Halo 3

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Halo 3 is a first-person science fiction shooter game developed by Bungie Studios that was released for the Xbox 360 console. Although the final game is not continuing from the end of Halo 2, Halo: Uprising fills in the gaps. It is the sequel to Halo 2 and finished up the current story arc that the previous two games have followed. It involves the Master Chief returning to Earth to stop the Prophet of Truth from wiping out all life in the galaxy, while attempting to find a solution to the subsequent problem of Gravemind's infestation of High Charity and imprisonment of Cortana.

It was released on September 25 in North America and Australia, the 26th in Europe and the 27th in Japan. It has been rated M for Mature (blood, gore, violence, and language} by the ESRB, but only M 15+ (Recommended for 15 years or older, but not restricted) by the OFLC.

Release

File:Halo3Symbol.gif
The Halo 3 Logo

The release date for the final game was September 25, 2007 World wide. Halo 3 is officially out in stores across the world.

An internal build, the Halo 3 alpha build, was released in April 2007 for Microsoft employees. A public beta test, the Halo 3 Beta, was rolled out in Spring 2007 and was scheduled for online play at midnight (U.S. West Coast Pacific-Time) on May 16th, 2007 - June 10, 2007, although there were certain technical difficulties in its distribution. After that, Bungie collected all the feedback from the beta and sought to improve their multiplayer through it, with the final game coming out four months after the end of the beta. On August 10, 2007 another Halo 3 build, Halo 3 Epsilon, was released to Microsoft employees, featuring Forge and multiplayer aspects. It went gold on August 29, 2007.

There are three versions of Halo 3: the Halo 3: Standard Edition, a Limited Collector's Edition, and the very limited Legendary Edition.

Version Standard Collector's Legendary
Price $69.99 USD $89.99 USD $119.99 USD
Game Disc & Manual Yes Yes Yes
Interactive Xbox 360 Disc No Yes Yes
Bestiarum No Yes Yes*
Legendary DVD No No Yes
Master Chief Helmet Replica No No Yes
* Additional content on DVD

Reviews were recently released from a number of high profile gaming websites:

  • Gamepro-4.8/5
  • Gamespot - 9.5/10
  • IGN - 9.5/10
  • TeamXbox - 9.3/10
  • 1up - B+/A+
  • Gametrailers - 9.8/10
  • ComputerVideogames - 9.6/10
  • OXM UK - 9/10
  • OXM US - 10/10
  • OXM Australia - 10.0/10
  • Famitsu - 9.69/10
  • X-Play - 5/5
  • Reviews on the Run -10/10
  • Average: 98%, 9.8/10

Controls

File:Controller Halo3.jpg
Default Halo 3 Control Scheme

Because of differences between the Xbox original and Xbox 360 controller, and the addition of the new "equipment", there are a few differences on controls.

  • Right bumper: Click-Reload, Hold-Pick up weapon, exchange equipment, get in/out of vehicle, activate.
  • Left bumper: Click-switch grenades, reload (if dual-wielding) Hold-dual wield (when available).
  • Right trigger: Fire weapon
  • Left trigger: Throw grenade, Fire secondary (if dual-wielding)
  • Left thumbstick: Move (Forward, Back, Strafe Left, Strafe Right)
  • Left thumbstick (click): Crouch
  • Right thumbstick: Look/Aim (Up, Down,Left, Right)
  • Right thumbstick (click): Activate scope/zoom
  • D-pad: Scroll through menu, up-team talk channel (Multiplayer), up-toggle monitor/spartan mode (Forge), toggle flashlight (Campaign)
  • A button: Jump/Select
  • B button: Melee/Back, pick support weapon up if in stationary mode.
  • X button: Deploy/Activate equipment
  • Y button: Switch weapons
  • Right Bumper, Left Bumper, Click-in Left Analog Stick, A, Down on D-Pad for 3 seconds: Lowers weapon (proof its real: [1])
    • Right Bumper, Left Bumper, Click-in Left Analog Stick, A, Up on D-Pad for 3 seconds: Makes current camera angle/position coordinates visible.

You may also change controls to Halo Classic, as the control scheme as in Halo and Halo 2. Many other layouts have returned such as the Southpaw and others.

