Why do people love halo 3 so much?

The MCC’s playlists are now separated and voting is removed so now halo 3 seems to show up in social slayer about as much as the other games which is nice. But I really have never understood halo 3’s popularity. What is it about halo 3 that is so great. I thought the punching was too powerful, the projectile bullets made things a little more unstable, the movement was slow, took too long to take anyone out without power weapons, the dual wielding balance addition of making the guns a little less strong when dual wielding was a good idea but didn’t work too well, hit registration always felt a bit off, and doing well seemed to almost always require team work. The campaign wasn’t all that great in my eyes either. In my opinion halo 3 was a kind of polished halo 2. However I think it was polished too much to the point where some of the high point fun got rubbed out. I can’t deny that it feels somehow a little different from every other halo game, so maybe people like it’s unique feel. Either way lavish halo 3 with your praises and let me know what makes it the best halo game because I really want to be able to see the game from that viewpoint at least once.

Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.

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> Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.

So it’s not the game itself but the fact that everyone jumped in then and they have nostalgia for it?

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> > 2533274968894951;2:
> > Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.
>
> So it’s not the game itself but the fact that everyone jumped in then and they have nostalgia for it?

Well it’s a number of reasons really.

For arguments sake, Halo 3 was the peak of the original trilogy in terms of popularity and what’s available in MCC. I can’t speak for Reach’s peak player count but the decline began mid-late Halo 3 and continued with Reach onwards.

Halo 3 was often considered to be the ‘evolution’ of Halo 2. It wasn’t revolutionary, yet, it still furthered the formula established in Halo 2 (equipment added a new layer of map control in competitive play).

Halo 3 brought with it a wealth of new features that players had craved - Online campaign co-op (originally planned for Halo 2, though unfinished), Theatre mode (Planned for Halo 2), Forge level editor (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), huge number of customisation options (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), Halo 2 created custom games made official (Infection mode), further armour customisation, social rankings for the casual gamer, a good balance of competitive and BTB maps. That, and Halo 3 was a ‘complete’ game, with Halo 2 being known to be unfinished with a large number of cuts having to be made to be ready for release. Halo 3 on the other hand didn’t face these issues and as such, felt like a finished game.

There’s also the factor that it apparently had the largest player count in the series, with people often debating whether it hit over 1 million unique players online at one time or over a 24 hour period - something that was very rarely heard of even for a PC game let alone a console game, where the online scene was still developing. Given that, we have to consider that due to a higher player count, there’s a possibility that a larger number of players would consider Halo 3 their favourite games as well.

Whether or not Halo 3 is the best game is up to you. However, we have to consider the above, especially as it contained all those features when Halo 3 was at its peak, just after release when the Halo hype train appeared to be unstoppable. To put this into perspective, despite Halo 3 launching at the end of September 2007, it still caused a major spike in Xbox 360 sales, allowing the console to outsell the Wii, which was all the rage at the time. Given how popular the Wii was at a lower price point and its appeal to the casual market, this feat is impressive.

> 2574155679901782;4:
> > 2533274849645270;3:
> > > 2533274968894951;2:
> > > Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.
> >
> > So it’s not the game itself but the fact that everyone jumped in then and they have nostalgia for it?
>
> Well it’s a number of reasons really.
>
> For arguments sake, Halo 3 was the peak of the original trilogy in terms of popularity and what’s available in MCC. I can’t speak for Reach’s peak player count but the decline began mid-late Halo 3 and continued with Reach onwards.
>
> Halo 3 was often considered to be the ‘evolution’ of Halo 2. It wasn’t revolutionary, yet, it still furthered the formula established in Halo 2 (equipment added a new layer of map control in competitive play).
>
> Halo 3 brought with it a wealth of new features that players had craved - Online campaign co-op (originally planned for Halo 2, though unfinished), Theatre mode (Planned for Halo 2), Forge level editor (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), huge number of customisation options (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), Halo 2 created custom games made official (Infection mode), further armour customisation, social rankings for the casual gamer, a good balance of competitive and BTB maps. That, and Halo 3 was a ‘complete’ game, with Halo 2 being known to be unfinished with a large number of cuts having to be made to be ready for release. Halo 3 on the other hand didn’t face these issues and as such, felt like a finished game.
>
> There’s also the factor that it apparently had the largest player count in the series, with people often debating whether it hit over 1 million unique players online at one time or over a 24 hour period - something that was very rarely heard of even for a PC game let alone a console game, where the online scene was still developing. Given that, we have to consider that due to a higher player count, there’s a possibility that a larger number of players would consider Halo 3 their favourite games as well.
>
> Whether or not Halo 3 is the best game is up to you. However, we have to consider the above, especially as it contained all those features when Halo 3 was at its peak, just after release when the Halo hype train appeared to be unstoppable. To put this into perspective, despite Halo 3 launching at the end of September 2007, it still caused a major spike in Xbox 360 sales, allowing the console to outsell the Wii, which was all the rage at the time. Given how popular the Wii was at a lower price point and its appeal to the casual market, this feat is impressive.

