I need to pay homage to one of my favorite moments in the game. It's easy to point to the big vehicle brawls that stand out, like the fights on The Ark and The Covenant, or the Scarab encounters. There's some standout ground fights like the three encounters that comprise the barracks in Crow's Nest and the garage encounter on Tsavo Highway. But to me, it's actually the smaller fights that really make Halo 3 so excellent, especially in comparison to Halo 1 and Halo 2.
Among them: the encounters immediately after the first Scarab fight on The Storm. All of this is on Legendary, no skulls (because I can't find the #$@&ing things).
This is the setup. A room filled with cargo containers, creating a choke point. There's squad of ~8 guys behind me, but I chose to take the elevation on top to scope the situation. Five Brutes, and I've got a shotgun and the AR. I need to close the distance, but on Legendary that's dangerous.
Thank god for Equipment. Of all the things Bungie did to tweak the combat, the addition of Equipment is far and away my favorite, because it allows moments of insanity such as this; in previous games this is a recipe for suicide. Down goes the bubble shield, catching them momentarily off-guard.
Distance closed, the Brutes assume a combat phalanx. I ready the shotty....
...and a plasma grenade. The little stand-offs created by segmenting the area are wonderful, tension filled moments. Peek-a-boo!
One Brute backpedals and another dives backwards, but three go down in that one moment.
Of course, while I was busy being an action hero, one circled around from behind. A shotgun blast + mêlée takes care of him.
In the next room, there's a similar encounter waiting. I try the same move again, but this time, two of the Brutes throw down shields of their own.
The shields nearly cut off the choke point and create three segments within them. Cat and mouse antics ensue.
Always nice to be protected from my own grenade blasts.
At this point, my "backup" decides the odds are tipping in our favor enough that they'll come and join the party. Skippy there on the right leads the "charge".
Oh wait, they just wanted to bask in the warm glow of the Bubble Shields. Apparently three running at once makes for a camp fire-like atmosphere. Get the marshmallows. Meanwhile, I charge in to finish this particular fight.
Leaving one dimension, entering another.
Mopping up.
The entire sequence took about one minute, which for those keeping track means roughly two 30-second encounters. They were fun. Almost like they each comprised 30 seconds of....ah, never mind.
There's a few encounters here and there that don't quite gel, but by and large, nearly every single fight in the game, both small and large, provides these kinds of moments. My first time through that fight, I stayed on the ground and used Deployable Cover and Pistols to take the first group down, and circled around the containers on the right to flank the second when they engaged the guys behind me. Three different tactics, all valid, all fun. That's what makes Halo 3 so enjoyable to play.
Two other subsequent moments from the same level:
Dropping the Regenerator and picking off a large squad - about 20 - of Covenant while they futilely tried to return fire.
Right before that, I had sniped the Brute Chieftain before he'd used his Invincibility. For the first time in my three play throughs of the game, I snagged it.....
And used it to turn the tables on the next Chieftain. He had four other Brutes by his side, but as I approached one of them yelled, "Fall back!" and three of'em ran to the rocks in the rear. One bravely stood by.
That didn't work out so well.
I note that all three of these encounters were shaped by Equipment. I can't remember who it was, but someone was saying a few weeks ago that Equipment didn't add much to Campaign. I beg to differ.
Not all of it is useful - the only stuff I've found effective is the Deployable Cover, Bubble Shield, Regenerator, Trip Mine and now Invincibility. All the others seemed to be made with either MP in mind or for enemies to use against me. (And does ANYONE find the portable turret useful?)
Anyhoo. The game is great. It stands up to the replay that Halo 1 had, which Halo 2 lacked. The moment to moment fights are just wonderful. The game uses set pieces well, but for me it's the little stuff that makes this game so great.
