Daimon's Lair

Well, I've done it-- reviewed all three Halo games. Even though, of course, I finished these quite some time ago it's been fun. Now for the comparison necessary after the completion of any trilogy: which one is the best?

I realize this has been a popular article as of late, but hopefully I provide a unique perspective.

Story:

Halo: CE gets notable mention if nothing else because without it, the other two games cease to exist. The story of the Master Chief and Captain Keyes on Halo is a classic one, but the scenery remains ultimately the same throughout. The story writers definitely get props in my book, however, for the pseudo-horror movie-esque way in which the Flood were introduced. Creepy. . . .

Halo 2 takes the bank in my book, as I alluded to throughout my reviews of the trilogy. Not only do you start on the Cairo orbital defense station, then you take a trip down to earth, then a journey through Slipspace. The scenery continues to change throughout, keeping the action pumping without ever feeling stale. One exception to that is the annoying trip through the containment walls to greet the Flood--very reminiscent of the equally annoying Library level in Halo: CE.

Many Halo fans are conflicted over the split storyline in Halo 2 which follows the semi-parralel journeys of the Master Chief and Arbiter who ultimately meet in the lair of the Gravemind. I have to say that the opening cutscene of Halo 2 is my favorite of the entire series, hands down. Plus, the designers picked an excellent way to introduce the Arbiter to the player with the 'Heretic' mission.

Halo 3's storyline is nothing to shrug at, however. The initial trip to the jungle and through Crow's Nest is a great opening sequence--helped considerably by the orchestral score and the HD graphics. Halo 3's horror-movie re-introduction of the Flood almost tops that of Halo: CE's intro and I give the deigners props for using the Flood in a way that very rarely becomes repetitive until the penultimate level within the Gravemind.

Which is, of course, one of my biggest beefs with Halo 3. The second-to-last level, with all of its incredibly annoying Cortana interruptions just drives me up the wall. Enough said.

Another annoyance is the near absence of the Arbiter from the story except as your sidekick. He contributes almost nothing except his utility as a walking tank during the initial Flood levels. His absence is one of the reasons the Gravemind level is so freaking annoying.

A final gripe is the utter weakness of using the monitor as the final boss. How lame is that?

Edge: Halo 2

Balancing (Single Player)

Halo: CE sets the bar in my mind for difficulty level progression in a video game. Easy is just that. Normal is a decent challenge for most players (including myself). Heroic is manageable at parts and downright difficult on others. Legendary is simply insane (for me). I salute those who've beaten any of the Halo games on Legendary. You're my heroes. Not really, but still cool.

The weapon arsenal is nice, with the single coolest weapon for the single player being the zooming pistol. Easily one of the best videogame weapons of all time. The sniper rifle is nice too. Here's some advice: if you see it, pick it up. Ditto for the shotgun, a.k.a. "the boomstick". Why did Bungie have to weaken it in the later titles?

From where I sit, Halo 2 keeps the difficulty level progression unchanged. So, what are the changes? Bye bye, assault rifle, hello Battle Rifle and SMG (a.k.a. "bullet hose"). Bye, bye zooming pistol. Hello totally lame and plasma pistol uselessness. But wait, the plasma pistol is quite useful now with dual wielding, especially for multiplayer.

The battle rifle is another one of the coolest weapons. My only wish is that it had two firing modes: three-round burst and full auto (with an appropriate loss of accuracy). What I wish, though, is that the assault rifle had not been deleted.

Dual-wielding is a nice addition, but as I said in my Halo 2 review, I found it more useful in multiplayer. In the campaign, I preferred to keep a single weapon and hold on to my grenades, as those are far more effective in winnowing down large groups of Covenant.

Changes I particularly hate are the revised hunters and the 'bullet-sponges' a.k.a. known as the Brutes.

