Confessions of a First Person Shooter Newb: Halo 3 First Impressions

I am fairly new to gaming. Back in tha' day I bought my husband a PS2; when he couldn't get the hang of Kingdom Hearts, I gave it a shot. Soon after, I turned my living room into my war room and I was a gamer.

But I have a confession. Sometimes I feel as though I really can't call myself a true gamer. I have never played a First Person Shooter (FPS) game. Oh, I have helped out my husband when he was playing Resident Evil 4 by reminding him not to get killed by the villagers, or that he should probably try to heal himself, as he is getting his rear handed to him. Once we played Half Life, but he kept pummeling me with a crow bar. And laughing.

2old2play really opened my eyes. I didn't know that FPS were this popular. Or social. And I was jealous.

When Two Worlds came out I thought that this was my chance to play a multi player game that I could really enjoy. Too bad it was broken, and you can only get two people on at a time; not the eight that was promised. But I got a taste of multi player. And I LIKED it. I really liked it! But it wasn't enough. Did I dare? Should I dip my big toe into the icy water of FPS?

I meant to rent Rainbow 6 Vegas (I loves me some Vegas!), but when I got to Blockbuster they were all rented out... but they had a copy of Halo 3?! Oh, what the heck! If I'm going to be a bit of a lemming, may as well play the big game everyone is playing.

The game

What can I say? My husband and I played a bit of the campaign together on easy. This was really just to get the feel for the game. He is mostly into sports, so this was all new to him too.

It's really not for people who haven't played Halo before. I didn't understand anything that was going on. Who was this chick who was doing the voice over? Who are these aliens? Why am I killing said aliens? Why am I not killing other types of aliens? This isn't a surprise, it's a full sequel, and the continuation of a story, I expected not to understand the story in full detail.

What I didn't expect was really how easy it is to get around and to get the hang of the game. Yep, it's on easy, but I didn't have any problems moving my guy around, or shooting, or picking up weapons, or jumping or anything. Very fluid. It may have helped that the controls for Oblivion are the same. After a while we figured out that the little arrows on your screen tell you which direction you should go. That helped very much.

What I did have difficulty was just seeing things. For instance in one area, we had to catch up to the team. I could see where I should go (thank you little arrows and distance meter!), but it seemed like they were on top of a mountain, or in a cave, I couldn't get to them. After loads of wandering around I literally stumbled upon them. My husband never did, he respawned after a cut scene. I am surprised that I don't have a minimap. Or maybe I do and I just can't see it.

I also didn't know anything about the weapons. I could easily grab them, and I could tell by the silhouette that they were different, but I could not tell which ones were better than others. Is the one with the pink crystals better than the ones with the numbers? I don't know. Evidently I got a "needler" (pink crystally thingie?), killed a bunch of guys and got an achievement! But I digress.

Simple things aren't in the manual. Does it auto save? If so, when? Is there any way of swimming? How do I regenerate my shield? It seems to happen on it's own and I don't know how I did it.

To tell you the truth, I am not sure if I was that impressed. Go in, shoot things, respawn if you die, no biggie. Same weapons, ho hum. Then it happened. I picked up a new weapon. My husband said to me "Hey Babe, why do you have a giant toothbrush?". I don't know what it was, but it was a big melee weapon. And wow! now I get it. I get why this game can be fun. I bashed big things and big enemies and they went flying! I giggled. And laughed, and said "BWA-hahahahahaha! FEAR ME!" I only killed my husband once and that wasn't even on purpose.

Bottom Line

It was fun, but not the mind blowing experience some seem to think that all things Halo should be. Could certain things be improved from a Newb perspective? Sure! But  I am sure that there are reasons why the game is what it is.

Am I still inimidated by the FPS experience? Yep. Am I going to attempt multiplayer? You bet!

So, if you see me or someone like me, lost, alone in the Lobby, obviously new to the FPS experience, take them under your wing, teach them a thing or two, be a good guy. Don't be a Timmie.