So, we move on to The Ark, which is the best and most varied level in Halo 3. There’s not really much to complain about here, besides a lame re-use of the Scarab as a boss. I would rather that the Scarab stick around on the ledge where it first comes out during the assault on the Cartographer, and destroy all of the Scorpion tanks as they roll out of the Forerunner building, instead of running to the far end of the canyon leading up to the Cartographer. This way, they could have the player take control of the Scarab through some shenanigans, and then wreck all of the Covenant forces down below. That would be awesome.
So, next comes The Covenant. It’s an okay level. Nothing special, mostly a lot of copy/pasting from previous levels or previous Halo games. Take down an AA wraith in the beginning of the level, then go throughout the level and deactivate pylons (Two Betrayals anyone?) to bring down the barrier which the Prophet of Truth is hiding behind. Oh, and you get to ride a Hornet… Ugh, couldn’t I use a Banshee instead?
Anyways, then you go out into the basin or whatever where the Ark’s central control room resides. Shoot some Covenant with your Scorpion tank, then get back on a Hornet, and this time, fight TWO Scarabs. Originality. Seriously though, this fight is too easy and obviously lazy in design, especially after the first couple of playthroughs. Then, we go inside the Citadel to fight the last waves of Covenant. Oh, and Sgt. Johnson has been captured for the third time. I’d like to take this third instance to suggest a level that could have replaced The Storm, or come between The Storm and Floodgate. Let’s say that the Covenant captured a group of Marines, UNSC command learns of it, and orders Master Chief to go rescue them. So, you board a Covenant cruiser, and attempt to rescue them… But instead, it’s a trap, the marines are murdered in front of the Chief, and then Chief has to escape the Covenant cruiser before it either self destructs or goes through the Portal to the ark.
But even if that didn’t happen, couldn’t it be some random marine that the Covenant capture in order to activate all of the Halo rings? Why does it have to be Sgt. Johnson?
Then, we get the obligatory character death in Miranda Keyes, which is… pretty lame, actually.
Let’s move on. So Master Chief, Arbiter, and their newfound Flood buddies fight through the last waves of Covenant, the Arbiter kills the High Prophet of Truth in a really satisfying way, and then Master Chief deactivates the Halo rings. Gravemind’s obvious betrayal occurs, and then Master Chief and the Arbiter are forced to fight back the way they came… for some reason. Seriously, why did the Gravemind not just grab the Arbiter and the Master Chief with his tentacles? Sure, the Arbiter had an Energy Sword, but throwing waves of Flood combat forms at the Arbiter and MC wasn’t about to work, since both had shown they were capable of fending off waves of the things multiple times in the past.
Then, we get the revelation that the Ark is making a replacement for Halo Installation 04, which is actually pretty well done and gives me chills when I watch the cutscene.
Then, we get the level Cortana. There isn’t much specifically that I can complain about besides just saying that I dislike the entirety of the level, except for the fact that never once does the Gravemind attempt to use his tentacles to stop Master Chief. During the “Gravemind moments” where movement is slowed to a crawl, never once does the Gravemind take advantage of this and have Flood forms gang up on the Master Chief and take him down. Honestly, with such power over the player at its disposal, the fact that it never really utilizes it means that the Gravemind deserves every defeat that it gets. Also, Cortana is rather reminiscent of The Library, so there’s that.
So now we move on to the last level, Halo. It’s okay, I suppose. Johnson’s death is kind of disappointing. I’d rather that he died in a totally epic way, instead of getting team killed. And then there’s that… boss battle with 343 Guilty Spark. It’s not even a boss battle. I don’t know what it is, but it is still satisfying blowing up 343 Guilty Spark with a Spartan Laser.
Then we move on to a revamped Warthog Run from Halo: CE, now with more perils. Eh. Oh, and when you finally it make to the Forward Unto Dawn, Cortana refuses to close the hanger bay doors to keep Master Chief from sliding out, instead choosing to see if he can manage to hold on.
And if you think I forgot about the Cortana moments, don’t worry. That is my biggest complaint about Halo 3. They are annoying, slow down gameplay, cannot be skipped even after you complete the campaign, no reason is given as to why they occur, and they have absolutely nothing to do with the story. Cortana mostly just quotes lines from Halo novels.
I think that concludes things.
tl;dr, Halo 3 had the potential to be amazing, but squandered it. It should really be called “Halo: Greatest Moments Remix.” Except the greatest moments are stale at this point.