The Ultimate Halo 3 Critique

[@BenPlaysGames]

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[@SilverViper1000]

1:32:00 I have to add that this is by intention. High charity has to be confusing. It must be like the last level of hell. You are in the belly of THE beast. The beast which threatens the whole galaxy. Maybe the whole universe. If it would be a pony ride it wouldn't fit the setting of the destiny if the universe laying in your shoulders.

[@bayar_]

i should've known by the way you play cus 6 minutes in and you're already complaining about h3 legendary for being "too hard" when it was BY FAR the easiest legendary at the time. h3 should've been less consumer friendly (this even affecting the story/lore imo) cus it's pretty mid especially if you compare it to h:ce and h2. but what annoys me the most is that you blame bungie's level and enemy design for being an extremely bad player. your pathetic solution (reducing the damage output i.e. playing on a lower difficulty lol) is literally saying that you can't handle pressure and can't think strategically/out of the box. forget normal, just switch to easy and don't review games that are miles above your limit. god you're annoying.

[@TheMartyODonnell]

Once again, really nice work. I truly believe that creative and talented fans are the future of this franchise.

[@Shadowarfare117]

Agreed! Love your work and your content. 👍

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks mate!

[@megadelorix6652]

Holy shit , didn't expect Marty o donnell to comment waw !!!!!! , im so happy for you ben !!!!!

[@matthewa6027]

What a chad.

[@SkimoFiend]

We love you Marty! your music has been in my life since 2001! Unless we count Flintstones Vitamins:P

[@salskapsspill8099]

The jumppack brute geting stuck up there is a mcc critique. Happens everytime on mcc and never on the original 360 version.

[@EggEnjoyer]

Fr should be playing the og version for this review, not a port. It just has countless bug and oddities. Graphics, colors ai and just general vibe just aren’t the same

[@LateNightHam]

It's very likely he's using the pc port of mcc. And honestly I don't blame him if he is, it streamlines the recording process.

[@axel.1358]

Halo 3's graphics are truly timeless.

[@Destroyer_V0]

Slightly dated rock textures, is about the worst I can give it. Human faces too. The artstyle however, is iconic.

[@TheXeroLink]

As much as I want a 3 Anniversary I don’t think we’ll ever need it…

[@nagger8216]

​@@TheXeroLinkI'd rather have them redo CEA than do Halo 3 Anniversary, honestly

[@axel.1358]

@@nagger8216 same.. there's a pic going around of the original crew of marines with the chief and they're all updated looking. If you know what I'm talking about, I feel like that updated art style would be perfect.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Johnson just looks too different in Halo 3. Like he's twenty years older looking. The rest of the graphics are amazing, in particular the lighting and gunplay

[@ReaLEthA]

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if they gave Arbiter the flamethrower as an Easter egg as to what the voice actor used in one of his first films “The Thing”.

[@thecynicaloptimist1884]

I never made that connection before!

[@Kahn_s550]

On crows nest, where you got stuck, you can go up the stairs, to the right as you run up to the pelican, and go up to the control room, that’s where the brutes spawn and get stuck. There is also invisibility up there too.

[@IMFERMO.]

This is a mcc bug that has been like that since release

[@ddsjgvk]

​​@@IMFERMO.No you could find an invincibility on crow's nest back on the 360 actually I believe you can get two if you kill the one brute chieftain fast enough

[@IMFERMO.]

@@ddsjgvk talking about the way brutes get stuck on the top, aalso he said invisibility xd

[@BGG-fd9jz]

Not sure if anyones mentioned it or you already know this, but the chieftain at the end of the ark actually challenges you do a 1v1 (hence why the other brutes don’t attack until he dies) if you don’t shoot him immediately. Took me years to notice it

[@EggEnjoyer]

Same I didn’t realize for years as well. I was so shocked when playing one heard all the dialogue and the challenge being presented to me.

[@reginadea2821]

Also in the final mission, the map of the Warthog run has the same layout as the island in Halo CE. You're literally going around the exact same spot in a different Warthog, only in the opposite direction.

[@karabak8103]

Which island? The Silent Cartographer? The driveable area of the island is basically just a large circle unless you force the warthog inland.

[@reginadea2821]

@@karabak8103 Yeah, and on the ring in 3 you are going around the same central mountain formation. It's easier to see if you look at a bird's eye comparison of both maps.

[@dr.chattanooga191]

"Being killed by a sniper you haven't spotted yet is unfair." That's how snipers work in real life too

[@doomboom1255]

Halo is just a video game there are far better games that can be realistic than halo

[@leopoppa7753]

@@doomboom1255nah impossible. This is the most realistic alien shooter, everything in this game is exactly the same as real life.

[@lmAIone]

@@doomboom1255your point is invalid.

[@SamsarasArt]

Video games should be fair though.

[@dr.chattanooga191]

@@SamsarasArt that's a good point

[@jamesdaviesanswers8751]

Dude you are an absolute legend this video is incredible. I can’t put into words how much halo 3 means to me. I built life Long friendships around playing the campaign and multiplayer as a middle schooler with my buddies.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Appreciate that James - same story with me too.

[@ipodclassic91]

Idk why but I instantly get happy and feel nostalgic when you do these type of 1hr+ analysis videos.... The good times I had playing the campaigns either solo or with friends...which breaks my heart that much more that Infinite not only didn't cause me to feel the same way...but it caused me to give up on the campaign altogether 😔

[@BenPlaysGames]

That's so nice, thanks mate. Halo hasn't had a truly amazing campaign in so long, but I'm still hopeful!

