Halo 3: Ғарыш соғысы және Master Chief-тің оралуы

2007 video game
the video game

Halo 3 is a 2007 first person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise following Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) and Halo 2 (2004), the game's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, a collection of alien races known as the Covenant, and the alien parasite known as the Flood. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he battles the Covenant and the Flood. In cooperative play, other human players assume the role of allied alien soldiers. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay elements familiar and new to the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor—a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels. Halo 2 had originally been intended to wrap up the story begun with Combat Evolved, but development difficulties led to a cliffhanger ending. Bungie began developing Halo 3 shortly after Halo 2 shipped. The game was officially announced at E3 2006, and its release was preceded by a multiplayer beta open to select players who purchased the Xbox 360 game Crackdown. Microsoft spent $40million on marketing the game, in an effort to sell more game consoles and broaden the appeal of the game beyond the established Halo fanbase. Marketing included cross promotions and an alternate reality game. Halo 3 was released on September 25 and grossed US$170million on its first day of release, rising to $300million in its first week. The game sold in excess of 14.5 million copies and was the best selling video game of 2007 in the United States. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. Overall, the game was well received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features; however, some reviewers criticized single player aspects, especially the plot and campaign layout. Halo 3 is frequently listed as one of the greatest video games of all time. A sequel, Halo 4, released in November 2012, was developed by 343 Industries. Halo 3 was re released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in November 2014 and for Microsoft Windows on July 14, 2020.

Halo 3s story or campaign mode can be played alone or cooperatively with up to three other players via Xbox Live or System Link. Instead of each player being an identical character in cooperative play, as in previous Halo games, the first player plays as Master Chief, the second player as the Arbiter, and the final two players controlling the Covenant Elites N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham. Each player has identical abilities, although their starting weapons vary. Hidden skulls found on each level cause changes to the gameplay when enabled, such as giving the enemies extra health, changing in game dialogue, or modifying AI behavior. These skulls, as well as the difficulty level and the speed at which the level is completed, provide multipliers to the total score. Local area network or Xbox Live supports up to sixteen players in multiplayer matches, with game modes including variations of deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Players must actively seek out other players through their Xbox Live Friends list, using the party invite system, or the LAN search feature to play multiplayer matches with their own custom rules and customized maps. If they are connected to Xbox Live however, a player can choose to have the game decide for them the exact rules and map to play on, as well as finding additional people to play against or with, using the "Matchmaking" system (the automated grouping of players of similar skill). A player will decide from a selection of developer designed "playlists" which each contain a certain way to experience the game. Like other multiplayer Xbox 360 titles, Halo 3 uses a customized version of TrueSkill ranking system for its matchmaking on a per playlist basis. A linear measure of a player's experience with the matchmade portion of the game and each particular playlist is also tracked (denoted as EXP). To help players have an enjoyable time online, several peace of mind features are implemented within easy reach, such as avoid/feedback options on a player's service record, as well as voice chat mute straight from the in game scoreboard. Like Halo 2, Halo 3 supports downloadable content and updates. The online services for the original Xbox 360 version of the game went offline in January 2022.

