Following the recap of the greatest games of 2007, we have to mention Halo 3. Which is arguably the best selling game for the 360. The first two Halo’s “made” the original Xbox, people even called it the Halo platform, as those games were the only ones worth playing on the console.

So in Halo 3 you have to “finish the fight” as the good old veteran MasterChief. I didn’t really follow the plot, as I haven’t played the previous Halo’s. First thing you notice is that the cut-scenes look awesome, but when transitioned into gameplay, you get a lot of jaggies (easily visible on a 42″ 1080p). Then you go to forums, yalling in a fanboyish fashion - “teh halo jaggies11″. So in the end it turns out that Bungie (the developer of Halo) admitted the game isn’t running at 1080p. Nor is it running at 720p. What? Halo 3 runs at 600p (!!!!) and is upscaled to 1080p, and that’s the reason of all the jaggies and horrible pixelations at times.

That said, the developer explained that they have 2 graphics buffers, and they degraded the resolution in order to maintain stable framerate. I think they’re right with this though, as huge environments look great. And especially notable are the lush jungle settings, where everything is shaded in real time and not a single framerate drop is notable.

So enough said, the game looks great — provided that you play on a small Tv or PC monitor.

It’s all about the gameplay. And honestly, nothing has changed from the previous installments (I saw people play Halo 2). It’s still the same old Halo with double-wielding weapons and a melee button. The singleplayer campaign is around 10 hours, and the plot is just meh. But it’s not the plot that moves you — it’s the level design.

I can’t really remember a game in recent years that would have such a straight-forward and non-dull entertaining level structure. You just don’t get bored of it. And with really bright and colorful settings, it’s really easy on the eyes. And the last mission — specifically the vehicle sequence — is truly epic. Although it’s over before you know it.

Naturally, the larger part of the game is in Multiplayer. This is where it shines. I really like the controls, I’m not a fan of Console shooters, but these controls — when compared to games like Call of Duty 4 and Medal of Honor Airborne — feel really good and responsive. This might be because of the aim-assist thing, but I don’t know, it’s just really good.

In multiplayer, you have everything you’d expect, including huge maps, vehicles and lots of action.

Amongst the new things things in Halo 3 you have to mention the bulb-shield. It’s essentially a grenade you throw and it takes a bubble-shield around you. This works great in multiplayer and helps you avoid explosions and bullets. Too bad enemies in the singleplayer mode don’t use it wisely.

This is definitely the Xbox 360 game of the year. It’s just good, despite the 600p thing — it still has great production values and will be played for millions of hours online.