I Loved Halo 3 Campaign

Yes I realize this is a pointless blog from a true blue Halo fanboy but I felt compelled to share anyways.

Graphics : In my opinion the graphics have been turned up considerably since the Beta and everything has a nice texture to it that wasn't there before. It's still Halo, and no amount of graphics tweaking will change that, so comparing it to other great 360 titles like Gears is kind of silly IMHO.

Sound : I have to say I love the sound of the flood chewing on your armor after your shield goes down. Nice touch. I think Bungie did a nice job keeping the mix right of all the different type of gunfire at all the various distances. My one gripe is that if you're telling the story and I happen to walk away from whatever character is telling me what to do, don't turn down/mute her voice because then I have no clue where to go next. :) "Spartan 117, the Marines are dying!" Oh really? Where? :)

Music : There was a distinct lack of original music in this game, and I'm not sure if that was supposed to be on purpose? Anyways, I thought the selections they picked from previous games worked extremely well but there were times where I was really puzzled as to why we weren't hearing something new. I admit that Halo2's overuse of Rock music really bugged me so I was glad not to have to listen to that anymore.

Story : I don't want to get into a ton of spoilers, but safe to say that I loved the story. I think they told the story they wanted to tell and if it's not the story you wanted to hear, well that's just too bad for you IMHO. There were a lot of subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods to the previous games in some of the level designs and some people griped that it was unoriginal - I thought it was awesome. The ending was not quite what I expected but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Gameplay : This is still Halo people. There's a ton of equipment, a few new weapons and 4 grenade types now, but it's still Halo. There is still nothing quite so satisfying to me as running down about a dozen Grunts in about 30 seconds. They're so easy to kill and they are so rediculously afraid of the MC - it's just fun. The only thing I found is that in previous games they would explain how to do things with the weapons a bit more - now they just seem to throw a monster pile of munitions at your feet and say "go to work!" which is great and not great all at the same time. Anyways.

"Tilt" : I've never quite understood what "Tilt" in a video game review is supposed to mean, but I think they are typically driving at cutting edge it is, or how new, or how exciting - kinda all of the put together. Well Halo's not new. I'm sorry but if they went and changed the whole game, it wouldn't be halo anymore, so you know what? You're still going to play Halo if you want to play this game. However, this game still had all the excitement and pulse pounding action that the previous games had for me. I have to say the Gravity Hammer is one of the most visceral and satisfying weapons I've ever used in a game. It feels almost as good as or better than the first time I used the Energy Sword.

Hope you all enjoy it - see y'all online!