Halo 3

Halo 3 is a shooter primarily played from a first-person perspective. Combat is mostly on foot, but it also includes dedicated vehicular combat sections. Weapon and object balance was adjusted to better support Halo’s “Golden Triangle”: weapons, grenades, and melee attacks, which are available to players in most situations. Players can dual-wield certain weapons, giving up grenades and melee in exchange for the combined firepower of two guns. Many weapons from earlier entries return with minor cosmetic and power changes. Unlike previous installments, your secondary weapon is visible on your character model, either holstered or slung across your back. Halo 3 also introduces “support weapons,” which are bulky, two-handed guns that slow you down but deliver much higher firepower. Alongside weapons, the game adds a new category of gear called equipment, with effects ranging from defensive screens to shield regeneration and flares; only one piece can be carried at a time. Vehicle gameplay is expanded with new drivable vehicles and additional AI-only vehicles.

After the events of the comic tie-in Halo: Uprising, the Master Chief crash-lands in eastern Africa and is found by Johnson and the Arbiter. Master Chief, Johnson, and their allies fight the Covenant through the jungle and reach a UNSC outpost. There, Keyes and Lord Hood prepare a final push to stop the Covenant leader, the High Prophet of Truth, from activating a Forerunner artifact discovered outside the ruins of New Mombasa. Master Chief disables Covenant anti-air defenses so Hood can lead Earth’s remaining ships against Truth, but Truth activates the buried artifact and opens a slipspace portal that he and his followers enter. A Flood-infested ship crash-lands nearby. Elite forces arrive and vitrify Flood-infected areas of Earth to contain the threat. Guided by a message Cortana left aboard the Flood ship, Master Chief, the Arbiter, the Elites, Johnson, Keyes, and their troops pursue Truth through the portal. They are joined by 343 Guilty Spark, who aids the Chief after the destruction of his ringworld leaves him without a function. Beyond the edges of the Milky Way, the humans and Elites emerge at the Ark—an immense artificial structure where Truth can remotely activate all the Halo rings. The Flood arrive aboard High Charity in full force and begin infesting the installation. Truth captures Johnson, needing a human to operate Forerunner technology. Keyes is killed attempting a rescue, and Johnson is forced to activate the rings. The Gravemind forms a truce with Master Chief and the Arbiter to stop Truth. Together with Flood forces, they break through Truth’s guards, rescue Johnson, and halt the activation. After the Arbiter kills Truth, the Gravemind turns on the Chief and Arbiter. Master Chief, the Arbiter, and 343 Guilty Spark learn the Ark is building a replacement Halo for the ring the Chief previously destroyed. The Chief chooses to activate the unfinished ring: it will wipe out the Flood on the Ark without destroying the wider galaxy. To do so, he rescues Cortana—who holds the Activation Index of the destroyed Halo—from High Charity and destroys the city. On the new Halo, Cortana warns that the Gravemind is rebuilding on the ring. The Chief, Arbiter, and Johnson reach the control room to activate the Halo, but Guilty Spark explains that because the ring is incomplete, firing it early will destroy both the ring and the Ark. When Johnson proceeds anyway, Guilty Spark fatally wounds him to protect “his” ring. The Chief destroys Guilty Spark, activates the Halo, and escapes aboard the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn. The blast collapses the slipspace portal, and only the front half of Forward Unto Dawn—carrying the Arbiter—returns to Earth. A memorial honors the fallen of the Human-Covenant war, where the Arbiter and Lord Hood briefly speak about the missing Master Chief. The Arbiter and his Elite brethren then depart for their homeworld, Sanghelios. Meanwhile, the rear half of Forward Unto Dawn drifts in unknown space. Cortana launches a distress beacon, acknowledging rescue could take years, and Master Chief enters cryonic sleep, telling her to “wake me, when you need me.” If completed on Legendary difficulty, the ending continues as the drifting ship approaches an unknown planet later revealed to be Requiem, the main campaign setting of Halo 4.