Multiplayer Basics

Halo 3 offers a wide variety of ways to play with and against other people, from split-screen or LAN co-op sessions, to online multiplayer games and collaborative map editing. With co-op mode introduced it's own section and the powerful yet intuitive Forge editor discussed later on, the primary focus of this chapter is the two main multiplayer options: Matchmaking and Custom Games.

Matchmaking

Matchmaking is the quickest way to dive into a multiplayer game. You simply choose a Playlist that corresponds to the type of combat you’d like to participate in, and Bungie’s servers will then allocate a suitable Game Type and collection of similarly skilled opponents (see “Rating and Skill”). You can form parties to travel together from match to match, sending out invites via your Friends and Recent Players lists. It’s also possible to create impromptu parties by pressing x at the end of a game.

As the choice of Game Type Variant is made by Bungie’s servers, you may occasionally encounter instances where a less favored ruleset or map appears. If this happens, you can press x before a game begins to exercise your Veto. If the majority of players do the same, a new map and Game Type will be selected. You should note that the Veto can only be used once before each game.

The Matchmaking Lobby has a few handy settings that you can access by pressing x, which enable you to refine how Halo 3 will search for available matches. “Quickest” offers the fastest and most direct route into a game; “Good Connection”, “My Language” and “Close Skill Range” (only in Ranked Playlists) refine the search in obviously useful ways, but at the cost of slower searches.

There are two different types of Playlists: Ranked and Social. It’s only a quick summary, but the key differences between these are:

Ranked Playlists:

• Enable you to earn Skill
• Are more competitive
• Free-for-all games do not allow parties

Social Playlists

• Are more laid back
• Allow you to play in large parties
• Allow you to play with guests

Custom Games

While Matchmaking is tailor-made for players looking to dive into the first available game, the Custom Games option is designed for parties to play matches of their own choosing. The awe-inspiring array of customizable options means that you can create and refine unique versions of each Game Type, though it pays to have a reasonable knowledge of Halo 3’s maps before you do so – for example, Valhalla is perhaps better suited to matches featuring a large number of participants. After minutes, hours or even days of careful adjustments, you can then choose to make your creation available to other Halo 3 players via the Fileshare option if you wish.

As all options in the Custom Games Lobby and its many sub-menus are explained by onscreen captions, there’s little need for us to detail them here (which is actually a blessing, as doing so would increase the size of this guide to telephone directory proportions). However, when you first begin to experiment with the Custom Games option, you can use this guide to find out about individual Variants, and study available maps right here in this guide.

The onscreen display in multiplayer mode is effectively identical to the one used for Campaign games, but with a few additional features.

The name of the Variant in progress appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The score (yours, and the current leader, or team totals) is displayed below, and an arrow highlights your current team if applicable.

Each player has a Service Tag (a three-digit code: one letter and two numbers) and a Gamertag to aid easy identification. At close range, a Gamertag will appear above the head of friend and foe alike. The Service Tag will only appear above distant friendly characters in your current field of view.

In objective-based Variants, waypoint indicators (see table below) help you to find your way to the relevant target. Objectives may also appear on your radar as a white triangle, as they do in Campaign mode.

All significant events that occur during multiplayer matches are acknowledged by onscreen messages. Pay attention to these, as they often impart important information. For example, if the pop-up text tells you that the opposing team has captured your flag, that’s your cue to leave your favorite hidden sniping spot and help your teammates to track it down.