This is topic Halo 3 plot or the Gamer Thread in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
I may be the only nerd big enough here on Hatrack to have acctually read the Halo books (and played both games enough times to know most of the dialoge by heart), but I wanted to see if anyone has any guesses to how Halo 3's story will go.

Other than Master Chief just pummeling the Covenent into the ground. My idea is it will somehow involve why the Covenent came to Earth not intending to find our homeworld? Were they looking for some sort of Forerunner tech?

(spoiler) The same way they accedentily found Reach?

What do you guys think?

[ March 10, 2006, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Advent 115 ]
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
(spoiler warning)

I have a theory that we humans are the Forerunners. What do you think?
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Halo has a plot?
 

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Posted by Ender12 (Member # 8873) on :
 
Video games and I don't get along all that well. The only game that actually caught my interest was Starcraft.
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Yeah! Thats why its so cool! It doesn't just have a shoot'em up gameplay, it also has an in depth story! How else can you explain landing on a giant ring, and end up blowing it up to kill a race of evil plants? (I think the flood could be considered plants....)
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Yes! Starcraft was an awsome game! Ever try Homeworld?
 

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Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
 
Aren't they making a Halo movie? Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that it has a plot.
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
I'm not holding my breath on the movie. I was quite disappointed in the Doom movie when I got around to renting it.

I'm still running a lottery with some close friends on who will play Master Chief, Cortana, and the Captain (or at least who will play the voices).

EDIT: Anyone want to place any bets? (bets are not money but things you are forced to do by whoever wins)
 

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Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
 
I still kinda wanna see the Doom movie, just for the hell of it
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Well, if you want to see Dwaine Johnson (aka the Rock) kick ass. Then go for it.

Hmm, now what to talk about?
 

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Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
 

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I'm still running a lottery with some close friends on who will play Master Chief, Cortana, and the Captain

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Originally posted by TomDavidson:
Halo has a plot?

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Originally posted by Alcon:
I still kinda wanna see the Doom movie, just for the hell of it

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Originally posted by Puppy:
I'm trying to remember what happened in Halo 2 ... weren't they calling Earth "the Ark" or something like that?

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Originally posted by Puppy:
I'm trying to remember what happened in Halo 2 ... weren't they calling Earth "the Ark" or something like that?

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No, I believe that that was referencing the big ass Forerunner ship the launched from the Covenents huge "half moon looking thing".

And to camus, hell no. No body is even betting on Norris because hes past his prime and doesn't do movies like this. Actually the top runners for M.C. are:

Vin Diesil
The Rock
Weasly Snipes
Eric Bana "from black hwak down"
And the dude who played Jango Fett

For Cortana:

Kelly Hu
Angelina Jole (my friend wishes, SOooo collecting on his bet )
And the chick from Red Planet

For the Captain:

The dude who played the General in "Hulk"
And Harison Ford (not likely)

We're also still taking bets on who will play the sgt.

So place your bets now, and see how many of your bets pay off when the movie comes out.


And no body has made any accessments about my idea that humans are "The Forerunners". Otherwise why would Guilty Spark keep calling Master Chief "a reclaimer"?
 

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Posted by Rake (Member # 9195) on :
 
In my opinion it is pretty clear that the humans are Forerunners, or at least descended from them.
That Earth is the Ark is almost without doubt.
For Halo nerds i recommend halo.bungie.org and of course bungie.net(of course, if you are a Halo nerd you most likely are a freguent visitor to those sites anyway)
And yes, Halo has definitely a story.
 

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Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
 

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Weasly Snipes

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And the chick from Red Planet

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Wait ... you mean you don't think of her as "the chick from The Matrix" or "the chick from Memento"?
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Are they the same person? I never bothered to watch any of the Matrix movies.

And Puppy, my friend is going to Sooo loose that bet.

And Rake, I'm telling you that the Forerunner ship HAS to be the "Ark". But I was convinced of humans being the forerunners ever since reading the Halo book "The Flood" which details all of the events on the first Halo. Like when Spark (god I hate that thing!) keep mumbling about how MC's armor is only "such and such level" and that he should replace it with level 12 aromr or somethin.

