So I'm stuck in mission 8. It's quite a bit harder than the rest of the game for some reason, and quite unbalanced given the rest of the experience. It's pretty curious. In fact, for a while there I was positive I'd actually finish the single player campaign. But now that I've gotten bogged down here, that won't happen.
Given this, I'm still happy to report that I've mellowed somewhat on Halo 3. As the game progresses, there are some good moments and the graphics do perk up here and there. (The cut-scenes, however, are so obviously nicer looking than the game itself that it's distracting.) I have come to the conclusion that Microsoft dumbed down the graphics purposefully in order to facilitate Internet-based co-op mode, and if that's the case, I have absolutely no problem with that. The company had said previously, however, after users complained that the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta wasn't all that graphically impressive, that the graphics in the single player campaign would be much better. They're not. But again, I think they made the right trade-off.
Also, I finally heard some new music in mission 7. That was the first new music in the whole game, from what I could tell.
And for the record, Hornets rock.
Anyway, I hope to finish Halo 3 this week in Seattle. It's clearly not going to happen before I leave. The clock is ticking...
Oh, and... While you can always check out my Gamertag for updates on my progress in Halo 3 and otherwise, there's also this (lame) auto-generated blog that charts each day's play. Interesting idea. I wish it didn't try to be so cute however.