[@ipodclassic91]

@@BenPlaysGames I'm glad you're hopeful...because I surely am not, at least, not anymore

[@larsroom2136]

Considered, balanced, thoughtful, and must have taken a huge amount of time. You are a true boon to the Halo community. And I fucking LOVE that Marty is still a Halo fan like us and keeps watching these vids after all this time. Just mad respect to you all (Ben, Marty, fans ❤)

[@BenPlaysGames]

Thanks for the kind words Lars - it's been a labour of love which took 2-3 years to finish. Still lots to get through too!

[@SoupRoutine]

I am just now starting the video but you are correct in your assumption at the beginning of Sierra 117. If I remember right, that large piece of metal is a door from the Forerunner ship Chief boards at the end of Halo 2 with Truth on it, and he does in fact use it to help break his fall/resist the heat of re-entry.

[@NiniSuperior]

I think Halo Reach creates a plot hole because Noble 6 just falls into the planet with nothing to protect him and with a worse armor than Chief's and he is just fine. If he could do that I don't know why Chief had to use the steel door and even then almost died.

[@SoupRoutine]

@@NiniSuperior Six had a re-entry pack that helped him get back down safely. That's the backpack looking thing in the cutscene. I believe it also has the pistol that you start Exodus with.

[@NiniSuperior]

@@SoupRoutine oh true I remember him wearing that thing in his back but I thought it was just a jetpack or something like that. What does this re-entry pack do exactly?

[@SoupRoutine]

@@NiniSuperior not sure exactly. The wiki isn't much help, but I imagine it either provides thrust like a jetpack or maybe has something like a parafoil to slow his descent.

[@johljones]

5:29 Ben pressing his call of duty melee button when he realizes he’s back in halo 3

[@BenPlaysGames]

That is exactly what happened haha. I'd been playing a lot of Infinite online when making that video and have melee as right stick on that.

[@johljones]

@@BenPlaysGamesdid you do something similar with your grenade at 35:44 too? 😂😂

[@johljones]

@@BenPlaysGamesI felt that man

[@barrybend7189]

​@@BenPlaysGamesthat's why I change it to Halo 3 or reach scheme for Infinite.

[@calebkopp7636]

I only now realized that very few of Cortana's lines are actually here, given the poetic and often epic way she speaks in them. I feel like this is less Cortana reaching out, and moreso the Gravemind essentially masquerading as Cortana as he tries repeatedly to take Chief in order to add the super solider to his army.

[@EggEnjoyer]

It’s her but she’s corrupted. She such when you find her. “So much of me is lost, out of place. You might be too late”. Perhaps the gravemind is scheming. But I also think what she says are her true feelings and thoughts. “I’m a thief, and I keep what I steal” is her alluding to the fact that she still has the activation index to Halo. That is not something the gravemind would want anyone to know. So her saying that shows that she does have some control or is capable of speaking her own truth, even if it is warped or exaggerated.

[@Phillibetrus]

You know I don't mind those moments where Cortona and the Gravemind interrupt you. They never happen when you are actually doing anything and help draw attention to either chief having a breakdown without Cortona or else the Gravemind manipulating Chief. I might be the only one who thinks this though given the prevalence of the complaints.

[@beaglator]

Nah I absolutely agree with you. Plus they're for the most part only like ~5 seconds long out of a 10-15 minute long mission

[@danielpatterson1576]

Considering there’s only about 12 of them in the whole game, they only last a couple seconds, and all but 2 or 3 are in the same mission (Cortana), I also don’t see them as a gameplay issue. The dialogue and lore they provide is worth far more than the inconvenience of spending an extra 5 seconds out of combat.

[@beaglator]

@@danielpatterson1576 Agreed. The lore implications contributed by them is definitely worth the *price* so to speak, and as others have pointed out the interruptions are never in areas where you should be in combat. They’re almost exclusively played in transition areas like hallways or other similar structures between combat encounters.

[@nobchopper9728]

I'm sure it's annoying when speedrunning, but narratively its a brilliant way of conveying the story and thought process of Cortana and the Gravemind.

[@user-is7xs1mr9y]

I agree, and in my case it's maybe the nostalgia talking but when I first played the campaign I felt so bad for Cortana, it was a good way to add a new layer to Chief's character in my opinion.

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

I think the idea was that Miranda whispered "to war" to herself as much as anything, whilst cocking her personal sidearm (anticipating that she would have to personally fight, not just command). Then she turns around and starts issuing orders. I think they also considered her giving chief her sidearm, as an homage to Keyes in the first game. I'm sure someone at least suggested it.

[@everythingsalright1121]

I always just saw it as "we're not gonna hide anymore, we're going to fight. Tell them to get out there and plug the covies full of holes"

[@CriticalShot1]

Halo 3 looks great even today However its vastly inferior to halo2 imo. The game just feels soo rushed, u don't really get any boss fights and one of them(the scarab) is used twice. The combat is less close quarters and now focuses on mid to long range engagements. Theres far too many driving sections that i feel were just added as padding. Many missions also have you backtrack after a certain point which again feels like padding. The game doesn't really go anywhere with the interesting direction of the arbiter like halo 2 did.And weapon sounds just lack the visceral boom of halo1 & 2. The game lacks the Sci fi atmosphere of the first two games plus the music isn't as diverse. Again halo3 great game with near perfect multiplayer but campaign just seems worse to me. There isn't even a satisfying ending, as the prophets are dead but the covenant still intact, the flood still roaming and humanity still at risk. I think Halo3 was rushed to sell the xbox360.

[@dukes1993724]

Not a satisfactory ending??? All of the Covenant’s leadership is dead (who cares at that point what happened to every single remaining foot soldier for them, although it is heavily implied they all pretty much died fighting at the Ark). Gravemind destroyed, flood eradicated as a universal threat. Earth and humanity saved. What else could you have asked for for closure??

[@bruhbruhman349]

This game was made during a time where we would get a masterpiece game every month at most

[@thedimlitroom3747]

Amazing how it fell off

[@TheSocratesofAthens]

@@thedimlitroom3747 They actually had to work for people's attention and trust.

