Halo 3

Game of the year or overblown disappointment?

	Version Xbox 360	Developer Bungie	Publisher Microsoft	Genre FPS

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I still take a mild issue with open spaces; it can take a while to orientate and get an idea of where to go next, but when you're stuck, the radar usually lets you know where to go in terms of direction and distance, while the mission objectives also give you a clue as to what to look for and how far through the current mission you are. It's better than before, and yet not so dumbed down that you feel it's for infants.

In addition, the complexity and richness of level design starts to improve through the game, with verticality becoming more important and new weapons, like the flamethrower, really suiting their environment and intended enemies, both functionally and aesthetically.

At times however, progress seems mildly repetitive, going over the same parts of terrain and returning to them again, like a theatre show with changing scenery. Two or three moments of déjà vu are guaranteed. It's also not as seamless a singleplayer experience as Half-Life 2; but if we are being generous this could be put down to stylistic differences and taste.

AI is a bit of a mixed bag; with enemies, they often seem a bit hesitant and even stupid, though if you up the difficulty setting they soon get their wits more about them. In terms of your ally AI, it's usually sound, although at one point my AI driver drove me off a cliff. Thanks for that.

On the subject of driving, it's still great fun (whether you're driving, shooting or just going along for the ride, though usually you will have to do either the driving or the shooting). When in tight spots, the driving mechanics can sometimes be a mess though; at one stage on the final level I had to commit suicide because the vehicle became physically stuck in the narrow driving space and nothing would let it budge. Some of the other vehicles are really great fun, especially then tank, with its no-nonsense firepower. "Tank beats everything", as one of your allies puts it after you shoot seven shades out of everything in sight, a task that would previously have taken ten times as long without the tank. I also enjoyed the VTOL air vehicle, the Hornet, required to fly to destinations and attack certain enemies.

The game starts off very easy - you barely need to do anything at all in early vehicle tasks - but gets appetisingly hard, even on Normal difficulty. At one stage early in the game, one of the Kortana flashes says, "There will be a great deal of hardship on the way ahead" - and I was like, I should hope so, it's been piss-easy so far. Well she was right. But the challenge usually feels fair; if you die, it's because you weren't accurate enough, your timing was off, or your strategy was wrong, and there are very few instances that feel unfair.

The first and only truly impressive enemy of the game is the enormous Scarab Tank, who comes a few hours into the game (on his first appearance, at least). It's impressive looking, but initially a bit bewildering; at first, you're advised to take cover, then to aim for its joints with rockets - if you can find any sustainable rocket supplies, be my guest. Then, you're advised to jump on its back and destroy it from the inside. In Half-Life 2 what would happen with a large enemy like this is you'd have a sustainable rocket supply box so that you know what you're supposed to do, and the challenge is in doing it, not taking a guess and hoping for the best. What I actually did was find a detached plasma turret and just used that on one of its legs, and the rest is easy to work out (and the Scarab's spectacular downfall is worth the effort).

So, on to the game's graphics. So much has been said and debated since the first trailer to the Multiplayer Beta. Does the final game stack up?

Walk it Off - the first level of the game - is set in a deep jungle environment with hazy sun leaking through the trees and leaves, vegetation moves around as you touch it, insects buzz around in the scathing heat, and water trickles down from branches high above - it's brilliantly atmospheric, but nothing new at this stage.

However, it's certainly that Halo 3 gets a lot more visually impressive as you go through it, and some points of the game look much, much better than others. Through the game, you'll witness awesome night-time lighting, fire and lava effects and more. Some of the scenes later in the game, particularly in cut scenes, genuinely made me say 'wow' - impressive and beautiful stuff, nearly on a par with the visual flare seen in a modern Star Wars movie.

In cut scenes, there's some excellent NPC animation - witness the part where a new recruit catches a glimpse of the god-like Chief, steps aside and salutes, or basically any scene in the final couple of hours of the game for that matter. It's not all good though. Outside of cut scenes, instructions barked at you are totally unconvincing; voice acting is fine but there is no body language, which marks this apart from any number of games whose in-game communicative animation is far superior because, well, they move about as they talk to you.

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