This past weekend, the absolutely classic Halo 3 hit 15 years of age after gracing our screens back in September 2007. The Xbox 360 was young, Microsoft was still hell bent on growing the Xbox brand, and Halo 3 was perhaps the company's most important release of the 360 era at that point.
For Halo itself, it was the series' first leap into the HD era after Halo 2 took Combat Evolved's foundations and turned them into a proper franchise. At the time, Halo 3 promised to 'finish the fight', featuring an epic narrative conclusion with the game's story-driven campaign sequel.
Of course, these were the 360 days so multiplayer was huge at the time as well. Halo 3 was one of the online darlings of the era as Xbox Live continued to grow and become a huge part of the Xbox ecosystem. Bungie delivered a vast suite of online maps and modes, all in HD on Xbox 360, after Halo multiplayer exploded with Halo 2.
We can't forget the game's marketing at the time either. Microsoft conjured up the incredibly memorable 'Believe' advertising campaign that used real life models and figures to create one of the game's battle scenes. This Diorama, paired with its TV advertisements and connected short stories, is still one of the strongest marketing campaigns we can recall in gaming, especially in the Xbox space.
So, taking all of this into account, do you think Halo 3 remains the pinnacle of the franchise in 2022? Would you take the original, or maybe even a newer entry in the franchise instead?
Pick a mainline game from the poll and let us know!
Comments 43
Halo 3, Halo 2 and Halo Reach are the best in the series.
Halo Combat Evolved and Halo Infinite are still very good games.
I don’t think I’ve played 3. Gonna have to do that now
I love Halo 3 but 2 is still the best in my opinion.
Great to see votes for Infinite, despite its many issues I thought the campaign was great
Single player campaign it's a toss up between 3 and Reach. They both appeal in different ways. Then 2 & 1.
You've missed ODST for some reason. Personally not my favourite but better than most of what 343 has managed.
@themightyant I considered including ODST, but I consider it a spin-off and wanted to focus on the mainline entries!
@Kezelpaso In my head canon 4 and 5 are the spin-offs. lol
@themightyant 😄
This game constantly gets a lot of hate . I think for the most part it's just sheep on the internet . Nevertheless, I personally have and continue to enjoy this game. I did the campaign and I like to drop in and out of the multiplayer now and then . I like the 'yappening' playlist and am more of a fiesta player. Maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea , but it's certainly not as bad as what the internet makes out. Props to anyone who develops a game as their working hours and stress is on a higher plane that most of us wouldn't ever experience. The fact they they make a game and have business investors at their throat , consumers complaining all the time , it's a tough job and I can fully understand why some developers have walked.
Let's have a bit more respect and understanding. You do remember there was a pandemic that crippled everyone . When was halo released again? Go figure .
Reach has a great story and great mechanics. If someone new to the franchise wanted to start off with one, I'd recommend Reach hands down.
Personally I enjoyed ODST more than any of the MC story so far. The story for 4, 5, and Infinite is rough to say the least and the gameplay itself is extremely inconsistent. 1 and 2 two are great but I really wasn't impressed with 3. Thought of the story as more of a space opera than a military science fiction shooter.
I actually enjoyed the Halo 4 story. Appreciate that the multiplayer apparently wasn't good at the time. Feel free to correct.
Halo 5 is an absolutely terrible campaign though. Not sure what they were thinking.
Yet to play Infinite but definitely didn't feel like the massive moment it was meant to be when it released.
2 for me was better than 3. 3 came at a point in time where gaming was going more and more online. 2 did launch the Xbox Live we know today but personally I still played a lot more LAN. Also friends and family were also moving apart. I felt 3 can’t be the pinnacle of the series for me as all my best memories are in 2.
Also meh to dual wielding!
@RedShirtRod my thoughts exactly! Reach and ODST are by far the best entry’s for my tast. The atmosphere alone takes ODST to the top for me.
Reach for sure. Pretty much perfected gameplay mechanics, the newer modes (Invasion debuting in Reach and Firefight which had recently debuted in ODST) were absolutely fantastic and the campaign is the best in the franchise (ODST is a close 2nd).
