Halo 3: The Forge
This review is going to be a little shorter than the previous reviews about Halo 3. I’m going to talk a little bit about The Forge in Halo 3. In the simplest term, The Forge is just a stripped down level editor. Instead of changing the geometry of the levels, you change positions of things or add new objects. It’s nothing jaw dropping, but it works well.
The Forge isn’t a full featured level editor by any means. It’s more of a level TWEAKER than anything. The only thing The Forge lets you do is add, move or delete items (weapons, vehicles, crates, etc) on any multiplayer map. The dynamic of a map can change so greatly by just moving a few things around. Put the rocket launcher in a new spot. Add a tank. Move the flag to the other side of the map. All these things completely change a map without changing the look of it. This is what The Forge does best. When your done creating your masterpiece, you can save it and share it with your friends.
The cool things you can do with The Forge that extend further than just editing a level is that The Forge is another game mode. You can play with your friends. You can design a new map with them, or you can just use the forge as a new way to kill them. On the fly, you can press UP on the D-Pad at any time and enter or exit Forge Mode. If you need a new weapon, create it and go back to hunting your friend. This is made even more fun by making a team game out of it where one player plays as The Forge while the rest of your team tries to kill. Just the fact that you can swing in and out of Forge Mode in the middle of a match makes the possibilities nearly endless.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t played all THAT much with The Forge, but the little bits I have played with were really fun and although I don’t think this mode is the reason people are going to buy Halo 3, it’s definitely a nice little addition when you need a break from matchmaking and the theatre.