Halo 3 fixes some of the errors of Halo 2 but makes some of its own. Rather than leave the difficulty levels unchanged, Bungie considerably weakened the Normal. I have a sneaking suspicion that Heroic is half a notch lower too. Gameplay is further changed by the fact that you now have an AI sidekick in the Arbiter. He's useful primarily as a moving shield as he rarely kills enemies. With the notable exception of using him against the Flood. Holy crap. Nothing like having an energy sword with unlimited ammo. Which, of course, is one of the reasons why I hate the penultimate level--the Arbiter's not with you for that one. That results in the difficulty level being increased considerably, particularly for someone like me who was quite content to let the Arbiter score the vast majority of Flood kills, thereby conserving my precious ammo.

Changes I liked were re-introducing the assault rifle (which in turn makes the SMG almost as worthless as the Magnum). The Brute Spiker is a nice weapon and the Gravity Hammer is simply bad-ass.

I also particularly liked the revised Brutes. The Brutes as they were in Halo 2 were a MAJOR mistake when it came to balancing. The Brutes in Halo 3 are an enemy you love to hate. Their decent teamwork isn't the best enemy AI by a long shot, but it's the best of the Halo trilogy. Which makes them in some ways harder than the Elites of Halo: CE despite their lack of shields.

The basic Brutes are easier to kill than the Blue Elites of Halo: CE but appear usually in far greater numbers. The Captains are considerably more challenging than the Red Elites. And the Chieftains are just, well, insane compared to the Gold Elites. The Golds pretty much came at you alone and the simplest strategy for dealing with them was simply to tag them with a plasma grenade and run backwards. The Chieftains are far more aggressive and are always surrounded by their Brute pack. Finally the Covenant uses some teamwork against the Master Chief.

This is difficult to decide, but. . . .

Edge: Halo: CE

Multiplayer/Co-op

The only real difference between co-op in the three games is Halo 3's campaign meta-game where you can keep 'score' based on kills, headshots, deaths, etc. It's fun and a nice addition.

Multiplayer is where each Halo title surpassed the previous one with new weapons, maps, options for customized games, etc. Halo 3 is the easy winner here. Not only is the code considerably more polished, but the online matchmaking system is the pinnacle of multiplayer gaming in my book.

Not to mention the continually updated maps and playlist variants.

And the cool feature (though I don't have the patient for it) of the Forge, with the ability to edit maps and upload your own unique twist to the Halo 3 maps.

Another addition I really like is the Theater. After a particularly satisfying match (or a particularly frustrating one) you can rewatch the game from any player's perspective or take a bird's eye view of the action. And I'm amazed that the files only take up as much space as they do.

No contest

Edge: Halo 3

Replay Value

Every Halo game has at least two memorable levels. For Halo: CE and Halo 2, those were the opening levels. The Pillar of Autumn and Halo were awesome. In Halo 2, the Cairo Station, New Mombassa and Delta Halo were great. In Halo 3, I liked Crow's Nest, the desert level on the Ark and the final level (sans the boss fight). Even if I prefer to skip the Flood, each campaign has its moments.

Despite having the weakest individual level, Halo 3 ranks as having the most replayable campaign. It gets this result with the simple yet nice addition of the co-op metagame scoring and the ability to do co-op split-screen and over Xbox live from the same menu.

As multi-player goes, well, we already know which game is the most replayable. The constant addition and tweaking of content and code by Bungie keeps the experience fresh and challenging. For those with actual friends (unlike myself), having the File Share and Theater makes sharing your genius and/or stupidity very easy. The seamless integration of these features into the Bungie website is something all developers should emulate.

And for those with the patience, the Forge is a great addition and something which (correct me if I'm wrong) is something almost unheard of in console gaming despite its prevalance in PC gaming.

Edge: Halo 3

Final Decision

This is a difficult one, considering I'm a player who normally plays only the single-player campaigns of games but loves the multplayer of Halo 3. In many ways, the only game without major faults is Halo: CE. At the same time, however, the additions of its sequels outweigh their respective faults.

As biased as I am to the great story iof Halo: CE and the even greater one of Halo 2, I have to *gulp* admit that Halo 3 is the best of the trilogy.

This admission, however, is subject to change.

Especially since I need to get my wife motivated to sit down and play through the trilogy co-op. Maybe we'll even take a crack at Legendary *smiles*.

Halo 3 is the winner!