Rubbish, they must suck. It's a very effective weapon, especially later on. Not only can you inflame enemies but you can also create a wall of fire to block them off.

You only suck with the flamethrower if you run after the flames and into them, which is probably what they did!

The Ars review rules! SP only :|

I said this last year with Gears, reviewing half a game is just dumb. Especially when even the extra features (Forge, Saved Films) are of massive significance

Ok, played through the first mission on Legendary with scoring on. Took me 49mins and I got 12400. You lose 100 points each time you die though I only died 9 times.

Seems like you'll need the skulls to break 15000. I've only found one, much later in the game.

In the same, they should probably get bonus points for 4 player coop. How many games have that?

And Forge. How many games allow you to alter not just maps, but also the scoring and mechanics of the game?

And for the Theater. Movie making and social elements are huge--and untapped.

And for having MP and SP. There are quite a few SP or MP only games on the market. How often do you get a GOOD SP campaign with a GOOD MP experience?

I think hits on length, AI, some on graphics, and Halo "refined" are all really legit. Fans will ignore these complaints, but they are there. But what Halo does good, they pretty much go where noone else was or is and does them well.

Taking the feedback from gamers I trust who have played it, the SP appears very good (but not perfect). You add in the best "Quake-Clone" MP (for lack of a better term of MP with weapons spawning in fields) on the market with a ton of variants and gameplay variants and toss in social elements (Coop, Forge, Theater) I just don't see how it cannot be ranked in the top tier of games.

Gamer tastes vary (I really don't like, or dislike, Halo's gameplay mechanics... hohum imo) but in terms of package I am pretty impressed with what Bungie has done.

Halo is far more ambitious as a package than Gears, GRAW, or Rainbow Six. I think all three of those have some valid arguements in the gameplay departments (they evolved and use technology well to create a deeper, more evolutionary dynamic instead of minor tweaks to an aging paradigm that was created to answer problems in older systems and eras) and all ship with really good MP. But as a package Halo 3 really does throw the smack down.

Forge/Theater are going to change gaming.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25482.html

Halo 1/2/3 comparison.