In order to understand the plot of Halo 3, do I have to play the previous games in the series?

You could always read up on it online

Do understand the plot, yes.

To enjoy the game, probably not.

Aliens are bad.....must kill aliens.....Do I have a pretty good grasp on it?

For plot yes, or just wiki it its not complex enough to require you actually reading it but its a better experiance if you like or understand the plot

Not really. You'll obviously benefit from knowing the story so far and getting to know the lore in more depth, but I guess you can totally play the game and fill in the holes in the story with some video walkthrough on YouTube. But if you enjoy the Halo franchise, you should play all the games. Pretty logical stuff, really.

From what I made out...Halos are things made by aliens who wanted to kill the flood and the flood are a bunch of evil parasite things that kill in large amounts. The covenent wants to kill humans because their "gods" told them to, so they go to earth to find the arc which will activate all the Halos, which will kill everybody....so I guess they don't mind that they're killing themselves...or is it just that they believe that the Halos will only kill humans?

Also, who is this halogram lady that annoys me constantly?

@shivermetimbers said:

From what I made out...Halos are things made by aliens who wanted to kill the flood and the flood are a bunch of evil parasite things that kill in large amounts. The covenent wants to kill humans because their "gods" told them to, so they go to earth to find the arc which will activate all the Halos, which will kill everybody....so I guess they don't mind that they're killing themselves...or is it just that they believe that the Halos will only kill humans?

Also, who is this halogram lady that annoys me constantly?

That's Cortana, she's your homeboy. I don't think it would do any harm to go back and play the other two games, they're both quite fun.

space marine, fuck shit up, everything in site. never played it but im sure i hit it on the dot.

The story in Halo is poorly told and forgetful. Just play it for the excellent first person shooting.

The shooting is okayish, it doesn't have much of a punch, but it's well paced for the most part. Those vehicle sections can fuck right off though.

You should, the first one is really good.

There's some alien muppets you kill. That's okay for a bit. Ghostly blue lady says stuff. Then some other aliens show up and it goes downhill quick. Then Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors is there. 45 degree angle corners on buildings. Purple. Green. Halo 3. The End.

Seriously though, if you never played Halo Reach, just play that. You don't need to know anything about the series for that and as a Halo cynic, I found it enjoyable.

The other games are better. You should probably play those.

I'd reccomend at least playing through halo 2,, as they're pretty much back to back. But, both halo 1 and 2 are so cheap now, why not? The pc version of halo 1 looks great even today, and still holds up. Halo 2...is fine on the pc? But unlike halo 1, you kindof need a half way decent pc to play it. Will say, if you can, do play at least the original on the pc. You won't regret it. HUGE improvement. Halo 2 looked good enough on the xbox.

I just got an 360 a month ago, so I'm just randomly trying out the exclusives, in case people are wondering or give two shits. There was a Fable 2/Halo 3 bundle pack thing, so I got that. I'm short on cash, otherwise I would've gotten Halo Reach, that bundle pack was 11 dollars. I'm a cheap bastard.

Playing the first 2 would require me getting an original Xbox, which I don't feel like doing just so that I can understand the plot of a game that I only bought as an experiment into waters I haven't tread into much.

I guess I kinda titled the thread wrong...I should've asked if I needed to read up on it. My bad....

@shivermetimbers: You don't need an original Xbox. All the Halo games are backwards compatible on the 360.

@Green_Incarnate said:

@shivermetimbers: You don't need an original Xbox. All the Halo games are backwards compatible on the 360.

Oh shit, you learn something new everyday. Thanks...

@shivermetimbers said:

Aliens are bad.....must kill aliens.....Do I have a pretty good grasp on it?

No not really. Why don't you wait for the Halo Combat Evolved remake? Play that, then two first.