Halo 3 Impressions/Reviews

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:43 am

All the more reason to jump in while everyone's still getting acclimated, grtwhtsk. Being a middle-of-the-packer isn't too hard... just keep your guns loaded, say out of firefights you can't win, and remember that one melee to someone's back is an instant kill. Oh, and learn where the energy swords are kept!

We didn't really do much vehicular hijinx last night, come to think of it.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:58 am

grtwhtsk wrote:Guys, it's confession time. I have never plaid MP in anything before. I've never wanted to get in the way of you guys. I love gaming, but I'm not very good at it. Maybe I'll get the chance to try some MP action with ya sometime soon. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Don't ever think that you'd get in the way of us. We play together online more for the comraderie than we do for winning. If I'm in a room full of DSPers/OSers I could care less if I win or not. If it gets lopsided we mix up the teams and look for that good competitive balance. I don't consider myself very good but I've never been made to feel like I was getting in the way of anybody. The brilliance of the Halo party system is the fact that we can get a party going and it will keep us on the same team if we require the services of other players. I had a ton of fun with MP yesterday and would love if the shark would pop his online gaming cherry with us with Halo 3. Hell, you should try some co-op with us too.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:25 am

Thanks guys. Time for me to grow up!!! I'll be on later tonight (not sure time as we have family stuff tonight). What time will you guys be on?

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:34 am

grtwhtsk wrote:Thanks guys. Time for me to grow up!!! I'll be on later tonight (not sure time as we have family stuff tonight). What time will you guys be on?

Don't even bother dude. We'll just wipe the floow with you. May wanna wait until your mad skillz are more phat!

C'mon man, you should kow us here decent enough to know we aren't like that.

Jump in with us for sure! The more the merrier!!! We could care less about winning or losing or who plays good, etc... We just like to have fun and as long as your not a total dick (we have enough of those already), it's all good!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:37 am

Steve:

You'll have a GREAT time with these dudes. Don't dip your toes in the water -- dive in!

Have fun.

Take care,
PK

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:57 am

pk500 wrote:Steve:

You'll have a GREAT time with these dudes. Don't dip your toes in the water -- dive in!

Have fun.

Take care,
PK

Looking forward to it!

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:14 pm

Upon further review. . .

This game is awesome. Yesterday, I played through the first mission three separate times with three separate groups of co-op teammates. All were done on heroic difficulty. It got better each time, with the third time being the best by far. I have a feeling that on legendary difficulty, this game will really be something in co-op mode. I am looking forward to playing the missions over and over and over, on the toughest difficulty, and shooting for high scores/ fast times. I just selfishly wish there were more missions than there are.

The enemy AI in the Halo games has always seemed to me to be a cut above the rest. Maybe not in terms of pure difficulty to beat, but in terms of their personality and behavior in how they react to each other and to the player as things change in throughout the fracas. They don't feel like robots, and their chatter is funny as hell. Heck, the marines can be funny as hell too, like when one of them complained 'hey, that was my kill!'

The 'theater' function is just plain ridiculous. Being able to watch any of the last 25 games I've played, either MP or campaign, and flip around from player to player, or zip around with the camera, is so far beyond anything I've seen from any other game, it's just not fair. I thought it was very cool in Halo2 how you could go online and look at a static overhead map of all the action of recent games. This is a giant leap ahead of that and is just plain absurd.

I wish I could figure out how to post screenshots or even video clips into these forums, but it seems like bungie has it pretty well locked down over there. I guess I could save them on my computer, and then upload them somewhere else, and then post them here? Hmm.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:17 pm

I suck at the shooters too, grtwhtsk. I hopped online and had a complete blast with the campaign, but couldn't stand the over-the-top chaos of this "Oddball" mode. You can't go wrong getting destroyed by this group, though. At least you don't get tea-bagged when killed, or have to listen to some 12 year old pre-pubescent voice whining (unless neckthai makes an appearance after a long hiatus, but that's different).

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:17 pm

Oh my lord, my skill at first person shooters is declining at a rapid pace. I jumped online last night in the "Beginner" rooms and finished 3rd or 4th each and every time... Very, very nice UI for the Matchmaking btw, they really did a great job.

It saw that all of my DSP friends were playing together for a while last night, so I hope this trend continues. I hope to join you all tonight or sometime soon... I'll pad everyones kills....

One question for you guys. In the main MP lobby, there is a nighttime world map showing what I assume is the location of everyone currently playing on-line. Is that just a static graphic, or is that a real "real-time" display?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:25 pm

OK, I think I figured it out. Maybe:

<img src="http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee30 ... 1-Full.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:33 pm

Question: Why does it have to be earth shattering to be fun? Why does it have to look like the Sistene (sp?) Chapel to be good looking?

Methinks people put this thing WAY too high on a pedestal, expect WAY too much. It's Halo, and it does Halo very well.

