By default, there are two Halo 3 Elite Armor sets - Combat and Assault, which are already unlocked. The Elite Combat armor head is very angular in shape and has a set of spikes at the back of the helmet. Each side of shoulder armor has a triangular plate, which points upwards. The Elite Assault armor is more rounded in shape and the helmet completely covers the head. The shoulders armor has a rectangular plate on the edge of each shoulders.

The Halo 3 Elite Armor consist of 3 unlockable sets namely  Flight, Ascetic and Commando.

To Unlock the Halo 3 Elite Armor :

Flight (Helmet)   : Complete Campaign mode on Heroic

Flight (Shoulder): Complete The Ark on Heroic or Legendary

Flight (Body)       : Complete Tsavo Highway on Heroic or Legendary

Ascetic ( Helmet)  : Get the “Stepping Razor” Achievement

Ascetic (Shoulder): Get the “Overkill” Achievement

Ascetic (Body)       : Get the “Up Close and Personal” Achievement

Commando ( Helmet)  : Get the “Overkill” Achievement

Commando (Shoulder): Get the “Killing Frenzy” Achievement

Commando (Body)       : Get the “Triple Kill” Achievement

All the achievements listed above have to be obtained online in any free for all playlist.

Stepping Razor Achievement:  To get this achievement you have to kill 3 enemies with an Energy Sword, within 4 seconds of one another.

Triple Kill Achievement: Kill 3 enemies within 4 seconds of each kill.

Overkill Achievement: Kill 4 enemies within 4 seconds of each kill.

Killing Frenzy Achievement: Kill 10 enemies without dying.

On August 7, 2008  Halo 3 won the highly coveted G-Phoria 2008 Game Of the Year Award. G-Phoria 2008 honors games, which were released in the last 12 months, between July 31, 2007 and July 31, 2008. Winners of the G-Phoria awards were submitted via text messages and online by gamers on ww.g4tv.com

In the same month (August 11, 2008),  Halo 3 won the Edge Award for Innovation 2008, which was awarded by the British games magazine, Edge at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. Halo 3 beat competitors such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Portal, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit to win the much sought after award. Congrats Bungie.net and Microsoft.

The XBox Halo 3 “Believe” Advertising Campaign won the 2008 International Andy Awards.  The Grandy Award and the $50,000 price is awarded  to the most brilliant advertising work of the year.Mark Warlick, CEO of The One Club said that that “The ‘Believe’ campaign catapulted Halo 3 from an ordinary video game into a worldwide cultural phenomenon due to its ability to build an emotional rapport with the audience”.

Some of the notable awards won by Halo 3 previously are as follows:

Time Magazine 2007 Game Of the Year Award

GameSpy 2007 Game of the Year Award

Check Out the Ultimate Halo 3 Strategy Guide

The most coveted armor is the Katana armor, which can only be unlocked when you get 1,000G (Gamerscore points). This armor has a long sword at the back.

The Halo 3 Unlocking Armor is as follows:

EOD (Helmet) - Complete the campaign mode (on Legendary)
EOD (Shoulders) - Complete The Ark (on Legendary)
EOD (Body) - Complete Tsavo Highway (on Legendary)

EVA (Helmet) - Complete the campaign mode (on Normal)
EVA (Shoulders) - Complete The Ark (Normal, Heroic or Legendary)
EVA (Body) - Complete Tsavo Highway (Normal, Heroic or Legendary)

Scout (Helmet) - Get the Used Car Salesman Achievement
Scout (Shoulders) - Get the We’re in for Some Chop Achievement
Scout (Body) - Get the Too Close to the Sun Achievement
Security (Helmet) - Get 1000 Gamerscore points
Scout (Shoulders) - Get 750 Gamerscore points.

Hayabusa (Helmet) - Collect 13 skulls
Hayabusa (Shoulders) - Collect 9 skulls
Hayabusa (Body) - Collect 6 skulls

Katana (Complete) - Achieve 1000 Gamerscore points

ODST (Helmet) - Get Graduate Achievement (Online)
Mark V (Helmet) - Get the UNSC Spartan Achievement (Online)
Rogue (Helmet) - Get Spartan Officer Achievement (Online)

EOD = Explosive Ordinance Disposal
EVA = Extra Vehicular Activity

The best time to try to get this achievement is during the Storm mission in the dried sea bed where the marines on mongoose attack the Covenant Wraiths. There are two missile pods on the warehouse dock. Go to the Missile Pod quickly and take control of the Missile Pod. Do not detach them from the stand.

Look out for Banshees flying above. Aim, lock-on and shot at the Banshee with the Missile Pod.

Halo 3 Meta-Game adds another dimension to the Halo 3 gaming experience. When Campaign Meta-Game is turned on, you will earn points for every enemy that you kill. Of the 49 Achievements, there are 9 Achievements which require you to score over 15,000 meta-game points for each of the missions.

To turn on Campaign Scoring, press X at the Campaign Lobby screen. Next, push the Left Thumb-stick to the left or right to select the Off (Default), Free For All or Team setting and then press A. If you are playing Solo, either the Free For All or Team setting will do. For Co-Op, the Team setting will display only one total score, whereas the Free for All setting will maintain individual scores for each of the players.

The points earned will be displayed on the bottom right section of the screen. There is a base value for each enemies. A Grunt kill is worth 5 points while a Chieftain and hunter is worth 150 points each. However, the points can be increased by multipliers, which depends on the difficulty level, killing style and skull multipliers. Howeve, if you are killed  25 base points x multiplier factor, will be deducted immediately.