Halo 3 is set in a science fiction setting during the years 2552 and 2553. Humanity is at war with a genocidal alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. After years of conflict, a Covenant fleet discovers Earth during Halo 2. "Halos" are massive ringworlds, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter, scattered across the galaxy. These rings were constructed thousands of years ago by a race known as the Forerunners as weapons of last resort against the parasitic alien species known as the Flood. When activated, the Halos would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy, depriving the Flood of its food. The Forerunners disappeared after they activated the rings. In Halo: Combat Evolved, whilst fleeing the Covenant, the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn stumbled upon one of these ringworlds, Installation 04. Against the wishes of the ring's artificial intelligence (AI) caretaker, 343 Guilty Spark, the human supersoldier Master Chief destroyed the ring to stop the threat from Halo and the Flood. The Covenant, unaware of the destructive nature of the rings, attempt to fire another ring, Installation 05, during Halo 2 in order to fulfill their religious prophecy. One race in the Covenant, the Elites, learn the truth about the rings, and join forces with humanity in order to stop the installation's firing. Though they are successful, the unexpected shutdown triggers a fail safe protocol, priming all the rings for firing from one location, referred to as the Ark. Still oblivious to the true nature of the rings, the Covenant High Prophet of Truth and the remaining loyalist Covenant proceed to head to Earth, where they believe the Ark is buried. Halo 3s protagonist is Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, an enhanced supersoldier known as a "Spartan". Master Chief fights alongside the Arbiter, a disgraced Covenant Elite commander. Two other Elite characters, N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham, appear as the third and fourth players in cooperative play. the Master Chief arrives on Earth in east Africa, where he is found by Johnson and the Arbiter. The Chief and company return to a UNSC outpost where Keyes and Lord Hood plan a final effort to stop the Covenant leader, the High Prophet of Truth, from activating a Forerunner artifact the Covenant have excavated. The Chief clears anti air Covenant defenses so Hood can lead the last of Earth's ships against the Prophet, but Truth activates the buried artifact, creating a slipspace portal which he and his followers enter. A Flood infested ship crash lands nearby; Elite forces arrive and vitrify the Flood infected areas of Earth, stopping the threat. Following a message Cortana left aboard the Flood ship, the Chief, Arbiter, Elites, Johnson, Keyes and their troops follow Truth through the portal. Joining them is 343 Guilty Spark, who aids the Chief as he has no function to fulfill after the destruction of his ringworld. Traveling through the portal, the humans and Elites discover an immense artificial structure known as the Ark, far beyond the edges of the Milky Way galaxy. Here, Truth can remotely activate all the Halos. The Flood arrive aboard High Charity in full force, beginning to infest the installation. Truth captures Johnson, as he needs a human to use Forerunner technology. Keyes is killed attempting a rescue, and Johnson is forced to activate the rings. Gravemind forges a truce with the Chief and Arbiter to stop Truth and defeat the remainder of his army, rescuing Johnson and halting the installations' activation. After the Arbiter kills Truth, Gravemind turns on the Chief and Arbiter. The Chief, Arbiter and Guilty Spark discover that the Ark is constructing another Halo to replace the one that the Chief previously destroyed. The Chief decides to activate this Halo; the ringworld would eliminate the Flood infestation on the Ark while sparing the galaxy at large from destruction. To activate the ring, the Chief rescues Cortana, who has the Activation Index of the destroyed Halo, from High Charity and destroys the city. Arriving on the new Halo, Cortana warns that Gravemind is trying to rebuild itself on the ring. The Chief, Arbiter, and Johnson travel to Halo's control room to activate the ring. Guilty Spark explains that because the ring is not yet complete, a premature activation will destroy it and the Ark. When Johnson ignores his warning, Guilty Spark fatally wounds him to protect "his" ring. Although the Chief destroys Guilty Spark, Johnson soon dies of his injuries. Chief activates the ring, and escapes the ring's self destruction on the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn. However, the force of Halo's blast causes the slipspace portal to collapse, resulting in only the front half of Forward Unto Dawn, carrying the Arbiter, making it back to Earth. A memorial service is held on Earth for the fallen heroes of the Human Covenant war, during which the Arbiter and Lord Hood briefly exchange words regarding the fallen Master Chief. After the memorial service, the Arbiter and his Elite brethren depart for their home planet. Meanwhile, the rear half of the Forward Unto Dawn drifts in unknown space. Cortana drops a distress beacon, but acknowledges it may be many years before they are rescued. As the Master Chief enters cryonic sleep, Cortana confides to him that she will miss him, but he comforts her by telling her "wake me when you need me." If the game is completed at the Legendary difficulty level, the scene continues to show the piece of Forward Unto Dawn drifting towards an unknown planet, setting up the events of Halo 4.