Yeah I guess I kind of over look the extra features like forge, armor customization, theater, and the like. Most of those things are “nice to have” and do expand the things that can be done with the game. All of those things are expected in halo games now. At the time I was mostly focused on the campaign and wasn’t all that impressed. I looked at theater mode a couple of times and maybe forged twice. I know that halo 3 was kind of the game that everyone had so yeah I guess it made an impression on many people.

> 2533274849645270;5:
> > 2574155679901782;4:
> > > 2533274849645270;3:
> > > > 2533274968894951;2:
> > > > Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.
> > >
> > > So it’s not the game itself but the fact that everyone jumped in then and they have nostalgia for it?
> >
> > Well it’s a number of reasons really.
> >
> > For arguments sake, Halo 3 was the peak of the original trilogy in terms of popularity and what’s available in MCC. I can’t speak for Reach’s peak player count but the decline began mid-late Halo 3 and continued with Reach onwards.
> >
> > Halo 3 was often considered to be the ‘evolution’ of Halo 2. It wasn’t revolutionary, yet, it still furthered the formula established in Halo 2 (equipment added a new layer of map control in competitive play).
> >
> > Halo 3 brought with it a wealth of new features that players had craved - Online campaign co-op (originally planned for Halo 2, though unfinished), Theatre mode (Planned for Halo 2), Forge level editor (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), huge number of customisation options (likely inspired by Halo 2 modding scene), Halo 2 created custom games made official (Infection mode), further armour customisation, social rankings for the casual gamer, a good balance of competitive and BTB maps. That, and Halo 3 was a ‘complete’ game, with Halo 2 being known to be unfinished with a large number of cuts having to be made to be ready for release. Halo 3 on the other hand didn’t face these issues and as such, felt like a finished game.
> >
> > There’s also the factor that it apparently had the largest player count in the series, with people often debating whether it hit over 1 million unique players online at one time or over a 24 hour period - something that was very rarely heard of even for a PC game let alone a console game, where the online scene was still developing. Given that, we have to consider that due to a higher player count, there’s a possibility that a larger number of players would consider Halo 3 their favourite games as well.
> >
> > Whether or not Halo 3 is the best game is up to you. However, we have to consider the above, especially as it contained all those features when Halo 3 was at its peak, just after release when the Halo hype train appeared to be unstoppable. To put this into perspective, despite Halo 3 launching at the end of September 2007, it still caused a major spike in Xbox 360 sales, allowing the console to outsell the Wii, which was all the rage at the time. Given how popular the Wii was at a lower price point and its appeal to the casual market, this feat is impressive.
>
> Yeah I guess I kind of over look the extra features like forge, armor customization, theater, and the like. Most of those things are “nice to have” and do expand the things that can be done with the game. All of those things are expected in halo games now. At the time I was mostly focused on the campaign and wasn’t all that impressed. I looked at theater mode a couple of times and maybe forged twice. I know that halo 3 was kind of the game that everyone had so yeah I guess it made an impression on many people.

Yeah, I agree that some of the features I didn’t use too much as well (theatre I used a handful of times for clips and cool screenshots and Forge, well, we all dropped Scorpions on friends) but I did use some of the features indirectly such as player made maps and gametypes in matchmaking so they had their benefits.

I’ll add to the above as two final points - Halo 3 was the last major game that the ‘casual’ market flocked to. Shortly after Halo 3’s release, Call of Duty Modern Warfare revolutionised the FPS market once again similar to how Halo CE and Halo 2 did before it and for a while, Halo 3 managed to hang there and still be popular with the casuals though we all know Call of Duty eventually became ‘the game’. Shooter games that come to mind since then include Counter Strike Global Offensive, PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds and Fortnite as of late.

