Halo 3 Was Halo In Its Prime 

I was designer on Crow’s Nest and Halo. Thank you for the nice comments!

Halo 3 was not just prime Halo. Halo 3 was the height of entertainment to the point of spawning multi-decade careers, companies and franchises.

The menu noises, the social features, Image Gallery. We really were spoiled edit: playing as the arbiter during the covenant would’ve blown my 8 year old brain apart. The moment Arby kills truth could’ve been the definition of satisfaction

One of my favorite moments in all of gaming is when Chief and Arbiter find the new Halo being constructed. The shot of them standing there while the ring rises and the music swells in the background is just so good on so many levels.

Halo 3 should have been Master Chiefs conclusion. If Halo had to keep going, it needed a new mascot and left master chief as a legend, a hero that everyone built their image around.

Halo back in its prime was fucking LEGENDERY.

Fun fact, the guy who directed the Starry Night trailer is also the same guy who directed Top Gun: Maverick, which is credited as quite possibly the film that saved Hollywood last year. He's called Joseph Kosinski, and the funny thing is, he only has like 5 feature films to his name, all of which are complete bangers, one of which is an adaptation of a graphic novel he also wrote, and that was all after he made Starry Night. So without Halo, we probably wouldn't have gotten the best movie of 2022. It's seriously unreal just how good the guy is, and Bungie could not have asked for a better man to direct their trailer.

Can confirm that it’s not nostalgia. I played through all of Halo’s campaigns for the first time about 2 years ago and I’ve replayed all of the Bungie ones. Halo 3 is definitely my favorite campaign in the series for all the reasons you talked about in this video.

I’ve been playing halo every day for the last two months and I can’t get enough of it. Bought MCC for the first time in June last year. Played this shit out of it then, completing every game minus halo 4 on heroic, and playing over 100 multiplayer games. I got burnt out and haven’t touched it for 6 or 7 months … when I redownloaded it I played through all campaigns minus halo 4 on legendary! I beat 2,3reach and I’m close to finished in ODST. The game just never gets old!! So many amazing moments in every game session. Don’t get me started on the 10 hour all night marathon multiplayer sessions on some of my days off! I miss the old halo , I’m eternally grateful MCC has a strong community to keep halo alive🙏🏼💕

3:13 bruh I always thought to myself “imagine being a wounded marine on a pelican and this is what you hear” every time I played crows nest

9:57 Fun fact, the reason it's drastically different from High Charity's real appearance, is because Cortana was originally supposed to take place after Floodgate, hence it looking like the ships we saw in cutscenes instead (save for the out of bounds things, like the Mausoleum of the Arbiter being visible from a distance, etc). Instead, it got repurposed later in the campaign as High Charity. It explains some oddities about Halo 3, like how Cortana's visions stop happening after Floodgate and resume back in Cortana. There's also some dialogue at the beginning of Floodgate where Keyes tells you to "overload the engine cores", a task you end up doing in Cortana instead. The cut content of Halo 1-3 is ridiculously fascinating. Halo 2 is arguably the BIGGEST list, just go check out what was supposed to be its ending (a dude uploaded an animated storyboard of it, amazing stuff), or the forerunner tank mission. Halo 3's cut missions relating to the forerunners, the Guardian sentinal from Epitaph, and the level Guardian as a whole being based around these cut levels (the reason why it looks 100% different from the rest of the game and uses so many unique assets)

Not gona lie, life was better when Halo 3 was out in its prime, those were just some really good times man.

The lobbies of custom games like Fatman, infection, races, etc. that were full of random people will always be a gaming memory I will never forget

Halo 3 was the first Halo I ever played. I played co-op with my hefty friend at his house as an 8 year old boy and it was before I could even play rated M games myself. It was love at first sight. The next year I somehow convinced my mom I was old enough for "violent video games" and got Halo ODST for christmas and preorderd Halo Reach when that came out the following year. I eventually got a used copy of Halo 3 and played it just as much. Lots of good memories playing ODST and Reach with my friends at sleepovers. They even had xbox stations at our local laser tag place where everyone had their birthday parties at and you could play Halo with 4 players.

