would have loved to have the origional pistol from the first Halo game, but they have made this version of it even more wimpy than in Halo 2. On the Covenanant side there is the same old weapons, but a new one called the gravity hammer is unwelcome. I agree the Brutes needed weaponry different than what the Elites used, but the selections make the weapons weigh in favor of the Covenant when before it seemed to be 50-50 with the Earth forces.

The Arbitor and the Elites are fighting with the humans now and every time I play co-op or single player, I just want to maylee the snot out of him.

The story mode is short, but I think the hype behind the Halo machine made players expect 20+ hours of game play instead of the 6 hours they got. Most 360 games that come out now have shorter story modes because of the online multiplayer capabilities the 360 has. It is a little depressing, but that is the way gaming is right now. I would have dropped my money one a story mode for Halo 3 and a seperate multiplayer disc for that portion of the game so we could have had a better and more intricate finish to this story. The way Bungie does this, the plot seems to simple and to easily told. I have not played through the story mode completly but my kids have and they were not all that impressed as they were with the previous two versions.

Graphics are brilliant, and the scenery is breathtaking. The one thing I do not like is the faces on humans in the game. They look comparable to the origional Halo and I expected better graphics that that on a 360 game. Added to the game is some new vehicles. Now this part of the game I really like. Especially the Mongoose. A four wheeler that can have a buddy on the back blasting away at the enemy. Makes the game more entertaining knowing you have more things to drive around in than a Warthog or Ghost.

The Master Chief spends his time having flashbacks and trying to find Cortana in the game and the ending does "finish the fight" but I expeceted more from the third installment. With that said, I still will be in line to buy Halo Wars when that comes out.

Now onto the multiplayer. This is what makes this game a must buy. If you are online, this is one of the top online games to have. I would love to see another map multiplayer pack come out like it did for Halo 2 but what they have given us will do for now. Some of the boards are similar to the old and some are brand new. Still not picked a favorite, but I like what they have presented here. Our favorite is the added "Zombie" game where one player is infected and must persue the others to get them as well. Once caught the player becomes a "Zombie" as well and joins the "Zombie" team. You can adjust damage, weapons, etc. to make the game customized to your tastes. Also, if you are online you can make your own multiplayer boards. I have not done this feature, but I am sure it will be fun to do when I get there.

Finally, the new weapons in the multiplayer take some of the fun out of it. The poor sap with a pistol has no chance against someone with something more powerful. The range of weapon power takes away the fun of the game making it almost imposible for someone who has been killed and had his weapons taken from him to get back in the game. I know Bungie meant well, but I am often finding myself setting what weapons are on the map to avoid this issue.

I'll be playing this game for a long time, but Bungie could have brought something better to the table and made the game into "The reason to buy a 360". They did not.