Halo 3 is a 2007 first-person shooter video game created by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. It is the third game in the Halo series, following Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) and Halo 2 (2004). The story takes place in a war between 26th-century humans, a group of alien races called the Covenant, and an alien parasite known as the Flood. Players control Master Chief, a soldier with advanced technology built into his body, as he fights the Covenant and the Flood. In cooperative play, other players take on the roles of alien soldiers who are allies. The game includes vehicles, weapons, and gameplay features from earlier games in the series, as well as new tools like saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor, which lets players change multiplayer levels.
Halo 2 was originally planned to end the story started in Halo: Combat Evolved, but problems during development led to an ending that left some questions unanswered. Bungie began working on Halo 3 soon after Halo 2 was released. The game was officially announced at E3 2006, and a multiplayer beta was available to players who bought the Xbox 360 game Crackdown. Microsoft spent $40 million marketing the game to sell more consoles and attract new players beyond existing Halo fans. Marketing efforts included promotions with other products and a special game that was part of a marketing campaign.
Halo 3 was released on September 25 and made $170 million in sales on its first day, reaching $300 million in its first week. It sold more than 14.5 million copies and was the top-selling video game in the United States in 2007. Over one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live within the first twenty hours. Critics praised the game, especially the Forge map editor and multiplayer features, but some said the single-player story and campaign structure had issues. Halo 3 is often listed as one of the greatest video games of all time. A sequel, Halo 4, was released in November 2012 by 343 Industries. Halo 3 was re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in November 2014 and for Windows on July 14, 2020.
Gameplay
Halo 3 is a shooter game where players see the action from the viewpoint of their character. Most of the game is played on foot, but there are also parts where players drive vehicles and fight in combat. Players use weapons, grenades, and melee attacks in most situations. Some weapons can be held in both hands for more power, but this means players cannot use grenades or melee attacks. Unlike earlier versions, the player’s secondary weapon is shown on their character model, either holstered or carried on their back. Halo 3 adds support weapons, which are large, two-handed weapons that slow movement but provide more firepower.
In addition to weapons, Halo 3 includes a new type of item called equipment. These items have different effects, such as creating defensive screens, regenerating shields, or releasing flares. Only one equipment item can be carried at a time. The game also adds more vehicles, including those that can be driven by players and those controlled by artificial intelligence.
Halo 3 includes features outside of gameplay, such as Forge, a tool for editing maps. Forge allows players to add or remove objects like weapons, crates, and vehicles from existing multiplayer maps. Most items can be placed or moved using Forge. Players can join Forge games and edit maps in real time. A budget system limits how many objects can be placed. Players can also save up to 100 recorded game clips to their Xbox 360’s hard drive. These clips can be viewed from any angle and at different speeds. Halo 3 allows players to share content, such as saved clips, screenshots, and custom items, on Bungie’s website. Other players can browse and download this content automatically when they log into Xbox Live on Halo 3.
The story mode in Halo 3 can be played alone or with up to three other players through Xbox Live or System Link. Unlike earlier games, where all players controlled identical characters, the first player controls Master Chief, the second controls the Arbiter, and the other two control Covenant Elites named N’tho ’Sraom and Usze ’Taham. All players have the same abilities, but their starting weapons differ. Hidden items called skulls, found on each level, change gameplay when activated, such as giving enemies more health, altering dialogue, or changing enemy behavior. These skulls, along with difficulty settings and completion speed, increase the player’s score. Players earn gamerscore points by unlocking achievements through high scores in each level.
Local area network or Xbox Live allows up to sixteen players in multiplayer matches, with modes like deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Players must find others through their Xbox Live Friends list, party invites, or LAN search to play with custom rules and maps. If connected to Xbox Live, the game can automatically select rules, maps, and opponents using the "Matchmaking" system, which groups players of similar skill. Players choose from playlists, which are sets of game modes designed by developers.
Like other Xbox 360 multiplayer games, Halo 3 uses a version of the TrueSkill ranking system for matchmaking, which tracks player skill on a per-playlist basis. A separate measure called EXP tracks how much experience a player has with each playlist. To help players enjoy online play, features like avoiding or reporting players and muting voice chat from the scoreboard are included. Halo 3 supports downloadable content and updates, like earlier versions. Online services for the original Xbox 360 version of the game ended in January 2022.
