Seven years later, Halo 3 is still the best Halo campaign
- Thread starter The Librarian
- Start date
Speedwagon
Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Yabuki turned off voice chat in Mario Kart races. True artists of their time.
I loved Halo 3's campaign, but Halo 1 is the most memorable to me. Both are great games.
User 479360
Banned
Halo 3 is the only one I haven't been able to finish. I didn't enjoy what I played much.
That said, I've never been a big Halo fan, despite loving FPS games. It's never hooked me. Halo 2's campaign bored me, but I had some fun with the others. Still, I only kept them for a bit and traded them in or returned them under a rental or 7-day exchange agreement.
That said, I've never been a big Halo fan, despite loving FPS games. It's never hooked me. Halo 2's campaign bored me, but I had some fun with the others. Still, I only kept them for a bit and traded them in or returned them under a rental or 7-day exchange agreement.
Still Halo: CE by far for me, but Halo 3 was also good.
And has been mentioned, the ad campaign for Halo 3 was so great. That one where the two older guys are in the museum looking at covenant weapons gave me chills when I first saw it :lol
A little glimpse into how good a Halo movie done right could be.
And has been mentioned, the ad campaign for Halo 3 was so great. That one where the two older guys are in the museum looking at covenant weapons gave me chills when I first saw it :lol
A little glimpse into how good a Halo movie done right could be.
User 479360
Banned
ODST is probably the best Halo campaign, IMO.
ProvenDeadly
Member
Personally for me it's
CE>Reach>ODST>3>2>4
For Campaign
CE>Reach>ODST>3>2>4
For Campaign
After all these years, Starry Night still gets my blood pumping.
This too. That music is so good. I just wanna go do epic things now. *looks around in futility*
AdventureRacing
Member
That or they just prefer halo CE.
I don't think any trailer will ever get me as hyped for a game as this did for me with halo 3. I still get chills watching it.
The way it's actually meant to be played. I'll probably start with Legendary, though.
November can't come soon enough.
Can confirm goose bumps
shinobi602
Member
I like this post. I like it a lot.
The Librarian
Banned
Ryu bogard
Member
I did not like Halo3 campaign. For me its
Reach>h2>h1>odst>h3
Reach>h2>h1>odst>h3
il Diavolo
Banned
oh yes
lastplayed
Member
Still love the cutscenes.
maximum360
Member
I like the original Halo the best
AdventureRacing
Member
I think the only annoying thing about Halo 3's campaign is the Cortana freakout moments. I think if Bungie had a chance to do it again, they'd probably edit those out, or only keep the ones in the level Cortana.
I know what they were going for, but they just seem to be there and there's no real explanation why. "Chief, you just flashed KIA".. why? How? It's never noted or revisited again.
I know what they were going for, but they just seem to be there and there's no real explanation why. "Chief, you just flashed KIA".. why? How? It's never noted or revisited again.
Superblatt
Member
So what are doing to Halo 3 in the master chief collection? Is it an upgrade or straight port?
straight port with some shader changes and 60fps
The Librarian
Banned
My favorite, for some reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48j_ZEx9AcMStill love the cutscenes.
Well, you were originally supposed to have an option to disable them.
Maintenance
Member
Still Combat Evolved to me, it rests among the great FPSes with stories to me, like Half Life, Deus Ex, System Shock. But it is a great game, nonetheless.
I remember one time when my PC broke and I didn't have any sound, but I still played H:CE, learning where enemies came from, etc. It was a fun experience.
I remember one time when my PC broke and I didn't have any sound, but I still played H:CE, learning where enemies came from, etc. It was a fun experience.
I like Halo 3, but I felt Combat Evolved was significantly more focused. Halo 3's got some great individual moments, but it doesn't quite flow together as smoothly, and its level design doesn't quite match up to some of the stuff Halo does. Granted, Halo 3 doesn't have anything as bad as Keyes.
Superblatt
Member
Did the original run at 30?
shinobi602
Member
Not even close, CE has it beat. Halo 3 was probably the first time I've ever been disappointed by a AAA game at release, I went out and bought the collectors edition a day early as well. In fact I can probably attribute Halo 3 as the reason why I'm always skeptical of highly marketed games these days.
The Librarian
Banned
Brute packs are amazing.
In the last fight pictured, the other Brutes will leave you alone as you battle it out with the Chieftain.
BabyFaceKillah
Member
Halo 3 was my shit, I spent more time in 3 than 2,reach, and 4 combined.
