 Halo 3 is a masterpiece. Hey, what the hell are you doing here? This is the third part in this series and you don't gotta wristband. Go back and watch these then come in. Also, the whole playthrough of Halo 3 was streamed live, so join the Discord if you want notifications or to promote your content and stay connected with what I'm doing. Alright, you can come in now. 2007 was a great year for video games. You had Modern Warfare, Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, BioShock and many more. In between those titles was a small little game that nobody cared about called Halo 3. I'm bullshitting and you understand this was not the case. Even if you were a little kid that couldn't spell Wednesday, you still knew about Halo 3 at the time. Halo 3 has become as iconic as Jesus at this point and as time goes on, fans grow more attached to the game. I'm gonna start picking up the pace now, so stay with me, because even if you didn't get to experience Halo 3, you're gonna listen and understand why your childhood will forever be worse than mine. Cry to the bank. Halo 3 was the first mainstream video game to have the community carry the game instead of the base game itself. The game released when YouTube was just starting to pick up traction, where normal people would LOL to Ray William Johnson and Cat videos, gamers on the site swarming the platform, flooding the website with Halo 3 content. You had the birth of Machinima before it was a riddled corpse that would post community highlights and clips around Halo 3. You also had Rooster Teeth hitting its peak with Red vs. Blue, which was a machine animated sort series and had some of its best seasons in Halo 3, and this could be due to its new Forge game mode. Player interaction was also at an all-time high in video games that gamers making friends through multiplayer matches and custom games. And this is due to Xbox 360's party chat feature in Halo 3's player freedom. Overall, everyone on 360's having a fucking blast while PS3 owners were playing resistance, follow man. Hey, dislike if you want, but while you're playing some whack-ass games, I was running over people in fat getting popping off domes in Duck Hunt. So who the fuck's the real winner here? Because of Halo 3, I got to make dozens of friends off of it as well as Reach, and this is due to Bungie's utilization of player expression. It's funny to see how Bungie has retracted over the years with Destiny being their least expressive game ever, only allowing you to choose three races and classes, as well as having a game mechanic that makes you sacrifice customization in order to progress. But Skipper, that's your opinion. Shut the fuck up, as I was saying, player expression in Halo 3 did wonders for the game. I mentioned Red vs. Blue earlier because Red vs. Blue was filmed on sets made in Forge. To those who haven't played Halo, you're probably scratching your head so I'll explain what Forge is. Forge was a sandbox editor that was introduced in Halo 3 and let players get creative in a sandbox. Some might see this as tedious and excessive, but these are the same people who still played League of Legends in 2020. Forge led to people making weird and extremely fun game modes such as Fat Kid, Speed, Halo, Crash of Derby, Cops and Robbers and many more. Also mentioning Red vs. Blue for the third time, I get it, nobody gives a shit about Red vs. Blue, but they made a game mode called Griffball. And if you play Halo, you definitely know what Griffball is. It was important to break down the game's community before I started talking about the base game so you could understand my headspace, so now I'll transition to the main game. Halo 3 is a classic game that's beloved by almost anyone who's played in their youth, so it's hard to say anything original, but I'll attempt. Halo 3 has had a good launch on PC, but not a flawless one. To anybody who watched me stream the game, you would know that me and Alex ran into a bug where we lost connection when trying to play the campaign and co-op. And the only solution was to cap the game at 60fps. But besides that hiccup, the port has been actually really good. Halo 3 is well-optimizing to quickly summarize it so you don't fall asleep, but game's optimization determines if the game runs well. Halo 2 Anniversary was a fucking nightmare when it first came to PC and made me feel like I was 12 playing on a Dell laptop again. Wow, a 12-year-old game runs good, no wonder, and you're right. So, enough about the game's performance, let's discuss about the technical aspects. The jump of graphics from Halo 2 to 3 was exponential, even now with Halo 3 being 12 years old, its age greatly and holds up really well. The textures, lighting, and reflection are great and is the reason this game still looks really good given the year being 2020. I love Halo Reach, but when looking at it, it's clear to tell it's a game from 2010, and when stood next to Halo 3, it looks way more aged. This is because Halo Reach lacks the reflective lighting and placement that's in Halo 3, giving it the perception of being ageless. Even though the character animation and face expressions are very outdated, it's not Fallout 4 bad, but it's still not great. Moving from graphics, Halo 3's gunplay and firefights have also aged very well, with the guns going from hit scan to projectile-based detection, encouraging fights to be more close and countered instead of long-range. And this was intentional because of Halo 3's map design. Before discussing the layout design of each map in Halo 3, I