Sunday, June 15, 2008

Halo 3 Multiplayer Impressions


I've long since played Halo 2 (Xbox) and Halo 3 Multiplayer with friends via split-screen, but I've never played Halo 3 over Xbox LIVE before. That is until now. I have two 48 Hour Xbox LIVE Trial cards, and two 1 Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership cards, and I finally got around to activating them (my last 48 Hour Trial card expires tomorrow around noon).

I come from a PC gaming background, and have played _a lot_ of first person shooters, and I love the genre, but from a Single Player standpoint. Aside from a brief romance with Deathmatch Classic, I've never really cared for shooters from the Multiplayer front, and also concluded last summer that Gears of War was fun in Multiplayer, but not worth a $59.99/year fee for.

So hats off to Bungie. Halo 3 is a blast to play online, and I'm enjoying every second of it. With the 48 Hour Trial cards, I can only play social matches, but thus far every single Rumble Pit and Social Team Slayer match I've played has been a lot of fun. I'm nearly at Corporal rank, and of this typing have a 1.46 kill/death ratio. I've competed very well against players ranked above me, and am really looking forward to Lone Wolves and some of those Multiplayer Achievements.

I haven't played with any friends yet, just random people in matchmaking, and I've found most of them to be very quite, not much chatter, and fun to play with/against. Makes me wish I would have taken better advantage of those 1 Month Xbox LIVE trial cards I had with the original Xbox and given Halo 2 Multiplayer a try, but my network setup wasn't so great back then, so I didn't bother.

With all the fun I'm having, does this mean I'll pay for an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership when all is said and done? Well, it's too soon to tell. I want to make sure that it will really be worth the cost of $59.99 a year to simply play Halo 3 online, as there isn't much else I'd care to play over Xbox LIVE. Regardless, I have two free months coming up, so I figure that should be enough of a trial period to help me make my decision.

6 comments:

Flame_Kettle said...

If my 360 craps out before November you can have the 48 hour card I get,, ha ha,,

I updated my pictures, no rocket launcher, but I am sure you will enjoy the pictures..

Juxtapose said...

Thanks dude!

Flame_Kettle said...

about for the last month I haven't been able to get the marketplace page to load,, I know I am logged in, it is updating my scores and points and games played just fine,,,

any ideas? I checked the forums, maybe it is time to call support?

Thanks,

Juxtapose said...

Question for you: Do any of the Xbox Dashboard Blades load?

For the Marketplace Blade, does it simply show the little spinning icon with a vertical Xbox 360 in the centre?

Flame_Kettle said...

All the blades load fine,,, except the marketplace one, it just shows the spinning icon, and then after a while it gives up and I get the text box that tell em how great it would be to have the marketplace..

Juxtapose said...

You may need to clear your HDD's cache, but it also might be a problem with LIVE itself and your account.

My advice: Contact Xbox Support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX and see what they have to say.

I can also tell you how to clear your HDD's cache if you want, but keep in mind that it will remove any Title Updates you've downloaded via Xbox LIVE (your save games will still be fine, as well as your Dashboard Updates).