Ok now that Halo 3 has been out for awhile I can finally judge it from my perspective of the game let me start out by saying that this review will not go into the forge or saved films portion of the game because while those are great tools in the game that is not the reason you are buying the game. First off I think the single-player is fine many people I know don't really like it I loved it, I loved playing as the MC for the entire game I loved actually defending Earth I loved the way the game ends (BTW watch after the credits). Instead I will be mainly focusing on the online aspect of the game. My main problem with multiplayer not only that have I played in a game with modders,it seems the matchmaking system is broken thanks to Bungies bright idea of including an EXP system along with a LVL system. The reason I believe it is broken is because of how long it takes for me and my friends to be matched into a game of Social games, there will be over 100,000 people in that area and yet we will still get all but the last gamer we need to start a game so we time out and have to start the search all over again. I believe it's because the game searches for people with EXP near yours and that fucks everthing up.

Now onto the gameplay itself I believe the maps in Halo 3 while inventive and great looking lacks what we had in Halo 1 and Halo 2...that's right Blood Gulch or Coagulation if that's what you call it now,hell even another Lockout would have been nice but no Bungie decides to try some new maps and in my opinion while it was a nice try it just lacks the fan favorites that should have been included on release (even though they'll probably just release it as DLC for 1,600 MS points for 2 maps). Has anyone noticed how stupid the melee system in Halo 3 is? I have and I hate it, I've done some research and I've found that Bungie instead of having whoever hits the melee button first wins,they go by whoever had more health with the first melee blow, now while this isn't a big problem it's just that in both Halo 1 and Halo 2 they both went by the whoever hit the B button first now with this it just seems a little stupid to change the formula so far into the franchise.

Another thing with the MP, is it just me or does it seem that the shields are weaker than ever, if you haven't noticed this yet play a game in a level where you can pick up an overshield...got it? good...now get shot...it takes less effort to get rid of that overshield than it does to actually pick it up,which is quite odd because one of my main gripes with H2 was that the invisibility was crap..you could see people way to easily, well in H3 they fix that but fuck up the overshield thanks Bungie. Another problem I have with MP is the fact of the shotgun host is worse than it was in H2, I use to at least get a good amount of kills with it without host now I have trouble getting even one kill with it everyone else though can kill me just as easy as snapping their fingers. The same problem persists with the maulers, I couldn't get a kill with that thing if it were to save my life and I'd even use two, but sure enough a person using one could kill me five feet away from me. Also I have noticed that alot of the times while either meleeing with a gun or trying to beat someone down with the sword while you will go through the animation and it will make the sound for a hit, your opponent won't look any worse for it so there is another huge problem hits not being registered. One more problem before I get to some of the positives, lag...oh my god is it terrible in this game even though the game will show everyone with green bars some people including yourself will be telepoorting around the map, I thought the MP beta was supposed to help with connections and what not.

Ok onto the good you won't find a better party system in any game that's out now as always it's easy as pie to party up with people. Gametypes are also another strong point in this game with many game preferences from ranked games to unranked games. Custom games are probably where you will spend most of your time (I know I have) everything and I mean EVERYTHING is customizable from character weight,to speed,to visibility. One of my favorite things to do is turn the character speed to the max, turn up the shield strength and put random weapons on,turn on unlimeted ammo as well as grenades.Now after that load up Sandtrap and run around with a full party and try to kill people.

Now for my final word, Halo 3 has lived up to my hype for the single-player they promised you'd finish the fight and you do, the multiplayer is about 50-50 though while it is fun to play custom games, I can't play ranked or even social matches for that long without becoming annoyed with the game. Now before I give out the score let me just say this I am a HUGE Halo fanboy....I have loved this franchise ever since the first time I played Halo 1 at a buddies LAN party and ever since then my love has grown, so while seeing this franchise possibly come to an end I am happy with knowing that if it is indeed over I'm glad they crammed alot into this game to hold Halo fans everywhere over until Bungies next game,and for this reaon I'm giving Halo 3 a 9.0.