More Than An Expansion
Halo 3: ODST brings a lot of new things to the traditional Halo formula while managing to not stray too far from the source material of its lineage. First, the campaign; You are “The Rookie”, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper that has been separated from his team due to an ill-timed drop on the planet of New Mombasa. New Mombasa is a planet that was once ruled by humans but has since been lost to the invading Covenant. Your mission, regroup with your squad and get the hell out of there.
The story sports many supporting characters (i.e. your squad) and is told in the form of flashbacks displayed via the cities security cameras. What makes this flashback concept an interesting one is that you are the one playing the flashback. Upon starting a mission or flashback, the screen fades out and alerts you of the character you are playing, as well as how far in the past this was. The whole campaign takes place over the course of about six in-game hours since the time of your drop. My only complaint about the game’s story is its relative shortness. Playing through the entire game on Heroic only took me five or six hours.
Luckily for ODST, the story’s lack of length is more than made up for with the inclusion of Firefight; a new multiplayer mode where the name of the game is survival. Similar to Gears of War 2’s horde mode, (it seems almost mandatory to mention that now) you and up to three of your friends are placed on a closed map with a limited number of lives and infinitely spawning enemies. Your progress is measured in rounds and waves. Within each round is five waves of enemies that you must defeat in order to move on. Supplied with a handful of maps (some day and some night) and a few friends, Firefight can be a lot of fun. The one thing that might’ve made Firefight a much more enjoyable experience would have been the inclusion of Matchmaking. As it stands now, if you don’t have any friends with you or willing to play online, you’re out of luck.
If fighting back the Covenant through the course of the story or Firefight, you’re always able to fall back to the safety of Halo 3’s excellent multiplayer element. Included in the box along with ODST is a collection of all of Halo 3’s maps that have been released so far. Also included are three new maps that complete the Mythic map pack released earlier this year. Find all the hidden skulls on the Mythic maps and you could be walking away with some sweet new Recon armor; previously unavailable to anyone except those graced by the Bungie gods.
Let’s break it down here at the end. Did you like Halo 3? Do you wish there was more of it with some new characters and guns thrown in? How about a couple new maps and a sweet new mode where you can hold your ground with your friends? If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, you owe it to yourself to pick up Halo 3: ODST. Now, get out there Marines!