[@regularphill]

WHen is the spartan strike 3 hour long in-depth analysis

[@CommanderShepard-wq3wo]

10:44 I like to imagine the guy was like “Haha. No, seriously, where the f^ck should they go?”

[@CrustynMusky]

You’re the only psycho I know who let’s the marines drive

[@BenPlaysGames]

Gotta be the one shooting!

[@veraxiana9993]

I have a solution for the jackal snipers that may work, rather than having entire corridors of snipers like in halo 2 & 3 you put only 1 or 2 jackal snipers at a time in an area with a regular unit of brutes & grunts. It would make them feel more natural & simultaneously not result in entire corridors of frustration whilst still giving them adequate time to shine

[@buttered__toast_2899]

I’ll take the corridors. There’s numerous instances of there being snipers and regular enemies and it’s horrible. The problem is the Jackals HP, or lack of it One bullet can put them down so Bungie overcompensated by peppering them everywhere in Halo 2.

[@MrBanjob]

I feel like it says a lot about how this game sticks with me, that when you play short stings of the theme music with snippets of the cutscenes at the end of the game, I immediately felt tears welling. Even though I know Chief survived, the way Bungie sent him out, along with the crude 117 carved into the memorial, is a gut punch that will never leave me. Thank you Bungie for crafting such an important part of my life, and thank you Ben for this love letter to the finest Halo ever made

[@dukes1993724]

I just wish Halo 3’s campaign was longer. Still an excellent end to the trilogy though!

[@BenPlaysGames]

It 100% could have done with 2-3 missions more. It only really gets going when The Storm starts and by then it's almost half done.

[@bighubbz7866]

"I have defied gods and demons" right before the Scarab encounter gives me chills

[@kevinscott3047]

I hate that I wasn't able to experience this game, and the series as a whole in its prime.

[@BenPlaysGames]

That first night logging on to 3 and seeing over a million people playing was wild.

[@brahsive2187]

Halo 3 release day has been a core memory of mine. Those were the days. Lol

[@Anzeb69]

Great story, great gameplay, great atmosphere. Its all really a great journey.

[@Jammermaker]

i see what you did there

[@MacAndSheeeeesh]

The only thing that outright makes Halo 3 not fun are the Cortana interludes. I don't know who on the dev team thought these were a good idea, but the way they added them in makes it seem like they believed the player would be too ignorant to notice the narrative going on, so they made it as intrusive as possible, not realizing that there were much better ways to include these

[@brandonparson8821]

1:23:50 the nice about Gears of War games is that you have the option to skip the entire radio/squad dialogue if you don't want to slow and listen to it. Halo 3 on the other hand tho...😑

[@marvquesauce33]

This is the best channel for Halo breakdowns.

[@BenPlaysGames]

High praise, thank you!

[@commissardale]

"I'm hit aaaaughI'm hit aaaaugh!" Is my favorite part of Halo 3 because 99.9% of the game is so perfectly made, but that one audio line repeats and for some reason they never fixed it

[@majorkeybro]

One of the biggest let downs for me are the change in voice actors for Miranda Keys and the profit of Truth from Halo 2 to 3. It totally changed their character and personalities. Both of them seemed like completely different characters, I honestly didn’t even know that was even Miranda back when I first played Halo 3 as a kid. And the way Truth used to have such a creepy yet formal way of speaking in Halo 2 was unbelievably well done. It is gut wrenching but satisfying at the same time. In Halo 3 he just rambles and sounds like an old man telling kids to get off his lawn.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Agreed, the changes weren't ideal. I think Halo 3 generally underwhelmed a slight bit when it came to story. I loved a lot of it, but it felt like it lost some of the magic of 2's political and religious focus due to how much Bungie needed to get through to conclude the trilogy.

[@Starlesslemon]

Centered crosshair is just wrong for Halo 3

[@TheXeroLink]

Arbiter’s comments here at 37:27 have ALWAYS bothered me…yes Chief encountered them first and is technically the main character , but Arby literally walked through the quarantine zone on Delta Halo so for this question to leave his mouth at all is just beyond dumbfounding. XHow does he not immediately realize the Flood have found earth. Especially when it is revealed only moments later in game that Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum had brought the Shadow of Intent to follow the flood ship and stop them…it should be therefore reasonable to assume since we last saw Rtas and Arbiter together on Delta Halo that they had obviously planned for this during the Great Schism as the covenant was breaking at the end of Halo 2…also what other Covenant cruiser is smoking and just randomly fallout out of the sky. I’ve also always wondered how Keys, Johnson and Arbiter made it back to earth before Chief especially when Forerunner vessels were much more capable than Covenant ships at slip-space travel.

[@dukes1993724]

Great observations. In my head canon, Arby’s question only makes sense if he didn’t initially see the ship coming out of slip space (or get a great view of it) until he heard it crash. But I don’t think that can explain his ignorance away since I’m pretty sure he watches the ship (alongside MC) in that cut scene. Just another example of Bungie making dialogue sound dramatic even if it doesn’t hold up to logic (think Miranda’s “To War” line from Crow’s Nest lol). As far as Johnson and Co. beating Chief to Earth, that cutscene can work because remember we see Chief crashing to Earth during the night. For all we know, he could have been locked up in his suit for several days. He is a spartan and it’s not out of the possibility that he could survive much longer than the average human w/o food or water. Johnson and Arbiter get to Earth and bam find Chief on their first scouting mission. Other explanation that could work is that the forerunner ship is so old or not that advanced (since it’s more of a religious monument than anything else) that it travels in slipspace at the same/slower pace as current humans (remember, the elites could travel slipspace faster than humans, so that’s how Miranda and everyone else could have gotten home faster??).

