Halo 3
As mentioned earlier, both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 were eager to get ahead of one another and attract players to their console. If there’s one game that really attracted users to team Xbox, it was Halo 3. Given the staggering success of the first two Halo games, and the cliff-hanger ending of the second, Halo 3 was hugely anticipated. For many younger fans, it was their first introduction to what a hype train is and it would be fair to say that even the most hardcore Sony supporters were looking over at Halo 3 with envious eyes.
Fortunately, Halo 3’s developer, Bungie, delivered and Halo 3 received critical acclaim from both critics and players. The amount of pressure on the game was astounding but Halo 3 managed to pull it off seemingly without breaking a sweat. Not only did the game give Master Chief a worthy send off (no one knew at the time he’d be pulled out of retirement by Microsoft for two more games) but it also delivered one of the best online multiplayer experiences available. Players could team up to take on the game’s campaign together, and they could also jump into frantic online games that saw intense fire fights and amazing feats of skill.
It’s also worth mentioning the game’s brilliant Forge mode, which allows players to use game assets to create their own maps. This resulted in some fantastic maps which became famous among the Halo community and were every bit as fun as the maps created by the developers. The Halo series has continued to thrive but Halo 3 marks a very special time in the series’ history when it seemed like the whole world was rooting for Master Chief.
