After three games Bungie has distilled the controls down to a perfect science; I never had any trouble drawing a bead on an enemy or moving throughout the levels. There are a ton of options for customizing your control style from standard to inverted axis for your aim and different button maps; if you are used to melee attacks mapped to the right analog you can set it up that way. That's great because you will need to be comfortable for the hours and hours you are going to want to play Halo 3.

Bungie has done a great job of introducing new gameplay elements and keeping them balanced with all the old stuff. One addition that I like is the combat equipment you can find throughout the levels. You can carry one at a time and use them with a press of the blue button. They are things like bubble shields, that protect you from enemy fire, to trip mines. My favorite is a large blue ball that when thrown emits an energy wave that disrupts anyone's shield that is around it; this weapon has huge implications in the multiplayer level as it makes it easy to kill with only a few shoots. Bungie also did a fantastic job on the flow of the campaign mode. It has a rich mix of different experiences. Sometimes you will fight solo, sometimes your joined by others like the Arbiter and Elites for some group tactics; but then there are level were you have hundreds of troopers and many vehicles all going to town on one level. Its the first time I can remember in a Halo game were I felt like the UNSC was throwing everything they had at the Covenant, you can sense the desperation. The large-scale vehicular combat is intense and fun and I can't wait to play on multiplayer on such a level.

As interesting and captivating as the story is; the major draw of Halo is the online multiplayer deathmatches. Playing against computer controlled AI enemies is never as fun as playing against real people. Halo 3 is all about taking what made Halo 2 so great and improving on it. With huge amounts of new guns, grenades, equipment, and vehicles the number of new tactics is unlimited. Interesting combos of weapons and team strikes makes every encounter different and memorable. There are a ton of game types to play. The different types range from standards like, slayer where the idea is to kill every one and everything, and capture the flag, get the enemy's flag back to your base. To the truly unique like infection where you score points for killing the Flood or infecting humans, or in oddball you gain points for holding on to the ball as long as possible. In the past Halos one of the hallmarks was the great Multiplayer maps and Halo 3 is no exception. I am happy to say that there is a map for every taste and play style. If you're into close quarter claustrophobic combat look to the levels Narrows and The Pit these levels have tons of tunnels, run ways, and little places to hide in them. If you like large open fields to rain down rockets and grenades get into the Construct or Snowbind levels. Finally if your into an all out war with huge vehicles go to Valhalla and the Sandtrap. Speaking of vehicles, Sandtrap is the only place I know where you can use the enormous Elephant troop hauler, this monster is big enough to accommodate your whole team and has three turrets on top of it plus it can carry a mongoose in its cargo bay, it's a rolling fortress. Multiplayer is a blast and will keep me playing this game for years and years to come just like Halo 2.