Design Journals - Game Analysis on Halo 3

Below is one of the Design Journals I made back in my freshman year of DigiPen, analyzing some of the game mechanics of one of my favorite games, Halo 3!

For this week’s log into my Design Journal, I’ve chosen to use Digital Game Analysis as my format. The final game I’ve chosen for this week is the game to finish off the original Halo trilogy, which would be none other than Halo 3. Developed by Bungie, Halo 3 is the third installment into the Halo franchise and over the years that I’ve played video games, I’ve always considered this one to be one of the best in the franchise as well as one of my favorite video games of all time because of its engaging campaign with well-made level design.

Halo 3 has an engaging campaign because of its well thought out story and well-made levels that complement each other as the player experiences them. The story hits home because we get to see the continuance of the cliffhanger story in Halo 2 with the Master Chief once again fighting the Covenant to stop them from annihilating the Galaxy, except this time, he is now accompanied by the Arbiter who was a protagonist from the previous Halo and the stakes have been raised this time as well because the Covenant are trying to activate all of the Halo installations with the use of the Ark. While all this is happening, Cortana, Master Chief’s companion AI that has been by his side since the beginning is missing and imprisoned by the Gravemind, the hivemind of the Flood, which is an established faction from the previous Halo games that want to consume the universe under one single mind. What’s unique about this plot point is that throughout the game, the players, or the Master Chief experience some form of delusion or hallucinations at certain parts of the game and when these moments happen, Cortana is seen covering the UI and will give a monologue of some sorts that may lead the players to having more questions than answers. Another unique mechanic that is implemented well in the campaign is the co-op system because in Halo games before, the second player would just play as a second Master Chief or second Arbiter but in Halo 3, the second player plays as the Arbiter while the first player obviously plays the Master Chief. In fact, it goes another level deeper because the campaign can have up to 4 players playing together and the 3^rd and 4^th characters play as two different elite soldiers that could presumably be the Arbiter’s bodyguards in lore.

Halo 3 has well-made levels because of the environments that the players get to travel through and the amazing combat encounters that complement the environment. I say the environments because in almost every level, the players get to see a completely different environment or biome as they play through the game which ranges from Sahara jungles of Africa, sandy dunes of the Ark, or even mutated biomass of a crashed covenant ship. Those are only a few of the environments seen in the game and encounters only reinforce that. The encounters do so because they all have engaging mechanics that compliment each other to make the combat feel challenging, but not impossible because of the tools or leeway the game has given the player. This could include fighting waves of Covenant vehicles with a tank given to the players as leeway or maybe fighting a numerous amount of Flood, but a flamethrower is nearby for the players to grab.

Overall, I only scratched the surface of what makes Halo 3 my favorite Halo and could go on for hours talking about the multiplayer and its unique maps and amazing game modes but alas, I just don’t have that kind of time. I hope my friends can one day see or understand why I love this game so much.