Designing Multiplayer Halo 3 - The Video

I found this Halo 3 multiplayer level design video rather interesting - I’ve not really considered the thought processes and all the small changes that are made along the way which go on with a game like this to ensure the gameplay is as good and as fair as possible before it ever sees the light of day sat on a shelf in your local shop waiting for you to buy it.

Just from that multiplayer video, it certainly looks like it will be a good game which should hopefully live up to the hype and will be one of the 360’s defining games.

I’ve played quite a lot of first person shooters over the years, however they’ve mainly been on the PC (so there’s obviously the control difference to contend with when I do play on the Xbox), as a result I’ve not actually played either Halo game beyond a quick test session on various shops’ demo units, which usually has already been cleared of enemies - or do make a special ‘empty’ level to display in shops?

Therefore, now that I’ve got an Xbox 360 and a Live account, I’m half tempted to pick up a Halo game on the cheap in preparation for Halo 3 coming out, so I can perhaps see what I’ve been missing out on.

Is this a good idea? Have I so far missed out on a couple of great games? How do they compare to PC classics such as Half Life 2? Do I need to go all the way back to Halo 1 or should I just start with the 2nd one? Is there a good plot or story to play through or is it just a shooter? What do you think?