Alex McGrail

Halo 3 is the latest entry in the Halo series.  If you read my earlier review on Halo 3: ODST, you will know what that series is about.  If not, scroll down and read it.  If you are too lazy to do that, then I will explain it here.  You play as the last of a line of super-soldiers called Spartans.  You are fighting the Covenant, a theocratic alliance of alien races bent on eradicating the human race.  They are composed of the Grunts, or Unggoy, the Jackals, or Kig-Yar, the Drones, or Yanme’e, Hunters, or Mgalekgolo, Engineers, or Huragok, Brutes, or Jiralhanae, and the Elites, or Sangheili, who have defected and are now allied with the humans.  In the process of the war, a parasite known as the Flood was released.  The Flood consumes and destroys all intelligent life it comes into contact with.  An ancient race known as the Forerunners constructed a series of installations known as Halos to destroy the Flood and their food supply – intelligent life.  A few surviving specimens were captured and contained on the installations, which the Covenant view as holy relics, meant to begin an ascent to godhood known as the “Great Journey.”  The Flood have a sentient leader: the Gravemind.  It vaguely guides the Flood in its movements.

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            The game takes place during World War 2, where you take place as an American soldier who last name is Johnson (I think).  You may also take place of a British soldier and a USSR soldier. This game can be pretty hard to get the hang of so start with the tutorial and remember what they say or you’re probably gonna die  .The first hard mission is “silence the guns” you and another soldier set out to find the Japanese’s artillery guns use them to destroy their aircraft carriers and then destroy them with TNT. For each ground level you get five grenades, two guns, and maybe binoculars to call an artillery strike. Air levels are Third person unless you zoom in to the “bomb door” in which you have an unlimited number of bombs and you can drop them anywhere. This game is rated T for blood, mild Language, violence. (mild language means no bad language at all). This game has bad lighting and therefore you’ll need to play it in a darker area. The opposing A.I.’s are pretty good, but the ally A.I.’s shoot at absolutely nothing at all. This game is hard and that’s how Call of Duty games are supposed to be, hard but addictive and fun.

8.63/10

Halo 3: ODST was originally intended as an expansion pack to the original Halo 3, but eventually evolved into a stand-alone product.  This garnered mixed reactions from fans, as the game is short.  Is it worth the sixty bucks?  I say yes, but only if you haven’t bought Halo 3 yet.  ODST is an impressive attempt to expand the storyline of the Halo universe, while providing a departure from the norm in Halo.  You play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST, about to drop into the Covenant-infested streets of New Mombasa in Kenya in the year 2552.  For those who are new to Halo, the Covenant are a coalition of alien races united by the worship of the mysterious race known as the Forerunners.  Their leaders have declared humans an affront to their beliefs and ordered our eradication.  The game starts with a beautifully animated interactive first-person cutscene (whew, that’s a mouthful) showing the drop from space to the city.  You are knocked unconscious by a shockwave and wake up six hours later, with no sign of your unit and only two weapons to see you through.  You are introduced to the new health system.  Instead of a shield bar that recharges over time, you have a health bar that doesn’t recharge.  As a buffer to your health, you also have a limited amount of Stamina to absorb a minimal amount of damage.  You can recover health by finding health packs littered on the streets of the city.  There is also a new mechanic that allows you to see in the dark.  It outlines objects in yellow, allies in green, and enemies in red and is called the VISR.  You set off to find out what happened to your squad.  (more…)

This game is a huge departure from the previous games.  Instead of fighting in World War II, you are fighting in the modern day, with modern guns and modern enemies.  Using today’s technology allows people to see in the dark, shoot people with perfect accuracy from three miles off, and find you wherever you are.  This adds a new level of danger to the series that wasn’t present before.  You play as Sgt. ”Soap” MacTavish, a new recruit of the British S.A.S., or Special Air Services, Captain John Price, Soap’s commanding officer, and Sgt. Paul Jackson of the USMC, or U.S. Marine
Corps.  This game has you going up against a madman who wishes to enact a great fear of the 50’s upon the United States: nuclear warfare.  (more…)

Call of Duty is a game about World War II, and is very realistic.  (The others in the series aren’t because of the health system.  You get hurt, get behind cover, and wait for the blood to fall off of your face your health to regenerate.)  You play as an American paratrooper at D-Day, at least at first.  Then your team is picked to do some special missions.  You also play as a Russian conscript and a British soldier.

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