Halo 2 was a critical and commercial success, but its development had taken a toll on Bungie. The game's development was fraught and rushed, resulting in the final act of the game's campaign being cut. and viewed a third Halo game as a chance to do right by fans for Halo 2s problems, as well as the final Halo game the studio would make before moving onto other projects. Lingering dissatisfaction with Bungie's acquisition by Microsoft in 2000 and a desire for more favorable profit sharing on Halo 3 led to an agreement where Bungie would become an independent studio after shipping a set number of new Halo games. After Halo 2 shipped, Bungie cofounder Jason Jones went on sabbatical, leaving the Halo 3 team with little direction or leadership; different staff members wrestled over who would take on creative positions for the new game, and no clear creative direction was decided upon. Story writer Joseph Staten took a vacation after coming into conflict with other staff members, meaning there was no clear person who was responsible for the game's story for a portion of development. The story was drafted by a committee, then presented to senior Bungie members. Composer Martin O'Donnell recalled he did not feel the draft would work, as it left out previous characters and plot threads. Having recently seen the film Serenity, he insisted that characters should die to increase the stakes. Staten returned to do edits after the plot had been established. The game was officially announced with a real time cinematic trailer at E3 2006. In comparison with Halo 2s tight lipped development, Bungie was more transparent about the process for Halo 3. While details of Halo 3s multiplayer were widely disseminated in the sixteen months leading up to the release, the single player aspect of the storyline was kept relatively secret throughout much of the development to build up interest. The first campaign screenshots did not appear until a year after the announcement trailer, on July 5, 2007, as a "tease" for the planned pace of marketing. A public beta test of the game's online multiplayer features, as well as saved films and file share, took place four months before the full release. Players required a Crackdown disc to play the beta. AI behavior was enhanced and improved; the behavior of enemy Brutes the player faces was modified, giving them a "pack mentality" that causes the aliens to perform similar actions at the same time and altering gameplay.

Halo 3 utilizes a proprietary, in house graphics engine. It employs graphics technologies such as high dynamic range, global lighting, and depth of field effects within cutscenes. Motion blurring was absent from the beta, but was added to the final game. Most dynamic objects in the game cast real time shadows on themselves and the environment around them, including the game's plant life. Halo 3 uses normal, bump, and parallax mapping to give surfaces more detail without dramatically increasing the number of polygons. Players can see distances of up to 10 mile (16 km) away, all fully three dimensional. Halo 3 uses two frame buffers instead of the usual single buffer, allowing Bungie to preserve as much of dynamic range as possible for the game's lighting without adversely affecting the frame rate. As a consequence, the game natively renders at 1152×640 resolution instead of 720p. The image can be upscaled to 1080p by the Xbox 360. Halo 3 has also been enhanced for Xbox One X, rendering at 1920p upscaled to 2160p in HDR at a solid 30fps.

