- Expands on the franchise and adds a wealth of technical and gameplay advancements.
- Unparalleled first-person shooter experience and the most compelling story of the trilogy.
- Builds upon the social multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving, online gameplay of Halo 2.
- Loaded with high-definition visuals, enhanced AI, an advanced lighting engine, new weapons, characters, and challenges.
Adding to Halo: Combat Evolved ( /gp/product/B00005NZ1G ) and
Halo 2 ( /gp/product/B00008J7NZ ), the epic saga continues with
Halo 3, the amazingly anticipated sequel to the highly successful
and critically accled Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to
finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the
Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic,
pulse-pounding climax. The Covenant occupation of Earth has
uncovered a massive and ancient object beneath the African sands,
an object whose secrets have yet to be revealed. Earth's forces
are battered and beaten. The Master Chief's AI companion,
Cortana, is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind, a
horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the
heart of the Covenant. It's all been building to this--a
desperate, final war that leads to a soul-shattering climax of
epic proportions. Take control of Master Chief to defeat the
Covenant and destroy the Flood as a measure to prevent the
annihilation of the human race.
Get ready. The Chief is back.
HDR lighting, self-shadowing, and more make Halo 3 look and feel
realistic. View larger
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/halo3-2-lg.jpg )
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Mystery abounds with the return of Cortana. View larger
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Earth is conquered. The Covenant is everywhere. Halo 3 promises
to be an epic journey. View larger
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.The game was revealed to the world at the Microsoft press
conference held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in May
2006. The announcement was a complete surprise. The rumors had
run rampant, as everyone wondered when the next installment would
be ready. Bungie and Microsoft did a stellar job keeping their
lips sealed and fans benefited from their first glimpse of the
hallowed third and final installment.
The short presentation was delivered in real time on Xbox 360
using the current version of the Halo 3 game engine. That's
right--no studio production video, Bungie and Microsoft delivered
the real deal: what they showed at the announcement is what
gamers see when they play Halo 3. The HDR lighting,
self-shadowing, GPU-run particle system, and many other features
appear in full effect in the final game. Needless to say, the
gaming community has been salivating.
CJ Cowan, Bungie's director of cinematics, discussed one of the
most startling moments of the presentation: the return of
Cortana. "Given the variety of character and story arcs at the
end of Halo 2, we wanted to boil down our announcement to a few
key threads. Cortana and the Chief being a galaxy apart is a
situation we haven't seen before, and is something that is a
powerful component to Halo 3. We are using her transmissions in
the demo to give the viewer a few subtle clues to her situation
and state of mind, without revealing any specifics we want to
save for the game itself."
Graphically, the game closely follows in the tradition of Halo
2, although it has been upgraded to take advantage of Xbox 360's
more prodigious visual abilities. As art direct Marcus Lehto
explained, "[The presentation] was intended to be an understated
announcement of Halo 3--the tone is that of mystery and
suspense--the calm before the storm. I wanted to make sure that
we reintroduced the Chief, showed that Earth was thoroughly
conquered, with Covenant everywhere, and that there is a
glorious, ancient artifact buried under the Earth's crust which
will provide Halo 3 with the epic journey we all want."
Taking full advantage of the power of Xbox 360, Halo 3 expands on
everything that has made the franchise great, adding a wealth of
technical and gameplay advancements. The game design has evolved
with next-generation, high-definition visuals; enhanced AI; an
advanced real-time lighting engine; and, of course, new weapons,
characters, and challenges. Halo 3 promises an unparalleled
first-person shooter experience and, in the end, the most
compelling and engrossing story in the franchise's history. Last,
but certainly not least, Halo 3 builds upon the unique social
multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving online gameplay
of Halo 2. Rest assured, you'll still be able to run with your
clan and battle with (or against) your buddies from coast to
coast.