Halo 3

PROS:

Unrivalled production values

Outstanding graphics and audio

Co-op supports four players over Xbox Live

Online gameplay was designed for competitive Halo multiplayer

Satisfying conclusion to the Halo storyline

Superb enemy AI

Cool new weapons and inventory items

Mostly lives up to being one of the most over-hyped games of all time

CONS:

An evolution, not revolution of the Halo formula

Campaign is pretty short

Matchmaking has some annoying issues

Level editor is useless

Saved films is kind of a gimmick

Halo is the number one game of choice of prepubescent idiots with chatty headsets

The controls for the game will take a slight adjustment. For example, instead of using the X button to pick up weapons and reload, the function has been moved to the right bumper for the right hand, and the left bumper for the left hand.

The X button, now, utilizes the new inventory items that the Chief now has access to.

You can only carry one item at a time, but all of them have really neat effects. You can use an explosive flare that blinds your enemies like a flash bang grenade, deploy a bubble shield that stops bullets, drop a power draining device that sucks away shields, among others.

For the most part, the rest of the game uses the same controls as the previous Halo games.

All your favourite weapons from both previous games make a triumphant return, some with a few tweaks. The original assault rifle from the original is back, and remains one of the more versatile and useful weapons you can use. The pistol in Halo 3 has the slower firing rate and better stopping power of the original pistol, but without the zoom function. The Needler also returns, but it can't be dual wielded this time around, making it essentially the most useless weapon in the game. Finally, the Chief can also wield a new flame thrower that is a lot of fun Torching those slow little alien grunts with a flame thrower simply never gets old. You'll also encounter old favorites such as the battle rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, covenant carbine, plasma rifle, and rocket and grenade launchers among several others.

The new weapons in the game are quite interesting. You can dual wield a devastating new weapon called the Brute Spiker, which is essentially like a Needler that fires a little slower but does far more damage. You'll also come across dual wieldable shotguns known as maulers that do obscene amounts of damage at close range.

Although they technically aren't new weapons, you are now able to rip turrets off their mounts and carry them around with you. When you do this, the camera shifts from first to third person, and your movement is slowed down to compensate for the extra weight of the gun. Turrets have unlimited ammunition until you take them off their mounts, upon which ammo begins to drain. This adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. Do you slow yourself down in order to deal significantly more damage? It all depends on who you're fighting in any particular situation.

All the vehicles from the previous two games are back. The Warthog, Ghosts, Banshees, and the Scorpion Tank, can all be found in Halo 3.

New vehicles include the Mongoose which is a faster, more maneuverable four wheeler ATV, when compared to the Warthog. The Mongoose has less armor and only room for two.

The enemies can present a significant challenge on the higher settings of the game. They are adept at flanking you and pinning you down behind cover. They all have the ability to use items and granades, and do so wisely. The enemies in Halo 3 will, also, run away when near death.

Occasionally you may find yourself surrounded by dozens of enemies, and the intelligence that these characters display makes these areas an even more significant challenge, sometimes bordering on unfair.

With skillful play and a strategic eye, any situation can be turned to your advantage. Just be careful of being picked off by the myriad of snipers. On legendary difficulty, the only real way to find a sniper is to get killed but remember where the shot originated.

The AI on your side isn't quite as impressive, but it has its improvements from Halo 2. For example, you wonj't get stuck on architecture like before. But, they rarely seem to want to drive to a logical area, and usually your car ends up blown up or flipped over.

Since the AI has impeccable aim, it's much more effective to take the driver's seat and leave the turret gun to your compatriots.

Rather than alternating between the Master Chief and the Arbiter, you'll control the Master Chief through the entire game as player one. The Arbiter is controlled entirely by player two in co-op and by the AI if you're flying solo.

The Arbiter's AI is probably the worst the game has to offer. He'll commonly charge into battle with guns or energy sword blazing, and get himself killed quite quickly.

Graphics:
Halo 3 is visually appealing with graphics that jump off the screen. Weapon models are detailed, with every poylgon slightly different. Halo 3 features a high dynamic range of lighting, giving the scenes a more realistic look. The characters are all, well animated. But, most of all, the backgrounds are magnificent. They are well detailed.

Audio:
When paired with the detailed graphics of the explosions, water, sky, characters, and basically everything, the sound brings it all together.

The famous Halo score is in the game, as well as a few new compositions.

Sound effects pretty good, as well. Voice acting is solid across the board, and much of the game's subtle humor comes from listening to the Covenant grunts and your own marines. All the weapons sound booming and powerful, which every effective shooter needs.

Halo 3 supports two player split-screen and four player, on Xbox Live.

Thanks to Bungie's elegant matchmaking system, it's simple to find people who will want to play online.

Competitively, the matchmaking system isn't quite as great. It's still simple and quick to jump right into a game, but since everything is done through matchmaking, you can't search for a specific game type and/or level.

With Bungie's system you commonly get stuck playing idiotic game types like Oddball and Crazy Hill as opposed to what you actually want to play. There is a veto function if the majority of gamers don't like the game type, but even if enough players veto, you have no say in the next game type.

That said, once you get into a game, it becomes obvious that Halo multiplayer is what Xbox Live was designed for. The competition in these areas is all over the map, and if you're a newbie you'll want to start here. Once you switch over the ranked groups, the competition gets a lot more cutthroat. You'll only get achievements and recognition if you play in the ranked rooms, but the challenge may scare some off.

Halo 3 cheats are fairly simple for the most part.

You can find armor cheats and info, skulls, toggle cheats, rating cheats, achievements, and other basic game cheats.

These cheats will aid you in the journey to completing the journey through the Halo trilogy.

You may choose to go through the game cold turkey, all alone, but these cheats may help puch you further through the game.