That being said, those who are calling this 'Halo 2.5' in terms of graphics, are just spewing sour grapes, and have not a clue what they're talking about.

Some people just have to complain about stuff, or they're not happy...

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:36 pm

Leadfoot5 wrote: One question for you guys. In the main MP lobby, there is a nighttime world map showing what I assume is the location of everyone currently playing on-line. Is that just a static graphic, or is that a real "real-time" display?

It's real time! They have it on bungie's website too. Last night some of the west coasters had XBL crash because of heavy traffic & it had dark spots on the map. f'n cool. watch it throughout the day today. You'll see it start 'sweeping' across as it gets later in the day.[/u]

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:00 pm

EDIT: Never mind...

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:11 pm

TCrouch wrote:I suck at the shooters too, grtwhtsk. I hopped online and had a complete blast with the campaign, but couldn't stand the over-the-top chaos of this "Oddball" mode. You can't go wrong getting destroyed by this group, though. At least you don't get tea-bagged when killed, or have to listen to some 12 year old pre-pubescent voice whining (unless neckthai makes an appearance after a long hiatus, but that's different).

Like you, Terry, I'm not a fan of the 'hectic' modes like Oddball, but it WAS great having a room nearly full of DSP'ers and friends last night. I enjoy a more tactical, team-based approach, as anyone who plays with me knows, but I can live with the occasional Oddball, so long as it's the exception, and not the rule...

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:13 pm

Zepp:

I have that helmet equipped as well, but for some strange reason, it looks like a guy with a receding hairline...hmmm...

bphilipb · Post by **bphilipb** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:19 pm

If there is a game going on tonight please let me know. I got my game yesterday but haven't had time to fire it up yet.

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

BB

Gamertage: bubbaball

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:24 pm

Zeppo wrote:Heck, the marines can be funny as hell too, like when one of them complained 'hey, that was my kill!'

What!?! That was in Halo 2. I'm returning my unopened copy of H3 right away!

j/k

I'll have to grab it next time I see a copy.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:37 pm

Yeah I would like in tonight as well I sawe like 20 of you playing last night, but I had to do some work.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:44 pm

After playing SR for so long, the respawn thing is nice but takes all strategy out of the game. Just balls out into a battle, take as many out as possible, die and respawn. At least you don't hear, anybody got rez.

I like the little messages that pop up, like triple kill, double sniper. Stuff like that is cool.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:55 pm

Please look for me as well this evening. May be able to get on early tonight.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:57 pm

JRod wrote:After playing SR for so long, the respawn thing is nice but takes all strategy out of the game. Just balls out into a battle, take as many out as possible, die and respawn. At least you don't hear, anybody got rez.

I like the little messages that pop up, like triple kill, double sniper. Stuff like that is cool.

Well, not really, especially not when playing team slayer, where it's probably more important not to give the opposition a kill than it is to get one for your team. Plus, respawning means needing to re-equip and reposition yourself, and to locate your teammates before anyone locates you. If you're playing well (and I'm certainly not yet), then there's a ton of strategy. If anything, I tend to find there's more strategy in a Halo firefight than most military shooters, as it adds the question of exposure to the risk/reward of engagement. How long will it take to drop the guy based on range and weapons, and how likely are you to draw attention to yourself in the process?

Loving the multiplayer so far, btw. I'm still mourning trading in Bioshock and am holding a grudge against the single player, though. (It was an easy decision, as I'd gone through Bio twice and can always rent it if I want to show it off to someone...but still.)

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:10 pm

After watching one of my sons play last night, we checked out the Replay feature. Haven't laughed that hard in a while. Some of the kills, followed by flips and ragdoll physics splits were just hilarious!! The feature really needs a rewind button, but it's still a lot of fun just to replay the battles from a 3rd person perspective...

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:11 pm

Played a few games in "basic training" last night. without really looking at the settings & such - do you eventually 'graduate' from basic training or can I bail on it?

btw - it was a blast. sticky grenades rule...

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:16 pm

Leadfoot5 wrote:After watching one of my sons play last night, we checked out the Replay feature. Haven't laughed that hard in a while. Some of the kills, followed by flips and ragdoll physics splits were just hilarious!! The feature really needs a rewind button, but it's still a lot of fun just to replay the battles from a 3rd person perspective...

If you bring up the controls, there is a 'jump backwards' button. It isn't as nice a real rewind would be with the left trigger, but it's better than nothing.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:22 pm

Slumberland wrote:
Leadfoot5 wrote:After watching one of my sons play last night, we checked out the Replay feature. Haven't laughed that hard in a while. Some of the kills, followed by flips and ragdoll physics splits were just hilarious!! The feature really needs a rewind button, but it's still a lot of fun just to replay the battles from a 3rd person perspective...
If you bring up the controls, there is a 'jump backwards' button. It isn't as nice a real rewind would be with the left trigger, but it's better than nothing.

Hitting the "D Pad" left will rewind in 10 second increments.