Synopsis
Halo 3 takes place in a science fiction setting during the years 2552 and 2553. Humanity is fighting a war with a group of alien races called the Covenant, who want to destroy humans. After many years of fighting, the Covenant discovers Earth in Halo 2. "Halos" are large ring-shaped structures, thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers wide, scattered throughout the galaxy. These rings were built thousands of years ago by a race called the Forerunners as weapons to stop a dangerous alien species called the Flood. When activated, the Halos would destroy all intelligent life in the galaxy, taking away the Flood’s food source. The Forerunners disappeared after they used the rings. In Halo: Combat Evolved, a human ship called the Pillar of Autumn finds one of these Halos, Installation 04. Against the wishes of the ring’s AI, 343 Guilty Spark, a human soldier named Master Chief destroys the ring to stop the Flood. The Covenant, unaware of the rings’ true purpose, try to fire another ring, Installation 05, in Halo 2 to fulfill their religious beliefs. A group within the Covenant called the Elites learn the truth about the rings and team up with humans to stop the ring’s activation. Though they succeed, the ring’s shutdown triggers a backup plan, preparing all the rings to be fired from a single location called the Ark. The Covenant’s religious leader, the High Prophet of Truth, and his followers believe the Ark is on Earth and head there.
Halo 3’s main character is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a highly trained human soldier called a "Spartan." He fights with the Arbiter, a former Covenant leader. Two other Covenant characters, N’tho ’Sraom and Usze ’Taham, join in cooperative play. Characters from earlier games, like Avery Johnson and Miranda Keyes, return. The Flood’s leader, the Gravemind, also plays a role. In Halo 2, the Gravemind escapes and takes over the Covenant’s capital city, High Charity, capturing the human AI Cortana.
After events in the comic Halo: Uprising, Master Chief arrives on Earth in East Africa, where he is found by Johnson and the Arbiter. They return to a human base where Keyes and Lord Hood plan to stop the High Prophet of Truth from using a Forerunner artifact. Master Chief helps destroy enemy defenses so Hood can lead Earth’s ships against the Prophet. However, Truth activates the artifact, creating a portal to another dimension. A Flood-infested ship crashes nearby, and Covenant forces use energy to destroy infected areas of Earth. Following a message from Cortana on the Flood ship, Master Chief, the Arbiter, Elites, Johnson, and Keyes follow Truth through the portal. 343 Guilty Spark joins them, as he has no purpose after his Halo was destroyed.
Through the portal, they find a massive structure called the Ark, far beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Truth can activate all the Halos from there. The Flood attacks High Charity, and Truth captures Johnson to use human technology. Keyes is killed during a rescue attempt, and Johnson activates the rings. The Gravemind makes a deal with Master Chief and the Arbiter to stop Truth and save Johnson, halting the rings’ activation. After the Arbiter kills Truth, the Gravemind turns against them.
Master Chief, the Arbiter, and Guilty Spark learn the Ark is building a new Halo to replace the one Master Chief destroyed. Master Chief decides to activate this Halo to eliminate the Flood on the Ark without destroying the galaxy. To do this, he rescues Cortana, who has the activation code from the destroyed Halo, and destroys High Charity. On the new Halo, Cortana warns that the Gravemind is trying to rebuild itself. Master Chief, the Arbiter, and Johnson go to the Halo’s control room to activate it. Guilty Spark explains that activating the incomplete Halo will destroy it and the Ark. When Johnson ignores the warning, Guilty Spark kills him to protect the ring. Master Chief destroys Guilty Spark, but Johnson dies from his injuries. Master Chief activates the Halo, escaping the ring’s destruction on the ship Forward Unto Dawn. The Halo’s explosion collapses the portal, leaving only the front half of the ship, carrying the Arbiter, to return to Earth.
A memorial is held on Earth for those who died in the Human-Covenant war, where the Arbiter and Lord Hood briefly speak about Master Chief. After the memorial, the Arbiter and Elites leave for their home planet. The rear half of Forward Unto Dawn drifts in space. Cortana sends a distress signal but admits it may take years for help to arrive. As Master Chief enters cryogenic sleep, Cortana tells him she will miss him, and he reassures her by saying, "Wake me when you need me." If the game is completed on the hardest difficulty, the scene shows the ship drifting toward an unknown planet, setting up the events of Halo 4.
