im posting this in many places, hence the introduction. i HAVE read dennis's thread concerning posting about halo 3, and i made sure that this wasnt violating the rules.

hello, i am IronClad, and i have longsince been a member of the halo community. i have played the trilogy, and lived through its good and its bad. i am a veteran of all kinds of battles, i have beaten all three games on Legendary mode, and have played the online and multiplayer aspects of all three games. i have been a modder of halo one (custom edition, legal stuff only please) for quite some time now, and have some experience in modeling and animation, so i know some of the aspects of the game's setup, capabilities, etc, and can often use that knowledge to accurately judge aspects of halo 3. this little paragraph about me, is simply to let you know that i am not some random person complaining, i am a dedicated fan and modder who would like his voice to be heard.


I enjoyed getting all i could out of halo three's campaign mode, and truly enjoyed it as i had for the past games.

The story: its the average story of alien invasion, and earthly hero who defends his home. However, there are of course twists. One of the alien breeds is shunned from the rest, and joins humanity's fight for survival, but things get worse when a horde of alien zombies (flood) attack as well. i wont post spoilers, but i was very pleased with the story line, and the epicness of the cutscenes and music (love you marty)

upon replaying the campaign on legendary mode, i was very disappointed by how easy it was. I have always been a lone wolf, and played alone. without any help i had no trouble beating the game, even with a high fever. this upsets me. the first game was nearly impossible to beat on legendary mode, and gave me a real thrill that the third did not. furthermore, the third game's combat is totally unlike the other two, because your enemies are far weaker. now that elites arent in the covenant, the game has completely changed. the brutes lack the energy shields that kept elites from even flinching when struck by a bullet. when a brute runs to cover, there is no urge to chase him, you KNOW that he has no shields that may recharge, making him a fully formidable opponent again. you KNOW that sneaking around to catch him has no penalty, as he lacks the elite's lethal melee attack. you also know that you can take him down in 3 melee strikes. overall, i really wish some of the elites had remained on the covenant.

enemies:

grunts: the same lovable beasts provided little challenge alone as always, but the flurry of plasma that hurdles toward you from a group of 3 or more can really get you down, more so than it ever did in halo 1 or 2. this was pleasant to me, for i love a challenge. other changes that i loved, were their ample ability to drive ghosts in battle WITHOUT making themselves an easy target, and their new kamikaze attack. these things caused grunts to kill me many times on legendary, a feat they rarely accomplished in the prequels.

jackals: they were ultimately the same, cowering behind shields and using pistols to take down yours. they provided little challenge as always, until they picked up a sniper rifle. the only real changes were the colors of their shields, and their new ability to fire carbines. carbine-jackals rarely killed me, even on legendary. they were able to pin me down quite effectively however, but their weapon's contrail(piece of art that it was) made it easy for me to find them. i can see that the jackals seemed to change a bit to fill in for the lack of elites, as they're taller and more imposing, but it doesn't change the fact that a single round from a battle rifle or carbine will take him down.

Brutes: truly disappointing foes. when i saw the brute viddoc, i assumed that they would be the "formidable adversaries" that were promised to me, but alas they are the same bullet sponges that they have always been. brutes have minuscule aiming prowess, the incredible accuracy with thrown grenades that they showed in halo 2 has gone. they are nearly incapable of being dangerous in a brute chopper. a grunt in a ghost makes me cringe far more than they. they lack energy shields, and their power armor is pathetically weak unless the tilt skull is active. I was truly disappointed by this. brutes with sniper rifles can be dangerous, but are not as dangerous as a jackal with a sniper, because they lack the stealth of the jackals, and make their heads so vulnerable to a countersnipe. their chieftains are dangerous, when armed with a gravity hammer, though they lack the ferocity of tartarus and his fist of rukt. they cower behind the other brutes and wait until the entire pack is dead before they strike. when they DO attack, it is no difficulty to dodge the hammer, or guess their path. i was, however, pleased that plasma and spike grenades bounce off the armor, rather than cause INSTANTDEATH. i was however, satisfied with their dialog. truly brutal.

hunters: i only have positive things to say, aside from their rarity throughout levels. less than 15 hunters exist in the game. hunters were vicious warriors from the start, but with their enhanced weaponry and armor, they are a real task to defeat. i found that a touch of their mace/shield, or a single spurt from their beam weapon was instant death, and i really enjoyed battling them.i even found myself having to run away occasionally on legendary. kudos.

