## Halo 3
So I revisited Halo 3 after what must have been over 10 years.
Oh, my childhood game, how nice it will feel!
Well, I think I'm unable to experience nostalgia.
That, or I have dementia;
which is also a distinct possibility as I remembered very little of the missions.
### Enemies
Elites have been completely dropped for Brutes,
the only ones present are friendly.
Remember how I said Brutes will go berserk?
Yeah, forget that.
They are just large, imposing, dumb apes that refuse to acknowledge
the concept of "stopping power".
They might as well be Sub-Saharan Africans for all it matters.
That said, they are not *bad* enemies, just bland.
The Jackals we are facing are all apparently from the same special needs school.
These guys are not smart enough to know that they must keep their shields
between them and (You) to not get munched.
There are new Flood enemies.
They are fun, or would be anyways, if they weren't so unreasonably spongy.
Speaking of spongy, that describes well how the combat has changed.
With no more Elites and their shields,
with Jackal shields being more of a set piece than a consideration,
and waves of Flood with large health pools,
your main concern is putting out damage while not dying.
### Weapons
I haven't discussed weapons in detail for the previous titles because it was not needed.
They formed a nice, closed eco-system of situationalism.
Now it only remains to the extent of terrain,
but the subtle rock-paper-scissors by enemy composition is lost.
The Needler: 
has aim assist and triggers an explosion if the enemy has enough of damage build up inflicted,
but has a low range and Jackals and Hunters would completely block its projectiles.
Depending on what was in front of you,
it went from OP, to OK, to useless.
Now it has become simply over-all mediocre.
The Plasma-pistol: 
has a charged alternative fire
that could be used to bring down Elite or Jackal shields with a single shot,
or to spasm out at grunts in a panic when caught with your pants down.
But, there are no Elites, the Jackals are no longer problematic
AND it no longer even takes down their shields.
The Plasma-rifle: 
-which is confusingly is still a pistol-
would be excellent at breaking shields and acting as a higher range battle-rifle alternative,
that is severely more limited on ammo.
One of the things I remembered this game having
and then being really upset when Halo 4 did not,
is dual-wielding of short arms.
Honestly, I found myself doing that once or twice tops.
Its not too useful.
Mind you, it could be,
but with the changed utility of side arms,
it falls flat.
To the above,
add your M6 series pocket sniper
and the SMG which already melted anything that wondered directly in front of it.
There also used to be a mechanic,
where the speed of your melee attacks depended on the firearm you carried.
Bye-bye to that too.
You have power ups tho.
Too bad that they are seldom useful
and not all that common.
They add very little.
### Difficulty
I can see how 12 year old me could have beaten this game.
Except for select few sections,
all of which involve ridiculously beefy Flood-ites & low ammo,
the game is not all that hard.
Regarding the exceptions:
the level named Cortana.
There was one room where I've spent atleast 20 minutes with *my winning try*,
where the only thing you can do is jump in though
a door which is an anus and takes a second to open,
fire a mag,
and jump back.
You may die during this maneuver and you VILL run out of ammo multiple times.
This room is the crowd jewel of the trend they started adopting,
where you are shoved into a situation without cover,
retreat,
firepower,
and the enemies are numerous and far away.
### Verdict
Halo 3 is a military shooter with a Halo skin.
Funnily enough, there is the game Halo 3 ODST
-to which I've yet to get to-
which has this exact premise.
Its still *good* tho, just not *great*.
For the most part I had fun.
Its more beginner friendly then the previous 2 entries.
You know, something a kid would have their as their favourite game...