I would say Halo 5's multiplayer is slightly better in terms of gameplay as I really liked the addition of Warzone, spartan abilities and what promethean weapons add to the sandbox but the campaign is bad and microtransactions are microtransactions (though Halo 5's microtransactions are nowhere near as bad as Infinite''s microtransactions) so overall Reach is a much better game.
@CrazyJF I don’t mean to call you out specifically but your comment really got me. I always judge Halo games by the MP not the story. This is probably explained by my own bias. I play MP far more than the story mode.
I’ve always enjoyed the stories and love Chief as a gruff protagonist but when I think of Halo as a MP game to me. Which really isn’t the case, I know it’s both but comments like yours take me off guard because of people’s love for the part of the game I spend far less time in.
Edit: just FYI I think that’s cool though and speaks to how Halo appeals to so many people.
Nothing can come close to Halo 3.
Everything about it is perfect. The stars aligned and the timing was spot on.
It was a phenomenon, simple as that.
It still stands up too. The campaign and multiplayer still just as enjoyable today.
As an overall Halo package it is yet to be beaten. And likely never will be.
Personally I believe Halo 3 & ODST are the pinnacle of the franchise.
3 without a doubt.
While Infinite is my favorite of the campaigns, Halo 3 was absolutely the peak of the series. That’s not to say the Halo games since then aren’t great, but Xbox live on the 360 exploded right when this and Gears of War released, and nothing can ever match that kind of excitement. Halo 3 also came packaged with so much content. Gaming is a different landscape today, so I won’t ever expect anything like games from those days again. Halo Infinite has my favorite campaign and gameplay, but Halo 3 is the best overall Halo experience.
Halo 2 was my fave. Fantastic game. No 3 was close, but I've never felt that magic since....
Well, yeah. Halo 3 was the pinnacle of the series in many ways. The sales numbers were huge, the player base was huge, arena maps were awesome, gameplay was nearly perfect. The campaign wasn't cut short. It finished the fight...to that point.
Most of the time, I remember Halo 2 more fondly...but 3 was obviously the more complete and impactful release.
Ummmm, no.
Campaign wise halo 2 superior in my opinion.
Multiplayer wise halo 4 big team battle by far best and most fun I've EVER had in ANY halo multiplayer. Though majority find that statement blasphemous.
I would like to be able say nice things about halo 3. But halo 3 came out and ruined the fantastic game, Shadowrun. Am still bitter over it.
To this day I will continue to say shadowrun was the best, most balanced, incredibly skilled, well thought out first person shooter ever made. Just halo 3 came out approximately a month after shadowrun release and just hurt player base.
Idk, I found it incredibly boring just like all the games in the MCC, bar parts of Reach.
I personally had way more fun with Infinite than any of the MCC games, and that's saying a lot seeing how flawed and incomplete Infinite is, both in the SP and MP components.
3 definitely is. A pure 10/10 title. All the Bungie titles are 9/10 or better though. Infinite is the best 343 campaign and Halo 4 is the best 343 did with multiplayer. Halo 4 might be the game I’ve put the most hours into ever
I only play the campaign.. and tbh I thought infinites was the most fun
@somnambulance I’ve put a lot of hours into 4 multiple myself. Loved a lot of about that game. Couldn’t get on board with loadouts though. They’ll never have a place in Halo for me.
343 got a fair bit right though, loved the aesthetic and some of the maps were great. Especially in BTB.
The campaign wasn't/isn't i preferred ce 2 and reach
@ParsnipHero The low spot for 4 for me was the campaign being sort of dull. It had the ideas, the level design, etc I wanted out of Halo at the time, but I remember finishing the game and finishing it, and saying, “Well, that was that,” and then playing ludicrous hours in mp.
@somnambulance same. Can’t say I remember much of the campaign other than the Didact. But yea, spent hours and hours in Halo 4. When I came back to Xbox getting a series X I played Halo 4 in the MCC.
I believe 2 is the peak halo. I freaking loved playing as the arbiter and was sorely disappointed when I couldnt do that in 3.
I'd say so. Halo: Reach is my favorite campaign but 3 is a very close second and with multiplayer factored in, I go with 3 as the best overall package.
If I were to rank my top 5 in the series...
1. Halo 3
2. Reach
3. 2
4. Combat Evolved
5. Infinite
@Korgon Agreed.
