Bungie’s 2007 shooter didn’t just Finish the Fight, it started a new type of game.
These days, the Blockbuster Game, a release from a major publisher that’s hoping to be an Event that occupies everyone’s attention and Game of the Year discussions, is an institution. It’s easy to tell what such a game is in its current state, as it’s typically about fathers trying to connect with their previously neglected children or features a prominent B-list actor or two in its cast. But in the early days of this trend, the ur definition of it would arguably be Halo 3.
Developed by Bungie and released on September 25, 2007 for the Xbox 360, Halo 3 was in every sense of the term a big deal for Microsoft and the broader games landscape at the time. With the sting of Halo 2’s cliffhanger ending from 2004 still fresh in players minds, whether Bungie could release a satisfying closer to its trilogy—a word that feels ancient now, since franchises either don’t get to a trilogy or go far beyond that—was the big question at the time. It was a question that grew as Bungie put much of the marketing focus on multiplayer, and was noticeably cagey on the game’s campaign until a handful of months before release. When it was eventually revealed that the campaign was effectively a team up between series lead Master Chief and Halo 2’s deuteragonist the Arbiter to save Earth from the Covenant and the Flood, it felt like a genuine surprise.
