What makes Halo a phenomenon instead of just a game is the competitive multiplayer component. Bungie has taken an already brilliant formula and added something much more important to it: tools for the community.
Using the new Forge object editor, players can make changes to most weapons, vehicles, and interactive objects on a given level. Taking the form of a Forerunner Monitor, players can add or subtract weapons, place barrels and explosives in strategic locations, adjust capture points or bombing locations, any just about anything else you can think of through an intuitive interface.
The options are almost limitless, although each level has a budget for items you can place to help balance everything out. Put in the hands of talented gamers, the Forge gametype is not only leading to redesigned maps, but also to impressive Rube Goldberg-esque displays of Halo's physics engine. Videos of these experiments can be taken and played back in the Theater mode, even screened for your party of friends over Xbox Live. Finally, all of your custom maps, gametypes, videos, and screenshots can be shared for others to download, giving players a network of different variants to choose from.
Multiplayer matches take on an entirely new level when players have access to all these features. The Halo series has always given players the ability to create custom gametypes, but the power creative gamers now have provides some insanely fun results. Imagine jumping into a friend's game to play "Skeet Shooting." One player, the juggernaut, moves toward a massive jumping platform called the Mancannon, and launches himself through the air toward a territory on the far end of the map. The other players all stand in a pre-defined spot, taking aim with sniper rifles and giant Spartan Lasers, hoping to blow the "skeet" out of the sky and take their chance to fly the not-so-friendly skies. And if something's missing -- the skeet target needs moved, more weapons should be added -- the party leader can jump into editing mode and make changes on the fly. It wasn't enough for Bungie to give gamers a tight, well-balanced multiplayer game -- and they did -- but they pushed things farther and gave the community tools to really change the game.
This is truly the perfect way for Bungie to close out the trilogy. With its fun, if a bit short single player story, four-player online cooperative support, tight multiplayer gameplay and unmatched customization options, Halo 3 lives up to the unprecedented hype; Bungie said they'd finish the fight, and they did it with a bang.
