Armed with a $10 million marketing campaign, Halo 3 aims to dominate the Xbox 360, and the world. The first-person shooter's main protagonist, the green-suited Master Chief, appears on everything from magazine covers to Mountain Dew. Halo 3 is arguably the biggest video game release in history, but unlike so many pretenders, this one largely lives up to the hype.

With Earth on the brink of annihilation, Master Chief continues his fight against the evil race of aliens known as the Covenant, and the infectious parasite called the Flood. Battling alongside his military buddies and a renegade alien named The Arbiter, he slaughters adversaries with a giant weapons cache, both human and alien in origin.

While we can talk endlessly about the game's high production values or fantastic pacing, gunplay still makes up the heart of the game. This time around, favorite weapons from past Halos return, e.g. the Needler and Plasma Sword, along with new weapons destined to be go-to firepower in both single- and multiplayer games.

[[Scope out the arsenal in our Halo 3 weapons gallery]]

We particularly like the Brute Spiker, a small automatic handgun that sends a barrage of bullets screaming at targets. New gun turrets, which spit 200 rounds of ammo, come in two flavors -- chain gun and the Covenant Plasma Cannon. Both pack a deadly punch, especially useful against tougher enemies or a big group of enemies. Better yet, press the 'B' button to rip them off their stands take them with you, and the camera transitions to a cool third-person perspective for a nice view of the action. Other new goodies include deployable equipment like the bubble shield -- pick these up along the way and deploy by pressing the 'X' button.

No Halo game is complete without human and Covenant vehicles, and the third installment includes plenty of wheels. The all-terrain Warthog returns, complete with a gun turret with unlimited ammunition, along with a new version that omits the weapon in favor of extra seating in back, making it easy to ferry soldiers across the battlefield. Master Chief can also navigate hostile terrain in the Mongoose, a speedy ATV that allows you to transport a buddy. We still prefer to blast the Covenant in the one-seater alien Ghost, unleashing hot plasma on their fragile bodies, or hop into a tank, the Scorpion, and obliterate alien scum using the powerful cannon.

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