And what the hell is the deal with the flood's master? And it better not hurt Cortana! (mumbles curses to flood under breath...)
 

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Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
 
I wanna see sentient flood...so I can play as one. Bungie might think that too predictable though.

And couldn't that big plant thing that grabbed the MC and the Arbiter be one of the forerunners?
 

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Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
 
I'm sorry, Advent, but there are some people here, myself included, whose nerdery makes yours look like a Rubik's Cube next to a Borg ship.
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Umm, I kind of figured that. I mean I read some of the Bungie Forums once, and those people are just WIERD. I thought I love Halo, thoser dudes must only dream of being frigging married to Cortana or somethin, cause they are OBSESED.

And god I hope not Jux. But I do believe that the Grave Mind was the Forerunners enemy for many eons.
 

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Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
 
Ok, why can't Jen Taylor continue to voice Cortana? She was doing a fine job. To replace her would just be. . . well, stupid.

*************SPOILER*************

And we know what happened to the Forerunners. They set off the rings to stop a flood infestation. It's stated pretty clearly at some point in Halo 2.
 

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Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
 
Well yes, but it doesn't say that they were all destroyed. Hence the "Ark". Plus, how many other races would be so inclined to bulid giant "rings"?
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
Anyone going to stand in line at midnight to buy this?

I would, except I am a 37 year old mother of 3.14 children and mild-mannered secretary by day.

I haven't had time to play through 1 and 2 in the past week, which I had planned to do, I guess I will have to read the synopses on Wiki.
 

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Posted by Selran (Member # 9918) on :
 
Halo 3 finally put me over the edge for both the 360 and HDTV. I bought both last week.
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
Okay alot of silly people here:

the Haloverse does indeed have a plot, Humanity fighting a losing war against a imitative race possessing superior firepower and technology over, the humans only advantage being with artificial intelligence and software intrusion.

The story focuses as the initial main character ingame as the Master Chief and his AI companion Cortana as they do a series of missions to harass the Covenant.

The books have alot more backstory and have significant amount of page length for the human Marines that were fighting in some cases along side the master chief.

The Haloverse literature is in many ways like reading Ender's Game, what if Ender was a special force soldier rather then an Admiral kind of deal.

The humans Ive geussed are probably descended from he forerunner as it explains why the Master chief could instinctively use some forerunner technology.

Also afaik Cortana is still going to be voiced by the same voice actress.

The Covenant did not know Earth was earth, they left slipspace outside of the percieved range of MAC platforms under the possibility that there was a human presence, however the force sent was 1/50th the size of the fleet that attacked Reach and was meant for archeological digging, the Profit of Regret had no clue that he had warped to the homeworld of his enemy.

Although i still cant quite understand how 300 supermac guns had a harder time with 20 covenant ships when 20 mac guns made mincmeat out of a fleet of 600 covenant warships.

The Ark is a device that can remotely activate the Halo rings, should/incase the activation of a particular ring was to fail.


A Halo movie is going to be epic.
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
I also bought a refurbished 360 solely to be able to play Halo 3. So I guess it's a little late for me to be sane about the whole thing. Though I am not getting an HDTV, so I'm not totally crazy.

And, er, I always assumed humans were descendants of the forerunners. Also, that Regret was looking for the ark in the first place when he happened on earth at the beginning of Halo 2.

Well, I hope it doesn't all turn out to be dreadfully sacrelidgious. Deep down, I don't think Sergeant Johnson would have dealings with anything truly sacrelidgious.
 

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Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
 
I have read the four halo novels, they aren't as good as many books I've read, but they were still entertaining.

Anyway, I have not played Halo 3, but I believe these conclusions to be fairly obvious:

Humans are descended from the forerunners.

The Ark is on Earth.

Master Chief/Spartan 117/John will die (or at least mysteriously disappear).

Ditto for Cortana.

The Arbiter and Sergeant Johnson will survive.
 

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Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
 
Who is this Master Chief and how does he differ from this "Player" character that seemed amazingly prescient due to his ability to play on every Quake 3 server I happened to run across?
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 United Nations Space Corps, leader of the Spartan-II's. Is with the exception of when the player played the Arbiter, is the main character that the Player plays as in FPV.