Campaign

Plot

When the game begins, John-117 is back on Earth, where the Covenant Loyalists (Brutes, Drones, Grunts, Hunters and Jackals), led by the Prophet of Truth, have laid waste to most of the planet. Humankind's population has been reduced to a mere 200 million, and is backed up against a wall, fighting for its very survival. The only reason that they have survived for this long is that the Covenant is preoccupied by an excavation site a few miles from the ruins of the East African city New Mombassa. There, they have uncovered a massive Forerunner structure, which is seen in the E3 2006 trailer, that has been buried under the planet's surface for thousands, if not millions of years.

Sergeant Major Johnson and the Arbiter retrieve the Master Chief from a hasty jump from orbit, landing in a section of the east African jungle, known as Sierra 117. The three of them manage to make it to Crow's Nest, a 21st century facility used as a local base of operations by the UNSC. Shortly after they reach their destination, the Covenant mounts an attack on the facility, and it is during this time that the Chief starts receiving disturbing transmissions from Cortana. After a brief struggle, in which the outpost is lost, Master Chief receives orders from Commander Keyes and Lord Hood to clear a way into the African city of Voi, and destroy all Covenant anti-air defences in preparation for an all-out assault on Truth and the artefact. After the Master Chief and the Arbiter destroy the defences, Truth activates the artefact and creates an enormous slipspace portal, into which all the Covenant ships retreat. As Keyes follows the Dreadnought a Covenant ship controlled by the Flood arrives by slip space and crash lands nearby, and the parasite quickly spreads throughout the city.

The Master Chief and the Arbiter attempt to fight off the Flood and retrieve a recording of Cortana from the Flood ship. After they have completed all of their objectives, Guilty Spark arrives by an Elite drop-ship. Once the Arbiter and Master Chief are evacuated, the remaining Covenant fleet proceeds to glass the parts of Africa that have been infected. This amplifies the hard feelings between Lord Hood and Ship master Rtas 'Vadum, the Spec. Ops Leader of Halo 2 and new leader of the elites. Once the Elites and Lord Hood decide to follow Truth, the remaining Elite ships - approximately 9 and 3 UNSC Frigates leave Earth via the slip space portal and find themselves near an immense artificial structure, (where they engaged a fleet 3 times their size and won) which is soon revealed to be the Ark. They find that the Ark is in fact positioned outside of the Milky Way galaxy, just beyond the Halo rings' effective firing range. Guided by Guilty Spark and temporarily assisted by the Flood, the Chief and the Arbiter push their way to one of the communication arrays of the Ark, where they barely manage to stop The Prophet of Truth from activating the rings. Commander Keyes dies as she tries to kill herself and Sergeant Johnson to stop Truth from activating the rings

In the meantime, the highly flood-infested ship "High Charity" arrives by Slip space jump. After executing The Prophet of Truth, the Arbiter and the Master Chief discover that a replacement ring has been constructed by the Ark to replace the one destroyed by Master Chief. The Chief decides to activate the ring so as to destroy any chance the Flood has from spreading even further. However, the Chief and the Arbiter first take a detour through High Charity to recover Cortana, who, under the grasp of Gravemind, had the activation Index for the replacement Halo. After rescuing the AI, they destroy the Covenant home world as they make their escape, which seemingly kills Gravemind.

When they arrive on the newly built Halo, they quickly discover that Gravemind is still alive, and attempting to reconstruct itself on the new Halo. The Chief, Arbiter, and Sergeant Johnson quickly make their way to the control room, where they attempt to fire Halo. Guilty Spark realizes that this will destroy his new ring because it is not fully ready yet, and kills Sergeant Johnson as he tries to activate the ring. Master Chief then destroys Guilty Spark, activates the ring, and barely manages to escape with the Arbiter on the UNSC frigate 'Forward Unto Dawn'.