I was 10 when it came out. The hype for that legendary edition to come in at my local walmart was unreal. Grew up on halo CEs story. I absolutely loved halo 2. The story was amazing even though I felt unsatisfied with the ending BUT not unhappy with it. We couldnt afford xbox live at the time so my only h2 MP experience was split screen(still great) but H3s campaign/ ending and MP (chores finaly paid for some xbox live haha) was unmatched. I had over 20k custom games played by the time reach came out. Every armor, every achievement. Loved reach but always went back to H3. It was just a simple GOOD game. Looking back there wasnt ALL that much content compared to say Infinite but the replayability of the story and multiplayer is crazy. Its a FUN game. Little things like the map packs and vidmasters coming out got everyone so hyped. Nowadays we get hyped for a lick of good news in Infinite(which i also very much enjoy mostly campaign) and it just makes the nostalgia grow even more. I dont think its rose lense glasses. It was just simple, good, fun, compelling, replayable entertainment that was executed damn near perfectly in the form of Halo 3. And of course the friends made playing it. Thanks for this video it was great. Right in the feels

I like to think most of us met at least once in those epic custom game lobbies.

On tsavo highway, when You 1st encounter the brute choppers when they smash into that warthog, one of the open buildings with guns has a gravity lift equipment. You can use it to jump the gap on the bridge later in the level and bring a vehicle to fight off the waves of brutes and phantoms.

My fav game forever

Lmao the vid end caught me off guard

I always play “The Ark” and “The Covenant” and have a blast till I remember I have to play “Cortana” right after that. Still my favorite halo game

I was in 7th grade when halo 2 came out. And then 10th grade for halo 3. Those two games right there…. If you were there, then you already know. Nothing has come close to those 2 games and that era 2004-2010. Halo 3 was the peak. I am so happy to have experienced all those late nights of random customs that never ended, big team matches, 4v4 MLG matches, achievement hunting, getting recon armor, rewatching your matches and recording clips and screenshots, looking at the community file share, so many good memories. And to think, those glory years of halo 3 were only 3 short years. From fall of 2007 to fall of 2010 when Reach came out. Then the halo community became split. I cannot believe halo 2 will be turning 20 this year. That really makes me feel old and how fast time actually goes by.

I was 13 when the game came out. I have awesome childhood memories playing for hours with my best buddies, ordering pizza and fighting in big team battles. It's been 16 years and TIL I missed the brute chiefting 1v1. Awesome video bud, keep going!

5:15 after playing halo 3 since launch, I recently discovered in my 1947258 playthrough of halo 3, that if you just do enough damage to the scarab/ keep shooting and breaking parts off of it, you can just blow it up the old fashioned way. This blew my mind, after years of playing until now I never throught of just blasting the damn thing until it was no more. And it worked

4:46 The first time I played The Storm as a kid, when I first saw the scarab come down and actually have its own behavior, I remember thinking "Wow, this is the future of gaming". This was in 2012... A very good testament to just how ahead of its time Halo 3 was.

shipmaster is my spirit animal

Remember when it was 2am and you fell asleep with the Halo 3 menu music on… so good

4:10 Brute chopper is the single greatest addition from halo 3 in my humble opinion. still play halo 3 forge maps with friends on mcc, for the soul purpose of having a brute chopper on the map

nah man I had no idea about the whole 1v1 thing thats so dope xD

With the on-going Halo 3 Sunrise project, you can in fact play "original" multiplayer again; however, the original spirit of socials and custom games at the time was truly something to behold

Miranda's "to war" line is her best and the only fragment of personality we get from her or her father

On the ark and the covenant, I really liked seeing the friendly covenant drop ships painted in green, it’s a nice detail

The Vidmaster challenges were so much fun to go through and I'm really glad it was something I got to experience as a kid

This is a really great analysis! One thing I'll say, because I've seen this discourse emerging in recent years, is that the first few missions of H3 really need the context of H2's ending. The audience assumption was that the Ark was on Earth, and that the artefact Truth was uncovering was the Ark. The ending of The Storm was a twist, with a moment of thinking that the Rings had been fired. With this in mind, it's a strong first act as a follow up to H2 - better than as a stand alone story.

I was 14 when halo 3 came out, definitely my most memorable online gaming experience with Friends. And the most fun I had online since socom navy seals 2. I wish I could go back in time 😢

You sound so much like a kid who was around 6-7ish when Halo 3 came out who would talk to me about it all the time in Tae-Kwon-Do (sp?) when I was in middle school. I was always so jealous that he got to play it with his dad, but when Halo 3 came out and I hit 13 [when my dad stopped caring about a game's rating], I got it and a 360 for that Christmas alongside the Zelda Collector's Edition on the GC. Those are about my favorite gaming memories so I appreciate this video. If you are somehow that kid in middle Georgia, then goddamn bro, I'm so happy for you making such a quality video, and even if you aren't, the sentiment remains the same. I hope you/him are doing great in life and absolutely enjoying the hell out of theses games and everything else life has to offer.