As with all titles on the Xbox 360, Halo 3 fully supports 5.1 surround sound audio. In the game, there are over 50,000 pieces of audio, with nearly 40,000 of those being NPC dialogue. Separate recordings were made for nearby and distant gunfire to make for a more believable sound experience in the public beta, and the finished game uses Waves Audio plugins to modify dialog and other audio in game depending on conditions. Distant gunfire sounds, which may first seem like pre recorded ambient sound, may often be the result of an actual firefight happening elsewhere in the game. Marty O'Donnell again composed the original score for the game. Some pieces of the game's music are produced with a much larger real orchestra than any pieces in the prior two games. For example, the music for the announcement trailer was recorded with a 60 piece orchestra and a 24 piece choir. The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack was released on November 20, 2007. Included on the soundtrack is an original composition submitted by fans and judged by Nile Rodgers, Michael Ostin, and Marty O'Donnell. Voice actors returning to reprise their roles in Halo 3 include Jen Taylor as Cortana, David Scully as Sergeant Johnson and the Elites, Keith David as the Arbiter, Tim Dadabo as 343 Guilty Spark, Ron Perlman as Lord Hood, Robert Davi as Rtas 'Vadum, and Steve Downes as the voice of Master Chief. The game also features new voices, with Terence Stamp and Justis Bolding replacing Halo 2 voice actors Michael Wincott and Julie Benz as the Prophet of Truth and Miranda Keyes respectively. Additional voices include celebrity presenter Jonathan Ross, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Katee Sackhoff, and John DiMaggio. On September 12, 2007, the "Believe" Halo 3 ad campaign, focused on the epic nature of the story and heroism told through dioramas and third party accounts of Master Chief's service, began with the video "Museum" and continued on past the game's release. Throughout the course of development Bungie released four "developer documentaries" that explained the processes behind creating parts of the game. A large scale multiplayer beta test was played on Xbox Live with more than 800,000 members of the public being able to take part and experience the game for themselves. Halo 3 also had marketing tie ins and promotions. PepsiCo announced a new line of soft drink, a variant of Mountain Dew named Game Fuel, branded with the Halo 3 logo and the Master Chief. Much of the advertising focused on appealing to the general public, rather than just hardcore fans of the game; for example, some 7 Eleven stores advertised Halo 3 and sold specialty cups and copies of the game. Gamestation stores in the UK offered a limited edition Master Chief figurine to the first 1000 preorders. The game's final testing copy before its gold release—codenamed "Epsilon" and confirmed by Bungie to be almost complete Retail copies of the game, complete with photographs of the open game box, started to appear on the internet auction site eBay weeks before release, followed by UK catalog retailer Argos accidentally releasing some of their copies a week early. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division were quoted as being "disappointed" that the Argos leak happened, but stated they had no intention for punishing them for an "honest mistake". The retail copy was also leaked online over a week before release, with the 6.14 gigabyte file of the game ripped from a disc and downloaded by thousands of people within 24 hours. Videos of the ending of Halo 3, obtained from the leaked copy, were captured and posted on video sharing sites. Halo 3 was released on September 25, 2007, in three separate retail versions: "Standard", "Limited", and "Legendary". The Standard Edition contains the game disc, manual, and a small poster with the game's control map and artwork. The Limited Edition, contained in a metal case, contains the game disc, manual, poster, Xbox 360 bonus disc with featurettes, and a hardcover bound "Bestiarum", a collection of information and art covering the species, cultures, and civilizations of Halo 3. The Legendary Edition contains the game disc, manual, poster, interactive bonus disc, the Bestiarum on a DVD, Legendary DVD containing exclusive content, and a scale replica of the Master Chief's helmet as a case for the three discs. The slip cover packaging unfolds into a large heavy stock poster of Master Chief. Some of the Limited Edition versions of Halo 3 were found to have a defect in the hub that kept the discs in place, which could lead to scratched discs. Microsoft introduced a disc replacement program in response. On the day before its official release, 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets. Halo 3 was made a free download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers through the "Games with Gold" program in October 2013. It became playable on the Xbox One via backwards compatibility in 2017. An Xbox One native version of the game, presenting the graphics at 1080p and 60 frames per second, was included as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in 2014. Halo 3 was re released again as part of the Windows version of The Master Chief Collection in 2020.

Halo 3 supports multiplayer map downloadable content as well as game updates via Xbox Live. The first three post release multiplayer maps, "Standoff", "Rat's Nest", and "Foundry", were released as a pack on December 11, 2007, collectively known as the "Heroic Map Pack". A second group of three maps including a remake of Halo 2 map "Lockout", titled "Blackout", a new map "Ghost Town" and a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved map "Sidewinder", titled "Avalanche" were bundled as the "Legendary Map Pack", on April 15, 2008. These maps introduced visual filters to the Forge pallet, which change the way the maps look. A remake of the Halo: Combat Evolved map "Chill Out", titled "Cold Storage", was released as a free download on "Bungie Day", July 7, 2008. The third multiplayer map pack, titled the "Mythic Map Pack" and consisting of the maps "Orbital", "Assembly", and "Sandbox", was included with the Limited Collectors Edition of Halo Wars. The map pack was released over the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 9, 2009. The fourth and final multiplayer map pack, "Mythic II Map Pack", was released on February 2, 2010. The map pack includes the three new maps from Halo 3: ODST: "Citadel", "Longshore", and a remake of Halo 2 map "Midship", titled "Heretic". The first version update for Halo 3 was released on February 19, 2008, and addressed various bugs such as melee contest resolution and saved film theater errors. The next update (called a Title Update) was released September 23, 2008, and includes new Achievements, a new XP ranking system, and various new ways to detect and stop cheating in the game. No further Halo 3 updates were planned.