Back on Earth (March 3, 2553), a memorial service is held for fallen UNSC personnel. A memorial has been constructed from part of a Pelican, atop a hillside which Lord Terence Hood orders will "remain barren". Affixed to the memorial are flowers, photos, and messages. Among the images seen on the memorial are that of Miranda Keyes and A. J. Johnson. After the service, Lord Hood tells the Arbiter that "I remember how this war started, what your kind did to mine. ...I can never forgive you, but...you have my thanks for sticking by him until the end. Hard to believe he's dead.". The Arbiter then replies, "Were it so easy". It is implied that John did not survive to make it back to Earth. Following this, the Arbiter and Shipmaster depart, bound for the Elite home world. Further alluding to Master Chief's death is the numbers "117" scratched into the space ship fragment, next to the insignia of a Naval Master Chief Petty Officer (John 117's rank) if read correctly it says Master Chief 117.

After the credit roll, footage is shown of the Master Chief and Cortana on-board the rear section of Forward Unto Dawn, which had apparently torn off during the slip-space jump; the pair are drifting through space. Cortana tells John she will drop a distress beacon, but that it could be years before they are found. The Chief makes it to a cryotube, and as he is climbing in Cortana comments "I'll miss you". He replies "Wake me; when you need me".

If the game is completed on the Legendary difficulty, the section of Forward Unto Dawn that Cortana and the Chief are aboard is seen drifting towards an unknown planet.

Halo 3 Levels

<kaltura-widget kalturaid='283078' size='M' align='R'/> Finish the Fight. As the total number of playable levels is only nine, the campaign is the shortest in the series both in terms of levels and in the time it takes to complete. This is a fact that annoyed many gamers, and was commented upon in some reviews such as The Times supplement In Gear that noted that players could complete the campaign in under a day on Normal difficulty. Furthermore, the level Floodgate is the shortest playable level in the entire series, with an almost laughably short time needed to finish.

  1. Arrival - Brace for impact.
  2. Sierra 117 - Rise up. Start the fight.
  3. Crow's Nest - Clear the base, whatever it takes.
  4. Tsavo Highway - Mount up. Get to Voi.
  5. The Storm - Reclaim the city. Make a hole.
  6. Floodgate - Stop the infestation. Find Cortana.
  7. The Ark - Search the waste for the Cartographer.
  8. The Covenant - Breach the barrier. Stop Truth.
  9. Cortana - Cleanse High Charity. Save Cortana.
  10. Halo - Light the ring. Destroy the Flood.

Characters

Promotional image for Halo 3 featuring John-117 with an MA5C assault rifle on the campaign level Sierra 117.
Screenshot of The Master Chief
Promotional image for Halo 3 featuring John-117 with an MA5C assault rifle and Thel 'Vadam with a Vostu-pattern carbine on the campaign level Sierra 117.
The Master Chief and the Arbiter

Major Characters

UNSC
Covenant Separatists
Covenant Loyalists
Flood
Forerunner
File:Brutecaptain.jpg
A render of a Brute Captain

Minor Characters

UNSC
Covenant Separatists
Covenant Loyalists
Flood

Features

Weapons

These are the weapons known to be in the game:

Covenant

Covenant Loyalists

Forerunner

UNSC

Equipment

Main article: Equipment

Vehicles

Covenant

File:Starry Night by the Ark.PNG
A Covenant Carrier Battle Group

Brute Sandbox

Non-Usable


UNSC

Non-Usable

Halo 3 Multiplayer

Maps

Standard Maps

File:H3 map.jpg
A concept model of High Ground.

Heroic Map Pack

The Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 was released on December 11 for 800 Microsoft Points (around $10.00). The maps included in this Map Pack are:

These maps will be free in the Spring of 2008, along with the release of the Legendary Map Pack as premium content.(Note)Silver accounts are free on Xbox Live, so you could wait for the maps to be free.

Legendary Map Pack

The next map pack to be released. The maps included in this Map Pack are:

Other Maps

Appearance

Service Tag

Your Service Tag is what you are identified by on the battlefield. It is comprised of a letter followed by two numbers. A few examples of Service Tags are P65 and G18. Note that when I17 (117) is entered a message stating "This Service Tag is currently in use by the UNSC"

Armor Permutations

There are two player models which you can choose from, the standard Spartan model and the Elite model. Each model has several armor variants which can be combined. To unlock these armor types certain achievements and single player actions must first be taken. A lot of them come naturally from completing the campaign on various difficulties.

Spartan
Elite

Emblems

Main article: Multiplayer Emblems

Colors

There are 10 base colors, each with three shades that are used to customize your multi player color and emblem.

