Ever since Halo 2 ended with Master Chief promising to "finish the fight" on earth, gamers have been waiting for a sequel to the epic sci fi shooter. The time has come, but has it been the worth the three year wait?Based on early reviews, the answer is a resounding yes--for both Halo veterans and newbies.

Some background for the latter. Halo 3, for Microsoft's Xbox 360 only, stars Master Chief, a genetically enhanced super soldier who uses plasma rays and other futuristic weapons to blast his way through a 3D landscape and accomplish missions. His nemesis, a shadowy terrorist outfit called The Covenant, attempts to blow him out of existence at every turn.

The game was created by Bungie Studios and is published by Microsoft. It goes on sale at midnight tonight. Based on early reviews in the media and on blogs, Halo 3 fans are not going to be disappointed-for the most part, that is.

MSNBC reviewer Levi Buchanan laments the fact that Halo 3 can be completed in just ten hours with the difficulty level set to "Normal" in single-player mode. But Buchanan says the game shines when played in multiplayer mode on Xbox Live. "Bungie tuned the multi-player game like a fine grand piano, with well-balanced weapons and smartly designed maps," says Buchanan.

The Detroit Free Press lauds Halo 3's graphics, which for many gamers is what it's all about: "The environment around you is much prettier than earlier Halo titles, taking advantage of the Xbox 360's high-definition capabilities," writes the Freep's Heather Newman. However, she notes that some of the in-game characters still look "blocky and unrealistic."

Reviewers at PC World say that Halo 3 is very similar in form and content to its predecessors, but opine that that's not necessarily a bad thing. "This is still the same Homeric shooting gallery you played back in 2001, muscled up for a higher-definition audience with some extra toys," says the magazine's Matt Peckham.

But Peckham believes gamers will benefit from enhancements in key areas, like artificial intelligence. "Enemies seem smarter, darting into and out of cover with frightening alacrity, and tending to advance using cover while moving at right angles instead of bum-rushing carelessly," Peckham writes.

Proving that Canadians occasionally put down their hockey sticks and Molson's (speaking of lethal combinations) long enough to pick up a gamepad, the country's wire service chimes in with a largely positive review of Halo 3. "The long awaited Xbox 360 title largely delivers," says the Canadian Press, though its reviewer calls the storyline in the single-player campaign "convoluted."

Even the normally staid Brits are agog over Halo 3. The game goes on sale in the UK on Wednesday, but the press there is already on it. Despite covering a city that has West End theaters and the Royal Opera, not to mention Chelsea and Arsenal, the revered Times of London calls Halo 3 "the hottest ticket in town."

Not surprisingly, gaming bloggers aren't shy about their thoughts on Halo 3. And given its growing influence in the tech industry, Microsoft and Bungie are surely watching the blogosphere's opinion at least as closely as reviews issued by MSM outlets.

They shouldn't be too worried. Bloggers at Team Xbox call Halo 3 "the best Xbox 360 game to date."

"The game's very accessible and spells out what's going on just enough to make it entertaining for even casual fans. The writers did an excellent job weaving together the story elements into a cohesive whole," says Team Xbox blogger Will Tuttle.

"There were a number of levels that were a sheer joy to play," writes another blogger, Brian Crecente, of Kotaku.com. Crecente, however, doesn't like Halo 3's frequent cut scenes. "These cut scenes take control of Master Chief, of you that is, and play out before your eyes as if you've gone from being the hero to a spectator," Crecente writes.

So there it is. The early reviews for Halo 3 are overwhelmingly positive. Of course, gamers who don't want to take anyone else's word for it can get their own Halo 3 fix starting at midnight tonight. That's when Best Buy, Circuit City and some other retailers will open up and start selling copies of the game for about $60.00.

All hail Master Chief!