Halo used to be the biggest name in video games. Now it feels like a lost love, something we used to spend time with each and every day, only for it to fade into distant memory.
Halo Infinite, for all its obvious faults, initially felt like a new beginning with its excellent solo campaign and free-to-play multiplayer, although prolonged seasons, widespread layoffs at 343 Industries, and myriad other issues meant it was stuck in place while everyone moved on. It broke my heart, knowing that this once unstoppable franchise now had slim chances of ever clawing back its former greatness. But that’ll never stop me from reminiscing about the good times when Halo 3 was all I could think about.
Halo 3 Was The Biggest Xbox 360 Game Ever Made
First launched for the Xbox 360 in late September 2007, Halo 3 was a cultural event. At the time, it was the most-anticipated video game ever made and would go on to have the most profitable release the medium had ever seen at the time. You’d find Master Chief plastered on billboards, soft drinks, television screens, internet banners, and so much more. With the PS3 still eating Xbox’s dust at the time, Microsoft did everything in its power to make sure it was impossible not to be excited about Master Chief’s final chapter.
As a kid who had just started secondary school, my brother and I begged our parents to pick up a copy so we could spend the release weekend finishing the fight together as Arbiter and Chief. We did just that, and then we did it again and again and again before diving into Forge and multiplayer. It was a perfect storm as the medium further approached photorealism while truly embracing online multiplayer on consoles, bringing millions of people together in a lush oasis of simplicity that to this day I don’t think has been recaptured.
We’d made Halo 3 a regular part of our gaming routine for years, passionately returning to it while dipping into new titles like ODST and Reach. By the time Halo 4 came out, my brother had gone to university, and I had to indulge in this passion with school friends instead, who were thankfully just as excited about the series’ return as I was. Thank god for that…
Halo’s general trajectory in the years since has been rocky to say the least, and aside from obvious PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 ports to come in the future, there is no telling what the future will hold for Xbox’s original golden goose. But for now, let’s look back at one specific part of the Halo 3 campaign that never ceases to give me goosebumps.
Halo 3’s Single-Player Campaign Will Go Down In Gaming History
First though, let’s lay down some context. As you might know, Halo 3’s campaign was all about ‘finishing the fight’ and taking back our planet from the Covenant while trying to stop them from firing the seven Halo rings and killing all sentient life in the galaxy. A big ask for anyone, even a superpowered being like Master Chief. After the cliffhanger ending of the previous game, which saw our protagonist hurtling towards Earth aboard an enemy vessel, we were ready to kick ass and take names.
It was immaculately executed and a rollercoaster ride from start to finish, with an ending that confirmed that Chief survived while simultaneously not promising a direct continuation. Fans walked away pleased, which is much harder to achieve in our current triple-A landscape. And because the narrative was in the limelight long before the dawn of narrative prestige games like The Last of Us, it was able to thrive on simplicity while offering deeper lore for hardcore fans to pick apart in supplemental materials like novels, websites, and more.
Even if my impressions of this campaign are drenched in rose-tinted nostalgia, I still cannot help singing its praises every chance I get, and no mission makes me shout louder than the ‘Covenant.’ This level is the beginning of the end of Halo 3, in which Master Chief, Arbiter, and Sergeant Johnson split into three distinct teams to shut down three shield generators so they can break into The Ark, where the Prophet of Truth intends to fire the rings. It’s a race against time to save the universe, and this urgency is made evident in the encounter design, orchestral score, and how each part of the level is paced.
As it begins, an iconic piano sting from ‘One Final Effort’ accompanies a fleet of pelicans and banshees approaching the trio of towers. But things immediately go wrong as Chief’s pelican is hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashes a fair distance away from the target. You’re on foot from here, and the path to the tower is filled with thrilling firefights, challenging vehicular sections, and a constant reminder that time is ticking. It’s now or never if we want to stop the rings.
And Nothing Is Ever Going To Top Halo 3’s Covenant Mission
Things are going swimmingly until you activate the first two towers and Johnson fails to respond, forcing you to pivot and rush towards his objective in order to close the shields. Unfortunately, once you do, a Covenant ship infested with the Flood crashes through an erratic slipspace portal and throws everything into disarray. Now, it’s do or die.
We must reach the Prophet of Truth before he fires the ring or is overwhelmed by the flood, which means jumping into a tank and rushing towards The Ark as even more epic music makes goosebumps rise across your entire body. Once you finally reach the entrance, two huge scarabs drop from orbit to block your path. These metallic creatures once destroyed full cities back in Halo 2, and here you must single-handedly wipe out two of them. It’s no easy task, but the only route forward if you want to save this planet from total annihilation.
After stepping inside, fighting your way through a few more enemies, and stabbing the evil Prophet of Truth through the heart, this mission comes to an end. There are a handful of big narrative revelations that I won’t spoil or describe in extreme detail here, but the ways that Halo 3 willingly subverts our expectations and presents massive moments like this are utterly masterful, and something that few future games in the series would ever match.
Halo 3’s campaign is filled with legendary moments that will go down in history, from its ever-sombre opening to its nail-biting final vehicle sequence, but few hit harder than Covenant. It presents this series at its most focused and determined, culminating an entire trilogy of hype into a dozen minutes of absolute perfection.