Steel, Silver, White
Red, Mauve, Salmon
Orange, Coral, Peach
Gold, Yellow, Pale
Sage, Green, Olive
Teal, Aqua, Cyan
Blue, Cobalt, Sapphire
Violet, Orchid, Lavender
Crimson, Rubine, Pink
Brown, Tan, Khaki

Matchmaking

Playlists

Ranked
Social
DLC
  • DLC Slayer
  • DLC Objective
Tournaments
Double Exp Weekends
  • Grifball
  • SWAT

Veto

New in Halo 3 is the veto system, all players can vote for another map and gametype. A map and gametype is vetoed when the majority of the players vote, like 6 out of 10 or 5 out of 9.

Side Note: If a player in the party has a faulty disc that fails to load a certain map then the game will auto veto a result of 100% against, you will still however get the option to veto the next game as per normal rules

Ranks

There is a ranking system based on real military ranks, to progress in rank you must have a certain amount of experiance (EXP) and for officer ratings you'll need a certain skill level (as well as a certain amount of EXP).

Enlisted Ratings
  • Recruit
  • Apprentice (grades 1 and 2)
  • Private (grades 1 and 2)
  • Corporal (grades 1 and 2)
  • Sergeant (grades 1, 2, and 3)
  • Gunnery Sergeant (grades 1, 2, 3, and Master Sergeant)
Officer Ratings
  • Lieutenant (grades 1, 2, 3, and First Lieutenant)
  • Captain (grades 1, 2, 3, and Staff Captain)
  • Major (grades 1, 2, 3, and Field Major)
  • Commander (grades 1, 2, 3, and Strike Commander)
  • Colonel (grades 1, 2, 3, and Force Colonel)
  • Brigadier (grades 1, 2, 3, and Brigadier General)
  • General (grades 1, 2, 3, and Five Star General)

Custom Games

You In the Custom Games Lobby you can choose the gametypes and maps you want to play with your friends, these include Custom Game types and Map Variants.

Standard Game types

Custom Game types

In Halo 3, there are a number of options that can be changed. Press X in the lobby to change the default options, when changing press X again to save as custom game type.

  • Damage resistance
  • Shield multiplier
  • Shield recharge rate
  • Immune to head shots
  • Grenade counts (grenade regeneration, on or off)
  • Infinite ammo
  • Weapon pickup disabled
  • Player speed
    • (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 125%, 150%, 200%, 300%)
  • Player gravity
    • (50%, 75%, 100%, 200%)
  • Vehicle use (passenger only)
  • Motion tracker range
    • (10m, 25m, 75m, 100m, 150m)
  • Indestructible vehicles (on, off)

Forge

Main article: Forge

Forge is an "object editor" that can be used to edit multi player maps. It was originally called a map editor until Bungie showed what one could do with it. In Forge, you can edit objects, spawn points, weapons, and properties of objects on the map, etc. And, when playing a map on forge, players may take control as a monitor (very similar to 343 Guilty Spark) and will obtain the ability to spawn weapons and vehicles in-game, as well as move/adjust them too. Players will also have the ability to set traps or create teleporters to warp their friends into other places or set traps for their enemies. The monitor also has the ability to claim the respawn points and create new ones.

Map Variants

To save a Map Variant while playing forge, press Start and select save changes to overwrite the previous Map Variant or select Save As and give it a name.

Theater

Films

Saved Films allow a player to view any game, campaign or multiplayer, from any angle. It uses game data to re-create the games, which makes file sizes very small (5 MB for a 15 minute multiplayer match). In the film, you can either watch your own player play through the entire mission or you can go a different way: bird's eye view. you can go anywhere you want, but they will limit your movement so that you cannot fly as high as possible or go very far from your character. You can also fast forward or rewind the film so that you can relive the parts you missed. Only your previous 25 games will be saved under the recent films category on your console. Older films will be deleted.

Clips

When playing a film you record a particular part of the film from any angle you want, doing this allows you to look back at your greatest moments without having to watch the entire film. You can not record parts of campaign films.

Screenshots

Screenshots can be take in any kind of film, all screenshots taken are send to Bungie.net.

