Halo 3 sound broken?

[MinusTheBear]

I am very dissappointed in the sound in Halo 3. My system is set up properly and caibrated and sounds great for music, movies and all my other xbox games (investing lots of time in Mass Effect), however the multichannel 5.1 for Halo 3 sucks. I do not think the game supports dolby digital 5.1 because it does not utilize the centre channel very effectively to not at all. The sound is not balanced, the guns are underpowered and to get any effect for the sound of the guns you have to turn the volume way up but then the voices are extremly extremly loud when they kick in. This sound inbalance between the guns and the voices are extremely bad. Oh and by the way their are no sound options in the game to customize (voices, music etc). Also, i get some delay on the odd occasion when firing the smg(maybe it is when the game is loading)...i do not get this delay with any other game. I am quite baffled at why Bungie did not see this in testing. I might try the game in Pro-Logic II to see if that makes a difference because the game runs shotty in 5.1.

 

[GlocksRock]

Must just be your system, or you got a bad copy of the game, it sounds great on my system... and you are right about not much being in the center channel, only the dialog comes from the center channel when playing the campaign.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Must just be your system, or you got a bad copy of the game, it sounds great on my system... and you are right about not much being in the center channel, only the dialog comes from the center channel when playing the campaign.

I have done a little bit more research online and it seems there are a lot of people having the same complaint as I am about the guns sounding underpowered and having to turn up the volume causing then the voices be to high and not much use of the center channel. I also looked at the back of the case and it says nothing about supporting Dolby Digital 5.1. Looking at the back cases of all the other games I have says supports Dolby Digital 5.1.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have not played Halo 3 and don't own a 360 but I do own an original Xbox and the original Halo and the same issues apply to that game. I was quite underwhelmed the first time I connected the Xbox to my system with an optical cable and popped in Halo. I also own the PC version of Halo and the same issue applies.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I have not played Halo 3 and don't own a 360 but I do own an original Xbox and the original Halo and the same issues apply to that game. I was quite underwhelmed the first time I connected the Xbox to my system with an optical cable and popped in Halo. I also own the PC version of Halo and the same issue applies.

I think you might be right, I do not think their is a problem with my disk or my system. The game developers just decided to mix the sound that way. It is probably just a preference thing. Some people will like it and others will not. But still they should have sound options in the game.

 

[Hi Ho]

I don't see how it could possible be a bad disk. If the digital data was corrupt then it wouldn't be readable at all.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I don't see how it could possible be a bad disk. If the digital data was corrupt then it wouldn't be readable at all.

I have to agree with you again. I remember there were lots of issues with the first Rainbow Six Vegas and Ubisoft admitted it was due to bad disks....my disk works fine in single player but lots of freezing issues in offline co-op...the game will freeze every single time when loading at certain checkpoints...definetly the game not the console

 

[GlocksRock]

I do see on the box where it doesn't say in game dolby digital like my other games, but it does have the dolby digital logo on the box, and my receiver lights up with dolby digital, and shows the flags for all 6 channels.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I do see on the box where it doesn't say in game dolby digital like my other games, but it does have the dolby digital logo on the box, and my receiver lights up with dolby digital, and shows the flags for all 6 channels.

Yes mine does too...My receiver is on auto and it says it is playing in Dolby Digital 5.1...I have been reading on some video game forums and some people have emailed Bungie and basically their response is that the game supports 5.1 and said that only dialogue comes out of the centre channel like you noted and their are no issues with the sound. IMO the sound is poorly, poorly done. Not in the sense that that sound effects are bad (they sound good in fact) but I have a problem with the overall volumes inbalance in the game (sound effects, dialogue, music etc) that I have a problem with. It really is a detriment to my overall gaming experience.

 

[GlocksRock]

Have you played the game on any other systems and noticed the same problems?