Allys:

marines: marines were FAR improved from halo 2. they have more accurate firing, more effective close quarters techniques, and more realistic dialog. thanks, i enjoyed this. also, they were threatening in vehicles at all times.

elites: they were to weak! the shields took too little damage before collapsing, and their armor could take next to no punishment before the elite collapsed. however, they were extremely effective in close combat and long distance alike. i was glad to have them. they had glitches however, such as being incapable of swinging a gravity hammer, and an elite seated in the passenger seat of a hornet whilst wielding a plasma rifle, the arms fold behind the elite and the plasma rifle floats.

the arbiter: He is a fine ally, whether controlled by an AI or a friend.I set aside my old dislike of him from halo 2. however, i have complaints. he is incapable of swinging a gravity hammer, and firing a spartan laser or sniper rifle. overall i enjoyed having him. though it seems a little bit unhaloesque to have a constant ally who never dies.


weapons:

i was extremely disappointed by the grenades of halo 3. for the first 3/4 of the game, you only have 3 grenade types, and therefore 6 grenades max. this is extremely lame! fire grenades, when present in the level, are extremely rare, and mostly useless. i was angered by the fact that they aren't present in any multiplayer maps. spike grenades however make a nice addition to gameplay. i just wish that spike and plasma grenades could be used together more frequently in multiplayer. they have totally different uses, but because they both stick someone at bungie decided not to have them together.

assault rifle: glad to have my old friend back

smg: this weapon is almost NEVER present in campaign, and even if it were it is only useful when dual wielded. i was glad that its power was increased, and its recoil diminished from halo 2, however.

spiker rifle: this weapon was useless, truly. an smg defeats it thoroughly. it was sad watching brutes attempt to fight with it.

plasma rifle: why does this weapon barely damage an unshielded spartan? this is annoying. however, i loved how effective this was against flood. in the levels cortana and floodgate, it was my LIFELINE.

plasma pistol: this weapon was fun to use, though it upsets me that its charged shot cannot kill. this makes it USELESS against grunts, drones and hunters. the main firing is so incredibly weak its not funny.

battle rifle: i have one word to describe this weapon: omgwtfbbq. this weapon is so great in campaign, but so useless in multiplayer. the bullets hardly damage, but are capable of headshots, which is its saving grace.as an animator i can honestly say that i am dissapointed. it uses the exact same animations as the assault rifle, and that is saddening.

carbine: i love it as i always did. i am upset that its melee animation mirrors that of the assault rifle and battle rifle's and beam rifle's horizontal melee. thats right i noticed.

magnum: do not want. this weapon is pathetic and unrealistic. how can a gun so weak fire so slow? also i noticed that one of its melee's is mirrored by the mauler's melee and the smg's melee (when used by the arbiter)

mauler: i love maulers. they're fun to use in multiplayer and campaign alike. they're well balanced, i really have no complaint here. i love the firing sound.

shotgun: it is unbalanced. i can shoot 50 rounds of smg lead into a man and die in one shot from this shotgun. also, i am angered by its flawed vertical melee attack. it doesn't end in the same frame that it begins in, and so left thumb jolts unnaturally. bungie's animators are talented, why would you make this type of mistake?

energy sword: this is far more balanced. no complaint. i do enjoy punching with them when they break as well :D

gravity hammer: this weapon is irritating. we don't need more close ranged weapons in multiplayer. the master chief is capable of beating a fully armored spartan down in 2 punches, why do we need to supplement that even further? also, it angers me that it uses the same melee animations as the CTF flag, though there is a perfectly deadly blade on the back that goes unused.

