Is it just me that Halo 3 (campaign) is a bit disappointing

[Krosis Priest]

Not trying to be a contrarian, I just thought "wow Halo 1 and 2 were so great and 3 is apparently the best one, so it's gonna be awesome!" and then it wasn't.

It's actually my first time playing through all the Halos (either I lived in a cave or just Halo wasn't that known when I was growing up, probably because not many people had consoles). I'm playing in story order, and basically my feelings so far:

Reach - great, if depressing story, and the gameplay was... good. Nothing mindblowing, but good.

CE - took me a moment to get used to the oldschool design, but then I just had a blast. Classic oldschool FPS with giant balls and a surprisingly deep and well-written story. It really felt like I was reliving something I missed 20+ years ago.

Halo 2 - wow, this really felt like something ahead of its time. The story got 4x more complex and interesting, the mission design is awesome and I barely noticed the limited ammo because there were so many awesome guns to grab all the time. The cliffhanger ending was weird, but besides that it was basically 10/10.

Halo 3 - ...eeeh? The entire story is basically what should be the last two missions of Halo 2 drawn out to be the whole campaign. All the coolest weapons from H2 (SMGs, carbine, beam rifle) appear much less or feel much weaker. Arbiter is now basically just a bot and sometimes objective marker. Ammo limits are stupid and the MA and Covenant weapons are basically the only ones that can hold more than three magazines or so. Vehicles sections are way too long and boring. The massive buildup to killing Truth is just a cutscene in the end. Genuinely the only standout and interesting mission (which improved my opinion by quite a bit) is the Cortana/Gravemind one, the rest feels like a rushed expansion to Halo 2.

Just my two cents. Will definitely be continuing with ODST and Halo 4, but Halo 3 is maybe the second game I've ever played about which I've heard nothing but massive praise and ended up... a bit disappointed compared to the less praised games.

[LivingIdea96]

Halo 3 is awesome but it definitely feels like a regression.

The missions aren't as fun and the vehicle sections can come off as filler and would've served better as alternative routes from regular FPS missions.

The plot definitely could've been better--it feels like MC should've found Cortana facing against Gravemind half-way through the game and then picked-up into some other plot continuing from there (we could've faced off against Sentinels in the second half and got the new robot-insect guns we got in Halo 4); also, there's NO arbiter missions like in H2. From Halo 1, Bungie really had something to prove and were out to prove it (they even put licensed music in H2 like its Tony Hawk or some ♥♥♥♥), in Halo 3, it feels like they were just out to make a good Halo game for the 360 that'd be great for multiplayer.

I definitely agree with what someone else said--at its heart, Halo 3's campaign is co-op. Playing with someone else versus playing alone is a world of difference (but apparently, the MCC doesn't have online co-op, which is another ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way 343's botched Halo, but that's another discussion).

New guns is another thing--Halo 3's guns feel like a regression from previous Halo. You can't dual-wield the needler, the AR is back but only has 32 rounds and is noticeably weaker (same story with the magnum, but both are still satisfying to use). The omission of Elites is a huge disappointment; the brutes are strong and dangerous but they're just not enough alone with the smaller enemies like the grunts, drones, and flood zombies. The additional "pick-ups" (Bubble Shield, Radar Jammer, Health Regain/Shield Loss) are a great new mechanic present but often fall short. Radar Jammer, Invisibility, and the Turret all seem useless. The campaign could've been longer and overall had more. There's always room to do more with these big budget crunch-limited releases.

Multiple endings. Alternative paths. Play as different characters in different campaigns. UPGRADE gameplay elements from previous titles, like add MORE guns and grenade types; have dual-wielding for ALL the guns.

[GamerXT]

Duel wielding in Halo 2 was sort of useless though, since the damage is less I think ? So ironically, one handed is still superior.

[OutSIdeOfTheBoX (chrisvig71)]

引用自 GamerXT：

Duel wielding in Halo 2 was sort of useless though, since the damage is less I think ? So ironically, one handed is still superior.

Yeah, I literally did beat halo 2 legendary and I used dual wielding like, 3 times... It's not that useful

[OKMB]

引用自 Average Alchemist：

I agree. I didn't realize when I played it as a kid, but when I replayed Halo 3 a few years ago with friends I realized that it was a let-down compared to Halo 2.

-Cortana is somehow both absent and a nuisance at the same time, which is a shame since she was a handy way to provide levity or exposition in 1 and 2.
-Despite all of the build-up, Arbiter is just kind of there. His biggest contribution is killing a character in a cutscene who should've been a bossfight.
-Despite all of the build-up, Gravemind just talks menacingly at you.
-Johnson gets 1-shot by Wheatly
-Brutes no longer have a character to represent them, and they're easier to kill than they were in Halo 2, so they go from being serious villains to being nameless mooks.

-Agreed, but I think her absence and presence does well for what Halo 3 is trying to present, which is the last, desperate hopes of an entire race trying to avert extinction.
-Arbiter's story largely concluded in 2. Also, the bossfights of 2 are the worst part of that entire game, I'm glad they were removed in 3.
-The Gravemind's strength is his nigh-on infinite horde of parasitic horrors. I guarantee you that whatever boss fight variant of the Gravemind that could be cooked up, would be infinitely worse than no boss fight at all
-Subjectively, I like Johnson's death because even though the war is over, the death doesn't stop.
-Had this game been the Halo 2 Brutes, it would be borderline unplayable. I don't mind the Brutes occupying the role of "mooks" because I think that fits well with where Halo 2 was taking the story.

I will say that Halo 3 is my favorite of any of the Halo games, and I find it's story far superior to that of 2 or 1. 2 especially, considering the Arbiter missions are really terrible.