[@chad_bro_chill]

​@@dukes1993724 The canon answer is that Truth's ship came out of slipspace out towards Saturn and then flew towards Earth at slower-than-light speed, while Arby et al came out of slipspace closer to Earth. It's in the graphic novel. (Technically it came out near Saturn, flew past Jupiter, then made a quick slipspace hop to Earth, to explain Halo 2's ending).

[@dukes1993724]

@@chad_bro_chill Interesting. Never knew that. Clearly somebody realized this plot hole and tried to cover it up lol.

[@skipdonaghue9451]

How about showin some love for Halo 4? Go on! There's a gateau or 3 in it for you. I'll even throw a few tubs of double cream!

[@BenPlaysGames]

Hahaha I think my gateau days have long since past. I'll definitely do some more Halo 4 soon enough though. I do have a few videos covering it here too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmnFd62FiLiLlas&pp=gAQBiAQB

[@gabe1298]

A monument to your good work!

[@IVEGOTPEEINMYEYE]

I feel like Cortona is a level better played by running through as quickly as possible. Fighting all the flood forms just slows everything down, further confusing the level. The messages really slow this down a bit, but if yer running through, it gives a sense of frantic searching, which is what the chief would be doing, right?

[@Texasp12]

I died so many times in Legendary that I looked up how to beat it. You literally sprint through it. You miss out on stuff, but after dying the umpteenth time, you just don't care.

[@thecynicaloptimist1884]

Regarding the level Cortana - I saw somewhere that for _Halo 2,_ there was an idea that when you go through the Mausoleum of the Arbiter, you would have fought older Arbiters, resurrected by the Flood. That would have varied things up a bit for _Halo 3._

[@crusader7eth163]

Honestly every single KZbinr that reviews halo hates the halo 3 cortana glitches. I think I’m the only one that felt them I love them they put a lot of depth to the situation without taking you to a whole new area to give you that vibe. It was genius I think people just didn’t quite feel her words or perhaps I’m too attached to them.

[@user-is7xs1mr9y]

You're not alone, I think it's a vocal minority that hates them. Most of the comments I've seen seem to either don't mind them or love them. I love them, it's a great touch.

[@chad_bro_chill]

They're fine for the first or second playthrough, but incredibly annoying on repeat playthroughs. Same with the elevator sections in Halo 2.

[@zombiekillerr9764]

Does anyone else kind of wish we could have been given the option to take the grunt along with us for the last stretch of the worthog ride as there was a free seat available. Honestly would have been kind of hilarious if he tagged along and how it would have affected the after credits or something like if the grunt was just going to be a loot goblin and scavenge for useful stuff while chief was a sleep or if he could somehow perform maintenance on certain objects he is familiar with. I know grunts are definitely no engineers by any means but there have been rare cases in some of the books where grunts have been shown that they are capable of learning how to interact with human technology as well as how to fix some machines. A grunt in one of the books I forgot his name but he accidentally armed a nuke the UNSC had tried to leave behind for the covenant that ended up being a dud and because the grunt was curious about learning English he kept interesting witg the device as it had someone speak on English on it so he slowly learned a little bit of English but he unknowingly armed a nuke and when he realised what the human was trying to say from the recording he frantically tried to turn it off but the engineers nearby flocked to the nuke and huddled around it for some reason preventing him from disarming it (Not that he could if he tried) Honestly felt bad for this grunt as well as he only wanted to learn English when the sangheli on the ship forbid grunts from learning English or well individuality in general. Then the nuke went off and completely destroyed the covenant ship he was on. Funny enough a second time grunts were shown to have a basic knowledge of human technology was in one of the games Halo 4 (Spartan ops) bit this was more or less 343 goofing around and pretending to troll the player with the intro cutscene of when your arriving at your landing zone as there was a worhog already there at the start a couple of grunts actually tried to steal the worthog one tried to climb into the driver seat and the other tried to climb into the gun to use it, but when they seen the pelican coming to drop off fireteam Crimson they panicked and ran away. Was hilarious yet slightly terrifying as covenant coyldbactually use human vehicles on halo reach if you left your worthog unattended and grunts can use machinegun turrets around the map, and God forbid a elite mounts the Gauss turret on the worthog. "Shudders" I've died from that before. Then the last time grunts have been shown to interact with human technology was Halo Infinite but mostly as loot goblins as you can occasionally find them hoarding human weapons they found laying around the halo ring. Honestly made me laugh when o seen this as they literally put them there so we would immediately have the thought "Filthy loot goblins!" 😂

[@nicolobartolotta]

You severely underutilized melee in the Cortana level especially when using brute weapons a shot melee will usually one hit the stalkers

[@danielpatterson1576]

An excellent video, though I do disagree on two points. 1. Considering there’s only about 12 of the hallucinations (either Cortana or Gravemind) in the whole game, they only last a couple seconds, and all but 2 or 3 are in the same mission (Cortana), I don’t see them as a gameplay issue. The dialogue and lore they provide is worth far more than the inconvenience of spending an extra 5 seconds out of combat. It’s also worth noting that they never happen during combat, so it’s not like it’s actively hurting you at all, at least no more than stopping at the terminals does. 2. I don’t see Cortana’s level design as an issue. Throughout the level the room layouts and enemy placements get more and more chaotic, which reflects Gravemind’s growing impatience with Cortana. And aside from a single room, there’s always a clear path forward, whether it’s an obvious hole in the wall or floor to an out of place door. It gives you that clear direction without handholding you like The Library does. And also unlike the Library, it doesn’t force you to stop in place to fight off waves of flood every few feet, with Cortana you can literally run straight through the entire level if you want, or take as much time on each encounter as you want. And as far as the base aesthetics, this has been the color palette for the flood since day one, and there are levels with arguably more frustrating color palettes for seeing enemies (Keyes basically requiring a flashlight during surface encounters, or the second mission in Halo 2 having the same bland tan palette on everything despite it being a human Earth city that should have at least some vibrancy). Basically, I think peoples’s issues with Cortana has nothing to do with its design (they took the concept of Library and did it correctly), and has more to do with people fundamentally missing and misunderstanding the level’s progression, because at the end of the day, all people can ever seem to see is The Library.

