It's recycled content but Bungie made it work
Chevy has currently been working on a new Corvette model that uses recycled parts from the current ZR1 model and the older Z06 model and their calling it the Grand Sport. Somehow, someway, Chevrolet put all the parts together to create something is desirable and worth getting.
The same could almost be said about Halo 3: ODST. Bungie has taken pieces from Halo 3 and have reused them to create a new experience that is desirable but not so much worth getting in every case. You have to take ODST for what it is--a Halo game based off of Halo 3--every bit of it. If you do not come at it with that mindset, you will likely not get the most out of this game.
A graphical overhaul? Bungie never claimed it and if anyone expected it, I am sure they were let down because the graphics are nearly identical to Halo 3's. The only major difference that I saw was the lighting model did seem to be improved. Reflections were crisp, the sun glares were harsher than ever and the nighttime lighting is very distinctive and dynamic.
Based on the subtitle, this is a new adventure but no longer as the war veteran Master Chief. You are testosterone driven (even the female seems to be testosterone driven) Orbital Drop Shock Troopers on a mission to find important Covenant information on New Mombassa. Most of the time, you are a certain ODST known as "The Rookie." As The Rookie, you explore New Mombassa looking for your lost comrades after the team was separated during a Covenant slipspace jump that threw the squads orbital drop off course. As you find clues to their whereabouts, you are thrown into the events of another ODST and their story post-slipspace jump.
This is how the game progresses the entire way through and it is intriguing. I was anxious to find the next clue to see what happened to one of the ODST's but what was bothersome was that the story did not hold itself up. It starts off strong with funny dialogue and a good amount of cutscenes but as it progresses, the dialogue goes to the pits and I was ready to wrap up the "trudge-through-corridor" missions.
What does spice up the story in the moments of blandness are the audio logs. These are recorded accounts of a girl and her troubles through New Mombassa pre-slipspace jump. It sheds some light on the occurrences beforehand and pokes at the intent of the UNSC also.
While I find these more entertaining than the story itself, it does not totally salvage that lack of creativity that ODST suffers from by the end of the game.
There is hope though. The game still has some buying merit and Firefight, the single-player, or co-op mode gives a reason to put some hours into this game.
Firefight is basically Horde mode from Gears of War 2 except Bungie style. Being any of the ODST's you've earned, you are put into an area of choice in any of New Mombassa's landscapes. By yourself, the game is beyond challenging. I'd say borderline impossible but with friends, it's nothing but fun--still challenging as heck though.
Wave after wave of Covenant attack you ranging from suicide grunts to Brute Chieftains with hammers. From Buggers to Wraiths--Firefight throws everything at you--including the kitchen sink. It takes some serious teamwork to survive. But you remember those old NES or Game Boy games where the difficulty would only get so high and then it stopped getting any more difficult and it became easy to keep the score going? Yeah. Bungie knows something about that. That's why they added a few of their game changing skulls like Iron and Black Eye to keep things interesting and rarely the same. Don't worry though. They are not all activated at once but in a progressive manner. By yourself, I would say surrender but with at least two, there's a fighting chance.
And depending on whether or not you have a lot of friends, ODST's lack of matchmaking in Firefight could annoy you. Which means you will have to matchmake the Nintendo Friend Code way and hop on a forum and get some games together. A good way to make friends but not the best matchmaking method.
All this and Bungie decides to throw in the entire Halo 3 multiplayer with all the maps and three new maps that can only be found on the disc. It was nice addition for me since my Halo 3 disc got scratched and four of my maps were not working but now I have all the maps again without having to buy another Halo 3. Depending on your situation, it could be a good thing or something completely useless.
Overall, ODST is a good experience but not quite great. But the experience is even more satisfying when you understand that it is still Halo 3 and not an entirely new game. Firefight will keep you busy especially if you have friends and if you don't have all the multiplayer maps or something happened to your Halo 3 disc, the addition of multiplayer may be a nice deal. Either way, ODST is definitely worth a full play through and maybe even a buy.
