Product Description

Halo 3 is the third game in the Halo Trilogy and the thrilling conclusion to the events begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. The Covenant occupation of Earth has uncovered a massive and ancient object beneath the African sands, an object whose secrets have yet to be revealed. Earth's forces are battered and beaten. The Master Chief's AI companion, Cortana, is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind, a horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the heart of the Covenant. It's all been building to this--a desperate, final war that leads to a soul-shattering climax of epic proportions. Take control of Master Chief to defeat the Covenant and destroy the Flood as a measure to prevent the annihilation of the human race. Online multiplayer, the game builds upon the party-based social multiplayer experience from Halo 2 with new weapons, vehicles, maps, gametypes, and added customization features.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2399 in Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: HALOHEL
• Released on: 2007-09-25
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: 12.00" h x 12.00" w x 13.00" l, 10.00 pounds

Features

• Expands on the franchise and adds a wealth of technical and gameplay advancements
• Unparalleled first-person shooter experience and the most compelling story of the trilogy
• Builds upon the social multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving, online gameplay of Halo 2
• Loaded with high-definition visuals, enhanced AI, an advanced lighting engine, new weapons, characters, and challenges

Amazon.com
Adding to Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the epic saga continues with Halo 3, the amazingly anticipated sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. The Covenant occupation of Earth has uncovered a massive and ancient object beneath the African sands, an object whose secrets have yet to be revealed. Earth's forces are battered and beaten. The Master Chief's AI companion, Cortana, is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind, a horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the heart of the Covenant. It's all been building to this--a desperate, final war that leads to a soul-shattering climax of epic proportions. Take control of Master Chief to defeat the Covenant and destroy the Flood as a measure to prevent the annihilation of the human race.

Get ready. The Chief is back.

HDR lighting, self-shadowing, and more make Halo 3 look and feel realistic. View larger.

Mystery abounds with the return of Cortana. View larger.

Earth is conquered. The Covenant is everywhere. Halo 3 promises to be an epic journey. View larger.

The game was revealed to the world at the Microsoft press conference held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in May 2006. The announcement was a complete surprise. The rumors had run rampant, as everyone wondered when the next installment would be ready. Bungie and Microsoft did a stellar job keeping their lips sealed and fans benefited from their first glimpse of the hallowed third and final installment.

The short presentation was delivered in real time on Xbox 360 using the current version of the Halo 3 game engine. That's right--no studio production video, Bungie and Microsoft delivered the real deal: what they showed at the announcement is what gamers see when they play Halo 3. The HDR lighting, self-shadowing, GPU-run particle system, and many other features appear in full effect in the final game. Needless to say, the gaming community has been salivating.

CJ Cowan, Bungie's director of cinematics, discussed one of the most startling moments of the presentation: the return of Cortana. "Given the variety of character and story arcs at the end of Halo 2, we wanted to boil down our announcement to a few key threads. Cortana and the Chief being a galaxy apart is a situation we haven't seen before, and is something that is a powerful component to Halo 3. We are using her transmissions in the demo to give the viewer a few subtle clues to her situation and state of mind, without revealing any specifics we want to save for the game itself."

Graphically, the game closely follows in the tradition of Halo 2, although it has been upgraded to take advantage of Xbox 360's more prodigious visual abilities. As art direct Marcus Lehto explained, "[The presentation] was intended to be an understated announcement of Halo 3--the tone is that of mystery and suspense--the calm before the storm. I wanted to make sure that we reintroduced the Chief, showed that Earth was thoroughly conquered, with Covenant everywhere, and that there is a glorious, ancient artifact buried under the Earth's crust which will provide Halo 3 with the epic journey we all want."

Taking full advantage of the power of Xbox 360, Halo 3 expands on everything that has made the franchise great, adding a wealth of technical and gameplay advancements. The game design has evolved with next-generation, high-definition visuals; enhanced AI; an advanced real-time lighting engine; and, of course, new weapons, characters, and challenges. Halo 3 promises an unparalleled first-person shooter experience and, in the end, the most compelling and engrossing story in the franchise's history. Last, but certainly not least, Halo 3 builds upon the unique social multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving online gameplay of Halo 2. Rest assured, you'll still be able to run with your clan and battle with (or against) your buddies from coast to coast.

Customer Reviews

great game
this review is given by my son
I was entertained for hours just by the bonus cd's. The multiplayer is as good as the adventure.

Halo Product
I don't personally have this product, but my boyfriend does and he is (like most guys I know) very much into Halo. I would say that I would totally recommend this to others just from seeing how much he and his friends (including my son) enjoy it.

A good but over hyped game.
I love first person shooters, I've played tons of them making me wonder why this game is so praised. Half of the aliens are comedy relief who crack lame jokes, run around like Ewoks with laser guns. The other groups of aliens run around in colorful suits of armor making them less of a threat and more of a joke. The ally AI was a joke, most of the time I'd have to drive around dodging while my AI lackie missed every shot. Taking the turret over I had nothing more to do than laugh as he plows head on into the enemy tank and I get turned into bacon strips.

The game seems to want to be the movie Aliens but more light hearted. It was generic shooter all the way and even more so online. I'm missing something I'm sure since the game wasn't what people were telling me it was. Most of the guns sound like toys and Master Chief looks like he's made of plastic. A minor complaint I have is the game isn't HD, it's 640p scaled up to 720p so that's standard definition confusing me since it's supposed to be a next gen game.
The helmet is nothing more than a tiny decoration for you to put on a shelf to gather dust and house spiders, making the price insane for something like this.

In short Halo 3 is nothing short of a generic shooter which isn't bad, but it doesn't live up to the hype in the least, it's nothing ground breaking and in my opinion it's not worth 60 dollars never the less the price you pay for the helmet pack, a good rental at best.