Meadowlands 2008 Halo 3 Event Analysis

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Meadowlands 2008 Halo 3 Event Analysis

By blandestk | Published: April 16, 2008 9:52pm EST

The season opener of the 2008 Pro Circuit is officially part of the past, which means we now have the first significant Halo 3 tournament to scrutinize. The Halo 3 competition at the Meadowlands was full of both surprises and completely expected results. Some unknown teams made deep runs, while many savvy veterans staved off upset bids left and right. When the battle rifles finally fell silent on Sunday night, what had we learned about competitive Halo 3 and the teams on the Pro Circuit?

Instinct played well en route to a third-place finish

From a reporter's perspective, one thing that jumped out was the seeming balance in game types. Not one map or game type seemed unfair or out of place, which is a testament to the chosen maps and the hard work put in by League Operations to concoct the best rule set available. Not only were the settings balanced, but the maps almost seemed to be created for close games. Objective games on The Pit, Construct, and Onslaught allowed for exciting comebacks and high-level strategy. If I had ten bucks for every time I saw a flag stopped just before it would be scored on The Pit or Onslaught, I could have quit my job and moved to Atlantic City. The result was entertaining Halo, which constantly thrilled the audience. Rarely was there a boring game, even in blowouts. The only grumble heard throughout the weekend was on Guardian Team Slayer, where teams would often engage in long standoffs. Even those games, were thrilling, however, as they often promised close scores and exciting finishes. Overall, the maps and game types in play were well chosen and teams utilized them to the fullest.

Though competitive Halo 3 is in its infancy, the mark of well-rehearsed strategy and tactical play was all over the weekend. Top teams were able to extract every bit of advantage from their setups on The Pit King of the Hill, Construct King of the Hill, Onslaught Capture the Flag, and nearly every other objective game, especially. Some top teams were able to rout opponents thanks to their strategies, as evidenced by Final Boss' 250-87 win over Triggers Down on The Pit King of the Hill in the Winners Bracket. But for every top-level implementation of strategy that led to dominance, there was a game that went down to the wire because both teams knew how to dominate a map and break the control of the other team. For such an early event, the level of Halo 3 strategy seemed very high, but, almost unavoidably, will still seem childish when we look back at the event years down the road. Still, I wager that Halo 3 strategy was more developed at its first event than Halo 2, due to the intense preparation of teams during the off-season and online events driving teams onward.

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