Man if it is the best, then Halo had some lame ass campaigns. Half the missions are so fucking boring. 3 of them specifically come down to fighting the flood who suck as an enemy, they full on ruin levels like Cortana and The Flood (which is the storm backwards, so that shit is just lazy), and the ending is anticlimactic as fuck. That floating redplatform warthog run is so bland and devoid of excitement and entirely dependent on how much you like jacking it to the ending of Halo 1.
Personally wasn't a fan of Crow's Nest either as that level is just Halo in corridors and back tracking, which is when Halo's at its most boring. Tsavo Highway (awesome level), The Storm, and Sierra117 are fun missions, and the Ark and Covenant are solid, but the other 4 missions are lame as hell.
Personally wasn't a fan of Crow's Nest either as that level is just Halo in corridors and back tracking, which is when Halo's at its most boring. Tsavo Highway (awesome level), The Storm, and Sierra117 are fun missions, and the Ark and Covenant are solid, but the other 4 missions are lame as hell.
Final Verdict
Member
Probably in the minority here, but I enjoyed halo 2's campaign the best.
Gameplay wise, it may have not been the pinnacle of Halo campaigns, but from a pure story telling perspective, it has some of the most original themes, and epic set pieces of any halo game.
Cortana: "What if you miss?"
John: "I Won't"
Johnson: " Dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy ass fleet! "
Marines: Hoo-Rah!!!
Also, need I mention the awesome Easter eggs like the scarab gun?? Or the boss fight at the end which is to this day still the only satisfying boss fight in any of the halo games.
All halo campaigns were good though, so cheers!
Gameplay wise, it may have not been the pinnacle of Halo campaigns, but from a pure story telling perspective, it has some of the most original themes, and epic set pieces of any halo game.
Cortana: "What if you miss?"
John: "I Won't"
Johnson: " Dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy ass fleet! "
Marines: Hoo-Rah!!!
Also, need I mention the awesome Easter eggs like the scarab gun?? Or the boss fight at the end which is to this day still the only satisfying boss fight in any of the halo games.
All halo campaigns were good though, so cheers!
The Librarian
Banned
I agree that Halo 2's story was the best.
But gameplay wise, Halo 3 stands taller for me.
But gameplay wise, Halo 3 stands taller for me.
FUNKNOWN iXi
Member
Says the one who admits to barely having played CE ;]
OverHeat
« generous god »
Why do you tease us like this...
The Librarian
Banned
I played the campaign plenty.
Halo: Combat Evolved shits on it from the highest mountain. Halo 3 had the most disappointing campaigns of the Bungie entrees. There were just so many things that were bad all around.
1) Brutes were just not fun to fight. Sorry, but Elites were night and day better. Their ability to use the world around them to their advantage -- especially in Combat Evolved -- is still unparalleled in the later Halo games. Everyone hypes the Brutes' use of equipment, but it devolved into nothing more than one throwing a bubble shield or a regen down while fighting. That was about as fun as it was in multiplayer -- i.e. absolutely fucking horrible. Occasionally, one would throw a flare down. Great, I just got blinded by an AI. Fun! Their AI and tactics were rudimentary. They had no personality, at all. They were just bland, straight down to popping their armor with a few shots and sending them into the predictable rage mode. They were better than in Halo 2, but that's not saying a whole lot.
2) The story was fucking awful. Remember that epic cutscene at the end of the game? Bungie promising FINALLY, we will have the invasion of Earth that was promised in Halo 2? All that "glorious" battle happens off-screen. We're left with yet another couple missions through Earth and then jump back into a ship and go across the galaxy -- again. Something, something, new Halo ring being built, must destroy Ark. Cortana's rampant state and her "deal" with Gravemind at the end of Halo 2 are glossed over and dropped. The Gravemind itself is essentially an afterthought, aside from those awful moments in The Storm, where your player slowed to an absolute crawl while voices played through the game. Real good idea with that one.
3) The character assassination was unforgivable. The Arbiter is the single BEST character in the series. He's better than Chief, he's better than Cortana, he's better than the walking stereotype that is Sgt. Johnson. Yet he's relegated to a one liner to start the game, a few choice comments throughout the campaign and a cutscene at the end. What happened to his arc that began in Halo 2? He was a fleshed out, believable and sympathetic character relegated to the token sidekick in Halo 3.
