Hindsight: Halo 3
Here, you’ll find analyses of each campaign level in Halo 3. Each level is played on Legendary in solo play to allow for the full effect that Bungie intended each player to have while experiencing the conclusion to the trilogy.
These are not walkthroughs.
Each level will be reviewed from a gameplay and story perspective, and some light will be shed on a few things that many players may be missing.
There are many scripted events, sequences, and dialogues that are simply missing from cooperative play due to the second player controlling the Arbiter. In addition, some levels include moments that the player does not typically encounter throughout the normal course of playing. As well as these interesting events, some areas of the game include direct references to other parts of the Halo universe which are oftentimes missed by both casual and hardcore fans alike.
Each level (other than Arrival) includes an addendum with a link to the Blog’s File Share where you can download the Legendary playthrough, as well as read a few gameplay tips. While by no means do we consider ourselves pro players, if you’re getting stuck at a certain section our saved film may help by showing you how we completed that particular level.
Select a level for a detailed analysis!
Editor’s note: Each article is under continued refinement based on readers’ comments; I often miss (or am incorrect about) many things and the readers of this site are kind enough to help with the articles’ accuracy by leaving comments that point me in the right direction. So, a great deal of credit must go to you guys for your work in the comments section of the site. Also, a huge thanks needs to go to Louis Wu and halo.bungie.org, and their cutscene library. Any time a saved film wasn’t available, I grabbed the screenshots from there. Thanks!
this is great, even after reading all the novels i still have a few unanswered questions and these really help fill in the gaps. keep up the good work, looking forward to the next level analysis (especially near the end!).
Comment by xrjxarsonx — April 1, 2008 @ 8:15 am
I love these articles. Its been like two months, where are the rest of the articles?!
Comment by alex — April 12, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Nice job indeed.
Comment by Paavi — April 22, 2008 @ 6:42 am
Hey man, these are just great. Also loved the pieces on the Terminals. I’m sure the time commitment to do this is no small feat so just wanted to say thanks for putting it all together. I’m relatively old for a gamer, and so the stories tend to be as important to me as the gameplay – this goes back to Marathon and the Myth Series for me (I & II at least) (altho I do spend plenty of time in slayer). The tiebacks to the novels are awesome. Looking forward to the rest of them.
Comment by PJ — April 23, 2008 @ 6:22 am
Just throwing this out i don’t know if anyone knows this or not but when your fighting the brute chieftains (the ones with the hammer) even though u cant stick them u can if u stick them on their hammer. the head or the hammer is the best part to stick because it works even if he has his shields up.
Comment by Ahsim — April 28, 2008 @ 3:59 pm
This is great, I love take on all of the levels, it really is fascinating.
Comment by Steven — May 4, 2008 @ 11:08 am
really awesome. i can’t thank you enough for all the information you’ve given about the levels and the terminals.
this is the best halo info site since i found halopedia.
Comment by thijsbos — May 9, 2008 @ 11:36 am
I feel halopedia pales in comparison to this site. Even though this site has less info, what it has is really in depth and awesome! I love how the author writes and expresses his feelings, and how he connects the dialog and stuff in the game to the much richer and interesting halo story bible. I wish they could incorporate all the cool hidden stuff into the game, so that we wouldn’t have to analyze it, but at the same time it is pretty rewarding when you finally get it. but bungie should really include more from the halo bible, and not just cater to the less hardcore halo players, and by hardcore I mean the ones who follow the story and read every book. This site is cool.
Comment by tim — May 13, 2008 @ 4:13 am
I completely agree with you, Tim. But the one thing I think the site needs more of (unless I’m just really bad at navigating the site) is forums on what’s next in Halo, not just analysing what has happened, but what’s to come as well. From things like Halo Wars to what could the “project” with Peter Jackson be? As well as new storylines like w/e that planet was after the credits the Chief is drifting towards, or what does the Arbiter and Half-Jaw find when the leave Earth for thier homeworld in the aftermath of the prophets downfall?
Just saying, this is another good place to apply all our analysing energy, and one that I think would be even more “rewarding”, if we can predict what’s coming next before Bungie even knows they’ve hinted at it. So to the makers of Ascendant Justice: please make a forum for post-Halo 3 discussion! Talk about the future in addition to the past!