The higher the difficulty level, the more points you will earn with each kill. The difficulty multiplier is as follows: Easy (0.25x), Normal (1x), Heroic (2x) and Legendary (4x). The style multiplier is 1.25, when you kill the enemies with Grenade Sticks, Headshot kills, Stealth (cloaking) kills, road kills, Multi-kills and Needler kills.

When you activate the Skulls, the Skull Multiplier will be as follows:

3x for the Iron Skull,

2x for the Famine, Tilt and Mythic Skulls

1.5x for the rest of the gold skulls

For example, if you are on Legendary Difficulty (4x) with Iron Skull (3x) and Famine Skull (2x) activated, and you kills a Brute (20 points) with a head-shot (1.25x), you will earn 20 x 1.25 x ( 4 + 3 + 2) = 225 points.

Checkout the Ultimate Halo 3 Guide at http://www.ultimatehalo3cheats.com

Get Alternate Ending
When you complete the final mission, Halo on Legendary difficulty.

Toggle Hide or Lower Weapon
Hold the buttons, LB + RB + LS + A + Down for 3 seconds.

Toggle Co-ordinates on the Screen
Hold the buttons, LB + RB + LS + A + Up for 3 seconds.

where:
LB - Left Bumper
RB - Right Bumper
LS - Press on the Left Analog Stick
RS - Press on the Right Analog Stick
A - A Button
Down - Down direction of the D-Pad.
Up - Up direction of the D-Pad.

There are a total of 49 achievements to get in Halo 3, which will earn you 1,000 gamerscore points (G). You can change or unlock Master Chief’s armor once you earn a required number of achievements. Thirty six (36) of the achievements can be earned in the Solo Campaign while the rest (13) must be obtained online. The new armor can only be viewed when playing online or multi-player.

Get Katana Armor
When all the achievements or 1,000 gamerscore points (G) are obtained.

—— Solo Campaign Achievements (Total: 900 G) —–

Landfall Achievement (20 G)
Completed Sierra 117 mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulties.

Holdout Achievement (20 G)
Completed Crow’s Nest mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulties.

Road Achievement (20 G)
Completed Tsavo Highway mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulties.

Assault Achievement (30 G)
Completed The Storm mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulties.

Cleaning Achievement (30 G)
Completed Floodgate mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Refuge Achievement (30 G)
Completed The Ark mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Last Stand Achievement (40 G)
Completed Covenant mission in Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

The Key Achievement (40 G)
Completed Cortana mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Return Achievement (50 G)
Completed Halo mission on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Campaign Complete Normal Achievement (125 G)
Finish the campaign on Normal

Campaign Complete Heroic Achievement (125 G)
Finish the campaign on heroic

Campaign Complete Legendary Achievement (125 G)
Finish the campaign on Legendary

Iron Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Iron Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Black Eye Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Black Eye Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Tough Luck Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Touch Luck Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Catch Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Catch Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Fog Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Fog Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Famine Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Famine Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Thunderstorm Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Thunderstorm Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Tilt Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Tilt Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Mythic Achievement (10 G)
Find and claim the Mythic Skull on Normal, Heroic or Legendary.

Marathon Man Achievement (40 G)
Locate all terminals.

Too Close to the Sun Achievement (5 G)
Destroy an enemy Banshee with a Spartan Laser or Missile Pod.

We’re in for some Chop Achievement (5 G)
Destroy an enemy vehicle with an equipment e.g. trip mine.

Fear The Pink Mist Achievement (5 G)
Kill 5 enemies with a Needler.

Headshot Honco Achievement (5 G)
Kill 10 enemies with headshots.

Used Car Salesman Achievement (5 G)
Destroy a vehicle with three enemies in it.

Guerilla Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 points in campaign Mission 1: Sierra 117

Demon Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 points in campaign Mission 2: Crow’s Nest

Cavalier Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 campaign points in Mission 3: Tsavo Highway

Askar Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 campaign points in Mission 4: The Storm

Exterminator Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 campaign points in Mission 5: Floodgate

Ranger Achievement (10 G)
Scored 50,000 campaign points in Mission 6: The Ark

Vanguard Achievement (10 G)
Scored 50,000 campaign points in Mission 7: Covenant

Orpheus Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 campaign points in Mission 8: Cortana

Reclaimer Achievement (10 G)
Scored 15,000 campaign points in Mission 9: Halo

TOTAL GAMERSCORE POINTS FOR SOLO = 900

—— Online Achievements (Total: 100 G) —–

Graduate Achievement (10 G)
Earn 5 EXP or finish 10 games for basic online training.

UNSC Spartan Achievement (15 G)
Earn Sergeant rank.

Spartan Officer Achievement (25 G)
Advance to Spartan Officer rank.

Two For One Achievement (5 G)
Score a double kill with a single Spartan Laser shot.

Triple Kill Achievement (5 G)
Kill 3 enemies within 4 seconds of one another.

Overkill Achievement (5 G)
Kill 4 enemies within 4 seconds of one another.

Lee R Wilson Memorial Achievement (5 G)
Score 5 grenade sticks kills.

Killing Frenzy Achievement (5 G)
Kill 10 enemies without dying.

Stepping Razor Achievement (5 G)
Score a Triple Kill with an Energy Sword.

Mongoose Mowdown Achievement (5 G)
Ramp and kill an enemy with a Mongoose.

Up Close and Personal Achievement (5 G)
Kill 5 enemies via melee or assassination.

MVP Achievement (5 G)
Earn the MVP in any ranked playlist.

Maybe Next Time Buddy Achievement (5 G)
Board the same vehicle within 10 seconds after being hijacked by the enemy.

TOTAL GAMER POINTS FOR ONLINE = 100