Halo 3

Platform: Xbox 360.
Verdict: 3 is the magic number.
Rating: 5/5
When Bungie first came up with the idea for an Apple Mac based Sci-fi strategy game they could never have predicted it would become a media phenomenon, a record breaker and a console FPS. Years down the line, after the original Halo defined console FPS' and Halo 2 defined online console gaming, Halo 3 has arrived to define the 360's future and tie up the story of intergalactic warfare, alien religion and one green suited man's legendary heroics.
After the abrupt and unsatisfying cliff-hanger of Halo 2, the sequel picks up almost immediately. Master Chief has returned to find Earth over run by the Covenant (alien races united under religion) who are unearthing the Ark, an ancient alien installation in the middle of the African desert. The Elites have disbanded from the misguided Covenant and sided with humanity to stop the activation of the Halo rings which will wipe out all life in the universe. With Cortana the AI missing and the threat of the Flood (a deadly parasitic species) the odds aren't looking good.
Taking its cue from criticisms of Halo 2's Campaign, Bungie have tried to recreate the feeling of their original classic – huge open battlefields, a single character narrative (no more playing as the Arbiter) and a more satisfying and coherent story thankfully address them with great success.
With cutting edge HDR lighting, physics reactive water, improved AI, an emphasis on the Brute's pack mentality and some incredible sound design the most immediate enhancements, the controller layout has also changed to assign the X button to new 'Equipment' items.
Equipment are rare items scattered across the maps and add new depth and strategy to the combat. The Bubble Shield, Power Drain, Trip Mine and Grav Lift all seek to encourage even more improvisational gameplay without disrupting the careful balancing of Halo's fine tuned weapon sets.
As well as Equipment, new weapons and vehicles have been added - Spike Grenades are strategical genius, the Brute Choppers are brutal, the Spartan Laser is devastating and the welcome return of the Assault Rifle as a start weapon sees Halo 2's emphasis on dual wielding thankfully reduced. The final inclusion of a flame-thrower and the ability to rip turrets out of their fittings and carry them from the hip like Arnie in Terminator 2 are also more than welcome as is the comical Gravity Hammer.
While all these additions and enhancements are welcome in the campaign, their true test of worth is discovered in the peerless multiplayer. Halo 2 set the standard, Halo 3 picks up the baton running. After the successful Beta and the data mining that was undertaken, Bungie have delivered another rock solid matchmaking system full of superb multi level maps, inventive game types and teenage smack talk - thankfully it's now easier to mute those poor losers.
As well as the Campaign (which allows for 4 player co-op play online and competitive scoring) and traditional multiplayer, there are two new modes to Halo – Forge and Theatre.
Forge is a unique variant of custom games that allows anyone to edit a multiplayer map mid game, in real time and create new game variants for sharing. With Halo 3's already massive community in it's infancy, it'll soon blossom into a hub of creativity where new game types can be uploaded to Bungie.net, downloaded by others, tweaked and evolved into perfection.
Theatre mode allows you to watch previous sessions, changing camera angles, slowing time, recording clips (to send to friends) and saving screenshots. Beyond that, controls are fairly limited it's but still an excellent feature to showboat your skills, create machinima and find out how exactly those players got the drop on you.
While gameplay may not be as revolutionary as hype implied (and as a 3rd iteration in a series, such a divergence wouldn't be welcome), it's such a finely tuned, polished and perfected experience with a raft of unique and excellent features, that it's an FPS at the top of it's game and will still be played in years to come. Legendary indeed.