Halo 3 feels off to me...

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Now I suppose I should give some context to what I'm saying here. The only Halo game I have ever played before the master chief collection came out, was Halo 2 on the original xbox (along with playing a tiny bit of other games at a friends). And I have played that the most before getting an original copy of Halo CE (which I played a lot too). So I have experience with the Halo franchise. With that information in mind, I hope to not offend anyone here, but...

Halo 3 feels off to me. I consider Halo 2 to be the best (with experience from reach to 3) followed by Halo CE. First up, the sound quality. The Arbiter sounds bad, like he's speaking on a microphone, and the gravemind, while achieving what they wanted, didn't feel as intimidating as the one from Halo 2. Johnson in my opinion was probably the best overall, but that's not saying much. Actually, I take that back, 343 guilty spark sounded just like how he did from Halo CE, like his voice was clear.

Next, the graphics. They feel off to me! I certainly wasn't impressed by them. Sure they may "look better" than pre-remaster Halo CE and Halo 2, but it falls short with me when you combine it with everything else I say. And I think we can agree that is felt a bit anti-climatic to play Halo 2's remaster, and then hop into Halo 3. Even Halo CE's remaster looks better in my opinion.

Weapons. Lets talk about weapons. I used just about every single one, and they feel underpowered. And couple that with a weak sound, makes the game not that all to satisfying to play. I can clearly remember the sounds from Every game before Halo 3 in the line up, but when I try to think of the sounds Halo 3's guns made, I revert back to one of the previous games. Guns should hurt! Shooting a baddie doesn't feel like that though, they just take it until they die. A weak sound, along with a somewhat lack of pain makes the game feel dull.

And the overall feel because of all of this? Just off, even bad. I could play Halo 2 pre-remaster and say confidently that it does better at all of these things. The music, sounds, and voice acting is better. The guns feel as strong as they are meant to be, and the game mechanics feel a lot more solid instead of meh. All the games achieve this.

Now Halo 3 has its merits! I absolutely loved the flood sections of this game, and having the game force you down a path where you kill everything, JUST to turn back and deal with the bodies, is amazing. The story actually is really good, is just feels underwhelming with the sound quality and graphics. I mean, compare the two scenes where they try to activate Halo in both 2 and 3. I think Tartarus did a much better job.

And fighting the scarabs? Those are actually a lot of fun too, although playing with AI marines sucks because they wait FOREVER to get somewhere. Sometimes, I want to shoot the damn gun and not have to wait on them.

And the scenery is probably the last thing I can think of. Looking at the Ark from the unfinished Halo? That, is a awesome scene.

Please tell me what you think. I am aware I am biased towards Halo CE and Halo 2, but I've also had plenty of time in Reach, and I had never played that game before. It was a lot of fun, attempting the legendary mode now actually. I tried to do my best and give the facts as I see them without being judgemental. To me, standing back from preference, Halo 3 (haven't played anything beyond this) is the weakest link in the halo franchise.

I would love to hear what you have to say. Is Halo 3 your favorite? Do you agree with anything I have said? This is a first impressions review basically. Tell me what I may have missed or overlooked that can improve the experience, maybe enlighten me to design choices.

[Gimli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSUJM2EyqE

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by Typharius:

You're probably going to anger a lot of people with this. Clearly you don't like the game or appreciate it's charms but most consider Halo 3 to be a timeless masterpiece, including me. The only thing I really agree with is that the assault rifle sounds muted compared to CE and Reach. Oh and the arbiter was hard to hear in like, one cutscene.

@Typharius I understand that. Is this PC version any different to the console version? And when it came to the Arbiter, it wasn't just the cutscenes, it was anytime he talked. There just wasn't that steel in his voice. The shipmaster sounded the same, but for some reason every elite aside from the Arbiter had that steel in their voice. I want to like Halo 3, and I do, I just feel like it is hampered by these so-called pitfalls. I mean certainly you can agree graphics wise that playing it was anti-climatic compared to just finishing Halo 2's remaster. I want to be convinced it is a good game, and I will replay. This are just my initial impression of the game. I have played all the games at least thrice by the time Halo 3 came to PC. I'm sure it's a game I will learn to enjoy, and I hope to have it be a choice favorite to me just like every game before it.