As a person who also grew up on halo 3 this video is awesome!! I was also 7 yo when it came out lol, i remember watching the same 10 halo 3 videos on the primitive youtube over and over 😂

Everyone talks about “to war” but nobody talks about how she then proceeds to also put away her pistol, and walk back down the stairs the second the level starts

I'm someone who didn't grow up with Halo as a kid, I never really thought of playing it. A friend of mine who did recommended it to me last year, so I picked up MCC on Steam and played through every campaign as well as some multiplayer and it was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I think this is a popular opinion but Halo 3 was my favorite out of the bunch, I'm currently replaying it with another friend of mine who hasn't played it yet, and being the Arbiter is great. Then there's the first fight against the Scarab, taking it down, boarding it, and destroying it from the inside for the first time is still one of the most magical gaming memories I have. Now I have yet to play Infinite's campaign, it's waiting in my library and I'm hyped. All I can say is thanks to the friend that recommended Halo to me, I'll never forget my time with the UNSC.

I love your videos

Dope video, never stop bro never stop

ending had me laugh xD but I agreed with a lot of what you said keep it up. Not often can I sit and listen to someone talk but you make it work, good job man

What a great homage. Took me back to high school. Thank you.

For ranged pure form: Flamethrower, flaming grenades, and dual plasma rifle DPS are good ways to take them down.

I'm glad I discovered this channel. You've got some good content going on here and it's about time there was a fresh take in Halo RU-vid

totally agree! i miss playing halo3 back in the day when everyone was on a 360 and all had the chat headset and EVERYONE talked in game. was so much fun.

I’m so happy you make these videos dude! We all remember and will cherish the hype to release and play the shit out of it 😂! I would skip school a whole lot

Halo 3 was the first one i played. This vid was hella nostalgic, ty.

man i loved halo 3, insane release! master chief in a warthog, ODST on mongoos, was AMAZING! at launch!

This channel is gonna blow up, I know it. Great content, all the best dude.

For me, the best part of Halo 3 is the coop campaign with both S-117 and the Arbiter. However the absence of Cortana for most of the game sucks. And remember people: Forerunners are ancient humanity.

9:05 you can play as the Arbiter on the Covenant. If your player 2

Halo 3 was the one and only time I went to a midnight release for a video game.

Halo 3 custom Forge maps with friends was just the best thing ever, good times

A lot of what you said is how I feel about halo reach. That was my first time being that interested in halo and experiencing it firsthand. Still my favorite game ever to this day

10:06 You actually CAN see a couple of rooms from Halo 2's High Charity, but they're easily missed. Early in the level you drop into the Council Chamber, the room that Gravemind began in. You find Cortana in the prophets' Inner Sanctum; she's on a pedestal that contained an energy sword when you went there briefly in Halo 2. It would have been interesting to see more areas from the past, as well as the cut section inside the Mausoleum, but at least we have these few surviving references.

Little note, the magnum was in halo 2, but it was nerfed and not that noticeable, due to the newer weapons like the battle rifle, carbine and SMG etc.

I never had a Xbox when halo 3 was released. But man, every chance I got I was at one of my friends playing campaign or split screen multiplayer online. Not to mention forge, so many hours in forge and doing glitches. Some of the best memories of my life

the fact that Griefball which was made into a seperate matchmaking playlist at times in Reach, speaks volumes to how amazing H3's custom games were. Also Jenga tower was my fav custom for H3 :D

Hey! Gravemind has been my favorite mission since I was a little kid. And The Covenant, then The Ark are 2nd and third.

Wake up babe, new Frogarchist vid

Halo 3 was my first ever FPS game and I loved it, many memories of 1v1ing my friend at the time (losing horribly) it was amazing fun, even after playing the other halo games I just can’t help but say Halo 3 is one of my favourite games of all time

Love the outro, sooo right.

Same. Halo 3 is still my favorite Halo game. It has its flaws, which you illustrated perfectly, but the gameplay and overall features more than made up for it 🙂

I’m just extremely grateful I got to experience halo 3 in its prime. My friends and I had sleepovers, they brought over their Xboxes for LAN parties with junk food, playing infection fat kid all night and even with randoms there were plenty of opportunities to make friends and party up. That was halo 3’s greatest strength. It can be enjoyed with anyone.

I like how simple the armor upgrades were and it was all achievable

Halo 3 was my first Halo game. I mostly played RPGs and platforming games up until then. I’ve been going through and playing all the MCC campaigns lately. Halo 3 seemed so easy compared to CE and 2, but I have played through it a bunch more. Playing Reach again now.

Halo 3 is probably my favorite video game of all time. The gameplay, the custom games, ranked big team battle, infection, forge, and of course the community all came together to make this unforgettable!

You can play the Arbiter if you do Co-Op. First time I played H3 was Co-Op with my Brother and he did not feel like a side character at all.

