replayed via Master Chief Collection w/ co-op partner MagesticSapling on Heroic, check his review out too!

”...But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck. Was I wrong?”

Even a little over a decade and a half after its 2007 release, there's a grand sense of scale emanating from the package, a feat not many things can be able to behold over, heightened from when HD displays were becoming the norm. Compared to the morphs development of the first Halo went through and the drastic, heavy toll the crew faced for its sequel, 3 felt like a spiritual refresh, a hardened attempt at righting some wrongs with a more relaxed atmosphere and time to put together mechanics and ideas such as Forge in place while keeping the magic of 2 intact, albeit once again not without some wrenches in the mix. Despite events such as key figures like Jason Jones taking sabbatical after conflicts from higher ups, no one had a real sense of where to take the story for a while during the start which led to a different committee doing the outline, and some lingering splinters of group activity, the blemishes of Halo 3 isn’t quite as potent as the ones you’d witness in the prior two entries. Though, all the same, it was pretty clear some like Marty O’Donnell, Joseph Staten, and Jaime Griesemer to name a few were about ready to move on from the brand and hopefully try for something else, which once again you can feel during the title’s closing third where it unfortunately yet understandably had to rush the finalization of Arbiter’s, Keyes’, Johnson’s, Guilty Spark’s, Cortana’s, and Chief’s arcs within the last hour. Still, the fact this is the only major thing I have to complain about in regards to the writing shows I don’t have much friction with the rest of it.

”Tank beats Ghost. Tank beats Hunter. Tank beats everything! Oh man, I could do this all day!”

An important mark with Halo is that, at least during its prime, it was able to cultivate both the nerdy lore-heavy narrative geeks alongside the junkie gung-ho dudebro crowd. I haven’t elaborated much on the multiplayer aspect of the series, mainly cause I don’t exactly play much of it anymore aside from again co-op, but I remember a lot of the maps specifically in 3 thanks to my brothers and brief dabbling of Xbox Live back when I was able to, as well as when it was made available to play on PC thanks to the MCC. Maps such as Sandtrap, Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla are about as etched into my brain similar to those who know the back of Dust 2 and Nuketown like the back of their hands. Anyway, I bring it up because the campaign this time around is when it starts to relish in its bombast appeal, bringing everyone in to bust some guts metaphorically or literally. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Red vs. Blue easter egg regarding passwords, or if you intentionally have the IWHBYD Skull on, or taking part in the many, many setpieces, or listening to yet another masterpiece of an OST by previously mentioned Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, it wants, no encourages you to partake in the vigor and spectacle, to march on and press the fight onward. Dismiss its lulls of action or convexing moments, right around the corner will be something to push you back up on your feet.

They outnumber us three-to-one! Then it is an even fight.

What helps in this regard is the weapon balancing this time around. My experience with shooters has since dwindled over recent years, but even still I’m pretty confident in saying this is likely my favorite set of guns of the genre, at the very least near the apex of its long-spanning history. Old reliables return and receive much needed tuning such as the Needler, armaments that still needed an extra kick received them such as the Plasma Pistol, ones that needed a nerf got hit with the right amount such as the Energy Sword, and don’t even get me started on the new inclusions. The Spiker. The Mauler. The Flamethrower you can pick up in certain situations. Being able to rip apart then use the mounted turrets and newcomer missile pod. Abilities such as shields, flares, and the insanely questionable for campaign radar jammer. The Spike and Incendiary Grenades. Incoming vehicles such as the Hornet, Chopper, and Mongoose. The Spartan Laser. The Gravity Hammer. With the open-ended philosophy being tuned justly at last, and nearly every single level having their own unique quirk to make them stand out amongst one another, it’s such an ease to get into a power trip, plan accordingly and strike back when pushed against the wall, and really, just throw shit together and see what’ll make them tick. Or, to put it more bluntly, “blowing shit up has never felt so good”. Also helps that the movement and checkpoint system are the best they’ve ever been as well, with jumps and the degree in which you’ll be able to carve your assault being all the more tightened as you go along. Time seems to continuously escape me here, as what feels like five hours of fun instead happened in a mere two.

We’ll make it.

The ad campaign was, and truthfully still is, something that’s become a notable attachment of 3’s success. A faux interview between UNSC veterans and other minor adverts to help sell the idea that the struggle of finishing a fight was real. At least several instances exist of either battered soldiers, congratulatory banter between both the humans and a newly made alliance with the Elites, or hostile tension as to what must be done to wrap it all up and start preparing for a fresh future. Though, in a specific case, during Cortana - the level, I mean - the setting of High Charity had become a wreck of rampancy and turmoil. Commonly cited as the low point due to its perplexing layout and, reiterating, persistent onslaught of enemies hurling bullets, other projectiles, or even themselves towards you, it’s ironically something that perhaps pushed this aspect the hardest, at least to some degree; something that was once a high point of a species reduced to rot and decay, as you deal with an onslaught of the returning Flood to retrieve Cortana and finish the fight. A diatribe brokered between a being struggling to accept their demise, and an intelligence struggling to maintain their sanity. Even from this, however, someone was still resisting. Someone was still etching forward despite what the scenery had told them. Someone was, although rather awkwardly and hastefully, able to reaffirm someone’s mentality and stand back up from the scene of it all. The mask of their intention murk, it was him who was still able to keep everyone together even from way back in the initial start.

It’s from this, specifically, where a meek 8-year-old had begun to crystalize an emotion they didn’t quite understand yet: the feeling of a belief.

Ben do you support BLM?

YES

Do you support LGBTQ?

NO

MAN WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been kinda itching to play this for almost 7 months and i'm really happy this is a game really makes me happy with all the characters of this franchise, it feels like a culmination of the previous games and giving an perfect conclusion for the first half.

The concept behind Fate, future predictions and bonds were all delivered well into this. The idea of routes into the game is fantastic which ones has their peaks without having an pacing issue in it and has stuff happening in their respective routes.

Everything being converged at the end was pretty much the PEAK of kiseki for me, build-up, climax, soundtrack, everything went crazy in it.

Episodes giving an bit an characterzation to each of them were dope as hell but Osborne episode is gonna live rent free in my head so much.

In conclusion this game managed to give enough seratonin while making me sad that ''i'm caught up'' to the series (i'm waiting for the pc port :copium:) but i'm really happy that i was able to experience this game and i love it with all my heart. GOD I LOVE TRAILS