The Ark is on Earth, thats official, there has never been any doubt for anyone who has read both the books and paid attention to the story line of Halo 2.
 

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Posted by JumboWumbo (Member # 10047) on :
 

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Originally posted by Juxtapose:
And couldn't that big plant thing that grabbed the MC and the Arbiter be one of the forerunners?

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Originally posted by Omega M.:
I've probably just been branded by Nintendo, but isn't Master Chief essentially a male Samus Aran, in that they both wear armor that most of the time makes them indistinguishable from robots?

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The SPARTAN-II supersoldier project is part of the fictional Halo universe storyline. The player-controlled character in the Halo games, Master Chief, is a Spartan. Created by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), its purpose was to create an army of chemically and cybernetically-enhanced supersoldiers that could face any foreseeable military challenge without the need for large-scale military action. The Spartans proved invaluable in humanity's war against a theocratic alliance of aliens known as The Covenant. The Covenant had superior technology to the United Nations, and the UNSC had taken heavy losses. To many, the Spartans were considered as humanity's last hope.

The SPARTAN-II project is the successor to the SPARTAN-I project, known as Project ORION. The SPARTAN-Is were named after the Spartans of ancient Greece. Sparta was a military-oriented state; from birth, its children were screened for disabilities or defects, and those that failed the checks were left to die. Its population was mostly slaves (helots), allowing the city-state's actual citizens to spend every waking moment training for war.

Historically, the Spartans won many wars simply by arriving to fight. Appreciative of this reputation, the UNSC decided to use the name for their grand project. The result would be a group of supersoldiers gifted with super-human abilities. With this goal in mind, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey set out to gather children who were genetically suitable for the project. They found a total number of 150 trainees, but for budget reasons only half that number were "conscripted," a process that involved kidnapping the child in question and replacing him or her with a flash clone. These clones were unstable (due to the process used to clone them not being perfected) and quickly died of what appeared to be natural causes. They were officially conscripted by Section Three of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which is why the player's character (the Master Chief) holds a Naval rank and is not a member of the Marine Corps, despite typically fighting alongside Marines.

The group was taken to the UNSC's space colony Reach, where from the age of 6 they were trained in all aspects of combat and tactics, as well as learning various other academic information in lieu of attending a proper school. They also were administered many physical and mental augmentations. The process was not painless, nor was it entirely safe, but Dr. Halsey thought she would have to sacrifice a few for the good of many. The result of the project was a group known as the Spartans, near-invincible warriors known for superior skills and tactical prowess.

On a training mission July 12, 2519 it is revealed that 74 other children remain in the program at this time (pg 48). No other mention of trainee loss is made between that point and the start of the major genetic alterations. At the age of 14, the remaining SPARTAN-II candidates underwent a heavy series of augmentations:

1. Carbide Ceramic Ossification: Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irrepairable bone pulverization. See attached case studies.
2. Muscular Enhancement Injections: Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.
3. Catalytic Thyroid Implant: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.
4. Occipital Capillary Reversal: Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject's retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness. See attached autopsy reports.
5. Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites: Alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson's Disease and Fletcher's Syndrome.

Thirty of the 75 died in the SPARTAN-II augmentation process; 12 more became disabled to the point that they were not able to participate in combat, but some became high-ranking officers in positions where their enhanced thinking capabilities would be of great utility. The remaining 33 Spartans would become the most elite in the UNSC's forces, revered by nearly all other UNSC personnel. They were not referred to by their names; instead, each was assigned a three-digit number, based on their specimen number in the original selection process, which was then used as their callsign. (As an example, John, the Master Chief, is Spartan-117.) It was decided later on in the project to make the Spartans' existence public to strengthen morale throughout the UNSC. To maintain the image of the invincible Spartan warrior, no Spartan was ever marked as killed in action, only as missing or wounded, however such reports were irregular, due to the Spartans' incredible combat prowess.