[@mandogaming1313]

maybe its just me but i always assumed that delta halo in halo 2 was sort of another Silent cartographer style level. Creating a beachhead through an airdrop (via drop pods instead of actual vehicles), then being given a warthog before the level opens up and then ending with an infantry focused section. If you look at it like that then every bungie halo has a level in that style

[@restoredtuna8264]

I feel like if Cortona played more like a doom level it would have been better. Think about it, being dropped off by a pelican piloted by the arbiter. You immediately are forced to bail and see it spiral away and you land straight into the fight. It being high charity there is no doubt both lots of flood and lots of covenant weapons. Making the slog more enjoyable with more carnage at your disposal. Later you fin the arbiter at the crash sight and fight your way to Cortona together. Perhaps when two players are present they start separated as arbiter a chief and need to unite early on and then move forward.

[@BFG-Based]

nah come on man, jackal snipers are very easy in Halo 3, the problem is in Halo 2 O_O

[@Kaceydotme]

Hey man, ten minutes in and enjoying it. But you might not be aware… if you’re using the automatic ad placements on KZbin, it places an ad every two minutes. Very very grating especially if you listen to these while working and have to find the tab and skip it again :(

[@ajflink]

Is it just me or do the sound effects for everything sound muted and restrained compared to Halo CE and 2? They lack the weight and punch you'd expect.

[@cellyzs]

That's how I always felt about the weapons. Especially the assault rifle, battle rifle, energy sword, and carbine but the rest too.

[@bioshock6935]

The new halo game looks very nice however its full of bad issues not enough new environments throughout the open worlds all looks the same copy and past and popping issues not good lighting. i just dont understand why there not fixing it and just concentrating fixing the free online version when they want you to pay for the campaign and doing nothing with it.

[@BenPlaysGames]

I feel similarly, the world of Zeta Halo is very bland and could really do with being filled with much more content.

[@KzRFAUSTI]

5:30 someone's been playing cod recently lmao

[@BenPlaysGames]

Guilty!

[@RustyArgonianSpade]

Halo 2's "tight, brown spaces" > any other description

[@BenPlaysGames]

I knew exactly what I was doing with that one haha.

[@FallenAngelZerato]

Anyone else getting annoyed each time he keeps an empty weapon for no reason?

[@BenPlaysGames]

Nah they all love it.

[@soundlesspeal]

i for one think cortana is a great level and is often met with far more complaints than necessary, granted it could use more recognizable spots from halo 2's high charity levels

[@macicoinc9363]

Bungie Halo campaigns are truly a unique experience that nothing else even comes close to. The atmosphere they are able to build and the amazing way they integrate physics into the gameplay leads to the most immersive experience I've ever had in gaming. They somehow manage to accomplish this while still making the game fun, even if it leads to some funny or even irritating quirks. I genuinely think they only added the theatre mode and file sharing feature to Halo 3 so that people could share the strange moments they encounter. If I remember correctly, they even gave some dude Recon armour because he got murdered by a mach 30 traffic cone, which went viral. My Uncle, who really only ever played Doom back in the day, had an Xbox and 360 just for playing the campaigns with his 3 daughters on Legendary. No Xbox live, no other games, these machines sole purpose was so that he could sit down with his children on 4 player split-screen Halo so they could get endlessly murdered by sniper Jackals and bad AI driving lol. When they took out multiplayer campaigns in Halo 5, he was pissed.

[@eliavita]

Halo infinite did jackal snipers perfectly

[@SamsarasArt]

I was going through a really bad time in my life when I first played Halo 3 in 2007. Because of this, things I found mildly annoying bothered me way more than normal and I found Halo 3 to be mid at best back then. Here's some of the stuff that irked me. I didn't like how Arbiter was regulated to be just a guy who pals around with Chief instead of the fully realized character he was in Halo 2. I didn't like how Truth's voice and character was radically changed. To a lesser extent Miranda Keyes had the same problem. Different voice and different vibe to the character, both of which are downgrades. I thought the story was a step down from Halo 2, I didn't dislike it perse but it isn't as good. I thought killing off Miranda and Johnson felt forced to me, like it was trying to add extra drama in the 11th hour. I really didn't like how frequently you're interrupted by "Cortana" and Gravemind throughout the game with it stopping everything dead in its tracks. I hated the 8th level. Everything looked samey and the flood were extremely annoying to fight and the annoying interruptions are extremely frequent; it makes an already bad level insufferable. That last reason was why I didn't revisit Halo 3 until well over a decade later. But having gone back and played through Halo 3 years later, I can appreciate the positives that I overlooked back then. Gameplay wise, it's really fun and it felt like Halo 1 but on the next generation console. Most of the levels are laid out well and are great to look at. Some of my favorite Halo levels are from this game. The Storm, Floodgate, The Ark, and The Covenant are so damn good; Cortana was still a shitshow though. Also the multiplayer was flawless. I fucking loved the multiplayer. Oh and what you said about the sniper jackal damage was what ODST ended up doing to make them a fair enemy. Even on legendary difficulty the sniper jackal doesn't one shot you unless you're at low HP. And since they have the headgear they did in Halo 3 they're easy to locate.

