Monday, September 24, 2007
Halo 3 Campaign
There comes a point during the life of a franchise when a developer simply has to raise their middle finger to all the dissenters and focus on what makes their property unique. Though Halo 3 is merely a greatest hits retrospective of the first two Halo games, it is so true to itself and so focused on unrestrained fun, it has carved out its own niche as one of the most polished, vibrant and downright exhilarating experiences ever captured on silicon. Bungie was able to ensnare gamer's attentions earlier this year with an unrefined multiplayer demo that was still the most fun multiplayer experience on the Xbox 360. Now that Halo 3 is finished, and it surpasses all the hype heaped upon it, I fear for the productivity of this nation.
I run through the gamut of emotions when I play a video game. Rainbow Six produced the pure boredom usually reserved for war documentaries. Okami? A misty-eyed finish that would make David Jaffe proud. And who could forget my impression of an overeager child looking for praise after my latest Graffiti Kingdom creation? Games are able to manipulate my emotions on the same level as literature and cinema. Do you know what I was feeling playing Halo 3? Giddiness. I was actually laughing with sheer joy through most of this game. I cannot remember the last time I have done that. During the last level, I was laughing so hard and loud, with a smile simply plastered on my face, someone walked into the room and said, "Well if that isn't the picture of happiness." For all the technical magic and brilliant art direction, the thing Bungie should be praised and honored for is their ability to mass produce happiness. I laughed and yelled with joy for most of the seven hour Campaign, and the first thing I thought of when the ending played out was how much I wanted to go through it again.
There was one part halfway through the game which just epitomizes the Halo experience for me. Nick and I were hand delivered an assortment of vehicles to tackle those nasty alien imperialists. Our mission was to take our vehicles and drive into the very belly of the beast, fighting tons of troops along the way until we reached the behemoth at the end. Nick, being a sucker for virtual power, jumped into the Scorpion. An imposing force, yes, but a little on the slow side for someone as eager as I was. I grabbed the Mongoose, a tiny transport vehicle that doesn't have a single weapon but does have a ton of horsepower. Within seconds, I was but a tiny, still shrinking speck on Nick's screen. I weaved down a mountain path, swerving in and out of opposing troops, flying past turrets and speeding away from oncoming rockets. For a solid minute, I whooshed down the hill, laughing at my kamikaze attempt at victory and Nick's slow decent down the same mountain. Eventually, I reached my opponent and, so anxious to defeat the boss before Nick could even see the fight, I guided my Mongoose right into his lumbering body. I flew off a ramp, hoping I would be able to take him out with the explosive impact from my tiny vehicle. Instead, I smashed into his moving leg, which sent me spiraling away from him at 100 MPH. Yes, I was dead, but I had more fun in that short life than in just about any other game on the market.
Instead of trying to bog gamers down with redundant missions and technical feats that don't add a lick to gameplay, Bungie has made sure every element of this game enhances the overall experience to previously unheard of levels. The artificial intelligence, something that is usually derided or forgotten, is goofy and awesome in Halo 3. Enemies will dive away from your grenades and rockets. Or, if you happen to stick one enemy with a plasma grenade, his former friends will sprint from him before they share his dark fate. Sometimes, enemies will use a bubble shield just after you fire a shot, causing a perfectly aimed sniper bullet to thud harmlessly inches from their face. It's not the intelligence that makes the experience more fun, it's the sheer variety of what the enemies do. It is their ability to approach the same situation from different angles. There are moments when enemies will actually lure you out of a hiding place so a sniper can take a few pot shots at you. Or a Ghost will slam into your tattered vehicle, sacrificing their own lives so they can kill you with style. It makes every encounter unique and - do I sound like a broken record yet? - really frickin' fun
This is the first Halo game I have instantly fallen in love with. Halo 3 has absolutely perfect pacing. It always switches things up right before they become stale. From tight corridor battles to raging vehicle wars to bloody fights surrounded by a seemingly endless flow of ill-humored beasts, Halo packs everything people could possible want from a Halo game into one tight package. If this really is Bungie's last Halo game, I can not thank them enough for their effort and vision through the years. Halo: CE sent the standard by which all FPS have been judged for the last six years. Halo 3 has now raised that mark to insurmountable levels.