brute plasma rifle: hahah just kidding its gone. yay


missile pod: i retract my accusations of unbalanced gameplay that i spewed about during the beta. i enjoy using it in valhalla

machine gun: see missile pod

flamethrower: i am disappointed by the fact that flood can catch fire and jump onto you. this makes it not worth using in campaign, but camping with it in multiplayer is fun.

vehicles:

i only really have to complain about the hornet, so for the sake of my carpal tunnel ill just talk about that

hornet: the hornet causes graphical glitch in elites, my favorite covenant. this is upsetting. also, they are far to powerful in campaign, and ruins some of the epicness. i am glad they were excluded from multiplayer


thank you for reading, i dont need comments about how big a loser i am for critiquing so harshly. but im sure theyll come anyways.

i do overall enjoy halo 3. i believe it is the best of the series... but it could have been more

a diehard fan, IRONCLAD

*applaudes*

This was well written and thought out.

Kiwi agrees with what you said about the gravity hammer. Kiwi asked his friend about why the hammer part of it was not used in the melee and he said it was so as not to waste ammo which confused Kiwi.

i agree

You think the legendary is easy? Put on skulls and try it, and I mean all of them.

There's a word for that, it's artificial difficulty or something like that.

i dont get it in halo 2 hunters and grunts were on the elites side and i know the grunts might hjave given up but not the hunters lol a grunts kamikazi charge? wtf *hey bob look over there its a grunt....whats that on him and why is he running towards us? OH NOES ITS A PLASMA GRENADE ON HIM BWAAAAAAAAAH! *dies*

Yeah, I wish there was a level that had like 7 scarabs...

ive played and beaten floodgate with all skulls on except blind. no one likes blind.

why do they even have blind? (ok except for machinima... theres no use.)

I dont have halo 3 :( whats blind do? How does it make you blind? Distorting your vision?

Edited by someone not importiant on Nov 6, 2007 at 11:34 PM

It does the same as it does in Halo 2, makes yer hud go bye bye.

not just the HUD but the first person model and arms. i got this same effect once when i constantly killed player 2 in the crows nest. enough dead arbiter models will eventually cause the game to degrade graphically

That's wierd.

about the elite part....i think they are so weak cuze.........kinda all the elites u find are just minors and some majors....ALSO....im sure bungie made em weaker so their new monkey-moron creations looked stronger....but anyway elites ( on h2 and 3) allways pwned brutes

but whyd they weaken the brutes?

no idea..........cuze in h2 they were harder to kill and they didnt have power armor....

Easy to shoot in the head though.

I've had that problem too. It seems the sniper has some issues or it's the Brtes that have some issues.

there power armor seems more effective against sniper rounds

kinda...actually i could kill a brute captain (gold ones) with 2 head shots

it was on heroic.....and chieftains arent gold........i mean captains....that usually use a brute shot...........and about chieftains i think i killed one with 3 headshots on heroic

try playing legendary with both mythic and tilt on. it will take about 20 sniper rounds to dispatch one

How does it go bye bye? I dont even have halo 2.

The HUD is no longer there when that skull is active.

and your weapon is invisible as well

I agree with the whole article. Its well put but there are some plots in Halo 3 that are left out. Like the Brutes. What happend to the Covenant at the end? It doesnt explain it.

i believe most of the brutes are dead, or in another sector of the galaxy. i mean, the chief killed so many, they have to be near extinction now right

Wait, I'm lost. I don't have a 360 so I don't know the story. How did the elites join the marine forces? Did the Covenant betrayed them?

You should find the reason in Halo 2.

Nor do I have vista.
Edited by Killer247 on Nov 10, 2007 at 11:08 AM

theres sumthing called xbox......(not the 360...)

Uhhhhh.... what makes you think I've got an xbox when I can't get vista?

well just in case lol

Oh, okay. I'll ask my friend about it on Tuesday. He should (hopefully) remember the reason why the elites and the arbiter are allies.

Was it because the prophets betrayed them?

yes, and also u could watch the cutsceens on youtube....