Free Topic

Well, this week is a free topic week, so I figure it is only fitting that I blog about that thing that has contributed more to my topic being a week late than school work or even the Virginia Tech football game combined. That thing, as all video gamers out there already know, is the truest reason behind the phrase made so famous by Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That thing being the most devastating two syllable, four letter word to all college careers, and ultimately leading to countless, sleepless nights, and probably countless failed classes, around not just the nation but the entire world...HALO. Yes, a large portion of my time this past week (since the evening of Friday the 6th) has been devoted entirely to the new, third and final installment of easily one of the most sought after first person shooters (or any genre of video games for that matter) in the history of video games.

Halo 3, the conclusion to the trilogy, continues right where Halo 2 left off. Master Chief (the main character, and the last remnant of a military developed line of artificially enhanced soldiers known as Spartans) has just saved both earth and the galaxy from the ignition of a second ancient, planet sized, ringshaped, superweapon known as a halo. The ring was nearly fired by The Covenant, a coalition of many alien races bent on both a religious genocidal tear against humanity, and a misguided prophecy that the halo weapons will somehow set into motion a religious journey ultimately ending in a transcendant resolution for The Covenant. Now, Master Chief, has just fallen back to earth, and must stop The Covenant once and for all. More importantly, though, he must stop an even greater evil, The Flood (a parasitic, single consciousness which seeks to assimilate all sentient life into itself) which was released from its prisons on the first two halo rings in Halo and Halo 2.

I think this Halo is quite possibly the best of the trilogy by remedying a few flaws of both the first two games as well as providing an awesome conclusion to the story. Halo 2, though both fun and enjoyable as far as the storyline goes, had a couple of flaws which, I felt, detracted from the overall enjoyment of the game. First off, they ruined the pistol by decreasing its power as well as taking away the zoom. Many people felt this weapon was too powerful in the first halo during multiplayer games as it was both powerful up close as well as accurate and lethal from long distances. I agree with this to some degree, but feel that this actually improved the multiplayer aspect of the game by making this weapon a sort of neutralizing element against people with sniper rifles from long distances as well as the shotgun from close range. The third game brings back a lot of the power from the first game, though, it unfortunately did not revive the zoom function. I was also glad Halo 3 used only a rechargeable shield as with the second game rather than a rechargeable shield and life bar in the first. It prevents worrying about gathering health pick ups as well as simplifying the functionality of the health meter system. Another thing I saw as a flaw in the second game was the Arbiter missions. They provided an excellent way of progressing a side story in the trilogy so as to allow a meshing of the storylines in the third installment, but they were unfortunately somewhat tedious, in my opinion, as well as preventing gameplay with Master Chief, the major icon of the games. There are no Arbiter missions in the third game which was a relief to me, but he is a computer controlled aide (player controlled in co-operative gameplay) so as to keep his character involved. I found this to be a wise compromise and was glad to see how this worked out. This game also brought back the new weapons from Halo 2 as well as the assault rifle, which was left out of the second game. This combined with the continued ability to dual-wield some weapons as well as enhanced controls made the game much more enjoyable than either of the first two Halos. One of the best developments in the weapons realm with this game was the new ability to break a turret off its stand and carry it around. This is not only highly useful, but in all honesty, its simply just damn fun to do. The multiplayer, and XBOX Live in particular, also feels more like the multiplayer of the first Halo. This I enjoyed since, for me, the second Halo's multiplayer was lacking something, though I am still unsure of what that is. There are also new vehicles (i.e. the Brute Chopper and the Mongoose) which add a nice little surprise and flare to the r'epertoire of Halo 3. All in all, this was an incredible installment to the Halo trilogy, and one which I feel will hopefully lead to several future installments (despite the fact this was meant only as a trilogy and not a series).

Anyone who has played this game already will undoubtedly know all of this already, and probably have opinions of their own. I only hope that anyone who has not already played this game will give it a try. Believe me when I guarantee that you will not regret it.