It is difficult to imagine that any game on any system could effectively live up to the hype that Halo 3 for the XBOX 360 received months before it was even released. Gamers began lining up outside their local electronic stores days before the game was released just to boast about being one of the first to take on the third installment of the popular first-person shooter.

 

When the packaging was torn and the game was loaded, very few people were disappointed with what they were presented with. Though the concept and the game play of Halo 3 are not very different from the previous two versions, what the developers at Bungie and Microsoft were able to do is to successfully build upon many of the features that made the previous two version of the game so popular and successful. The old idea of "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" certainly applies to this game, and Microsoft did an excellent job of avoiding too much tampering with a concept that has already proven successful.

 

For starters, Halo 3 for the XBOX 360 offers player the most enthralling and captivating storyline of the entire trilogy. The game's main character, Master Chief, is back to finally finish the fight that began in the very first installment of Halo. In this third and possibly final version of the game, all seems lost as the forces meant to defend the Earth are battered and close to defeat. The game's popular character Cortana remains a captive of the Flood, and a civil war continues to rage within the evil Covenant. In the end, it is up to each individual player to do his or her as Master Chief to destroy Earth's enemies and keep the human race from being destroyed.

 

In addition to the storyline, Halo 3 for the XBOX 360 also features high definition graphics, enhanced artificial intelligence, new and more destructive weapons, new characters, and all-new challenges that all work to make the game a completely new experience that though similar to earlier versions of the game, can still stand on its own merits.

 

The multiplayer, online experience that made the game so popular with gamers remains, but it has been expanded and improved upon from the previous versions of Halo. The social nature of Halo 3 for the XBOX 360 seems to be the popular way to go with most of today's games, and with good reasons. Players want to be able to compete against something other than the game's artificial intelligence, and Halo 3 certainly and without question, delivers. Though many things have changed in Halo 3, some for the better and some for the worse, players can rest assured that developers still left them with the option of enjoying hours of playing with or against their friends from all over the world.

 

[nms: halo 3 xbox,5,0,15,haloxbox]