Halo 3 (2007) by Bungie

Space bros

This PC release of Halo 3 is a bit of an uneven experience, which surprised me because I've heard some reviews calling it "the best remaster of the bunch thus far". I strongly disagree with this, but I still consider this game worth playing—especially for the $10 asking price.

While Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 both featured extraordinarily remastered graphics, Halo 3 falls a bit behind them. Perhaps this is because the devs believed they could get away with simply porting the newer generation graphics, but the difference is remarkably noticeable when coming from the fully remastered Halo 2 to the simply ported Halo 3.

In addition to this, the awful sound quality from the Halo: Reach port, which was absent in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 (both of which have great, remastered sound) is unfortunately back in Halo 3. Guns have very soft sounds with extremely low impact, and they sound ridiculously silly when compared to the gun sound effects of modern day shooters.

Despite the poorer remaster granted to Halo 3 than the previous two titles, it remains worth playing mostly due to how strongly it improves on the faults of its predecessors. Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 both suffer greatly from portions of cookie-cutter level design repeated ad nauseam. Thankfully, the level design in Halo 3 is far more enjoyable. Each stage seems far fresher than the last, and the improvements made to the storytelling in Halo 2's campaign continue here. While I personally do not consider Halo 3's campaign superior to that of ODST or Reach, it's still well worth playing as it concludes the stories from the past two games in relatively satisfying fashion.

Halo 3 is well worth playing, especially if you played and enjoyed Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. It's worth paying full price, and a supreme bargain on a discount. But make sure to manage your expectations properly; don't expect it to look and like a shooter from 2020, despite the remaster.

⭐⭐⭐

The Witcher (2007) by CD Projekt Red

I feel really bad doing this because I absolutely love CD Projekt Red and I enjoy later games in the series such as The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, but I just can't recommend this game. It's not a terrible game, but its age and some of the mistakes made by the developers working on their first game do a lot to make it a terrible experience to play.

Most notably is that the combat is awful. It's incredibly easy for the most part, but also very bland. Potions are all but useless, leaving you to whack with your sword repeatedly in its faux-rhythm game. I was completely exhausted of it by the beginning of the second chapter and was beginning to choose just to run past enemies.

There are a number of side quests that are worthwhile as far as story and character development, but too many are simple fetch quests and just not worth your time despite the experience and money they reward you with. Too many "fetch 10 wolf pelts", and "find the 10 sephirahs" here—the latter of which broke me for good and had me uninstalling the game.

Probably most tiresome is the fact that the maps are some of the worst designed playing areas I've ever seen in an RPG. I am not exaggerating when I say that 90% of my gametime here was spent running around the map. They are not cyclical at all, but require you to run end-to-end, which is incredibly boring and frustrating. The maps that are open, such as the swamp, often have shrubbery and fences blocking paths that you might use to get somewhere more quickly. I don't mind padding out some gametime, but you've got to be smart about it; give me some good dialogue with NPCs, or entertaining combat. Here even the skill trees—one of my favorite parts of an RPG—feel ineffective, and like a waste of time.

There are minor annoyances as well, such as the awful character models, or poor dialogue writing. The game also starts off about as terribly as possible, with awful, generic, clichéd fantasy dialogue, and bad animations and storytelling.

I used to think of this game like the first Mass Effect—a good game, but very rough around the edges. But while it does do some good things, it's nothing like Mass Effect, which has competent levels, character building, and far better writing and dialogue.

Pretty much all The Witcher has going for it is some interestingly complex quest design and a great setting. Aside from that, this game is nearly completely skippable. Witcher 2 is a far better game, and probably even a better starting place for the series. But if you're dead set on playing the entire trilogy, you can give this one a shot—It's going to be all but impossible to play once you've experienced the later, better games and CD Projekt Red's maturity as one of the best game developers on the planet.

⭐

Mass Effect (2007) by Bioware

One of the many beautiful vistas found within the first episode of BioWare's magnum opus

Mass Effect is classic storytelling surrounded by a relatively raw game. This is BioWare at its absolute best, their pinnacle in developing a new IP after hitting unbelievable highs with the Baldur's Gate series and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Shortly after the release of Mass Effect, they'd sell to EA, and their games would take a markedly different tone. Not necessarily worse, just different.

Nearly every time I read somebody make a comment about the original Mass Effect, it's that the story is worth experiencing to set up later games, but the game itself is not very fun and has aged poorly. I really disagree with this. While the combat has severe flaws in that its weapons lack impact and it's hard to tell when you're being hit without actively watching your health and shields (both of which were fixed in later games), this game has a style of combat which I've never seen the likes of before or since. It's a blend of Knights of the Old Republic with newer shooters, and it's thoroughly enjoyable once you know how to build your characters properly. I have a special affinity for games which start out incredibly punishing and have you soloing the hardest enemies in the game one the hardest difficulty, and that's Mass Effect to a tee. Even on Normal difficulty, the game can be punishingly hard if you're starting from level 1. But when you're importing an unkillable Level 60 veteran, with a bonus power, and all of the best gear, you can get out of your tank and solo the most giant enemies in the game; remaining invulnerable with Immunity while pounding away with your rifle, or keeping the huge thing levitated constantly with biotic abilities. It's amazing to experience, and it kept me replaying this game over and over on the Xbox 360 when it originally released in the winter of 2007.

I do have some negatives to point out, though. Some of the level design is really bare-bones, with uninteresting building layouts re-used ad nauseam throughout the campaign, though this is somewhat remedied by the astonishing vistas depicted on some of the planets you'll visit. Looking up into the sky and seeing a war-scarred moon, or two glowing suns, or sunlight and rain in the distance never gets old. There's usually a dead silence, and a strong wind, accompanied by a superb soundtrack by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick (right) that sets the mood perfectly. This game is an absolute masterclass in ambiance and atmosphere, and I love it for that as much as I love it for its combat system and character building.

However exploring some of those uncharted planets is where the game is at its worst, even considering how beautiful they can be. Traversal in the Mako is an absolute chore. I've heard more Mako apologists recently than when the game released and I just can't get behind them. The Mako is a disaster. It bounces to and fro like it weighs nothing, it's constantly changing direction so you have to micromanage it even when going straight on reasonably flat ground, and it's incapable of climbing mountains when you need it to. The thing is crap, and it's the only reason I don't replay this game more than I do.

The game is also somewhat raw in terms of stability; bugs that keep you moving in the environment while on the hacking screen, broken dialogue trees, and a poor stick-to cover system plague the experience. The way persuasion options need to have skill points dumped into them if you're not going strictly Paragon or Renegade is a bother, too. When replaying from level 1 I often end up just resorting to console commands to add the maximum number of persuasion points so that I'm allowed to roleplay the way I want to without being hamstrung into selecting one option.

In the end, this game is an atmospheric wonder, with strong storytelling, and perhaps the best worldbuilding ever achieved in video games. I'm always surprised by just how good the writing is in this game. While the characters are relatively bland (but hugely improved upon in Mass Effect 2), the worldbuilding, scenario writing, and quest design are absolutely top-notch.

I love Mass Effect 2 and 3, but this game is special in a unique way from those two. And now, 10 years after its release, it remains just as playable (and replayable) as on day one. Truly one of the greatest and most ambitious gaming experiences in history, Mass Effect is not to be missed by any fan of RPG or science fiction.

⭐⭐⭐⭐