First day sales of Halo 3 reached $170million in the U. S., setting a record for highest gross of a video game within 24 hours of its release. The game was preordered by more than one million people in North America. Worldwide more than US$300million worth were sold in the first week, helping to more than double the sales of the Xbox 360 when compared with the weekly average before the Halo 3 launch. In the U. S., Halo 3 sold 3.3 million copies in its first 12 days on sale, increasing to 3.7 million copies by November 15, 2007. Reuters UK estimated that Halo 3 may have sold up to 5.2 million copies worldwide in the first two weeks after launch. By November 30, 2007, Halo 3 had sold 5million copies worldwide, and as of that point, was the best selling video game of 2007 in the U. S., even though the game is only available on one console. On January 3, 2008, Microsoft announced that Halo 3 had sold 8.1 million copies. The game drew over a million Xbox Live members to play online in the first 20 hours, making it the biggest day for Xbox Live gaming in history. The game returned to the top 20 sales charts more than a year after its release in February 2009; Gamasutra reported that the boost might have been due to the release of Halo Wars. According to Microsoft, Halo 3 had sold 14.5 million copies as of 2012. The game was also the best selling video game of 2007 in the U. S.

Advertising Age reported that movie studio executives were convinced the release of Halo 3 harmed box office receipts; the week's take was 27% less than the previous year's yield. While some executives decided the disparity in estimated and actual gross for films like The Heartbreak Kid was due more to the film's poor reception, other analysts believed that "the audience on [Halo 3] is the 18 to 34 demographic, similar to what you'd see in cinemas" and that this led to a decrease in receipts. Later research suggested that the Halo 3 players still watched the same amount of television and movies, regardless of the time they spent playing the game.

Halo 3 received critical acclaim upon its release. It holds an average of 94/100 on aggregate website Metacritic. Reviewers including Eurogamers Rob Fahey, GamesRadars Charlie Barrett, and GameSpots Jeff Gerstmann felt that the underlying formula of previous Halo games was unchanged, but that this was not a detriment. while IGN's Hilary Goldstein referred to Halo 3 as "the most complete game available on any console", specifically stating "the Forge and the replay functionality raise the bar for console shooters so high, it may never be surpassed this generation." The gameplay additions to the game, such as equipment and new vehicles, were praised; Gerstmann and Goldstein noted that equipment had much more relevance in multiplayer matches than the campaign. Goldstein was highly critical of the eighth level, stating "the penultimate chapter is so bad, just thinking about it puts a rotten taste in my mouth." The New York Times Charles Herold said the game had a "throwaway" plot and Total Video Games judged the single player aspect ultimately disappointing. Goldstein and Steve West of Cinema Blend thought a part of the game's story was lost by not having the Arbiter featuring as prominently as the character was in Halo 2. Most publications agreed that multiplayer was by far one of the best features; IGN said that the multiplayer map lineup was the strongest of the series, Bryan Vore of Game Informer said that human faces and some textures were just "embarrassing". of which it won "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Most Addictive Video Game Fueled by Dew". It won Times "Game of the Year", and IGN chose it as the Best Xbox 360 Online Multiplayer Game and Innovative Design of 2007. The Visual Effects Society awarded Bungie the "Best Real Time Visuals in a Video Game" for Halo 3. Halo 3 took the Calvin Award for "Best Videogame" as selected by Box Office Prophets. Halo 3 also took the award for Xbox 360 Game of the Year 2007 from GameTrailers, and was voted by fans as Game of the Year on G Phoria. Halo 3 won the Edge Award For Interactive Innovation in August 2008. During the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Halo 3 for "Action Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay". In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.