The Spartan-II Project was originally created to combat the growing rebellions occurring throughout Earth and UNSC controlled space. However, when the UNSC was attacked by the Covenant, the Spartan-II project was immediately shifted into action to confront this new threat.

The Spartans underwent extensive physical conditioning and received the best combat and academic teaching available. Their physical and combat training was administered by Chief Petty Officer Mendez while their academic instruction was handled by the AI Deja. Their initial physical training consisted of workouts and an intricate structure which the young Spartans had to navigate. They were split up into teams and each team had to navigate a system of ropes, beams, and bridges to reach the top and ring a bell. The last group to ring the bell was deprived of dinner while the others were fed a lavish meal. John (Spartan-117) discovered early on that the goal was to teach them how to behave effectively as a team. After being less than impressed with his team mates the first day of training, he left his team behind to fend for themselves. While he was the first to ring the bell, he was told that he had lost because his team mates were the last to ring the bell. The next day he and his two other team mates were able to work together to avoid being last.

In a later training exercise, the Spartans were dropped high in the mountains, each with only one piece of a map, and told to make their way to an extraction point. The last one to make it would be left behind. This is when John's leadership qualities first appeared. He picked out a spot where the Spartans would regroup after they had been dropped, and he led them, as a group, to the extraction point, and fought as a team to take out several members of a squad that had been placed there as another hurdle to overcome. When it came time to leave, he made sure that he was the last person to get onto the dropship, because he didn't want any of the others to be left behind. When they returned he was selected as the team leader by Dr. Halsey. During their training the Spartans developed a strong friendship with each other, and often viewed each other as brothers and sisters. After they received their MJOLNIR armor, which completely obscured their faces and made it difficult to identify individuals, they could still recognize each other simply from the way they moved, as could Dr. Halsey. When greeting another Spartan in armor they would often draw two fingers across their visor as this was the "smile" gesture, indicating they were happy to see them.

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Actually I forgot the final plot detail to be revealed in Halo 3: Master Chief takes his helmet off and reveals himself as...Samus Aran.

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Well there is that one fan-made video that has them both in it doing battle, and at the end they both remove all the armor to reveal Master Chief is a woman and... well... I think I'll stop there.
 

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Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
 
That's actually not master chief . . . the person doing it pointed out the armor had a different serial number.
 

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Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
 
Hey, don't screw with people's fantasies, OK?
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
the master chief is clearly male, in both the Halo fiction and in the game themselves, however there are 20 some odd Spartan-II's at some point or another, some of them female, Dead or Alive (?) used Spartan-486 or something or other, since Bungie felt using John would be a cannon violation, while a prviously unlisted Spartan-II would however not be a cannon violation.
 

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Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
 
I'm a little amused that there are at least 4 versions of the intro cinematic floating around the web.

--j_k
 

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Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
 
I picked up Halo 3 last night. I showed up at 11:30 and was out by 12:10. I played until 2:30 and now I'm pretty tired.

I finished the first mission on "heroic" difficulty. There's nothing amazing about it, it just feels like a more polished, higher-resolution version of Halo 1 & 2. That's a good thing, by the way. It's exactly what I expect for an XBox 360 Halo game.
 

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Posted by Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged (Member # 7476) on :
 
I'm really looking forward to 4 player co-op. It will be legend-wait for it-dary. We used to play Halo 1 and 2 to the wee hours of the night back in my Air Force days. Everyone is scattered all over the world and the Master chief will birng us all back together.
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
And then he will stick grenades to your backs and laugh hysterically.

Boy, 4 way coop. I guess I'll have to make some friends.
 

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Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
 
So, how is it? Any reviews?
 

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Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
 
I put in a few hours on the solo campaign last night and I'm really enjoying it. I don't yet own a high-def television but even on my Standard set it looks great and the game play is very exciting. It's not much different from Halo 2 but the small cahnges they made are great. This time around you can tear turret guns from their bases and carry them around. You can also pick up field equipment to use, such as portable shields. The story has been very good so far also. Definately worth the 60 bucks. i haven't played online yet but I can't wait for the 4 player co-op. Already been talking with some freinds about playing soon, just waiting on everyone to get their copies so we can do it up right.
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
Yeah, it does look better even on a regular TV. They have enough aliens to keep 4 players busy. It was kind of annoying that my husband was trying to play through on legendary right out of the box.