Comment by Badodar — May 15, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
Umm one thing. At the top you said that Legendary was how bungie wanted us to play the game. Now I have studied Halo some and one thing is that actually Heroic was how it was meant to be played. Read the description on the different difficulties.
Comment by FENRIS — May 22, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
hey, i like the way you acknowledged those hunter worms “It bears a strong resemblance to the orange “worms” that make up the Hunter species.” I noticed that too and thought it was interesting and that maybe the whole scarab it self is ‘alive’ the way a hunter is, you know? Like the worms are the pilot.
Comment by Confalone — May 26, 2008 @ 8:28 am
I really appreciate these Hindsight articles. My first experience of Halo 3’s campaign was 4 player legendary co-op when the game shipped (our desire for group play overpowered us) and because of this a lot of the epic feel was lost. If I could do it all over again, I’d play it alone to experience it properly. These articles help fill the void.
Comment by ARCThunder — May 26, 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Have you ever considered that Master Chief could, in some way, have been associated with the Flood before the first game? Think about it. He didn’t act suprised at seeing those things, or even ask what they are!
Comment by BungieJump — June 11, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
Well, I have to say that it’s quite an impressive look at the Campaign, I absolutely adore it and you provide very interesting things I have never noticed, like the worms on the core. I like your insight into references and connections to the Halo universe and overall, I’m simply amazed by your work. Keep up the good work and don’t stop being a thinker.
– Don Edward
Comment by Don Edward — June 11, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
Love this, I would have been the first comment if comments were allowed early on. Yet I digress.
Thank you for all you do for the Halo community. I notice most of this as well, but not even close to your level of care and critique.
I just want to point out that as you enter the second half of the first warehouse you can see a marine using a flamethrower. The only time a marine will be seen using a mobile support weapon in the entire game. Be quick though, he perishes quickly.
Comment by Jack — June 15, 2008 @ 10:13 pm
Please huury and finish the rest of the hindsights, so I now the secrets of Halo 3.
Comment by Spartan-039 — June 20, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Hey whoever made these are good thanks so much
Comment by Killaramas — August 7, 2008 @ 9:12 am
Wonderfully executed. And tastefully polished. You don’t annoy us with obvious details, but shower us with details that are significant as sprinkles on a sunday.
Comment by Blue Be7a — August 13, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
I am astonished at such a deep level of understanding of the Halo universe, one well beyond my own. Being able to read through various aspects including the Terminals (Which I thought were meaningless and never properly read them) goes to show how much of an amazing and expansive universe Bungie have created. I hope that all our questions are one day answered, but this website is already doing more than enough to try to fill in those gaps. Keep up this magnificent work, and thanks.
Comment by Gary — August 13, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
Amazing job with these. These amazing write-ups give me a valid reason to stay up uber late. The terminal write ups and the Forerunner-Flood war explanations gave me a good 2-3 hour read, I read them many times over. Once again, amazing job and keep them coming!
Comment by Reptilian Rob — August 15, 2008 @ 4:17 am
I absolutely love these. I got really into the novels, rereading them multiple times, but this site does an incredible job of piecing it all together! Incredible work. But when will the last three levels be “hindsighted”?
Comment by JimboChief — August 21, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
Wow, these are wonderful, I love how the Halo universe is all connected, each and every object in the game means something. I knew the story, loved the books, best video game novels out there, but had never sat down and really looked at the Terminals fully. This reinvigorates my interest in Halo and proves that you can have a shooter game with a story that really means something, that draws you in and makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger than “Kill Enemy A and move toward Site B. Repeat.”
What do you do for a living, if you don’t mind me asking? Something to do with writing or philosophizing I hope.
Comment by Aitrus5 — August 23, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
Wow. Excellent read. A lot of information I haven’t been able to find anywhere else! good work!
Comment by gamephobic — September 2, 2008 @ 3:53 am
WOW!!
I can’t wait for the breakdown of the last three levels
Comment by blammo — September 9, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
Hey i cant wait for the next 3 levels
Comment by Killaramas — September 17, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
I hope he gets the last 2 levels done soon.