Development
Halo 2 was a successful game, but its development was difficult for Bungie. The game was created quickly, which led to parts of the story being cut. Bungie openly talked about the game’s problems and saw Halo 3 as a chance to fix those issues. This would also be Bungie’s last Halo game before moving to other projects. Some people at Bungie were unhappy about being bought by Microsoft in 2000 and wanted better profit-sharing for Halo 3. This led to an agreement where Bungie would become independent after making a certain number of Halo games.
After Halo 2 was released, Bungie cofounder Jason Jones took a break, leaving the Halo 3 team without clear leadership. Team members argued about who would lead creative work, and no clear direction was decided. Story writer Joseph Staten took a vacation after conflicts with others, leaving no one in charge of the story for a time. The story was written by a group and then reviewed by senior Bungie members. Composer Martin O’Donnell thought the story draft was weak because it ignored previous characters and plotlines. After seeing the movie Serenity, he pushed for characters to die to raise the stakes. Staten later returned to revise the story.
Halo 2 popularized online multiplayer features like player parties and voice chat. The Xbox 360 included similar features in Xbox Live but changed the system. Designer Max Hoberman said he spent a year fixing broken features instead of creating new ones to match Halo 2’s level.
Compared to the rushed development of Halo 2, Halo 3’s creation was smoother, with more time to add features like Forge mode. The multiplayer map team, led by Chris Carney and Steve Cotton, had time to test new ideas, leading to iconic maps in the series.
Bungie kept their new project a secret, only hinting at it in weekly updates. The game was officially announced with a cinematic trailer at E3 2006.
Unlike Halo 2’s secretive development, Bungie shared more about Halo 3’s progress. They updated fans weekly on their website. The game was split into single-player and multiplayer builds, making testing faster. While details about multiplayer were shared early, the single-player story was kept secret to build interest. The first campaign images appeared in July 2007, a year after the trailer.
A public beta test for Halo 3’s multiplayer and online features happened four months before the full release. It included three maps: High Ground, Valhalla, and Snowbound. Access required a Crackdown disc.
Enemy AI was improved, with Brutes acting as a group, changing gameplay.
Halo 3 uses a custom graphics engine developed by Bungie. It includes effects like high dynamic range lighting, global lighting, and depth of field in cutscenes. Motion blur was added later. Real-time shadows are cast by dynamic objects, including plants. The engine uses normal, bump, and parallax mapping to add detail without increasing polygon counts. Players can see up to ten miles in 3D. Real-time reflections were possible but rarely used. The game uses two frame buffers instead of one, allowing better lighting without slowing the frame rate. It renders at 1152×640 resolution, upscaled to 1080p by the Xbox 360. Later, it was enhanced for Xbox One X, rendering at 1920p upscaled to 2160p in HDR at 30fps.
Halo 3 supports 5.1 surround sound, with over 50,000 audio pieces, mostly NPC dialogue. This is more than in previous Halo games. Separate recordings for nearby and distant gunfire added realism. Waves Audio plugins adjust sounds based on in-game conditions.
Marty O’Donnell composed the game’s score, using a larger orchestra than in earlier games. For example, the trailer used a 60-piece orchestra and 24-voice choir. The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack was released on November 20, 2007, including a fan-submitted piece judged by Nile Rodgers, Michael Ostin, and Marty O’Donnell.
Voice actors returning for Halo 3 include Jen Taylor as Cortana, David Scully as Sergeant Johnson and the Elites, Keith David as the Arbiter, Tim Dadabo as 343 Guilty Spark, Ron Perlman as Lord Hood, Robert Davi as Rtas ’Vadum, and Steve Downes as Master Chief. New voices include Terence Stamp and Justis Bolding as Prophet of Truth and Miranda Keyes, replacing Michael Wincott and Julie Benz. Celebrity voices include Jonathan Ross, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Katee Sackhoff, and John DiMaggio. Members of Red vs. Blue (Burnie Burns, Gus Sorola, Matt Hullum, Jason Saldaña, Geoff Ramsey, and Joel Heyman) also appear as cameos.
Release
Microsoft spent over $40 million to market Halo 3. The campaign aimed to increase sales of Xbox 360 consoles and attract both casual and experienced gamers, not just fans of the Halo series. Marketing efforts included game trailers, real-time cinematics, recorded gameplay, pre-rendered computer-generated images, and live-action films. On September 12, 2007, the "Believe" campaign began with a video titled "Museum" and continued after the game's release. It focused on the story’s importance and the heroism of Master Chief, using dioramas and accounts from others about his service.