[@HaloBro003]

Great full-game analysis! While I don't agree with some points, I do think it's a very well thought out breakdown of the levels, atmosphere, gameplay, and characters. A theory I have about the first 4 levels of the game existing, despite the first 3 not being as narratively essential, is that for Halo 2, advertising really sold the idea that the game would be Master Chief fighting to protect Earth.... despite only spending 2 levels on Earth proper. I assume this is why Bungie put 4 more levels taking place on Earth in Halo 3 (5 including Floodgate, I suppose) and emphasized the scenery and gameplay more than the overall plot, focusing on the smaller skirmishes to protect Earth and its citizens. It seems like Cortana focused much more on the narrative side of things, while the first 3 levels more so focused on the combat encounters and sandbox, so I can see why you would have gripes with both of those styles of level. Halo 2 is my all-time favourite game still to this day, but I have to agree that The Covenant is the most enjoyable, most representative, and best level of the Halo trilogy (in my eyes as well). Keep pumping out bangers, Ben!

[@CABOOSEBOB]

I actually like the Cortana scenes

[@johnwerner6445]

The best part of the video is being interupted by ads every 4 minutes. Channels like this is why we use adblockers.

[@Grt1n]

Graphically halo 3 doesn’t look bad for its age. Same with halo 4.

[@BenPlaysGames]

I'd love to see an anniversary edition sometime, but I'm not sure 3 needs it yet. As you say, it still looks great, especially playing 4K/120fps on PC or Series X.

[@Grt1n]

@@BenPlaysGames I agree it’s a little soon for it to get the anniversary treatment but when it does get it oh man that’s going to be a beautiful game lol.

[@adityapagnis591]

Is it just me or did someone else also notice the change in the tone of Ben in the second half of the video. Almost felt like you were out of breath!

[@rm25088]

if you grab the plasma turret in the beginning, those 2 hunters are rather easy to beat. I even did it on legendary.

[@thecynicaloptimist1884]

One thing I never really liked in _Halo 3_ is the characterisation of the villains. Truth went from being a conniving, manipulative, oily politician to a raging megalomaniac, and Gravemind went from being a philosophising, well-spoken opportunist to being an angry bellowing monster. It just did them both a disservice in my view. Instead of Gravemind getting angrier, it would have been much more threatening to have it speak calmly and fluidly, but _what_ it's saying is what's driving Cortana mad. Instead it just feels like Gravemind just goes "ARARRAHRGHGHGHGH" through most of the game.

[@OnePolishMoFo]

This is a series wide nitpick. Why do Covenant send troops to strategically insignificant locations? The obvious answer is you need something to fight while going from point A to B. But maybe there's actually in lore explanations I'm unaware of. Like in Halo 2 when Chief first lands on Delta Halo with a squad of ODSTs. Why are Covenant forces set up in any of the ruins? What were they doing? Or in Halo 3's level The Storm. Why are there ground forces set up along this particular part of the crater? Were they expecting UNSC to repel down the sheer cliffs and hoof it the dozens of miles to the Key Ship? The games are just filled to the brim with moments of "why are there enemies here?"

[@shepardren8006]

I just noticed. During your breakdown videos. Bungie really put an effort into two types of escalation. The weapons and vehicles available And enemy types with their weapons and vehicles available for their uses.

[@cellyzs]

This is a great critique! Honestly it showcases everything what Bungie was going for in these levels and how their intention was to make it fun and balanced HOWEVER For me, they did a bad job at doing it cuz halo 3 is so boring. The story, the gameplay, the enemies, the overall levels. Where's Arbiter? Where's Cortana? Sergeant Johnson is a lil bitch and the two deaths are bad melodrama. 3 lacks the aesthetics that made the first 2 games mysterious or engaging. The worst of the trilogy imo and it's not even close. "Finish the fight" just makes my eyes roll.

[@benprint7615]

And just think, this is only a cover of the campaign. This video doesn’t even cover the multiplayer and forge/custom games. Heck, even the theatre and file share features. I think we can all agree Halo 3 was ahead of it’s time and is possibly one of the best games ever made.

[@sturm9087]

True which makes it sorta ironic I think its probably the weakest of the trilogy in gameplay

[@kmdreacts]

My ONLY critique with this masterpiece....... Not enough time spent on and exploring Installation 00 (The Ark) 😢

[@Vaporious2000]

While I do like Halo 3's campaign it's probably the weakest of the Bungie era Halo campaigns. -The story is kind of all over the place and doesn't really connect well to Halo 2. What happened to Chief going after Truth? How did Earth get thoroughly conquered despite the battle still being in progress at the end of Halo 2? How did Arby, Johnson and Miranda get off Delta Halo and somehow beat the Chief to Earth's surface? What happened with Delta Halo, The Flood and the huge space battle going on around High Charity? What happened between Cortana and Gravemind? Why was Tartarus never replaced? Almost none of this gets addressed which is utterly nonsensical. It reeks of bungie rushing or not having the storyline properly mapped out before they started designing the levels(Though Joseph Staten was apparently not the lead writer on this one which would explain a lot) -Truth and Gravemind go from cunning masterminds to one dimensional mustache twirling bad guys. -Cortana is severely underutilized and her "plan" to stop the Flood makes no sense, hinging on the Flood being the dumbest villains imaginable. -Arby getting demoted to MC's sidekick which robbed the game of the covie perspective that made Halo 2 so interesting. This also caused the covie civil war plot point to fade into the background despite it being such a huge development in the last game which is a huge disappointment. He didn't need as many missions as Chief but I doubt two or three levels as Arby would've killed anyone. -The story doesn't actually start until the 4th level with the first three being essentially filler. -The Cortana level was a complete slog and would've been way better if it was more like Quarantine Zone instead of The Library. -The Brutes became discount Elites which made them boring to fight outside of the chieftains. Sure the Halo 2 brutes had their issues but give them a few more weakness/make them less bullet spongey and they would be fine. A complete rework was totally unnecessary. -Overall enemy variety is lower than Halo 2 with very few three way battles occurring anymore. Also you hardly ever fight alongside the elites and never alongside any hunters or grunts :( -The game feels "lighter" than the first two and less like a desperate final battle where the heroes really have their backs against the wall. Thankfully ODST and Reach bring this tone back but it still needs to be said. Not saying the campaign isn't still quite good(The ark and The covenant are still some of the best levels in the franchise) but it's not the flawless masterpiece some claim it to be.