Just clicked, not 10 seconds in, but based off the title alone, very hard agree. Halo 3 was peak.

I don’t enjoy crows nest. In fact I think the start of halo 3s campaign is a bit weak compared to ce and 2 but once it gets going it’s awesome

I'll never forget release day. Got there at 3pm, Gamestop ordered us pizza, a couple LITERALLY SCREWED IN THE ALLEYWAY BEHIND... And then we got the game and my friends and I played for the next 17 hours straight. Core fuckin memory there

This makes me want to play halo nonstop

Halo 3 for me, is the best game in the series. I can always hop on and play the game all the way through (skipping Cortana usually tho lol)

I spent the year of 2021 to get all the achievements in Halo 3, ODST, and Reach and to say it was heartbreaking to see the live server's go down is and understatement. I always come back to the Achievement hunt video that I made about it and it will always bring me to tears I loved doing what little gamings I did in Halo 3 and and I'm thankful I got to play with some good people.

Halo 3 is my favorite, hands down. That piano music, in my opinion, is peak Halo.

I think it's dope that you were running halo 3 campaigns with your dad.

Always loved halo so much. Played halo when I was 6. I remember having to wait for Christmas for halo 2 and seeing it on the shelves at the store. I pre-ordered halo 3 and made brother in law pick it up for me so it was there when I got home from school. Pestering my parents for months to get a router instead of just a modem so I could pay Xbox live. Damn so many hours in campaign, forge, and multiplayer. Showing off my game achievements with armor in multiplayer instead of showing off my wallet. They really just don't make games like this anymore and it's sad. Really reminds you to treasure your times as they happen because they won't last forever. Halo 3 of my favorite too. I wish they would remaster it and sell it just as it had shipped in 07. Not the MCC exactly. But exactly. Worts and all

Back when grinding to lvl 50 in your favorite playlist was one of the most important things in life 😂😂

7:00 My favorite line from that cutscene, "All cruisers fire at will, Burn their mongrel hides!"

I just remembered Arby n the chief, after all these years

if i had a time machine Halo 3 first experience would be one of the things i would go back to.

Fat kid was so much fun, I remember playing it at my friend’s house when I was about 10/11

Finding every skull just to flex that sweet sweet Hayabusa armor in ranked lone wolf matches

Happy 16th birthday Halo 3, you were the best of em

There's almost always at least one Fatkid custom server on Halo 3 MCC 24/7. It's a fun, trolly little mini-community.

Best halo ever made, man I miss the early days of Halo when it came out

I remember that my copy of Halo 3 had a scratch on it, which prevented me from playing Floodgate. For the longest time, I assumed Floodgate was the last level of the game, and I was only proven wrong about 5 or 6 years ago when I finally played through the whole campaign on MCC.

whenever I play the storm I usually just grab a ghost take down the scarabs legs then hop on clear it out and blow it up.

halo 3 is the game I was the most excited about. I bought it with my own money, even took a picture with my copy in front of the store.campaign was great but online was just a killer

Gravemind and The Covenant are easily my favorite levels in the trilogy

Pour one out for the machinima series and videos that are just dust and echos. Hobowrath and Sodagod, you guys were real ones☝️

Tsavo Highwar is one the best levels in all of Halo. The open vehicle sections are the best and most Halo parts. The level is a series of set-pieces you can approach however you like.

Halo 3 was such an amazing and fun game. God I loved it so much, I was in year 12 of school when it came out, was such a good way to finish school. It really was the best halo. Reach never compared, I think infinite does a decent job of re-creating halo 3's feel and balance.

the library was a good level... we have different expectations these days, but, at the time, that was a really cool moment. you fight your way across this huge artificial alien world and then in the library you realise that this world has a whole history and the war you've been fighting is a mere battle in an ancient war of which the scale you can't even comprehend. the droning nature of the stage reinforces the droning nature of the war and how small your character is. sure if you've played like, halo 3 and borderlands and s.t.a.l.k.e.r and half life 2 and bioshock and and and then yeah, it's a bit wanting. but when you've only ever played catacomb, wolfenstein, doom, quake, goldeneye type stuff getting up to the library was completely awesome.

H3 was truly something special

I loved the story but I agree custom games was peak with Halo 3. I became a weekly host on weekends for custom games and would literally have a wait list of people to invite as a 10 y/o. If there wasn't a waitlist I would do the old "M2AF&RP" those were the good ole days

You should totally play Insurgency Sandstorm

Bungie era Halo, my Halo. I never had a problem with the Halo 2 cliffhanger either.

Asking again out of curiosity and I like your editing. Got an estimate on how long this one took to edit?

H3 released on the dawn of my first real heartbreak! all in all an excellent escape from my relationship problems as a teen