The fortune cookies from Cortana were starting to get annoying until I realized they were from Chief's "childhood."

I don't know, maybe when Master Chief fell to Earth and Johnson thought he was dead, he had a near death experience and Cortana's ghost latched onto him. I'm thinking that to destroy the threat, Master Chief and Cortana's "Horcrux" (sorry, can't help it) will have to die. Maybe.

But I don't know how you can ever be sure all the flood in the Galaxy are wiped out.
 

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 
I played the first mission and a half or so solo and then from there to mission four in online co-op. It was a really good time.

It isn't harrowing or intense in the way Gears of War is, it's got a very different vibe. I love Gears, but I like this too.
 

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Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
 
***HERE BE SPOILERS***

...

Storywise, I was mostly satisfied. The rescue of Cortana from the Gravemine was a pretty intense segment of the game. The alternating transmissions/telepathic messages really had me invested.

I only have a couple of gripes with the story. First, I wished the Arbiter had been given more of an active role. In Halo 2 I found his character much more interesting than the Chief's. In this game though, he's almost completely pushed to the rear. He tags along for most of the missions but rarely seems to have an important role. If you're playing single player, his main use is soaking up bullets headed your way.

Second, I found Guilty Spark's betrayal pretty unbelievable. It didn't seem necessary for the plot just so they could include one more boss fight. Why not Guilty Spark vs. New-Halo-Moniter with a bunch of sentinels?

Graphics. As others before me have noted, they're gorgeous. The particle effects used for explosions are absolutely top notch. Occaisionally, the light reflections off armor or metal can be a bit blinding, but adjusting the brightness settings fixed this up.

The sound is overall very good. The music is fantastic and almost always perfectly captures the mood of a scene. The voice acting is also quite good...which leads me to my one complaint. So often in Halo 3 (and the entire series, come to think of it) the speech volume has always been set too low, or the music volume too high. I don't know if others have experienced this, but often I have a really difficult time understanding what was being said. In some instances, I couldn't hear the speech at all. There weren't any audio settings to fix this, so I'll just recommend turning on the subtitles option. Don't worry, they don't appear during actual gameplay.

The gameplay is, as you would expect, fantastic. It's going to take me some time to get used to the new controller layout, but intellectually, I like it better. The additional equipment you can deploy (portable shields, healing areas, personal shield drainers, etc) really ratchet up the complexity of the game, and allow for a great deal more in the way of tactics. The new weapons and vehicles are all fun to try out. Which ones will stand up in multiplayer is hard to say, except that the Mongoose (a squirrelly two-person ATV) will likely have limited usefulness. Speaking of vehicles, the AI for NPC drivers is uncharacteristically bad.

Overall, this game is a satisfying end to a great trilogy of games. I'd give it somewhere between a 9.0 and a 9.7 pending further multiplayer/forge testing.
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
I've ignored the campaign mode for the most part as I can only play that when my wife is off work.

I've played a truckload online however do all of you folks have handles?

I'm BlackBladed "BlackBlade and BlackBlades" were already taken sadly. I'd love to setup a hatrack friends list and play games with you folks when you are around.
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
I'll try and let you know before we do our free trial, which we may save for Thanksgiving weekend or something. I've held the line on Xbox Live up until now. I've heard of too many cases where people can't ever get offline once they start online gaming.
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 

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Originally posted by pooka:
I'll try and let you know before we do our free trial, which we may save for Thanksgiving weekend or something. I've held the line on Xbox Live up until now. I've heard of too many cases where people can't ever get offline once they start online gaming.

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Originally posted by Juxtapose:
***HERE BE SPOILERS***

...

Speaking of vehicles, the AI for NPC drivers is uncharacteristically bad.

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Originally posted by Omega M.:
I've probably just been branded by Nintendo, but isn't Master Chief essentially a male Samus Aran, in that they both wear armor that most of the time makes them indistinguishable from robots?

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