should also mention their appearance. Another reason Halo Reach looks aged is because of its map design. Most of Halo Reach's maps are either remakes or new designs built off Forge. So when you play Reach, it feels like a parody of the future with silver and green being the only outstanding colors, especially maps built in Forge World. What I'm trying to impose is that future Halo games lack the simplicity that Halo 3 had. Halo 3's maps' appearances are well balanced with different colors and architecture, with each map also being in a different setting. But besides the appearance of the maps, they're designed and balanced beautifully. Halo 3's maps have become iconic not because of their appearances, but because of how they're fit for combat. Valhalla is Halo 3's most iconic map, and besides, Reach has been brought back in every Halo since, but the map just doesn't work. Halo 4 and Vice Valhalla is the same size as Halo 3, but everybody having Sprint and low gravity encourages players to run around like fucking idiots. Halo 3's maps are built perfectly for the game, not being too small or large, and it benefits the game's mobility and gunplay. The gravity is low in Halo 3, so jumping lets you catch air for a bit, but allows the player to get creative kills and clips. But if used irresponsibly, it makes you a large target for snipers and enemy players. This next portion I'm going to focus on the campaign, and it's important you understand I like Halo 3, but I refuse not to point out its flaws. Halo 3's reputation and legacy has made people believe that the game is flawless and immune to criticism. But I'd rather express my dislikes than follow a bandwagon and suck the game's dick no matter how loved it is. Halo 3's campaign is alright. Yeah, you heard me. It's not fantastic. Mind-blowing are amazing. It's alright. The new brute weapons are fun to use, such as the gravity hammer, spiker, and mauler, but the UNSC weapons are enjoyable as well, such as the Spartan laser and the return of those assault rifles and magnum. Halo 3 also adds a new vehicle, such as the chopper, elephant, and mongoose in the Hornet, which is the first flying vehicle introduced to Halo. All the new vehicles are fun to use, even though some of them are completely fucking useless. So fucking slow. Oh my fucking god. The gun designs are tampered a bit, but still share the same sound design from the previous game. But unlike Halo 2's remaster, we get all the guns in their base form. Suck a dick Halo 2 anniversary. The sniper's gold. Marl Donald is back for the soundtrack as well, and it's still well utilized throughout the game. Mr. Chief. Rrrr, fuck the master chief. Fuck these fucking human people. Fuck that man. Do you hear all this epic music while we're killing our own people? Martin O'Donnell. Son of a bitch. Okay. Especially on the mission called the Covenant. With universally agreed opinions out the way, it's now time to put on the mean-ass hater hat I promised earlier. When something becomes as iconic as Halo 3, it's held to a standard where it's compared to future installments. Halo 3 is fun. It's enjoyable and compared to any other shitty shooter campaign. It's very good. But it's definitely not flawless, nor is it the best in the series. Even though Halo 3 is a fun game because of its gameplay, art style, forge, and map design, its weakest link is its story. The story of Halo 3 is finishing the fight from Halo 2, which is blowing up another Halo ring while also trying to find Cortana. Halo 3's story is most identical to Halo Combat Evolve, which boils down to shooting bad guys without much depth. You could fabricate reasons of death like the game telling themes of finding a reason to fight or hope, but that still holds really little meaning to the campaign's depth, and is honestly quite reaching. Coming from Halo 2 to 3, you start to really quickly learn that this is going to be a click-and-blast game with a little narrative, just like Combat Evolve. But where Combat Evolve is more about its scenery and open landscapes, its sequel developed the world and its characters. And Halo 3 really goes backwards. Halo 3 has 9 playable missions and compared to Halo 2's 14 playable missions, you could definitely feel its length while playing. And unlike Halo 2, nothing is really developed to push forward besides Cortana and Chief's relationship. Which even then is really bare bones as it's the main focus in Halo 4. I get the marketing slogan for the game is to finish the fight, but all you literally do in Halo 3 is finish the fight from Halo 2. It's just non-stop action, and while it's fun to slap broods, jackals, and grunts at first, it quickly becomes boring and tedious after the 100th time. Not seeing events change or progress within the plot really gave me the same feeling of boredom when I played Combat Evolves. Halo 2's campaign is more insightful and interesting compared to Combat Evolve, and this is because Halo 2 got to learn about the Covenant and its hierarchy through the perspective of the Arbiter, as well as learning about the Flood. If you want more detail, watch my Halo 2 video, but the point I'm making is that Halo 3 has a weak campaign. The characters in Halo 3 are alright, but lack the depth and interest that they had in Halo 2. The Prophet of Truth is the last leader of the Covenant alive, so his death means the death of the Covenant. Besides his voice changing, which was awkward to hear, the Prophet of Truth's characters not expanded or interesting like he was in Halo 2. In Halo 2, the Prophet of