Feature: Call of Duty 4 vs. Halo 3 (Page 5 of 7)
Single-player
Call of Duty 4: Though blisteringly challenging on the harder difficulty levels, CoD4's single-player campaign is a rewarding experience you won't soon forget. From the plot twists to the profound moments, such as the *spoiler alert* mid-game nuclear bomb, CoD4 has one of the most memorable single-player campaigns in history. It's by far the best Call of Duty yet. You'll be especially stunned by The Bog and Sniper's Escape levels. It's true that CoD4 has a slightly shorter campaign that weighs in at six hours or so, but the extra difficulty levels make it highly replayable and extremely rewarding. Just don't put the controller down until after the credits!
The primary campaign is split between two main story arcs that follow one Soap MacTavish of the British S.A.S. unit in Russia, a specialist in night-mission intelligence gathering and air drops, and Sgt. Paul Jackson of the U.S.M.C., a tough-as-nails lunk who is among the first to venture into the chaos. Despite the split plot and story twist, CoD4 is never confusing. And it's certainly never dull.
Halo 3: Halo has never truly excelled from a purely single-player viewpoint. From the repetitious environments that plagued the first game, to the muddled storyline and anticlimactic ending of the second game, Halo games typically come up a bit short in the single-player department. So it's good news that Halo 3 is the best single-player game in the series yet. It has more variety than the other two games combined, and its diverse array of battles and settings make for a far more satisfying experience. But it's by no means perfect -- some of the old faults pop up from time to time, and the gameplay almost always consists of shooting, dodging, and more shooting. Halo 3 has an intense, satisfying single-player mode...but for the money, there are more engrossing choices than Halo 3.
 SINGLE-PLAYER WINNER
Call of Duty 4. CoD4's single-player campaign and storyline are simply far more polished and engrossing. You'll likely play from start to finish in one ferocious afternoon....then immediately start a new campaign on a higher difficulty. What it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in polish and compulsive replayability.
Multiplayer
Call of Duty 4: CoD4 boasts an absolutely flawless online component; the best since Halo 2 set the standard for online multiplay back in 2004. With 55 attainable ranks, fun-filled challenges, create-a-class perks, a handful of flavorful gametypes, and a gigantic arsenal of weapons to unlock, CoD4 is strong contender for Best Multiplayer Game of the Year.
Halo 3: With four-player online co-op, the best matchmaking experience in gaming, a user-friendly ranking system, an easy-to-use map editor, and video and screenshot sharing functionality, Halo 3 yet again raises the bar...and nobody pole vaults higher than the Chief.
 MULTIPLAYER WINNER
Halo 3. This category is so close it's scary to think of another game that can even get remotely close to the majesty of Halo 3's multiplayer. We ultimately chose Halo 3 because of its divine Forge and File Share features.