"The Mission: The Covenant controls Earth. The Flood is unleashed and on the loose. With the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, Master Chief is the only one who can save the human race. The entire epic story arc has led up to this moment. Master Chief, the last of his kind, is a warrior born for combat and bred for war - and is humanity’s only hope.

After stowing away on a Forerunner spacecraft, Master Chief, a genetically altered, cybernetically enhanced Spartan supersoldier, must race back to Earth to stop the Covenant once and for all and save mankind. With his artificial intelligence companion Cortana in the grip of the Flood’s intelligent embodiment, Gravemind, Master Chief and his allies are vastly outnumbered, but the stakes are too high to do anything but face them head-on." [Microsoft]

If you believe everything that Peter Moore says, Halo 3 isn’t a game - it’s an event. But now, with Bungie’s shooter set to launch in the States on Tuesday, and everywhere else on Wednesday, it’s crunch time for 2007’s most anticipated game, and no amount of Mountain Dew endorsements can save it from the penetrating glare of the critics.

So, Spend or Lend?

100% - Eurogamer - "[…] Hype machine aside, cutting through the crap about console wars and the like, what we find in Halo 3 is quite simply this - the best game yet in one of the best FPS franchises of the era. Better than either of its predecessors, Halo 3 still can't quite escape the category of flawed masterpiece - but this time around, the flaws are so minor that even the most churlish of reviewers would be hard pressed to mark the game down."

100% - GamePro - "Anyway you slice it, Halo 3 more than lives up to the high expectations set by gamers everywhere. It's solid gameplay, immense replayability, online functionality and incredible production values will ensure its place in video game history, and it is, without a doubt, a satisfying and fulfilling close to the beloved trilogy."

100% - 1UP - "[…] No one aspect of the game is life-changing on its own, but perhaps the package as a whole is. […] Halo 3 has enough content to keep you stuck to your controller for weeks, if not months or even years."

100% - GameSpy - "Quite simply, Halo 3 is the reason the Xbox 360 exists."

97% - CVG - "Halo 3 is the gaming equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster. It's not going to revolutionise the genre - it's not meant to - it's meant to be great fun, which it is. Never lose sight of that. The visuals, guns, vehicles, enemies, set-pieces, musical score... they've all been cranked up to 11 to create an experience up there with the best sci-fi properties."

95% - IGN - "The Forge and the replay functionality raise the bar for console shooters so high, it may never be surpassed this generation. There will be plenty of aspects for fans to nitpick, but it's hard to argue against Halo 3 as the most complete game available on any console."

95% - GameSpot - "On the surface, Halo 3 is every bit the sequel you would expect it to be, in that it delivers meaningful upgrades to both the story-driven and competitive sides of the package. However, it's the addition of the Forge level editor and the saved films that give the game an even longer set of legs, legs that will probably keep you running at full speed until Bungie figures out where, exactly, to go from here."

88% - Gamer 2.0 - "Is it any big surprise that Halo 3 isn’t able to live up to the insane expectations? Not really. It’s still worth the buy, if only for the multiplayer and to finish the story already. The story just isn’t put-together well enough, the graphics are disappointing, and the levels have you constantly running back and forth."

Verdict: Spend