Halo 3
Not exactly a new game, but what the hey let's talk about it anyway. My exposure to the Halo series has been pretty disjointed, as I owned a PS2, a Gamecube, and a Wii before finally getting rid of all those for a 360 a few years after it came out. The first Halo game I ever played was Reach, which was by all means a quality game that didn't require playing any of the others to enjoy, but it also let me pretty confused in terms of lore and background. After that, I've managed to play most of the core games out of order, starting with the original Halo, then Halo 4, and now Halo 3 which I got free on Games with Gold.
Despite faltering a little towards the end, I felt that 3 was the best of the games I've played in the series (only taking into account the campaign mode). I think the most impressive thing about the single-player experience in the Halo series is that you pretty much fight the same enemies from start to finish in every game and yet it stays engaging thanks to the variety of weapons, vehicles, and situations. Given that, Halo 3 has the best suite of weapons to choose from out of the last few games, bringing back all the favorites while adding a few brute weapons and allowing for double wielding with a number of them. There were probably a few too many vehicle sequences for my liking, though they mix things up and driving the Scorpion tank is always satisfying.
Even though I didn't play Halo 2, I was more or less able to follow the storyline of Halo 3 - you are simultaneously trying to prevent Truth from activating the rings along with the Arbiter while searching for Cortana. It's solid and engaging thanks to the voice acting and strong characterization even if it's fairly linear. Some of the "flashback" sequences with Cortana genuinely scared me, though I admittedly spook easy.
Not sure if this is really a spoiler and the game has probably passed the statute of limitations, but since I really hate knowing too much story before getting into a game I'll be on the safe side.
For a 7-8 year old game, the graphics and sound remain very strong compared with later 360 games. As usual, the AI stands out compared to other games in the genre, with the grunts and Brutes even having appropriate sounds queues that reflect the action, including when they kill you, which happened to me repeatedly on Heroic difficulty. In that vein, I do feel like the Chief is fairly easy to kill compared to the protagonists of most other modern games, making you feel like less of a "bad ass", though that's more a modern of taste than an actual complaint. Overall, Halo 3 is a fantastic game, remaining impressive even after the release of a new generation of consoles.
9/10