New 'Halo' glows with more polish

New 'Halo' glows with more polish
By Justin Hoeger - Special To The Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/119/story/398667.html

When we left him three years ago, at the abrupt end of "Halo 2,"
Master Chief was stowed aboard a ship controlled by the fanatical
alien hegemony called the Covenant, which was on its way to Earth in
search of an artifact called the Ark.

Not content to wait for a safe landing, the Chief bails and plummets
to the ground like a meteorite, which has no worse effect than locking
up his armor suit until some compatriots find him.

This is how "Halo 3," the eagerly anticipated game released this week
for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, begins.

The man is tough, we'll give him that. And it's not long before his
joints are oiled and he's back in the fight against the Covenant,
tromping through African jungles along with the Arbiter, leader of
humanity's newfound allies, the Elites. This warrior race was betrayed
by the leaders of the Covenant and has joined the humans to defend
Earth from the Covenant onslaught.

But the stakes are even higher than the survival of Earth and
humanity. The Covenant's goal is to activate the Halo stations from
the Ark, which will wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy (a fact
that the deluded Covenant leader either does not believe or does not
care about).

The Forerunners -- the ancient people who built the Halo rings -- met
their end this way, sacrificing themselves and all other life in the
galaxy to prevent all from being consumed by the Flood, a parasitical,
cancerous plague driven by a singular purpose and a terrible
intelligence.

That's the story; veterans of the "Halo" series will know more or less
what to expect from the game play. "Halo 3" is a refinement of
established principles, not a revolution. But the "Halo" series is so
successful largely because the core combat remains stellar, relying on
a careful balance of enemy types, weaponry and a recharging energy
shield that means the Chief is often on the brink of defeat but can
usually return from it if he can find a wall to duck behind for a few
seconds.

Every battle is tense. Every battle holds the possibility of defeat,
by bad luck or poor planning. But every battle is winnable. And if
things get tough solo, up to four people can cooperate to conquer the
campaign, online or off. (The second player controls the Arbiter, and
the third and fourth become a pair of new Elite characters.)

There are loads of new weapons this time around, too many to list more
than a few highlights. The apelike Brutes, who supplanted the Elites,
bring with them their powerful Gravity Hammers. The Spartan Laser
sends a powerful beam at a target after a brief charge. There are also
two new types of grenades: spike grenades that blast a cone of
shrapnel outward and firebombs that do what they sound like. New
pieces of single-use equipment come in handy, ranging from protective
barriers and cloaking devices to trip mines and blinding flares.

The Brutes also bring new vehicles, including the monstrous Brute
Chopper, which crushes other vehicles with its bladed wheels, and the
Prowler hover sled. The humans have new toys of their own, including
the Mongoose ATV and the Hornet aircraft.

These new weapons and vehicles see use in the game's competitive
multiplayer mode, which includes a set of new and remixed maps,
numerous new game types, alternate armor appearances for players'
characters and a very cool ability to record, play back, manipulate
and share videos of every match played.

But that's not the coolest part.

The coolest part is the Forge, a mode that lets players edit
multiplayer maps. Weapons, vehicles, items, player spawn points,
flags, crates -- pretty much anything that isn't a built-in part of
the map can be moved, replaced, modified or taken away.

Tweaked maps can be saved and uploaded, or players can simply mess
around, dropping tanks on each other or playing baseball with Gravity
Hammers and rocket launchers. It'll be interesting to see what gamers
come up with in the years to come.

The game doesn't look amazing in the way "Halo" did when it came out
or the way "Gears of War" did last year. But it is a natural evolution
of the series' look -- more detailed, yes; sharper, sure; but still
very much in line with the character and environmental designs laid
down in the previous installments. The voice acting, music and sound
are all superb, with the score in particular building on themes from
previous games in new ways.

That's what "Halo 3" does throughout -- it takes the best bits from
the first two games, adds to them, polishes them and puts on a
brighter coat of paint, then lets the solid game play speak for
itself. And it speaks eloquently.

***

Halo 3

4 stars
Publisher: Microsoft

System: Microsoft Xbox 360

Price: $59.99 ($69.99 Limited Edition, $129.99 Legendary Edition)

Age rating: Mature

More on the game ...
· To add your own brief review of "Halo 3," click on the "Comments"
button with Justin Hoeger's story at www.SacTicket.com.

· To read Hoeger's take on "Halo 3's" online multi-player modes and
the new level editor, Forge, see his "Game Day" column in Friday's
Weekend Ticket.

· To see an audio slide show of area fans awaiting the game's midnight
release, go to www.sacbee.com/links.

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