Halo 3
Halo had reached a pretty big high by the time the Xbox 360 was released. Halo 2 was one of the best selling games on the original Xbox console and one of the most popular multiplayer games. Halo 2's single player storyline left us with on a cliffhanger that eagerly awaited closure on and the idea of this already fantastic looking game now in HD meant the 3 year wait was a long one.
Microsoft teased us with beta entry to the online multiplayer included with purchases of Crackdown, which meant a lot of people bought Crackdown without actually playing it. Turns out Crackdown was pretty good, but I too intended initially to just get into the Halo 3 beta. It was pretty fantastic, but since none of my local friends were playing it all staying power was lost.
Soon enough though we saw it's release and a few of us got our copies. Local multiplayer, which was 95% of this game for me, was vastly improved with the jump up to HD resolution. Squeezing four player's screens into one becomes more and more of an issue as the level of detail and information on-screen increases; there were times when it was difficult in Halo 1 and 2 to see exactly what kind of grenade you had selected or how much ammo you had left. The jump up to HD resolution was so incredible I don't we got along before it was available. Halo 3 became such a staple with us that even when ODST and Reach came along, Halo 3 was still what we chose to play. Though a lot of that was simply because unlike 3, they didn't bring much extra to the table as far as changed to the multiplayer content.
Though multiplayer was a big part of Halo 3 for me, the single player campaign was an improvement as well. Though I had enjoyed Halo 1 and 2's main storyline, they were somewhat repetitive and and times hardly memorable. Halo 3 however felt significantly more cinematic and seemed to offer a much richer story and higher quality level design. They even added the incredible option of an online co-operative single player which meant you could experience the story with a friend. Something that was available in Gears of War before this and has become more and more available over time in some of my favorite games.
Bungie did the impossible by creating a third sequel to an already popular title and beat out it's own success by outselling Halo 2. Until the release of Halo 4 five years later, it stood as the best game of the series and held us all waiting for the return of the Master Chief.
Microsoft teased us with beta entry to the online multiplayer included with purchases of Crackdown, which meant a lot of people bought Crackdown without actually playing it. Turns out Crackdown was pretty good, but I too intended initially to just get into the Halo 3 beta. It was pretty fantastic, but since none of my local friends were playing it all staying power was lost.
Soon enough though we saw it's release and a few of us got our copies. Local multiplayer, which was 95% of this game for me, was vastly improved with the jump up to HD resolution. Squeezing four player's screens into one becomes more and more of an issue as the level of detail and information on-screen increases; there were times when it was difficult in Halo 1 and 2 to see exactly what kind of grenade you had selected or how much ammo you had left. The jump up to HD resolution was so incredible I don't we got along before it was available. Halo 3 became such a staple with us that even when ODST and Reach came along, Halo 3 was still what we chose to play. Though a lot of that was simply because unlike 3, they didn't bring much extra to the table as far as changed to the multiplayer content.
Though multiplayer was a big part of Halo 3 for me, the single player campaign was an improvement as well. Though I had enjoyed Halo 1 and 2's main storyline, they were somewhat repetitive and and times hardly memorable. Halo 3 however felt significantly more cinematic and seemed to offer a much richer story and higher quality level design. They even added the incredible option of an online co-operative single player which meant you could experience the story with a friend. Something that was available in Gears of War before this and has become more and more available over time in some of my favorite games.
Bungie did the impossible by creating a third sequel to an already popular title and beat out it's own success by outselling Halo 2. Until the release of Halo 4 five years later, it stood as the best game of the series and held us all waiting for the return of the Master Chief.
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