The Prophet of Truth was even worse. For one, you swap out the amazing voice acting of Michael Wincott in Halo 2 and replace him with the most phoned in performance from Terrance Stamp -- eclipsed only seven years later by Peter Dinklage in Destiny. The Prophet goes from being a conniving, manipulative character who may or may not believe the religious babble he's spouting in Halo 2, to being a complete raving religious zealot loon in Halo 3, only to be killed in the most anti-climatic way.
4. Cortana. Do we really need to say anything else about this level? People love to shit on Library in Halo: Combat Evolved or sniper alley in Outskirts in Halo 2, but NONE of that reaches the stupendously awful levels that is Cortana. This is the 10th circle of hell, just without the frozen wastes. Let's design a level with the ugliest art throughout the entire game -- which is really bad considering Crow's Nest and the awful human environments are ever present. Let's turn this into one giant circle of death and offer few landmarks to actually guide players through it. Let's then populate it with Flood. And not just the mildly annoying type that make some of us reminisce of Serious Sam. No, let's add in juggernauts and little fuckers that crawl on the walls and ceilings and shoot barbs at us. And let's take a page out of Call of Duty's playbook and add in infinite spawning. No. No game, no matter how high the highs are, can ever be considered the best in its series when it has a level like this.
5. The Scarab battles are vastly overrated. Granted, they are better than the travesty of Halo 2, but that's not saying a whole lot. Sure, they look really fucking cool when you first engage one. You've got marines flying around on Mongeese shooting rockets, you've got Covenant on Ghosts zipping about and you've got this giant fucking robot you somehow have to bring down. And then after that five seconds of awe passes, you realize how ridiculously simple it is to take them out. Shoot the legs, climb on board, shoot the ass, it's over. That's it. That's the most shallow "boss" fight I'd played up to some of the garbage in "Destiny." At least they had the common sense back then not to fill it with a ridiculous amount of hit points.
I could go on. There's the awful Ghost and Mongeese run at the end, which tries to pay homage to the superior Maw run in Combat Evolved, but just becomes more of an exercise in frustration and futility. There's the awful waste of space that is Johnson's character -- including that cringe-worthy ending and "boss fight" with Guilty Spark. There's the HORRIBLE character models -- looking at you Lord Hood -- that are somehow worse looking than Halo 2. There's nothing in the game that has the highs of battling through Assault on the Control Room or attacking the beach in Silent Cartographer in Combat Evolved. There's none of the awe or mystery of Halo in Combat Evolved. There's not even the big story payoff promised in Halo 2. It's just not good. It was three years of hype built up to this amazing payoff that fell flatter than The Dark Knight Rises.
1) Brutes were just not fun to fight. Sorry, but Elites were night and day better. Their ability to use the world around them to their advantage -- especially in Combat Evolved -- is still unparalleled in the later Halo games. Everyone hypes the Brutes' use of equipment, but it devolved into nothing more than one throwing a bubble shield or a regen down while fighting. That was about as fun as it was in multiplayer -- i.e. absolutely fucking horrible. Occasionally, one would throw a flare down. Great, I just got blinded by an AI. Fun! Their AI and tactics were rudimentary. They had no personality, at all. They were just bland, straight down to popping their armor with a few shots and sending them into the predictable rage mode. They were better than in Halo 2, but that's not saying a whole lot.
2) The story was fucking awful. Remember that epic cutscene at the end of the game? Bungie promising FINALLY, we will have the invasion of Earth that was promised in Halo 2? All that "glorious" battle happens off-screen. We're left with yet another couple missions through Earth and then jump back into a ship and go across the galaxy -- again. Something, something, new Halo ring being built, must destroy Ark. Cortana's rampant state and her "deal" with Gravemind at the end of Halo 2 are glossed over and dropped. The Gravemind itself is essentially an afterthought, aside from those awful moments in The Storm, where your player slowed to an absolute crawl while voices played through the game. Real good idea with that one.
3) The character assassination was unforgivable. The Arbiter is the single BEST character in the series. He's better than Chief, he's better than Cortana, he's better than the walking stereotype that is Sgt. Johnson. Yet he's relegated to a one liner to start the game, a few choice comments throughout the campaign and a cutscene at the end. What happened to his arc that began in Halo 2? He was a fleshed out, believable and sympathetic character relegated to the token sidekick in Halo 3.