[Carnageloser7]

I've always hated the arbiter in Halo 3 compared to Halo 2 Arbiter and I completely agree about his voice. Everything else you say I completely disagree with though, Halo 2 was kind of a broken game where Halo 3 had a great development and a lot of money behind it. I liked the story in 2 better, but gameplay wise 3 is where it's at & it has really good lighting.

[Nuclearpoweredturtle]

Something I've always had issues with this game ever since its launch is how the soundmixing and camera work appear in the cutscenes, always felt like it lacked polish, or scenes seemed super rushed.

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by Carnageloser7:

I've always hated the arbiter in Halo 3 compared to Halo 2 Arbiter and I completely agree about his voice. Everything else you say I completely disagree with though, Halo 2 was kind of a broken game where Halo 3 had a great development and a lot of money behind it. I liked the story in 2 better, but gameplay wise 3 is where it's at & it has really good lighting.

At least someone agrees there :P. It's growing on me, but I think Halo 2 will always be my favorite. I played so much halo 2 that I had to buy 2 replacements, so I will admit I am biased. And to be honest, it's not even the game, it's just a bunch of other things. I think If I played 3 first before the 2 remaster, it wouldn't have been such an initial disappointment. It's more of a feeling thing, y'now? I also prefer the brutes from 2 than 3. Played both campaigns on normal, and the 3 brutes were weaksauce. I missed the challenge. but I guess that's why there are harder difficulties. Regardless, I do enjoy it, and look forward to playing it more

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by Nuclearpoweredturtle:

Something I've always had issues with this game ever since its launch is how the soundmixing and camera work appear in the cutscenes, always felt like it lacked polish, or scenes seemed super rushed.

the acting did seem a little lackluster for me too. But the game is still getting updates, so maybe some things will change? nah, that would deviate.

[Jebus]

I have a lot of issues with halo 3.
Halo 2 is in my opinion the golden child that got robbed of its pedestal.
Some issues i have with halo 3:

(EDIT: strictly campaign speak. Halo 3 multiplayer is better. Button combos are stupid.)

Key voice actors changed for the MUCH, MUCH worse. (Truth, Miranda Keyes.)
Brutes are just not as good an enemy as elites.

The flood traded its ability to wield vehicles and heavy weaponry in exchange for a horde mechanic full of weak blobs you can 1hit KO with any melee attack. Adding a frustrating pure form to harrass you on range because if they didnt the flood would be a cakewalk.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ have you seen the marines faces. The models in general are the key reason i would like a remaster for it. The world and weapons looks good though even to this day.
That first jungle mission is still beautiful.
Shame they never do anything with it.

People think the new halo infinite trailer looks underwhelming. Hahh.
Oh boy wanna talk underwhelming. Lets look at The Ark in halo 3.
I would start, but theres literally nothing to look at.
Delta halo in the game before it looks more impressive somehow.

Or how about the fact we spend the entire second mission in some random ancient era bunker.
In our halo game set 550+ years in the future.
UNSC Base outside of new mombasa? Nah. Heres a WW2 bunker.

And im so glad they took high charity and made it even more of a corridor level.
Except now theres biomass walls all around you.
Remember how you could gaze at the covenant city in the center of high charity in halo 2?
Yeah none of that here.

Glad it had a warthog run.
Sad it was so confusing.
"Where the hell am i? what am i looking at?"
*googles it*
"It has the same layout as The cartographer level in halo CE? What?"

I completely forgot the amount of backtracking you do in the same level in this game.
In halo CE you got a second level doing it in reverse.
In halo 3 you have fun going back the way you came with little to no resistance in every other level.

