The Halo series has always been a frowned upon series for some, but for others has been a beacon of good times and all kinds of crazy stuff. That being said, what is it about Halo 3 that makes some dislike it, and what is it about Halo 3 that makes some people love it? Stay tuned as I explore the strong points and the weak points of this giant of a video game.

It all started with Halo: Combat Evolved, the game had introduced some new elements and had fixed up some older elements, and overall the game was extremely enjoyable. Halo had a unique storyline (at the time), a well orchestrated soundtrack, and an adventure that seemed to be pretty expansive and epic. The game was regarded as one of the best games released at that time, and most people who played it seemed to think so as well.

Fast-forward to the release of Halo 2, now we have a massive expansion in the Halo fanbase, so much expansion that we now have younger kids playing Halo: CE, and waiting for the new one to be released. Halo 2 hits Xbox on November 9, 2004, people go bat-shit crazy, and start making line-ups to get the games before anyone else does. This could be understandable because Halo has become apart of culture at this point. Halo 2 now bring dual-wielding, a similar storyline, and addicting online play with it. More people now join the fan base, anyone from a non-third world country has heard of Halo, and some are playing it.

September 25, 2007, Halo 3 hits the world. Massive line-ups due to the massive fan base, many of them, kids below the age of 18 which is funny because the game is rated M. So now we are introduced to a very accessible online system, where even a child of the age of 8 can use effectively, and it shows, because now you have these kids yelling in your ear talking about god knows what because half of the things they say are so high pitched only a dog can hear them, and because the other half of the time, they’re screaming about either how good they think they’re doing, or about how you just mopped the floor with their face.

Another part of this fanbase is the “manly” kids who either play the game way to seriously, or believe there is no other weapon except for the power weapons and the assualt rifle and those are the funniest people ever. What you commonly hear from those people is “WHAT THE FUCK MAN, I HAD A SWORD AND HE TOOK ME OUT WITH A BATTLE RIFLE?! FUCKING HACKER!!! <insert screams of displeasure here>”. There’s something to be said about having a skill level in the game, and you’d think skill would be shown through the rank system, but oh how you’d be wrong. Often times I find people at top ranks get there by getting ahead by 1-4 points, then hiding, so it becomes difficult to win the game because the pussy is hiding. The best part is, they refer to this as a tactical skill, but as soon as I do it, it’s called unfair and cheating. Bullshit.

Just a few days ago I was trying to get people to report my gamer tag so I can change it for free (I never picked the name in the first place, disadvantages of a used Xbox), and my polite question has refuted with waves of “Fuck off” and “Pay for it you prick”, and maybe I should pay for it, but instead of responding rudely they could of said “Just pay for it”. Maybe throughout the whole 10-12 matches I found four decent people who said sure, and who were fun to play with.

Without the fanbase, Halo 3 would be probably the online shooter of all time (if we don’t count the Valve games), instead the online community is a lot like a sea of piss, with each individual. If you play with a friend or two you know via real life, the experience of shit is dimmed down, but without it? Boy.. just.. boy. It isn’t that there aren’t cool people on Xbox Live, it’s just finding them takes a bit of effort.