BioShock vs. Halo 3 (Features)

GamePro staff, GamePro (online)

12/10/2007 09:27:21

Single-Player

BioShock: By putting all of its eggs in one basket, BioShock cuts risk to the bone. Simply put, BioShock's storyline, graphics, and gameplay all serve one purpose: to advance the single-player experience. And it works, splendidly. The storyline is deep and engrossing; the game is littered with secret areas and hidden challenges; and there are countless strategies to take in beating the game.

Halo 3: Halo has never truly excelled from a purely single-player viewpoint. From the repetitious environments that plagued the first game, to the muddled storyline and anticlimactic ending of the second game, Halo games typically come up a bit short in the single-player department. So it's good news that Halo 3 is the best single-player game in the series yet: it has more variety than the other games combined, and its diverse array of battles and settings make for a far more satisfying experience. But it's by no means perfect - some of the old faults pop up from time to time, and the gameplay almost always consists of shooting, dodging, and more shooting. Halo 3 has an intense, satisfying single-player mode...but for the money, there are more engrossing choices than Halo 3.

WINNER: BioShock. This one is no contest. Some gamers will prefer Halo 3's all-action, all-the-time approach, but BioShock is ultimately a better game if you don't own Xbox Live and prefer to play by yourself.

Multiplayer

BioShock: Ziltch, unless you count shouting out annoying advice while your roommate's playing. 2K Games probably made the right move here: Had the developers squeezed in a multiplayer mode for BioShock, the key single-player game may have been comprised, or the online mode would have ended up half-baked. And besides, there's always BioShock 2, right?

Halo 3: Four-player online co-op, the best matchmaking experience in gaming, a user-friendly ranking system, an easy-to-use map editor, and video and screenshot sharing functionality. Halo 3's multiplayer will prosper for years, but could the single-player campaign have used a little more juice?

Now coming up three weeks on the market, Halo 3's online multiplayer is so popular that Bungie is already clearing up all the problems and hitches that were no doubt a product of the millions of gamers pounding Xbox Live on day one.

WINNER: Halo 3, obviously.

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