[@4th1st73]

Halo 3 is the reason the Xbox 360 got the Red Rings of Death 😂

[@BenPlaysGames]

Just wrap your 360 in a towel and you're good to go though haha.

[@4th1st73]

@@BenPlaysGames Yessir! Lol

[@ravwv7198]

If you haven't already, do the naughties and early 10's cod games next :D

[@MAYOFORCE]

Watching this video has made it more clear for why I think 3 is the weakest of the original trilogy. So much of the game is callbacks and reused music that there really isn't much of an identity to set it apart from other Halo games. The Covenant and The Storm are a lot of peoples' favorite levels and they happen to be the ones with the most new ideas and setpieces. Maybe it meant a lot more in 2007 to see Halo in HD for the first time, but if I had to wait 3 years after Halo 2's cliffhanger and got a game that's mostly filler missions with recycled concepts and music (does Halo 3 even have original music?) I would've probably been even more disappointed.

[@lololololololo]

They had only the time it took to, get online....which even basic connection was a work in progress.......sry for the proper, pov. 4 and the HTR LeaderBoard would be more, relatable from yours.

[@everythingsalright1121]

Also you say cortana wasnt scary, ah hell nah man when I played that level as a 9 year old I couldnt even continue the game after hitting the level. I was horrified. same with going into the flood ship alone at floodgates ending. I also have to disagree with how you say that dealing with the ranged forms isnt always the right choice. It pretty much always is given how they suppress your shield recharging and ability to scope in, and unless youre being run down by enemies you always have to use a scoped weapon in this level to deal with them edit: yeaaah i dont think 343 is gonna be the ones to make another really good halo game...let alone a library esque level thats actually good given their track record with a decade of disappointment

[@S1ngleP1ayerr]

Idk why people overacting on the importance of this tournament it’s an in season tournament is a nice prize pot for players and nice preview of teams and what to look forward to for the rest of the season. It’s gave us good basketball appreciate that and let’s look towards the rest of the season. Sure they can improve on it but the intended goal was to improve early season ball it did that idk why tf everybody is up in arms accept change it’s life things never stay the same

[@hjolol]

Isn't Dream Again a remake of Perchance to Dream lol?

[@BenPlaysGames]

I'm annoyed I didn't even notice the similarity to Perchance to Dream but have gone back and listened, and it's a mix of both - the percussion is Perchance to Dream while the notes over the top of it are Under Cover of Night. Learn something new every day!

[@hjolol]

@@BenPlaysGames Haha yeah, the halo 3 Under Cover of Night version I believe is Follow our Brothers! I do like how Marty remixed them and gave the classic songs different feelings

[@ninja1man4u]

Talk about sending halo 3 out with a bang

[@jacobcluff7994]

After almost 15 years playing this game, I learn in this video that the ladders are functional gameplay mechanics

[@stefanlopez1835]

Halo infinite fix the shackles problem by making their laser reflect off your visor when they're aiming at you

[@BlimpChimps]

Great content man ...Throw a sock over your mic or get a pop filter. My ears are getting blown out trying to listen to these 😅

[@KevinTilly]

Personally I would rather have to deal with jackals with carbines rather than jackals with beam rifles

[@nathanpond2530]

Nah Cortana is an amazing level smooth brained ppl just can’t comprehend it

[@yeetin_yeti69]

15:12 this only happens if you play on MCC. After playing the campaign hundreds of times on the 360 I can say it’s not a bungie problem but a 343 problem it always happens no matter what and is widely known about

[@BenPlaysGames]

Yeh a few people have mentioned this. There's a few things in Reach which are bugged out as well. Pretty annoying.

[@i.usedtobegod]

is nobody going to talk about the bank shot grenade quad grunt kill? 13:02

[@jamescarlisle7781]

13:04 mate your grenades are getting CRACKED

[@JDogVids]

I remember being 13 in 2013 and first experiencing this masterpiece, the chill guy at hastings let me buy it without a parent because he knew my mom didnt care and i stayed up all night playing it until i got to the flood level and going into the crashed flood ship i noped tf off the game until morning 😂

[@burge117]

I shall be watching the banger later on the train ❤

[@ethanpeng9838]

Watching this, I was hoping to get a new kindling and respect for Halo 3, since it's my least favorite of the trilogy. I think you've opened up my eyes to its magnificence as a game, but I can't get past the cringe of most of us storytelling elements. Drop in quality of key voice actors aside, every cutscene of the story is like a scene from a dramatic play for me. Like, it feels as if you're playing a game in between soap opera acts and I just can't bring myself to respect it. That being said, you've at least inspired me to give it another shot.

[@cellyzs]

Every time I try I get bored after Crow's nest Maybe I should just start at the storm but idk I barely even like what comes next

[@PineappleStickers]

Around 50:00 might be solely responsible for all the 343 defenders having something to latch onto when they claim the new trilogy had roots in the original. Whether Bungie hinted at it or not, what 343 chose to do with the story was pretty abysmal

[@cellyzs]

By this point Bungie had already established a lot of the backstory and then decided to include tidbits in Halo 3 before 343 took over. It was already decided during 3's development as the original humans being the forerunners was already retconned after Halo 2's ending had been scrapped. Either way Halo 3 messed up the magic the story had going for it and then Halo 4 made it 10x worse

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

I wish they would release a standalone remaster of some description. I don't like only being able to have it as part of mcc. It just isn't the same.

