Halo 3 Review (Xbox 360)

Graphics - 10

Sound - 9

Gameplay - 10

Multiplayer - 10
Story - 9

Overall - 9.6





Well, it's the final game in the Halo Trilogy. Of course we know now that it isn't the final game. But it is the end of this story. I can honestly say this is the best Halo game to date. Not just because it's the newest one, sometimes the older games are better (Red Alert, anyone?) I got this game the day it came out and still play it a couple times a week. Still working to beat Legendary, getting closer every day :)


The story is wonderful. If there is ever a time in which our planet meets an alien race and unites to fight a greater enemy, I see it being done Halo style. If this were a movie, it'd be a box office hit. You begin having crashed on our planet, falling out of orbit. You immediately jump into battle, following the Arbiter through fierce firefights. The story takes you through saving comrades, defending your home base, to eventually having to come back and blow up your own home to prevent the flood from getting information out of it. If you follow the story, it can get emotional at some points. I won't ruin it for anyone who has somehow not played it yet, but trust me, it's amazing.

The graphics are GREAT. The level of detail in the game is simply amazing. Many designers nowadays are really stepping up on the visual aspect of their games. But it comes down to little things, like the shotgun shells expelled from the gun after shooting. Take a look in theater mode, zoom in on bullets. The shells have ridges, look blown open, and even have the logo and gauge number. That's right, Master Chief uses an 8 gauge. Some rifle bullets have 'Chief' inscribed on the ends of them. Check out the rocket launcher which bears two messages, "Point this way," and "Not a toy." While not significant to the gameplay at all, this is still pretty cool. But besides that, the graphics are downright gorgeous. Each map and landscape are beautifully detailed, and the days of falling through a map are long gone. You can still fall off, yes, but no longer through the ground. Another nice touch is the changeable armour style for your online character. All armour styles and colors translate nicely onto the Spartan and Elite's bodies.

Multiplayer in Halo 3 opens up a whole new method of gameplay. Or several new methods. Of course there's matchmaking where you can competed in ranked matches or unranked social matches. There are a few basic modes in each, from Big Team Battle to Swat Team to Team Doubles. But custom games add endless possibilities. You can play Rocket Races, Zombie, Catch the Ninja, and many more player made matches with custom rules. Multiplayer gets a nice 10 because you can always find a match, people will almost never quit a match, the ranking system is crystal clear, and theres never any connection issues at the fault of Bungie. If it doesn't work, its because your internet needs a check up.

Halo 3 controls/gameplay are awesome. The controls have been changed slightly to accomodate the new Xbox 360 controller, but it still feels natural to play. Left trigger shoots left gun, right trigger shoots right gun, etc. I personally don't dual wield weapons, but that's just me. You will probably find yourself dying along with your enemy many times until you learn to play at a faster pace. By this I mean changing your camera sensitivity so you turn and aim faster. Until you do this, most of your PvP battles will end in both of you being beaten down. There are many sites that offer advice on how to improve your online Halo skills. Just Google it, you won't be disappointed.

Overall, Halo 3 is more than worth the buy. It's not just a game, it's the end of an epic storyline that everyone loves.

Tom Clancy's End War Review (Xbox 360)

Gameplay - 8
Graphics - 8
Sound - 8
Story - 8
Overall - 8













Tom Clancy is known for great games such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. Well, they've done it again with End War. This is the first game of it's kind that I've played. The voice input feature is great, although it CAN get a little tiresome. Depending on your playing style, you may either want to do everything using voice commands, or you may not use it at all. I must say, voice command makes you feel like you are really commanding troops, not just computer generated images. But enough praise for the headset, on to the game!

(And no, this review does NOT include a headset. That is for game purchases only :P )


The setting of the game is right before WWIII. It's 2013, America and Europe have signed a treaty which makes nuclear war a thing of the past, with missiles being shot down in the outer atmosphere. For a whole year, countries enjoy peace. But all is not well. Climbing oil prices and low supplies of it cause conflict between nations. Alliances are formed, and the US and Europe enter a space arms race. The US announces its plan to have a space station in orbit by 2020. This causes tension worlwide, as the station would also house 3 companies of marines able to deploy anywhere in the world in under 90 minutes. Modules of the space station ascend into orbit. Then, on the day that the final module is to be launched, multiple attacks take place across nations from a terrorist group known as the 'Forgotten Army.' All attacks are repelled, but the damage has been done. When the module launches, a virus implanted by the terrorists registers the unit as a ICBM and it is shot down by a European defense satellite. The US sees this as an act of war, and thus is the beginning of WWIII.


End War has a compelling and somewhat in-depth story, depending on how much of it you pay attention to. The fights between nations gets pretty intense. Your first two missions are fairly easy. After that, you need to strategize. Every unit has strengths and weaknesses, there is no power in numbers. Multiple units of one type can easily be taken down by a single superior unit. Pay attention to each unit's strengths and weaknesses.


End War graphics are pretty good. You shouldn't expect to be stunned by anything, but they are definitely up to par with other games in the genre. If you have played Command & Conquer or Red Alert, you'll see an improvement here. The landscapes are nice, units could use a little bit of work, buildings are okay. The only leniency I'll give is to take into account the amount of units that can potentially be on a map at any given time. You want to keep a high frame rate. Overall, the graphics are nice. Tanks blow up, soldiers bleed, buildings collapse, etc.


Gameplay is not entirely new, but your strategy will be. The voice command brings a new level of reaction to each event. Using the voice command, I can command several different units to do several different things in a space of about 7 seconds, whereas using buttons it would take close to a minute. Theres a nice map overview if you'd rather see things from a commander's viewpoint, but I personally rather stay on the battlefield and watch the action. Once again, the voice command factor is purely how much you like that kind of thing. Some people would rather the traditional button system. Luckily, you don't have to pick one. Both systems are in effect all the time. There's no pausing and switching over.


The campaign is turn based, in a way. Similar to Risk, you choose different territories to attack next turn. You then play through the battle for that territory. While there is no proof of this, it is believed that the better you do in your personal attacks, the better your nation will do overall in the campaign. That may be obvious, but what I mean to say is that while you may attack 3 territories in one turn, you only actually fight one battle. The other two outcomes are left to simulation. Supposedly, if you win your battle, your nation will also win the simulated battles for that round. I won't argue over this, if you want to find out if it works, try it yourself.

While there isn't much to elaborate on sound-wise, it's still very nice. Explosions, bullets firing, buildings collapsing, and other favorite wargame sounds make this an immersive game. Although the exploding tanks and humvees might not knock your socks completely off, they'll certainly have them hanging from your toes.

It all comes down to this: If you like Tom Clancy games, get End War. If you like having every word you speak obeyed, get End War. If you like war games in general, get End War.

The End