Regarding the ‘1 million player count’ I mentioned in the earlier post, to put that into perspective to show just how significant that milestone is, Counter Strike Global Offensive at its peak hit close to 1 million players and PUBG broke that record (surpassing Dota 2) and getting over 1 Million players. Halo 3’s achievement is no small feat. That’s not to say Halo 2 didn’t have a large install base as it was the go to game on Xbox right up until Halo 3’s release, even battling Gears for the top spot.

In the end, Halo 3 will always be remembered fondly for its achievements so I think that’s why people prefer to return to the game in MCC more than the others.

Halo 3 was ahead of its time when it came to features such as Forge, Theater, Fileshare, etc. Now though? I have no idea why people still like it. Its gameplay has not aged well for me, and this is coming from someone who was there during the glory days. I’d much prefer H2 or CE. One thing is for sure though – H3 still has the best sniper in the series. I’ll give it that much.

simply because halo ce is horribly balanced, pistol over everything creates a really easy game for anyone who has played any halo for more than an hour
halo 2 multiplayer is heavily reliant on button combo glitches which makes it very unfriendly to anyone who plays casually
halo 3 is the simplest, and most balanced game on mcc, so naturally attracts new and old players.
halo 4 is just trash, nobody wants to play that game.

> 2533274849645270;3:
> > 2533274968894951;2:
> > Because it’s simply the most populair out of the bunch. Halo was at it’s peak with Halo 3 during 2007-2009 in terms of populairity. Most people that ever played Halo, played Halo 3. People prefer the game they had the best experiences with, which is Halo 3 for the majority of the player base.
>
> So it’s not the game itself but the fact that everyone jumped in then and they have nostalgia for it?

Not gonna lie that’s a huge part of it for me. Although out of all the Halo games since, I haven’t enjoyed the multiplayer near as much. Halo 3 from my experience had amazing hit detection (unless you had the slightest bit of lag) and the maps seemed pretty symmetrical and easy to play on. Plus it has the classic no abilities gameplay so skill really played a huge factor.

> 2533274849645270;1:
> The MCC’s playlists are now separated and voting is removed so now halo 3 seems to show up in social slayer about as much as the other games which is nice. But I really have never understood halo 3’s popularity. What is it about halo 3 that is so great. I thought the punching was too powerful, the projectile bullets made things a little more unstable, the movement was slow, took too long to take anyone out without power weapons, the dual wielding balance addition of making the guns a little less strong when dual wielding was a good idea but didn’t work too well, hit registration always felt a bit off, and doing well seemed to almost always require team work. The campaign wasn’t all that great in my eyes either. In my opinion halo 3 was a kind of polished halo 2. However I think it was polished too much to the point where some of the high point fun got rubbed out. I can’t deny that it feels somehow a little different from every other halo game, so maybe people like it’s unique feel. Either way lavish halo 3 with your praises and let me know what makes it the best halo game because I really want to be able to see the game from that viewpoint at least once.

A big part of Halo 3’s popularity is tied to what the community around the Halo franchise was in 2007-2009(ish.) Due to features such as Forge, Theater, and File Share being so new to the franchise - combined with limitations with Forge forcing people to get creative - Halo 3 brought people together like no Halo title prior.

Halo 3 is also a solid game in its own right even if, in my eyes, the core gameplay isn’t as good as Halo 2. I do think that people allow their fond memories to prevent them from truly judging the game’s faults, but most of those faults are easily forgivable. I can forget about the poor field of view and simplistic story due to the weapons, enemies, vehicles, multiplayer maps, etc. all offering a good time.

The obsession many people have with Halo 3 and Halo: Reach specifically can definitely get obnoxious at times, but both of those games have their reasons for bringing people back with most of those reasons being understandable even if I personally don’t view them as being masterpieces.

For me, halo 3 seems to be the most balanced. No ordnance drops or custom loadouts. Just a solid multiplayer experience.

Weapons and tactics variety. For one there was a larger combination of weapons and tactics available on the generally smaller maps. It was easy to bring mid-range weapons to bear in combination with grenades to get quick kills. The larger maps of the latter games reduced the opportunity to use grenades or Short -range weapon combos for quick kills. Additionally, half the playlists were solo in H3 so you could practice or warm up solo until your team of 4 was online. Having the smaller maps made it fun for both the long-range camper and the short-range CQC fans. And that inspired a large enough base to keep playlists open for oddball and CTF so there was always a huge variety of playlists to choose from keeping the monotony to a minimum. Halo 5 has done a fairly decent Job on the multiplayer, but the maps are a tad bit to large and the playlist is weak with very little lone wolf play at all.

The real answer is because it is the easiest classic Halo game to be competent at.