Halo 3: more minus than plus?
I still remain a firm fan of UT in all it's flavours but I did spend three hours on Halo 3 at the weekend:
This was on the co-op campaign with a friend who has already completed once. In those three hours, we managed (with me first-timing Halo 3 - and only experience with the demo of the original Halo prior) to get someway into mission 6 (of 9).
It looks gorgeous, sounds amazing, and surprising slow. Anyone jumping floats in the air for several seconds, and there's no dodging. Even the fast vehicles like Ghosts seem to take an age to come about.
With two players, Halo 3 was good fun, despite all that. My partner in crime knew (mostly) what needed to be done and I am always able to flank opponents. He is a much better driver than I am but I am probably a better turret gunner.
I do have some good memories now of that session (in no particular order):
operating a mounted gun in a Warthog and using his zoomed in sniper view to watch my tracer fire and take down the sniper he was aiming for;
again in a Warthog shooting down the driver of a Ghost whose vehicle then crushed the driver of a second Ghost;
The Gravity Hammer!;
the look on my friends face when he turned to look for my character at one point and saw me (as the Arbiter) with a turret gun in my hands and a rocket launcher on my back;
the moment that while he was trying to snipe a Wraith, I was able to get to a rocket launcher - as the Wraith turned away from him, he saw me appear from behind a mound and fire a rocket at point-blank range, standing still to watch the burning wreckage fall around me;
a defensive position in a control room with inbound Flood "Cover the window - I've got the door" said he. It was on the first few that arrived that he got hit just as he emptied a clip - hearing him curse and fall back, I jumped in. With a Gravity Hammer. Splat! At that point, I covered the door instead and he just warned me as the Flood approached;
finding the Flame Thrower;
the first time in the Scorpions - pretty much not stopping and leaving a trail of smoking Convenant in my wake;
There were some irritants though-
The comparative slowness (compared to UT2k4 or even Timesplitters) meant several times I got caught in the open and suffered death by Brute;
at least once (during the first Scarab encounter when I tried to mount it) I was killed with absolutely no idea what had killed me;
at least once dying with a full weapon and equipment roster on top of more equipment and then being unable to pick up the weapons I was using when I got back to that spot (particularly annoying as it was an Energy Sword I couldn't get to);
though the graphics are lovely, the black borders and co-op play meant that the viewing area for each of us was only about a third of the screen, which did feel a little restrictive
It's a different pace of FPS and one I would have to adjust my playing style for - I've spent a good few years on objective based gaming (I really should have a look a Quake Wars at some point) - it is a good game (though I think playing it with someone improved the gaming experience for me) but I don't think it's enough to make me want to go out and buy a 360 for, despite what the hype would have you believe.
And as a small aside, who would honestly want to own a green xBox 360? Honestly?
This was on the co-op campaign with a friend who has already completed once. In those three hours, we managed (with me first-timing Halo 3 - and only experience with the demo of the original Halo prior) to get someway into mission 6 (of 9).
It looks gorgeous, sounds amazing, and surprising slow. Anyone jumping floats in the air for several seconds, and there's no dodging. Even the fast vehicles like Ghosts seem to take an age to come about.
With two players, Halo 3 was good fun, despite all that. My partner in crime knew (mostly) what needed to be done and I am always able to flank opponents. He is a much better driver than I am but I am probably a better turret gunner.
I do have some good memories now of that session (in no particular order):
operating a mounted gun in a Warthog and using his zoomed in sniper view to watch my tracer fire and take down the sniper he was aiming for;
again in a Warthog shooting down the driver of a Ghost whose vehicle then crushed the driver of a second Ghost;
The Gravity Hammer!;
the look on my friends face when he turned to look for my character at one point and saw me (as the Arbiter) with a turret gun in my hands and a rocket launcher on my back;
the moment that while he was trying to snipe a Wraith, I was able to get to a rocket launcher - as the Wraith turned away from him, he saw me appear from behind a mound and fire a rocket at point-blank range, standing still to watch the burning wreckage fall around me;
a defensive position in a control room with inbound Flood "Cover the window - I've got the door" said he. It was on the first few that arrived that he got hit just as he emptied a clip - hearing him curse and fall back, I jumped in. With a Gravity Hammer. Splat! At that point, I covered the door instead and he just warned me as the Flood approached;
finding the Flame Thrower;
the first time in the Scorpions - pretty much not stopping and leaving a trail of smoking Convenant in my wake;
There were some irritants though-
The comparative slowness (compared to UT2k4 or even Timesplitters) meant several times I got caught in the open and suffered death by Brute;
at least once (during the first Scarab encounter when I tried to mount it) I was killed with absolutely no idea what had killed me;
at least once dying with a full weapon and equipment roster on top of more equipment and then being unable to pick up the weapons I was using when I got back to that spot (particularly annoying as it was an Energy Sword I couldn't get to);
though the graphics are lovely, the black borders and co-op play meant that the viewing area for each of us was only about a third of the screen, which did feel a little restrictive
It's a different pace of FPS and one I would have to adjust my playing style for - I've spent a good few years on objective based gaming (I really should have a look a Quake Wars at some point) - it is a good game (though I think playing it with someone improved the gaming experience for me) but I don't think it's enough to make me want to go out and buy a 360 for, despite what the hype would have you believe.
And as a small aside, who would honestly want to own a green xBox 360? Honestly?
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