You'd be forgiven for mistaking Bungie Studios as one-hit wonders. Due to the avalanche of popularity behind the Halo series, it's quite easy to disregard some of their other cult hits; the Myth series, for example, and of course, Marathon. But if there's one success story Bungie can correlate their exploding wallets to; it's got to be the Halo series.

The first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, appeared on the Xbox as a launch title in 2001, and instantly, it was a hit. Its compelling story and ‘easy to pick-up' gameplay made it Xbox's 'killer app'. With the success garnered from Halo: Combat Evolved, the sequel was inevitable. That sequel, Halo 2, went on to break dozens of records in video game entertainment, becoming the highest-selling Xbox title in history with a reported 9.2 million copies sold worldwide. While it can be said Halo: Combat Evolved set the way with its narrative-driven gunplay, it can also be said, and firmly defended, that Halo 2's focal point ended up being its multiplayer; due to the underwhelming cliff-hanger ending that fans were subjected to.

Now that you know the vaguer details of Halo's success-shaped story, let me paint the picture.

For the guy who has been living under a rock or in quiet solitude in your Unabomber shack, let me give you a brief rundown of the Halo story. You're John SPARTAN-117, better known as Master Chief. Your journey involves you saving the Earth from utter oblivion (just another boring day at work really). To do this, however, you need to destroy a series of terraformed rings that were constructed by the Forerunners. These rings are the aptly named Halos. In Combat Evolved, you learned that Alpha Halo 04, presumably along with the other six installations, was constructed to study, contain and, if necessary, eradicate the Flood (a zombie, viral like race of beings that infest sentient life) before they can spread throughout the universe.

While this sounds harmless, the activation of a Halo would ultimately spell the end of human life anyway -- hence, Master Chief's obvious motivation to disable or destroy the Halo rings before they can be activated. The conclusion of Halo 2 introduced us to the Ark, the control centre where the Halo installations can be manually activated. So in Halo 3, where else could Master Chief look to wind up? But enough banter, let's see if Halo 3 is everything it was promised it would be...

I'm just going to cut to the chase; Halo 3's campaign is not only disappointingly short, but it's at times very abstruse. So many times my friends and I would turn to each other perplexed; inquisitive as to what on Earth, no pun intended, is going on and before we knew it, a mere five hours later; it was over. The fight was most certainly finished. A rollercoaster of emotion was felt by all, as we were proud to have finally played and conquered Halo 3, however; we were also disheartened as the campaign just seemed to come and go, with no real structure or flair. And only to add salt to the wound, one of the most critically acclaimed trilogies to ever grace entertainment concludes with an what a lot of people will only describe as an anti-climax. Halo 3 robs fans of closure, and instead leaves us with further questions and a hint of injustice. It breaks my heart to write such things about a game in a trilogy deserving of a fitting farewell. In the end of it all though, it's a terrible shame that the Halo series will primarily be remembered for its multiplayer, as opposed to its gripping and engaging story it could once lay claim to.

It's not all doom and gloom though and there are real moments of elation as you find yourself thrown into titanic-scale battles with scores of enemies. There's no feeling like taking it to a Scarab whilst coming under fire from multiple Ghosts and Banshees, and overcoming the odds to bring the Scarab down, watching it light up the sky as a cloud of blue electro-plasma rains down from the wreckage. It's moments like this that make the campaign worth enduring. The enemy A.I isn't drastically different from previous Halo outings, although there are some slight changes in how some enemies will react. An example of this is the 'kamikaze' Grunt who'll sacrifice himself as he runs at you with active grenades in hand. Along the same lines at the Brutes who'll cover an active grenade with their body, so that comrades won't be harmed. It's these moments that really speak volumes for the subtle advancements. The campaign in its entirety is nine levels, as you'll trek throughout the desert scapes of Africa to the Ark, and at a later stage even find yourself in Flood-infested caverns.

After your first time through the campaign, for the second you can turn on the scoring system; meta-game. Whether you're tackling it single player, or co-op, you're able to get a numbered judgment of your performance whilst playing, as it rates you on your kill tally whilst accounting for a series of possible multipliers; e.g. racking up large combos, the difficulty you're playing on, and even skulls to make it that much more difficult!

All-in-all, Halo 3 remains faithful to its predecessors in gameplay, despite some minor rearrangements in the controller layout, which participates of the beta would be familiar with by now. Much like the first and second, Halo 3 is incredibly easy to 'pick-up and play', as it follows the standard guidelines. The only departures from your standard affair are the unique inclusions Bungie added to the genre. One of the more impressive additions to the series would have to be the equipment system, where players can literally drop a deployable shield if they're in the red, or, if they're stuck in a sticky situation, they can ignite a flashbang, blinding better foes as they make their cunning escape. Not only does it allow for a great deal of variation in strategy during your campaign, but it makes multiplayer that much more exciting and unpredictable. All equipment is deployed using the X button; which was once reload and action has now been promoted (or demoted, we don't know the controller hierarchy here) to its new home at RB. Those familiar with the original Halo games will find the change a little odd, though it won't take you very long at all to adapt; you may even decide it works better for you! If not, the controller setup options are there for that very reason.

