September 18, 2007 Page Editor: Kyle Ward
3 Entertainment HALO 3: The wait to finish the fight
Good enough to freeze for; The Nintendo game that revolutionaized the way people care for their thumbs
By Cody Meddles and Kyle Ward The sound of gunshots, grenades, and the screams of dying human soldiers and aliens alike, this is common for fans of the popular FPS (First Person Shooter) video game Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo and Halo 2 tell the tale of humanity’s struggle against a band of aliens known as the Covenant. Halo is a game consisting of three installments, the first of which, Halo: Combat Evolved, introduces players and non players to the inventive game play, greatly built maps, and intriguing story line, all through the eyes of the game’s main character, Master Chief. The Master Chief is a genetically enhanced “super soldier” known as a “Spartan”. Throughout the game, the Master Chief is to explore a mysterious world known as “Halo” all the while stopping the Covenant armada from discovering the location of earth. The second part of this trilogy continues where the first game left off, the Covenant have landed on Earth after the destruction of Halo. During the game, players learn that the Halo destroyed in the first game wasn’t the only one in the universe, and it then becomes the Master Chief’s mission to destroy the second Halo before the Covenant can use Halo to destroy Earth. Throughout the story, there is a kind of rebellion in the Covenant. Players are given the role of the Arbiter, and alien scapegoat who learns of the deceit that the leaders have given the Covenant. As for the third installment, well, players will have to wait until September 25 to finish this trilogy. The third game, appropriately named Halo 3, is the final installment of this game phenomenon, and will be released at 12:01 on September 25, 2007. Last year, fans of the series competed
The minds of students are being sucked into Halo. online in what is known as the Halo 3 Beta Test. This gave a chance for players to see what the third and final installment has to offer, and was given free to those who purchased copies of the nintendo game Crackdown. Fans of the Halo series have many questions that they hope will be answered in the game: What new weapons will be introduced? Will some of the old weapons from the earlier games make a comeback? Are there any new races in the Covenant? And also why is this game an XBOX 360 exclusive, whereas the other two games in the series were for the original XBOX? Being on the XBOX 360 has landed this game with a colossal price tag, with the Halo 3 is a good reason to buy an XBOX 360, that is for Halo fans, of course, I wont personally. cheapest edition of the game, the standard edition, being $59.99. The standard edition consists of only the game. The next step up from this would be the limited edition, that comes with a book describing the civilizations of the game, artwork, a collection of original Halo 3 storyboard art, a metal collector’s case, a bonus disk containing behind the scenes footage, as well as a Halo fiction art book, all for the price of $69.99. Senior Aaron Keller said, “I have pre ordered the limited edition rather than the more expensive legendary edition.” This legendary edition, which Keller spoke of, is quite an upgrade from the limited edition. No because there is a lot of good games out there for the XBOX.
The legendary edition includes two bonus disks, the first of which provides exclusive, behind the scenes footage not included in the other editions. The second bonus disk includes expanded information about the creatures, cultures, and worlds of the Halo series, completely remastered cinematic material from Halo and Halo 2, exclusive content from the creators of the popular series, “Red vs. Blue”, as well as an illuminating view of original Halo 3, all this and the game disk cost $129.99 Another question Halo fans are dying to know, will there be any new weapons in this game? Some of these new weapons were released on the beta test over XBOX live. The new weapons include the Spartan Laser, which has the destructive power of the popular rocket launcher (the ability to utterly obliterate both opponents and vehicles alike), the Brute Spiker, which is equipped with blades on the end that can slice through armor for a brutal melee attack, and the bubble shield, which when thrown surrounds the user in a impenetrable shield. These and many other weapons will be at players’ disposal in the game. Many Halo fans are wondering why this game is a XBOX 360 exclusive, the reason is simple really, the original XBOX is unable to handle the graphics of the new game. Some fans of the game are disappointed that this is the last of the Halo series. Junior Jake Berreta said, “I’m disappointed that this is the last game, but this game will be so great, that people will be entertained for a while.” So will many of North County’s students wait in line at local stores to “finish the fight?” Only time will tell. In the words of Johnson (one of the games constantly appearing AI characters), “HOORAH!” Oh God no!
Is Halo 3 a good enough reason to buy a new XBOX 360?
freshman, Jason Henry
sophomore, Rhyannon Loop
sophomore, Jarrod Lowe