There is very little revolutionary about COD4. I play it a lot and enjoy it, but it's just another shooter in a shiny package. Fun, but way too noob-friendly for my tastes. There are way too many unbalanced games in my opinion.

Its not a game of the year award.... its an innovation award..... Halo 3 has an AMAZING matchmaking system, forge, theatre, file sharing , you can watch up to 25 replays of an ENTIRE online multiplayer match...... bottom line is this..... Halo 3 deserves the innovation award..... and as many have posted here before me, theres no doubt that its one of THE BEST multiplayer games out there..... and the fact that its back on top on the most played online games on 360 proves that

theatre mode, forge, intergrated stat tracking, player ranks, custom looks, unlockable armour, impeccable balance and map design, online co-op, local split screen, local co-op, lan, downloadable content, fileshare, custom game modes?

Halo 3 has it all, and its a very good choice for this award. In terms of online innovation and sheer polish its easily up there with any of the games on that list.

Sorry, Portal should have won that. It had one of the best scripts I have ever listened to, it had one of the best characters I have ever ran into and it had some of the most innovative game play I have ever experienced, both puzzle and mechanical.

Halo 3 was just Halo 2 and Halo 1 perfected and added to with the soul exception of Forge and Theater. Both of which are great, but map makers have been around for years on the computer side, and Theater doesnt enhance game play one bit.

And yes, I have played every game that was nominated, alot.

Im actually having to agree with this. I used to think Halo 3 was very average, now if I had to part with my Xbox360 Halo 3 would be at the top of the list for things I would miss. I never play Shooters, hardly play them multiplayer but thats the thing that keeps me coming back for more. The more I play it the more things like the forge get me interested in it. I just came off a Local Slayer 4 player and I made it my specialty to jump on my friends Wraith and bash the crap out of his face and steal it.

If you suggest a game of Halo around these parts, very few people would object. Everyone knows how fun it is. So its a cinch to get a game going.

For me a shooter that holds my interest is an innovation! xD

Usually I rent them. I hardly bother owning them just to play through the story once.

@The Ghost of RubangB

You do not necessarily need to play the game to appreciate the merits that have earned it said award. Every reviewer gave the game high marks for its online innovation, and more to the point for the unique tools that were given to players.

For me the theater would be enough. You are not simply seeing a mere replay of one of your matches. You are able to view the entire context of a match in a way that increases your appreciation. I do not think you understand exactly how this works. When you replay a previous game in the theater you can view any part of the battle field at any point in time. You can see exactly what happened to you, and to everyone of your squad mates. You can analyze your own strategy and the opposing teams strategy.

Let me give you an example during one particular match I was just going to town on the enemy in a game of territories. I was all alone at station five in last resort, and I was killing waves of enemies the entire time cursing my team for not coming to my aid. I was being gang raped three, four, or even five to one. All of this when we had but one territory left to protect.

After the match I had to see what my mentally challenged teammates were doing. Were half of them away, or were they just screwing around. So I went into the theater. Now had I been limited to only my perspective I would have discovered nothing new. However thanks to the omnipresence I was able to see that my team was actually playing very smart it was just that the other team was using a novel strategy. Two of the other teams players had forgone going for territories, and had instead secured themselves a shotgun, and a sniper rifle.

The sniper then took up a position on the western ledge in the map, and his pal crouched behind a pillar below him. Then the sniper went to work with a nice open field of view. Thanks to this they secured three and four with no problem, because nobody could get to those territories, and when anyone on my team decided to remove the sniper menace they did the logical thing. They ran towards him, and opened up trying to use the pillars as cover.

Which was futile, because as they were looking skyward the other player with the shotgun would jump out from behind a pillar, and blast them at point blank range. Which is an instant kill in Halo 3. Then when the sniper ran out of ammo. He took the position by the pillar while his friend with the shotgun made a mad dash to acquire another sniper rifle. Then they switched up positions.

The strategy was beautiful in its simplicity. They were able to spawn kill at least three players a minute, and they were also using the sniper as bait drawing players away from territories needing protection. While snatching up quick safe kills. My team just did not have a chance against this. While running to cover the last territory they were invariably running in straight lines. Easy prey for a decent sniper.

With the sniper sapping up my team, and a few players trying as hard as hell to kill that damned sniper the rest of their team would just gunning my compatriots down from behind as they made a straight dash for the territory. They were dieing right outside the front door. Had we known what was going on right then. I most certainly would have made a run for one of the turrets up top, and either dispatched the sniper, or at least provided some covering fire for a couple of my teammates. I was the X factor that could have saved the territory by abandoning it, and helping more of my teammates get inside.

From that video I was able to formulate the best response the next time I saw the tactic employed. Instead of shooting at the sniper. Which would ignore my, because I would be dancing my way towards him. I instead tossed grenades between the pillars. Softening up the player with the shotgun, and I slid by out of range, and wasted him with an assault rifle. With that the sniper was easy pickings, because even when he was getting shot he was still sure the now dead player with the shotgun would cover him. He just stood there till he died.

You hardly see that strategy anymore. Most everyone has learned the strategy, because of the theater. Now most decent players avoid splitting those pillars. Instead they go oblique, and that means wasting a guy on that ambush position is rather pointless. Seeing as he will never be able to protect the sniper like that.

That is the thing about Halo 3 with the forge, and the theater. They fundamentally force quantum leaps in game strategy. The players in Halo 3 have a more universal appreciation of the game environment, because they have the opportunity to view the battle as a whole. Instead of the confined strategies you find in other games. That means that each game is going to be innovative.

I would say my favorite technique lately has to be two mongooses serving as diversion in a end around sweep on Valhalla. While a Banshee pilots his craft straight into the rift behind the flag. Jumping out tossing down two grenades to blow the banshee, and grabbing the flag while popping out the front man cannon. That was sheer brilliance, but I am sure with a few dozen more repetitions and more experienced players will get wise. Perhaps maneuvering one of the fusion cores onto the flag so the grenade discharge will certainly kill the player. Meaning a wasted banshee.

Halo is the best game ever because its not about the story or the graphics or whatever but its about the player and his or her interaction with others. Forge made halo 3 the ultimate game now you can have limitless possibilities. building a map with friends is so much fun.

qft

Adding a few online modes and what not is more what I call amelioration than innovation.

@Etech7: by your logic, Second Life is the best game ever.

The point is, you haven't played the game. You can't know if the online experience is that good. So what are you doing posting about? it's just because you dislike Halo 3 not because you have any kind of meaningful opinion. Agenda pushing, axe grinding /yawn.