Let's not beat around the bush here, the crowning glory of Halo 2 was its multiplayer, as billions of hours were logged on Xbox Live. It's a sure bet that Halo 3 will follow suit and is possibly on the fast track to setting new records on Xbox Live. It can't be underestimated; the multiplayer in this game is very special and due to Bungie's persistence in ruling the online world, the online modes in Halo 3 are better than ever. With so many improvements over the predecessor's seemingly insurmountable greatness, this game offers the next-gen online gaming experience. There are initally eleven maps to select from, which is a reasonable amount considering Halo 2 shipped with one less at ten. I do not doubt for a second Bungie will at a later stage release new multiplayer maps; possibly next year some time. It's sad to see Coagulation not get a third wind in Halo 3, though new map Valhalla does bare slight resemblance to it, with it's opposing bases across a rough battlefield.

While the online component alone is phenomenal, Bungie have gone an extra nine yards to ensure not only do their fans have the most fun possible; but so that they can show it off to other fans and friends. One of the most exciting and promising new features of Halo 3 are the ‘Saved Films' feature that sees your epic battles completely saved at a mere few megabytes of disk space. Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? Well, thanks to Bungie, this weapon of mass complexity is also a reality. Although, while you're able to store the entire match, you also have access to tools so you can chop and change your footage. I mean, no-one wants their mates to see how they got brutally owned by a pistol whip after handing out an overkill like a pro, right? Though, as an added bonus, it's not only your online duels that are accounted for, you're also able to take campaign footage and put it on show to the public. Your saved films and photos (that's right, you can also capture still shots from your films) are stored and shared on Bungie's File Share and the screenshots can even be downloaded to your PC!

Speaking of useful tools that allow limitless possibilities, another feature new to Halo 3 is the 'Forge' feature. It's not quite a map editor, though it's the closest thing you can get to it, without it actually being a map editor! With the ability to edit pre-existing content on the multiplayer maps Forge literally has unlimited potential as not only a match type, but also a tool for finding new ways to liven up the maps as time moves on. It's ridiculously fun, and Bungie weren't lying when they said there'd be 'hours of fun, dropping tanks on each other'. Much like the Saved Films, edited maps can be saved and downloaded by users worldwide from Bungie's File Share database.

While Halo 3 looks magnificent, it doesn't look all that dissimilar to its predecessor. You could say that it's Halo 2 minus the poor rendering; and I definitely do not mean that as a derogative statement, because Halo 2 was certainly a pretty game by all standards. Though with games like Gears of War and The Darkness on top of the visual ‘next-gen' benchmark for excellence, Halo 3 does fall short of the platform by a nose. The NPCs in the game all look acceptable, as do any of the Covenant models from the lowliest Grunt to the Chieftain Brute. The environments in Halo 3 remain relatively fresh as you start out in a tropical forest location only to soon find yourself on the sand-swept dunes of Tsavo Highway on your way to Voi in Africa. It's hard to find faults in the game's environments as no matter where you are, it's riddled with detail; both apparent and subtle. Not only does the campaign trail look magnificent, the multiplayer maps are also gorgeous; particularly Guardian (the Lockout clone). Halo 3 isn't at all the greatest looking game in the world, yet it still manages to look great and should leave a score of dropped jaws in its wake.

As we've come to expect from the maestro, Marty O'Donnell, the score in Halo 3 is auditory bliss. From the hauntingly beautiful melodic orchestral piece that accompanies a tragedy, to the incidental strings section when that unexpected Flood leaps from beyond view to put an end to your campaign; it's all amazing. There are countless catchy tunes that will resound in your head as you're tapping your foot, waiting for a loading screen. Not only is Halo famous for its epic scale soundtrack, it's also well-known for its colourful and humorous voice-acting work; primarily from the Marines. It's also pleasing to hear most of the original cast accepting their original roles from previous games. The quality acting makes the game sound more of a movie than a video game experience. Master Chief, as we've grown to love, is a man of very few words; though when he speaks, it's a typical corny action hero punch line that reeks of machismo, and we love it.

Nothing sounds sweeter than the bark of machinegun fire as you hear the agonising cries of a Grunt, only to then hear his buddy cry in disbelief about how much he loved his best bud. Each weapon has it's unique sound, as you'll range from the familiar Plasma pistol charge, to the high-pitch whistle of the Beam Rifle, to the bellowing discharge of the Spartan Laser. They all each sound terrific, and really contribute to setting the scene of warfare.

We've all played Halo online, we've all experienced it. We've all played against that one individual who makes the game a living nightmare. Well luckily now, with the click of a button, or two, you can completely sever communications; God bless the 'mute button'. It helps in making Halo 3 the online experience is deserves to be, instead of a rundown tavern of flammatory and derogatory remarks from better, or worse, players. The community of Halo is definitely bettered by the fantastic communications that are allowed before, during and after multiplayer matches, it's one of the sole reasons the online is as successful as it is.