After the cliffhanger ending of the second Halo game, I had to play the final chapter of the trilogy. Bungie pulled out all the stops and played a hail mary for the finale, leaving memories to last a long time.

Halo 2 left fans on the edges of their seats, with the Covenant in the midst of a full-scale invasion of Earth and the Halo installations primed and ready to erase all life from the universe. How do our intrepid heroes escape from the claws of fate? Play the game and find out! (Seriously, I don't want to spoil anything for you.)

I can't say the plot grabbed me quite as much as it did for Halo 2, but it does do a better job of getting into your head. At one point a Flood lifeform is projecting thoughts into the head of the Master Chief, distorting things a bit and disorienting the player in a way that is subtle and yet blunt at the same time. The plot expands to even more locations and is more multi-dimensional yet again, portraying a war that is increasingly more complex as the trilogy plays out. This is further augmented with deeper character interaction, including segments in which you play as the Arbiter, formerly an enemy to the humans, as he assists them in fighting his former masters.

Again, controls aren't much to speak of, but let's face it--this is an FPS. A few new minor changes have been made, mostly regarding the control of vehicles both old and new. The good old assault rifle makes a comeback in all its automatic gas-operated glory, and I couldn't be happier. A few new faces show up, too, most notably the SPARTAN laser, which is something of a shoulder-mounted Death Star (and is just about as satisfying to use, too). It's just enough new toys to shake things up while not introducing too much change.

The graphics are roughly an exponential improvement over the previous title. This was expected, but Bungie's game engine still awes and shocks you as you see realtime reflections of the entire environment in things like Master Chief's visor or panes of glass. Another nice effect is the screen washing out in a bright blue upon the rupturing of a Scarab's power core (A Scarab is comparable to an Imperial Walker, to continue the Star Wars comparison). I must emphasize that I strongly believe this game can only be played in high definition, as a standard-def television loses so much of the details it's not even funny.

But, I have to be honest. This game will appeal mostly to the masses who are already addicted to Halo and Halo 2. For those who aren't into it, I doubt you will get all that much enjoyment out of playing through, although it is definitely a fun shoot-em-up. For those who haven't had the chance to play the first two, I definitely recommend getting them and playing them to reading a cold, condensed synopsis. Really, I think you have to be into this to truly enjoy it.