During development, Bungie released four "developer documentaries" explaining how parts of the game were created. A large-scale multiplayer beta test was held on Xbox Live, allowing more than 800,000 people to try the game. In June 2007, an alternate reality game called Iris helped players uncover background details about Halo 3. The game’s release was celebrated with worldwide launch parties.
Marketing also included partnerships. PepsiCo created a soft drink called Game Fuel, featuring the Halo 3 logo and Master Chief. Advertising targeted the general public, not just fans. For example, 7-Eleven stores sold specialty cups and game copies. In the UK, Gamestation offered a limited-edition Master Chief figurine to the first 1,000 people who preordered the game.
Before the official release, a final test version of the game—named "Epsilon" and nearly complete—was leaked online months early. Microsoft banned Xbox Live accounts of players who accessed the leaked copy until the year 9999. Retail copies of the game appeared on eBay weeks before release, and UK retailer Argos accidentally released some copies a week early. Microsoft called the Argos leak an "honest mistake" and did not plan to punish them. The game was also leaked online a week before release, with thousands downloading the 6.14 gigabyte file in 24 hours. Videos of the game’s ending, obtained from the leaked copy, were shared on video sites.
Halo 3 was released on September 25, 2007, in three versions: Standard, Limited, and Legendary. The Standard Edition included the game disc, manual, and a small poster. The Limited Edition, in a metal case, added an Xbox 360 bonus disc, a hardcover "Bestiarum" book, and a poster. The Legendary Edition included an interactive bonus disc, the Bestiarum on a DVD, a special DVD with exclusive content, and a scale replica of Master Chief’s helmet as a case for the discs. The slip-cover packaging could be unfolded into a large poster of Master Chief. Some Limited Edition copies had a defect in the part that holds the discs, risking scratches. Microsoft offered a disc replacement program.
On the day before its release, 4.2 million copies of Halo 3 were available in stores.
In October 2013, Halo 3 was made free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers through the "Games with Gold" program. It became playable on the Xbox One in 2017 via backward compatibility. An Xbox One version with improved graphics (1080p and 60 frames per second) was included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection in 2014. The game was re-released as part of the Windows version of The Master Chief Collection in 2020.
Downloadable content
Halo 3 allows players to download additional multiplayer maps and game updates through Xbox Live. The first three multiplayer maps released after the game launched—"Standoff," "Rat's Nest," and "Foundry"—were grouped together as the "Heroic Map Pack" and released on December 11, 2007. A second set of three maps, including a remake of the Halo 2 map "Lockout" called "Blackout," a new map named "Ghost Town," and a remake of the Halo: Combat Evolved map "Sidewinder" titled "Avalanche," were bundled as the "Legendary Map Pack" on April 15, 2008. These maps added visual filters to the Forge tools, which change how the maps look. A remake of the Halo: Combat Evolved map "Chill Out," named "Cold Storage," was released as a free download on "Bungie Day," July 7, 2008. The third multiplayer map pack, called the "Mythic Map Pack" and containing the maps "Orbital," "Assembly," and "Sandbox," was included with the Limited Collectors Edition of Halo Wars. This map pack was available on the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 9, 2009. The fourth and final multiplayer map pack, "Mythic II Map Pack," was released on February 2, 2010. It includes three new maps from Halo 3: ODST: "Citadel," "Longshore," and a remake of the Halo 2 map "Midship" titled "Heretic."
The first update for Halo 3 was released on February 19, 2008, and fixed several bugs, such as issues with melee contests and errors in the saved-film theater. A second update, called a Title Update, was released on September 23, 2008. It added new Achievements, a new XP ranking system, and new ways to detect and stop cheating in the game. No additional updates for Halo 3 were planned after this.
Reception
First-day sales of Halo 3 reached $170 million in the U.S., setting a record for the highest sales of a video game within 24 hours of its release. This performance surpassed Halo 2, which earned $125 million in the same time frame. Over one million people in North America preordered the game before its launch. Worldwide, more than $300 million worth of copies were sold in the first week, which helped increase Xbox 360 sales by more than double compared to the average sales before Halo 3 was released. By 2010, Microsoft reported total sales of $600 million for the game.