I would have to say Halo 2 for sure. The hype surrounding the game's release was something I still haven't seen with any other game. The midnight release had hundred of people waiting in line. Halo music playing and vendors selling food and Halo ripoff merchandise.
Halo 2 is the obvious best. Reach and Halo 4 are the following Top Trio.... So, Halo 3 is (sadly) not even top 3.
I would have to say yes and no. Yes in the sense that it's probably the most sophisticated in terms of what they achieved until you could really say things started going downhill, but no in the sense that it's arguably not the best, that the series peaked with Halo 2 and that even Halo 3, as good as it was, generally felt like a step down from that experience. Then again I'm sure nostalgia plays strongly into all of this.
I never cared for MC and the Halo Series never clicked for me when I got an Xbox 360 in 2008 or so... Then I played ODST. That game is AMAZING, the atmosphere alone makes it one of the best, and Nathan Fillion, Auto 10/10 right there 😅
Reach was also awesome, really loved the story (and helped that it was set before anything else in the series)
Now coming back to it when I finally grabbed a X1X at the start of 2021 (before nabbing my PS5/XsX by late 2021) I finally got back to the Series just before Infinite was supposed to launch, REALLY loved Halo 2 Anniversary (probably my favourite out of the "Mainline" Master Chief games) and Halo 4 was surprisingly good as well (that track 117, so bloody amazing, probably one of my favourite pieces of Halo Music overall) I'll also shout out Halo CE/Anniversary since I actually played that back to back 4 times with my friend (we even did it on Legendary, I normally stay FAR AWAY from the harder difficulties) and it was hands down one of the best gaming moments I've had in a while 😁
Halo 3 I think was that one game I was just pushing through at that point, tons of BS moments here and there throughout the MC games (especially 1 to 3) but by Halo 3 I'd sort of had enough (and like I said, funnily Halo 4 grabbed me back in, maybe it was just all the New stuff ya know)
Halo 5 Guardians... We don't talk about Halo 5 Guardians
Thought I had bought this digitally on 360, but apparently not
Went to buy it digitally & it has been delisted (same with Halo 4) - when did that happen??
In my opinion it is. Everything about it just worked. The graphics, the story, the gameplay, the multiplayer everything. 343 just haven't been able to match what Bungie did with the Halo 3. To be honest, even Bungies own Reach couldn't match 3
Halo Reach - Halo 3 - Halo 2 - Halo ODST - Halo 4 - Calo CE - Halo Infinite - Halo 5 for me.
CE has the best story but it's maps are a bit too old school and repetitive. Reach is fantastic. 3 is obvs legendary.
Honestly the nostalgic in me just cant get past the Silent Cartographer level on the original Halo as being the best Halo piece of the series.
The warthog races with mates around the island edge on co-op. The (albeit slightly morbid) playing a prank on the marines joining you then the look of disbielief when you kamikazied it off the side of a cliff edge.
Those were the days.
Well I’ve only completed 1,3,4 and still playing Infinite’s campaign( spend most my time in ranked multiplayer matches) I will have to say that 4 was the best campaign wise due to the overall quality. 4 probably had the best graphics of any game on the 360 and while you couldn’t duel wield weapons no more the gunplay was as solid as its ever been,.. as far as multiplayer,.. 4 still gets a slight edge over all halos not including Infinte( jury is still out for me) I remember spending hours of my night playing big team battles taking down mech’s (Middle finger to titanfall lol) and just overall having a sheer blast I went back and played the other halo multiplayer suites on the MCC but none really brings it all together the 4 outside of reach( which is a close second). In closing I would like to shout out Infinite, while a lot of people is talking down on this game and some of it is deserve, this is a very fine game both single player and multiplayer, single while I haven’t completed the campaign yet is very good and is perhaps the greatest the single has ever been( don’t won’t to declare that till I finished it though) and the multiplayer while they could add more maps and modes and fix the ranked match progression scaling is still very fun and that’s where I log most of my playing in my series x as a whole
@CrazyJF haha, I get that. They’re story is pretty enjoyable to follow but yea, not the best…
Halo 2 was where it started for me. Got hooked on that MP bug early on in my teens. Felt crazy to play a game like Halo after GoldenEye and Perfect Dark.
I guess as I got older I see MP as my go to because the modern world has ruined my attention span.
Tap here to load 43 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...