Halo 3 European Premier

Calling Halo 3 the most anticipated videogame of the year is far from hyperbole. It’s one of Microsoft’s most important weapons in the company’s war against PS3.

Halo sold Xbox to both an unsuspecting and suspicious audience. Its first sequel, again on original Xbox, became the highest-grossing videogame of all time. And this despite criticisms after the hype settled accusing the single player game of falling short of its predecessor. Make no mistake: Halo 3 Microsoft’s most important videogames yet. But while players were treated to a Beta text of Halo 3’s multiplayer over Xbox LIVE at the start of the summer, Bungie Studios has kept characteristically quiet about the core campaign.

This week Yahoo! UK Games was invited to Amsterdam for the European Premier of Halo 3. The general idea was to spend some time with single-player quest, during which we discovered that fans can rest assured that Halo’s campaign mode is shaping up to be one of videogaming’s most electric experiences.

Only one level was available to play: Tsavo Highway. It begins inside a dark and dimly lit grimy underground hangar. There’s clearly been some kind of explosion as the walls flicker with reds and oranges from occasional fires. Master Chief is here with a group of marines, all disorientated and in need of leadership.

You flick on the lights to reveal a large Warthog people carrier with room for you and four marines to use as transport out of this darkened hole. You can choose to take the steering wheel or, if you prefer, let one of the marines drive while you line up your weapon sights in the passenger seat. Through the door and you’re blinded with sunlight as the tight confines of the hangar give way to an oceanic desert.

In Halo 3 your marines are a lot chattier; quipping and moaning a colourful commentary to your driving. The sprawling environments look good – certainly more next-gen, polished and solid than the multiplayer Beta promised but this is certainly evolution and not revolution for the Halo universe. While the draw distance is huge and the colours, shapes and sheen confidently modern, there are some jagged surfaces and the occasional bland texture. That said battles are huge and, crucially to those who felt disorientated by the second game’s over-reliance on set-pieces, they develop with a pleasing on-the-fly feel reminiscent of the first game. It was difficult to get a feel of how the narrative arc of the game falls from this short snapshot of the game (played out of context and chronology) but Bungie is promising that this, the final game in the trilogy, will leave no threads untied by the end.

With this week’s announcement of up to four-player co-operative play over Xbox LIVE for the whole campaign (a sure case of one-upmanship over upstart Gears of War) it’s difficult not to feel excited. One thing’s for certain, there will be millions of eyes watching the game’s every move and trick – and at least some of them will belong to the opposition.