In the U.S., Halo 3 sold 3.3 million copies in its first 12 days on sale, increasing to 3.7 million copies by November 15, 2007. Reuters UK estimated that Halo 3 may have sold up to 5.2 million copies worldwide in the first two weeks after launch. By November 30, 2007, Halo 3 had sold 5 million copies worldwide and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S., even though it was only available on one console. On January 3, 2008, Microsoft announced that Halo 3 had sold 8.1 million copies. The game attracted over a million Xbox Live users to play online in the first 20 hours, making it the biggest day for Xbox Live gaming in history. The game returned to the top 20 sales charts more than a year after its release in February 2009. Gamasutra reported that this might have been due to the release of Halo Wars. According to Microsoft, Halo 3 had sold 14.5 million copies as of 2012. In the U.S., the game was the best-selling video game of 2007 and the fourteenth best-selling game of the 2000s decade.
Advertising Age reported that movie studio executives believed the release of Halo 3 hurt box office sales. The week’s total was 27% less than the previous year’s total. Some executives thought the difference was due to poor reception of films like The Heartbreak Kid, while others believed that the Halo 3 audience, which is mostly people aged 18 to 34, similar to moviegoers, caused the decline. Later research suggested that Halo 3 players still watched the same amount of television and movies, regardless of how much time they spent playing the game.
Halo 3 received high praise from critics when it was released. It holds an average score of 94 out of 100 on Metacritic, an aggregate website. Pro-G’s Wesley Yin-Poole said the game met the high expectations surrounding it, writing that it was "everything we hoped it would be, and much, much more." Reviewers like Eurogamer’s Rob Fahey, GamesRadar’s Charlie Barrett, and GameSpot’s Jeff Gerstmann noted that the basic design from earlier Halo games remained the same, but this was not a problem. Barrett said, "Every type of Halo fan, from the hardcore to the casual to the brand new, will find something to satisfy them in Master Chief’s third adventure." IGN’s Hilary Goldstein called Halo 3 "the most complete game available on any console," specifically mentioning "the Forge and the replay functionality raise the bar for console shooters so high, it may never be surpassed this generation." The game’s additions, such as equipment and new vehicles, were praised. Gerstmann and Goldstein noted that equipment had more relevance in multiplayer matches than in the campaign.
Reactions to the single-player story varied. Yin-Poole wrote that the campaign of Halo 3 was more satisfying than the cliffhanger ending of Halo 2. Gerstmann, GameSpy’s Gabe Graziani, and Goldstein said the campaign was too short, especially on easier difficulty levels or with three additional players in co-op. Goldstein criticized the eighth level, saying "the penultimate chapter is so bad, just thinking about it puts a rotten taste in my mouth." The New York Times’ Charles Herold said the game had a "throwaway" plot, and Total Video Games judged the single-player aspect ultimately disappointing. Goldstein and Steve West of Cinema Blend thought part of the game’s story was lost by not featuring the Arbiter as prominently as in Halo 2.
Most publications agreed that multiplayer was one of the best features. IGN said the multiplayer map lineup was the strongest of the series, and GameSpy added that "each [multiplayer] map is extremely well-tuned." The Forge level editor and saved films features were highlighted as strong, along with the voice acting and score.
Other complaints focused on artificial intelligence. Critics praised the enemy AI but said the intelligence of the player’s allies was much lower. Bryan Vore of Game Informer said that human faces and some textures were "embarrassing."
Halo 3 was nominated for seven awards from the Spike TV Awards, winning "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Most Addictive Video Game Fueled by Dew." It won Time’s "Game of the Year," and IGN chose it as the Best Xbox 360 Online Multiplayer Game and Innovative Design of 2007. The Visual Effects Society awarded Bungie the "Best Real Time Visuals in a Video Game" for Halo 3. Halo 3 took the Calvin Award for "Best Videogame" as selected by Box Office Prophets. It also won the award for Xbox 360 Game of the Year 2007 from GameTrailers and was voted Game of the Year on G-Phoria. Halo 3 won the Edge Award for Interactive Innovation in August 2008. During the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Halo 3 for "Action Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay." In 2010, the game was included in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. In 2025, GameStop selected Halo 3 as its inaugural "Best Game of the Year," despite the game being released in 2007.