Truth was a manipulative weasel who adored his position of power through the campaign. The player seizes and folds due to the feud between the Brutes and the elites, specifically the Arbiter and Tartarus. In Halo 3 though, the Prophet is just a basic bad guy with no deep-rooted connections within the plot, and just serves as an obstacle that you have to defeat. In Halo 2, the Arbiter was the link between the player and the Covenant, and as the game progressed, you saw the Arbiter's belief and faith diminish. Through the Arbiter, you also learn about the Covenant army, the shady politics of its hierarchy, and the radical loyalty of its soldiers. But in Halo 3, the Arbiter becomes a sidekick. Hey, this is not the right song to go up this song. And the only exploration of them is in the intro, and that's it. The Master Chief, the Demon, the number one threat to the Covenant stands up front of the Arbiter, and the only scene of distrust and conflict is displayed in the intro. Chief has killed hundreds of elites, destroyed the first Halo ring which led to the Arbiter being tortured and humiliated. And the Arbiter shows no distrust or hate throughout the campaign. Even from the perspective of the Chief, it's pretty disappointing. The Master Chief, the worst nightmare of the Covenant that was built to be this impendence of hope and heroism ends up fighting alongside the elite army on a whim. Donovan, look at the fucking squad, there's like a shitload of them. It's like a forum. Leeds have killed hundreds of UNSC troops and the Chief is forced to fight alongside elites like nothing happened. While there's issues of immersion between Chief and the Arbiter, the elite and humanity troops is displayed through Lord Hood and Shipmaster, and I really appreciate it. Shipmaster leads more like a king with honor, where Lord Hood leads like a general with logic. And their class shows the issues of both parties within the truce. And the cutscene where the elites and ODCs don't interact with each other, which leads to Johnson and the Arbiter taking the weaponry from both parties as they come together as one. And I really wish this happened with the Arbiter and Chief so it could be more impactful when they fight as one. Also, the Gravemind doesn't appear physically in Halo 3 like he did in Halo 2 with his kick-ass cutscene that showed off his menacing appearance. Instead of talking to Riddles in poems saying that he's older than time itself, he just fights with Cortana and freezes the player. And while being linear, it's also fucking obnoxious. The Flood had cool set pieces and enemies, but the Gravemind was equally as underwhelming and boring as the Prophet of Truth, bummer. Alright, even though I criticized Halo 3 for being linear with poor worldbuilding, I still said its campaign is okay. Halo 3's biomes and map layouts are unique and varied. As you've seen from my b-roll, Halo 3 has you playing in a jungle, in the sand, in the snow, and many 4-runner buildings. And the sandbox elements of every mission allow player freedom, which made the game super enjoyable. Some have open fields for vehicles or tight areas for combat and sniping and just basic standard firefights. I know I said it gets tedious to kill everything after the 100th time, but the 99 times before are really fun. The AI in Halo 3 was improved from Halo 2 in both the Flood and the Covenant, and even though the elites aren't enemies for you to kill anymore, the new Brutes were still fun to fight while also being challenging. They're challenging because of their aggressive nature while not being so aggressive to the point where you died a bullshit like Halo 2. Same with the Flood. They aren't fucking tanks anymore of 10 waves of barrage, so they are more enjoyable to fight and kill in this game. They are limited to fast-paced missions, so it was mostly just running and gunning instead of horror defense. Overall though Halo 3 is a great iconic game that revolutionized gaming, and even with the criticism in my state, it still holds a really special place in my heart. The multiplayer was fantastic and fun, bringing new people together to build a community. The Forge is revolutionary, allowing players to be creative in a sandbox, and the graphics were breathtaking and shocked everybody at release. And the good parts of the campaign are really good, such as the level design, level appearance, enemy AI, gunplay, and vehicle play. With that being said, I have a lot of people to credit with the help of this video. Alex has been my co-op buddy through every Halo so far, and I was really happy for this to be our last game playing together. But going in the future, my co-op pals will not be Donovan and Raymond. Wait, what the fuck? Wait, Raymond, turn around. Oh, okay. Thanks, Alex. Let's finish the franchise when we get packed from bootcamp. Also, thank you to Donovan for replaying the game with me. It was a really great experience and you're a fun guy to play with. Also, the channel has reached 200 subscribers, and I'm super fucking grateful and appreciative to anybody who supports me. I don't want to be annoying, but it really means a lot, and motivates me to want to better my content. I'm gonna wait to make the Halo 3 ODST video, seeing as I have other projects to attend to, but it will come out at some point. If you like this video, it doesn't hurt to subscribe and to like the video as well as share it. I also encourage you to join the Discord to keep in touch with me, as well as to promote your content if you make videos as well. So, yeah. See ya.