[Jordo24]

I agree that the graphics havent aged well, and id like halo 3 to get the same graphical treatment as halo 1 and 2 anniversary (or better if they can)

[†Ironguard†]

Graphics look good to me in 1440p. They look timeless. You people been playing too many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ games. They dont make game like these anymore.

[Cone]

Oh yeah, 3 has its faults, but of ALL the games to port directly without an anniversary treatment or dodgy patching from 343's interference (looking at Reach here mostly, a bit of 4 too), it was the best one to get it. I only have a small amount of complaints for the port and none of them are egregious enough to merit actual anger, just fun screaming as me and the boys get shot into a hole on the Warthog Run by sentinel lasers five times in a row.

Here's to hoping they don't botch ODST like they did Reach (and that they fix Reach) so we can have the entire Bungie collection on PC.

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by +Ironguard+:

Graphics look good to me in 1440p. They look timeless. You people been playing too many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ games. They dont make game like these anymore.

The graphics are fine, and I do like it, it's just the high bar set by 2. We're not tring to sound whiney, I'm just voicing my opinion on how Halo 3 feels like it could have been something more. As it stands now, Halo 3 feels underwhelming. Normal should be a challenge, not heroic or legendary. Normal should have that right amount of difficulty.

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by Box:

Oh yeah, 3 has its faults, but of ALL the games to port directly without an anniversary treatment or dodgy patching from 343's interference (looking at Reach here mostly, a bit of 4 too), it was the best one to get it. I only have a small amount of complaints for the port and none of them are egregious enough to merit actual anger, just fun screaming as me and the boys get shot into a hole on the Warthog Run by sentinel lasers five times in a row.

Here's to hoping they don't botch ODST like they did Reach (and that they fix Reach) so we can have the entire Bungie collection on PC.

how'd they botch reach? I love it and it feels fun to me

[†Ironguard†]

Originally posted by Top Shelf:

Originally posted by +Ironguard+:

Graphics look good to me in 1440p. They look timeless. You people been playing too many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ games. They dont make game like these anymore.

The graphics are fine, and I do like it, it's just the high bar set by 2. We're not tring to sound whiney, I'm just voicing my opinion on how Halo 3 feels like it could have been something more. As it stands now, Halo 3 feels underwhelming. Normal should be a challenge, not heroic or legendary. Normal should have that right amount of difficulty.

Do you like halo 4 and 5? Why not play legendary then if normal is too easy? What difference does it make?

[Jebus]

A thing to keep in mind is that halo games are made with Heroic as the basis.
So playing on normal is always going to feel a bit easier than it should.

[SiegeBreaker42 #UnmuteF2Ps]

Originally posted by +Ironguard+:

Originally posted by Top Shelf:

The graphics are fine, and I do like it, it's just the high bar set by 2. We're not tring to sound whiney, I'm just voicing my opinion on how Halo 3 feels like it could have been something more. As it stands now, Halo 3 feels underwhelming. Normal should be a challenge, not heroic or legendary. Normal should have that right amount of difficulty.

Do you like halo 4 and 5? Why not play legendary then if normal is too easy? What difference does it make?

Never played them. This is my first time playing the (mostly) full collection because I strongly dislike consoles. I'll get to them in time, when they come to the platform I prefer.

Originally posted by Jebus™:

A thing to keep in mind is that halo games are made with Heroic as the basis.
So playing on normal is always going to feel a bit easier than it should.

That is true! Heroic is basically as close to reality as one can get, canonically speaking. Maybe halo 3 seemed easy because there weren't any E L I T E S to fight against. The brute AI feels simple, and fights with them are only difficult because of amount and geometry. And the flood are easy to just sweep aside. In Halo 2, not only were there elites, but also REALLY hard to kill brutes, and the flood were hard to kill too. All on normal difficulty. I can't wait for heroic or legendary, but I feel like that halo 3's harder difficulties won't be that bad. It's unfortunate