Weak Single Player, Better Multi-player

Author's Rating:

Pros: Multi-player is fun, decent graphics, good sound effects.

Cons: Very weak single-player, bad delay/lag issues in multi-player fighting.

The Bottom Line: 
I would recommend this game if you plan on playing multi-player a lot, but not if you only plan on playing single player. There's still some issues with multi-player.

Author's Review
I have had Halo 3 for a few months now and have been playing it online consistently over this time. When I first got it, I only intended to play the single player campaign but I found it was very boring and tried the multi-player which I thought was a lot more fun.

The single player campaign is basically just shooting with different weapons and a little bit of driving and occasionally flying. It is not exciting and the story line is very bland and doesn't compare with previous Halo games. It took me a few months to finish the single player game simply because I got so bored with it I could only play for about 10 minutes and then I had to go back to multi-player to get any excitement or fun out of the game.

The multi-player of Halo 3 is a lot better than single player, but it is far from perfect. The main problem is with lag differences causing some players to react more quickly than others and therefore getting the kill when the players very likely pressed the same button at the same time. This gets extremely annoying because with melee and shotguns it's basically whoever has the lowest lag, not who presses the buttons first.

I have literally been sure to press my shotgun fire button BEFORE the player came around a corner (I saw him on radar), and then he came around the corner and shot me before my character even fired the weapon that I pressed the button for before the opposing player was ever on my screen. It's the same thing with melee but maybe worse because most close-range shooting battles end with the 2 players rushing at each other trying to melee each other to finish them, and if you have a slower connection or the host (who is one of the players- randomly selected I believe by connection speed) is far away from you geographically you are sure to lose and get killed even if in reality you pressed the button first. I know whenever I am the host because I will win all those battles I talked about, literally EVERY melee/shotgun battle because it's so unbalanced with the lag it's not who presses the button first it's who has lower ping.

There are also some issues with sniping that I'm not sure are associated with lag, but very well could be. There have been many times when I've been zoomed in with my sniper rifle and will be aimed dead in the center of someone's head, and I'll fire while they are standing still, and the game will say I didn't even hit them. I don't know if that is lag or something invisible getting the way of my bullets, but it is very annoying. If you're not able to hit someone from where you are, then the game shouldn't let you have a clear view in your scope of their head to make you believe you will hit them.

The matchmaking system itself isn't terrible, and it usually works and gets you into a match within a minute if not faster, but often with players who average several levels higher or lower than you (especially if you are in a party). You can prioritize which games you get connected to by 1. the quickest to get connected to 2. closest skill range 3. good connection or 4. your language, but I've found that the good connection doesn't usually help and there are the same lag issues in every game (unless you end up being the host as I mentioned)

The map selection isn't bad, but there are a lot more options in Unranked game (social/custom) than there are in ranked matches which is annoying if you don't know a lot of people who play Halo 3 who can play custom games with you.

The graphics in the game are good but not great. They are kind of cartoony with not a huge amount of detail, but still pretty good. The characters look alright but the map designs are not as detailed and seem to look choppy as you run through them. The sound is also pretty good when you are fighting, but some music when in the matchmaking lobbies would be nice.

Overall I would give the single player 2 stars and the multi-player 4 stars, so I give it a total of 3 stars.