[@BenPlaysGames]

Anniversary edition when?

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

They could include some options like "disable cortana/gravemind dialogue" or "reduce marine health on higher difficulties to be less than players health" @@BenPlaysGames

[@TheDracarys]

Great video! Why does the music disappear and your voice change slighty when the cortana level segment begins?

[@BenPlaysGames]

Cheers mate! This supercut is all my individual videos on the game's missions spliced together (with intros, outros etc removed) and the one on Cortana was from quite early on in my KZbin career, when I was still finding my footing. I thought about redoing it just for this video but I have so much I want to cover and it's a big old piece, so decided to spend my time working on newer stuff.

[@TheDracarys]

that's perfectly reasonable! hope you make a halo 2 equivalent video as well :)@@BenPlaysGames

[@pikachu896]

15:22 This happens a lot on MCC for some reason, it's happened to me most of the time and I don't remember it happening at all on 360.

[@justinchan6594]

we didnt reallize how good we had it back in 2007

[@arcblooper2699]

Your issues with Missions 1-3 not really pushing the narrative forward was the reason I really, really didn’t care for Reach. You could remove ONI Sword Base, Exodus, New Alexandria, and combine Winter Contingency and Nightfall and get the same story. Sooo much filler.

[@joshdavis3743]

You can not critique perfection.

[@BenPlaysGames]

God loves a trier though right haha.

[@endplanets]

Floodgate's ending is kinda confusing. So Cortana's plan is: 1) reveal that the Ark is on the other side of the portal and it has a "solution". How does she know this?? Data she stole from Gravemind I guess. The humans were going to go through the portal anyway but whatever. 2) Have Gravemind slam High Charity into the Ark (which was an accident according to the Wiki) 3) Have the Ark release a new Halo #4 which she has the Index for. How does she get the timing right?? 4) Blow up High Charity knowing that the Gravemind can't escape. He does anyway. How does he escape? Then he lands on the new Halo and is trapped there? This he can't escape? Why? 5) Halo releases a pulse which kills everything and then blows up (presumably, we don't see this). All good guys had evacuated The Ark but no Flood ships can. And they can't stow away on a fleeing ship. But while they took out the main Flood force, there are still tons of Flood units on Rings, planets, on crappy ships, etc. More like a break in the fight rather than a solution like a vaccine.

[@gettinmoney1203]

i just know this is gonna be a banger

[@rm25088]

hell yeah it is.

[@dawsonjenkins4403]

HALO 3 I feel like Is a game that bungie either do put much effort into the game because while some of the levels are good some could've been better like there are 11 levels but theorically there is 10 because the final level is just a cutscene but anyway the levels are arrival, Sierra 117, crow's nest, tsavo highway, the storm, Floodgate, The ark, the covenant, Cortana, HALO epilogue I feel like Arrival is a good start to the game even though it's just a cutscene but It kind of shows you what is to come Sierra 117 and crows nest I feel is a waste of space because Sierra 117 I feel is just a level to basically stretch your legs the level has no exact objective except kill and destroy up until Johnson's pelican gets shot down then you have a real objective Crows nest is a level that I feel is a similar level like Cairo station but you are just roaming the base going back to areas you have already experienced your mission is to help everyone escape the base Tsavo highway and the storm are both great levels but I don't think they were worth to have them split in to two separate levels like the opening scene on Tsavo highway where you need to basically get as far away from the base as you can but that feels like your only objective on the level the opening scene on the storm I feel would've been better if instead of ending Tsavo highway on the cutscene I feel would've been better if you could've continued with the level and still doing the objectives with the storm but instead of ending one level just to start a new level basically in the same area because Tsavo highway and the storm is basically the same location but anyway the storm is a good level where you need to explore two big spots with ghosts and wraiths but my only issues with that is there could've been more the first spot you have two anti-air wraiths nothing more after you destroy them another wraith arrives but it takes like a minute to destroy then as you are moving through the corridors there are a fair amount of scramblers like brutes, grunts, jackals, drones then you get to the next area then more anti-air wraiths are placed and ghost but would've been better if you had more scramblers placed In the big area then are scarab arrives which is are epic boss battle if you want to call it that then the rest of the level is good/ floodgate is a level that I think is a good level to experience the flood for the first time in halo 3 and you get to understand what flood you are going to be fighting because each game the flood changes or evolves /the ark I feel is a mixture of The silent cartographer and assault on the control room and truth and reconciliation the reason for saying assault on the control room not necessarily the snow but the size of the areas you need to progress through but again the reason I chose those three levels is because you have to do things that you have done before the opening scene on the ark you have sniper rifle scene just like the truth and reciliation you have a few fairly large areas like assault on the control room and the silent cartographer is not as big as the one from HALO CE but very similar/ the covenant the opening scene is very similar to the silent cartographer then as you progress you have a similar objective like on two betrayals on two betrayals your mission was to destroy three pulse generators to basically slow the monitor down well on the covenant you have to shut down three shields to progress the mission then the flood arrives via high charity then the next area two scarabs arrivals which takes only a few minutes to destroy with the help of scorpions and warthogs and hornets then your next mission is to kill the prophet of truth but my only issue of killing the prophet is once you do every single covenant is gone even the dead bodies of the covenant are gone then the halo ring arrives and you need to light it/ Cortana I feel like is just a remake of the library but the mission of the maw on the maw your objective is destroy the autumns reactor core so the ship destroys after you find Cortana that's your objective destroy high charity the level Halo I feel is a mixture of the maw and assault on the control room on halo you are basically at the control room then you need to escape the ring before it explodes

[@realvarbs]

Halo 3 is perfection end of my critique

[@alexbarker9904]

Popcorn + beer is at the ready! I'm looking forward to this

[@BenPlaysGames]

Enjoy Alex!