|
Just in case you’ve missed the hype-train a little known game by the name of Halo 3 will finally make it onto game store shelves this Wednesday, September 26th. Billed as the biggest video game launch ever Microsoft is hoping to hit sales of $300 million by the close of business on day one. Bungie studios were given complete free reign to develop and test the game until they decided it was ready for release in an attempt to bring the perfect experience straight out of the box. Will they succeed? With the amount of hype surrounding this launch it’s hard to see how they could fail, certainly not in monetary terms at any rate. Now I’ll get it out there straight off that I’m no big Halo fan boy, I couldn’t find my Arbiter from my elbow when it comes to the plot lines and in fact I’ve never really played more than ten minutes of the first two games. The question is, will I buy into the hype?
 Yes, I suppose will. But only to the extent that I would like a great new game to play thanks. The whole Halo storyline has passed me by and the most I could ever glean was that some big space station (called a Halo) was going to be used as a weapon to destroy humanity. It didn’t. A geezer with a green space-suit called ‘Master Chief’ - or John - apparently saved the day in Halo 1. Then it turns out that we needed a sequel and Halo 2 arrived.
 Now it turned out there was another of these space-station ‘Halo’ thingies and guess what? Yep, the bad guys want to use it as a weapon and destroy humanity. Much fighting later combat has evolved and old John and his green space suit have saved the day once more. The down side was there were yet more of these Halos and now they were all going to go off with a big bang when somebody flicked a certain switch. This switch was now on Earth so at the end of Halo 2 old Master Chief looks like he hasn’t evolved enough to finish that fight and has to head back to Earth and do it all again.
Now at that point from what I can glean Halo fan-boy types were enraged with anger, this ending to Halo 2 was apparently so horrible that people would write about it for years to come and bemoan the way the game climaxed. Me, I can’t see why? But anyhow it left things nicely open for Halo 3 and that’s where we are all headed this Wednesday. We are apparently going to play the game as ‘Master Chief’ himself and dash back to Earth to save the day. Now, no spoilers here but I’m betting old Master Chief manages it at last, sure fire bet, stick a fiver on it.
This time around we’re promised a much more epic battlefield to fight through, much better enemies to shoot at and the chance to bring three mates along for the ride in an online enabled four player co-op. Add in to this a plethora of maps to play online and on paper we have the ultimate high scoring game. Co-op – check, Campaign mode – Check, Online multiplayer – check! The review guys should be breaking out in a cold sweat right there. Instant 10/10, it’s got everything, huzzah, game of the year!  Call me cynical here but this whole review scoring thing is just too subjective to be worth a carrot at the best of times. Bioshock 10/10 - it’s the dog’s bollocks! Was the cry heard from every reviewer during the games release week. No mention of its lack of multiplayer or online modes. Just the fact that it was ‘gorgeous’ to look at and had a great storyline so you ought to buy it straight away. I did. I spent 6-7 hours playing it to its conclusion then got bored of being a Big Daddy (Damn! I’ve spoiled it for you, but hey what the heck, get over it) and swiftly traded it  back in. Shadowrun 5/10 - it sucks like a bitch! Shouted these same reviewers citing that its lack of split-screen (yeah right) and no campaign meant it was only deserving of a low score as it was just a multiplayer game. Some people even had the audacity to claim it was only half a game! Funny then that I enjoyed a few great games of Shadowrun last night many months after its release whilst somebody else now has my copy of Bioshock and will be busy injecting their tattooed arms with god only knows what. In game play terms 10/10 does not a great game make. Longevity and enjoyment comes from the variety of scenarios provided by human opponents long after any ‘campaign’ has been finished.
 Anyway, rant over. Of course Halo 3 will get many 10/10 awards and indeed it already has as reviews were released over the weekend to increase the hype-o-meter still further before Wednesday. Having read a few of these already it appears that the campaign is short(ish) the ‘build your own game’ Forge tools are good and if you played online in the Beta test you know what to expect in multiplayer already. So will I rate it as 10/10? I’ll keep you posted on that but I feel it will be largely dependent upon the circle of friends you have playing with you just as it is in any online game. The campaign I will likely play through on ‘I’m a pussy’ difficulty level. Mainly because I can’t see where the fun is in making things purposely frustrating for yourself. The co-op I must admit to be looking forward to trying out. Perhaps here is where I will hone my skills on ‘Legendary’ difficulty. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’ll be good at hiding behind people and letting them shoot the bad guys.
Stay tuned then as I take my first tentative steps into the world of Halo 3. Will I sink or will I swim? Maybe I’ll just get tea-bagged a lot by American youths who question my sexuality a lot? Or perhaps I’ll crown it as game of the year and rate it 10/10? Place your bets…… |