Comment by Person — September 28, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
wow, these are great!
i’m certainly looking forward to the ‘Cortana’ review, thank you so much for doing these.
peace xx
Comment by SubSub — October 8, 2008 @ 3:00 am
It’s been like 2 monthes…..
Comment by xxW4R EAGL3xx — November 11, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Just one more!!
Comment by Omega — November 28, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
When are you doing the analysis for the last level?
Comment by Xij29y6 — December 10, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
This is a really neat thing you’ve done here, thank you so much! The attention you pay to all the finite details of dialogue, artistry, even the subtleties of the music and how these all come together to form the entire Halo experience, not just a game, is really in-depth and thoughtful. Even for a fairly intense Halo fan who’s read the novels and thought about the universe a lot, there’s a lot of fascinating material here that I hadn’t thought of, realized, or had missed. This all helps one appreciate the fantastic depth and intricacy of the Halo story, which in my mind is the largest part of what makes it so good.
Comment by Doran Eirok — December 18, 2008 @ 4:04 am
I just thought you should know, I’m watching the Hellboy II DVD with the director’s commentary on, and around 37 minutes in, Guillermo Del Toro mentions he’s done concept art for Master Chief for a potential Halo film.
Comment by TheStoryteller — December 22, 2008 @ 10:16 am
Amazing work, althought I’d like to point out one mistake you keep making. Every time they are mentioned, you call the cutscenes that happen in-game if skipped Vignettes. In truth, they are called Perspective Channels. A Vignette is an in-gameplay storytelling moment, like the Brute interrogating Reynolds. Source: H3LE dvd.
Comment by Mutoid Log — January 26, 2009 @ 11:26 am
I can’t believe that I didn’t know about this site before.
While most people will say that the best thing about the Halo games is the multiplayer, for me the campaign has always been the best thing about Halo and the main reason for that is, of course, the incredible Halo universe. Anyone just playing Halo for the multiplayer is seriously missing out on one of the best stories ever.
You have done an amazing job with this site and I thank you.
Comment by Alex — February 23, 2009 @ 11:48 pm
This is an incredible and well done site.
For all those people out there who think Microsoft is trying to milk money out of halo this site should prove that there is a massive story behind halo. Th games really cover next to nothing of the halo story line. In my opinion there is more story behind halo than star wars has.
The one piece on this site I utterly disagree with is the piece on the Halo film. In my opinion you are not a true halo fan if you limit yourself to the extremely limited scope of the games story line. Halo is so much more than the games. Hence I disagree that a film made on Halo should only be based on the games. However if a movie is made on one of the games it should be done right. The story should not be changed to fit a view of a director.
Otherwise there is tonnes of great reading on this site. Spot on with the articles.
Comment by HD4870 — April 5, 2009 @ 11:19 am
Make some hindsights about halo 2 and halo 1! They’ll be a great hit!
Comment by Christian Bethel — April 21, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
@ comment #10 by FENRIS: Since playing on Legendary yields extra or extended cutscenes (namely the final one), I think it expresses the story most fully. It has been said, though, that the Heroic difficulty is “…how Halo is meant to be played…” I think that’s under the difficulty descriptions. This is likely either just fluff (after all, wasn’t Legendary in Halo: CE touted as “suicide” even though it has definitely been beaten by many?) or Heroic best shows the enemies’ true strengths. I lean towards the fluff explanation, but you may decide.
Comment by TheAsterisk! — April 27, 2009 @ 2:21 am
Nice work dude
Comment by Halo 3 glitcher — May 4, 2009 @ 1:58 am
have you ever thought about doing this for halos 2 and CE
Comment by Max12345 — May 16, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
I am sure I will one day, Max. But with ODST coming out in a few months, I doubt I’ll be playing much of Halo 1 or 2 for a while.
Comment by Cocopjojo — May 18, 2009 @ 2:23 am
Nice work!:) First time I played Halo 3, I beat my friend on splitscreen on my first try! The funny thing is I couldn’t even beat him on Halo 2 splitscreen! Hahahaha!!! Bungie did a great job! Keep it up!:)
Comment by Deadlock — October 13, 2009 @ 9:41 am