The Prophet of Truth was even worse. For one, you swap out the amazing voice acting of Michael Wincott in Halo 2 and replace him with the most phoned in performance from Terrance Stamp -- eclipsed only seven years later by Peter Dinklage in Destiny. The Prophet goes from being a conniving, manipulative character who may or may not believe the religious babble he's spouting in Halo 2, to being a complete raving religious zealot loon in Halo 3, only to be killed in the most anti-climatic way.
4. Cortana. Do we really need to say anything else about this level? People love to shit on Library in Halo: Combat Evolved or sniper alley in Outskirts in Halo 2, but NONE of that reaches the stupendously awful levels that is Cortana. This is the 10th circle of hell, just without the frozen wastes. Let's design a level with the ugliest art throughout the entire game -- which is really bad considering Crow's Nest and the awful human environments are ever present. Let's turn this into one giant circle of death and offer few landmarks to actually guide players through it. Let's then populate it with Flood. And not just the mildly annoying type that make some of us reminisce of Serious Sam. No, let's add in juggernauts and little fuckers that crawl on the walls and ceilings and shoot barbs at us. And let's take a page out of Call of Duty's playbook and add in infinite spawning. No. No game, no matter how high the highs are, can ever be considered the best in its series when it has a level like this.
5. The Scarab battles are vastly overrated. Granted, they are better than the travesty of Halo 2, but that's not saying a whole lot. Sure, they look really fucking cool when you first engage one. You've got marines flying around on Mongeese shooting rockets, you've got Covenant on Ghosts zipping about and you've got this giant fucking robot you somehow have to bring down. And then after that five seconds of awe passes, you realize how ridiculously simple it is to take them out. Shoot the legs, climb on board, shoot the ass, it's over. That's it. That's the most shallow "boss" fight I'd played up to some of the garbage in "Destiny." At least they had the common sense back then not to fill it with a ridiculous amount of hit points.
I could go on. There's the awful Ghost and Mongeese run at the end, which tries to pay homage to the superior Maw run in Combat Evolved, but just becomes more of an exercise in frustration and futility. There's the awful waste of space that is Johnson's character -- including that cringe-worthy ending and "boss fight" with Guilty Spark. There's the HORRIBLE character models -- looking at you Lord Hood -- that are somehow worse looking than Halo 2. There's nothing in the game that has the highs of battling through Assault on the Control Room or attacking the beach in Silent Cartographer in Combat Evolved. There's none of the awe or mystery of Halo in Combat Evolved. There's not even the big story payoff promised in Halo 2. It's just not good. It was three years of hype built up to this amazing payoff that fell flatter than The Dark Knight Rises.
I'll never forget that moment coming over the crest of the sandy hill in a tank and seeing the scarabs in the distance. "No way am I going to fight those I thought" and well, we know what happened. Shame I was on a working holiday on the other side of the world and only had a 24" monitor to play on as opposed to something a lot larger at home. Still epicly enjoyable though.
7yrs later and I live away from home again, this time with a PS4 and a 27" monitor. fml.
7yrs later and I live away from home again, this time with a PS4 and a 27" monitor. fml.
shinobi602
Member
I don't think it's completely necessary to break the comparison down to specific gameplay mechanics or particular design decisions to be honest. In the end (as I posted my personal reasons earlier), CE is just more fun to me
NullPointer
Member
Nope. Halo Anniversary floored me in how well it all held together so well, even after all these years. And I'll always prefer fighting Elites to Brutes and the extremely simplified but strong set of weapons in CE. Halo 3 is bombastic and epic while CE feels more thoughtful, streamlined and fine tuned.
But I look forward to truly testing this with another full play-through of the lot of em, for science, just to be sure.
AdventureRacing
Member
Depends what you mean though. I include difficulty in the gameplay and i think i'm one of the rare people who loved the difficulty in halo 2.
FUNKNOWN iXi
Member
Some think that it depends on which game you started with and sunk the most time into. I tend to agree, because how can anyone say that Halo 3's gameplay is more balanced and fun than CE and Halo 2? lol ;bI don't think it's completely necessary to break the comparison down to specific gameplay mechanics or particular design decisions to be honest. In the end (as I posted my personal reasons earlier), CE is just more fun to me
CE Master
Chief
Buckethead
Banned
And best Halo.
I love the MP maps. I know people love 2 but 3 is just perfect for me. The bubble shields added something nice to the whole experience.
I love the MP maps. I know people love 2 but 3 is just perfect for me. The bubble shields added something nice to the whole experience.