Yes, the Chief (that’s Master Chief to you) is back and ready to kick Covenant butt once again. While atmospheric church-style tunes resound around the room, naturally. We have to admit Halo 2 – despite being a good game – didn’t knock our socks off because it was just two samey as the original. Sure you got to stick two guns in the face of your enemy, but where’s the real evolution?
Halo 3 doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to gameplay but it does do enough to impress us a little more than its predecessor. That’s helped by some top-notch computer intelligence. Whether your opponents are getting angry and pushing everything out of their way to take out the human “Demon”, calling in reinforcements, or turning tail and realising they should run, the AI operates very well.
That also adds into the gameplay, which can be blimmin’ hard in places if you play on the harder settings (and, we wimpily admit, even sometimes on Normal). Troops hiding behind their own defences in a siege formation, being told to hold their position in transmissions from the Covenant leader, are tough to break down. But Halo’s system allows the coward to conquer as much as the hero. As ever, when you’ve taken fire it’s normal practise to seek cover until your shield regenerates. But that sense of attack and retreat also works on a grander scale. Many’s the time we start our troop of marines off on their way towards the enemy, only to sit back and use our bigger vehicle weapons or sniper rifle to pick off the big foes as they massacre our men. We wouldn’t be first choice commander on a real battlefield but this save-your-own-skin tactics can really pay off. Sometimes, though, it’s worth fighting alongside them to store up their sacrifice for the next checkpoint...