Soundtrack

The Halo 3: Original Soundtrack album was released on November 20, 2007. It is a two-disc set featuring all the music heard in-game, in order of appearance. As the Halo: Original Soundtrack the music is in more of a medley format. However, similar to the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack, tracks are divided into 'suites' corresponding to each level in the game.

A number of bonus tracks and a third-party song will be contained on the second disc of the album, 'LvUrFR3NZ' by Princeton.

Previews of the Soundtrack can be heard on the official site[1].

Marketing Promotions

Viral Marketing

Main article: Iris

On June 11th, 2007, at 10:26AM PDT, a viral marketing campaign for Halo 3 started, called "Iris".

Trailers

Announcement Trailer

Main article: Halo 3 Announcement Trailer

At E3 2006, Bungie released their announcement trailer. It required long hours and hard work from many, many Bungie staffers, and utilizes real-game assets, fiction and locations from parts of the "real" game." It shows John-117 walking through some wreckage of the New Mombasa space elevator with Cortana appearing at several intervals to give her lines. He then arrives at a cliff where the Covenant forces are hovering over a Forerunner structure (believed to be the Ark). The trailer ends with the Forerunner structure opening and firing a beam of light.

The Trailer fueled speculation about what was going to happen in the game, particularly Cortana's last line in the trailer: "This is the way the world ends,"[2] which references the first of the Cortana Letters. The line itself refers to T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men, which ends:

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Cortana's emphasis on "this" implies she is rejecting the poem, and that the world will end with a bang. Likely referring to the Halo's being activated.

Starry Night Trailer

Main article: Starry Night

Starry Night Trailer was released on December 4, 2006 with its format designed for TV Ads. It shows two kids staring at the stars talking about whether there are aliens before switching to a dazed Master Chief recovering from some form of blast. Once he gets back on his feet, he uses a Bubble Shield to defend himself from an incoming Wraith plasma mortar and then charges forward, eventually jumping over a cliff into a swarm of Covenant Loyalists.

E3 2007 Trailer

Main article: Halo 3 E3 2007 Trailer

The final trailer for Halo 3 was released during E3 2007. Unlike the others, this trailer focused on showing various gameplay and movie clips. While the trailer did little to further knowledge about the Halo 3, it confirmed many speculations about the game, the least of which was that the Arbiter and the Master Chief will fight alongside one another in the game at some point.

Believe

Main article: Believe

A hero must rise. Believe...

Believe is a Microsoft marketing campaign for Halo 3.

It features the word "Believe" as a tag line, and appears to be honoring the legacy of SPARTAN-117, citing him as a hero of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force whose brave actions inspired other servicemen during the Human-Covenant War. It has also been cited that it has been linked to the popular message board Neogaf.

Landfall

Main article: Halo: Landfall

Halo: Landfall is a trilogy of short films designed to promote Halo 3 as well as test the potential for a live-action Halo Movie.

Products and Collectibles

Halo 3 Xbox 360.

Trivia

  • For Christmas 2006, Microsoft & Bungie gave the U.S. soldiers in Iraq a chance to play the Halo 3 multiplayer public pre-alpha. [3]
  • On Cops & Robbers commercial for the 360 at the XBL Marketplace one of the license plates says HA LO307 aka Halo 3 07.
  • The game has 39,377 lines of dialogue, most of them randomly triggered during gameplay.[4]
  • In several of Cortana's messages to the Chief, she quotes Dr. Halsey's lines from Halo: The Fall of Reach. This is logical considering Cortana was created with a flash clone of Dr. Halsey's brain.
  • The chances of two people having the same service tag (that is not commonly used, noticeably I69) on Xbox Live is 2574 to 1. You would need 2575 people for at least two of them to have the same service tag.

[5]

Related Links

Internal

External

  1. ^ http://www.halo3ost.com/
  2. ^ Please have Cortana's lines pronounced so that I don't see 36 threads about it.

    "I have defied gods and demons."

    "I am your shield, I am your SWORD."

    "I know you, your past, your future."

    "This is the way the world ends."

    Frankie --Weekly Update May 12, 2006
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Halo Dialogue Statistics, from the source - HBO, November 12, 2007
  5. ^ {{{Text}}}
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