I run through the gamut of emotions when I play a video game. Rainbow Six produced the pure boredom usually reserved for war documentaries. Okami? A misty-eyed finish that would make David Jaffe proud. And who could forget my impression of an overeager child looking for praise after my latest Graffiti Kingdom creation? Games are able to manipulate my emotions on the same level as literature and cinema. Do you know what I was feeling playing Halo 3? Giddiness. I was actually laughing with sheer joy through most of this game. I cannot remember the last time I have done that. During the last level, I was laughing so hard and loud, with a smile simply plastered on my face, someone walked into the room and said, "Well if that isn't the picture of happiness." For all the technical magic and brilliant art direction, the thing Bungie should be praised and honored for is their ability to mass produce happiness. I laughed and yelled with joy for most of the seven hour Campaign, and the first thing I thought of when the ending played out was how much I wanted to go through it again.
There was one part halfway through the game which just epitomizes the Halo experience for me. Nick and I were hand delivered an assortment of vehicles to tackle those nasty alien imperialists. Our mission was to take our vehicles and drive into the very belly of the beast, fighting tons of troops along the way until we reached the behemoth at the end. Nick, being a sucker for virtual power, jumped into the Scorpion. An imposing force, yes, but a little on the slow side for someone as eager as I was. I grabbed the Mongoose, a tiny transport vehicle that doesn't have a single weapon but does have a ton of horsepower. Within seconds, I was but a tiny, still shrinking speck on Nick's screen. I weaved down a mountain path, swerving in and out of opposing troops, flying past turrets and speeding away from oncoming rockets. For a solid minute, I whooshed down the hill, laughing at my kamikaze attempt at victory and Nick's slow decent down the same mountain. Eventually, I reached my opponent and, so anxious to defeat the boss before Nick could even see the fight, I guided my Mongoose right into his lumbering body. I flew off a ramp, hoping I would be able to take him out with the explosive impact from my tiny vehicle. Instead, I smashed into his moving leg, which sent me spiraling away from him at 100 MPH. Yes, I was dead, but I had more fun in that short life than in just about any other game on the market.
Instead of trying to bog gamers down with redundant missions and technical feats that don't add a lick to gameplay, Bungie has made sure every element of this game enhances the overall experience to previously unheard of levels. The artificial intelligence, something that is usually derided or forgotten, is goofy and awesome in Halo 3. Enemies will dive away from your grenades and rockets. Or, if you happen to stick one enemy with a plasma grenade, his former friends will sprint from him before they share his dark fate. Sometimes, enemies will use a bubble shield just after you fire a shot, causing a perfectly aimed sniper bullet to thud harmlessly inches from their face. It's not the intelligence that makes the experience more fun, it's the sheer variety of what the enemies do. It is their ability to approach the same situation from different angles. There are moments when enemies will actually lure you out of a hiding place so a sniper can take a few pot shots at you. Or a Ghost will slam into your tattered vehicle, sacrificing their own lives so they can kill you with style. It makes every encounter unique and - do I sound like a broken record yet? - really frickin' fun
This is the first Halo game I have instantly fallen in love with. Halo 3 has absolutely perfect pacing. It always switches things up right before they become stale. From tight corridor battles to raging vehicle wars to bloody fights surrounded by a seemingly endless flow of ill-humored beasts, Halo packs everything people could possible want from a Halo game into one tight package. If this really is Bungie's last Halo game, I can not thank them enough for their effort and vision through the years. Halo: CE sent the standard by which all FPS have been judged for the last six years. Halo 3 has now raised that mark to insurmountable levels.
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