More Quality Halo: Fun, But Limited Changes
Halo is a great franchise that I've loved and spent a lot of time with, but I can't say I've kept up with Halo 3's multiplayer, largely in part due to DLC eventually becoming pretty necessary to enjoy most of it. Then Halo 3: ODST rolls around, offering a new, unique Halo story with the multiplayer coop that I've loved. A new wave survival mode, that, based off similar attempts, I know I'll love. A whole second disc with all the up to date (for now) map packs so I can finally play the multiplayer that I...want to love. Could it all be too good to be true?
It seems unlikely that someone reading this would be completely clueless about Halo, but for those living under the proverbial gaming rock, Halo is a wildly successful scifi first-person shooter, thus far following the heroic rompings of a "Spartan" supersoldier known as Master Chief. In the first three games we've accompanied Master Chief across the galaxy, battling an alien force called the Covenant as well as other more confusing elements, in his noble journey to...well, save humanity, obviously. But we can forget Master Chief and what the hell a "Halo" actually is, as ODST doesn't care.
This is not Sparta!
Instead, we're given a new cast of heroes with the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (that's what ODST means!) and a new mission, concurrent with the events of Halo 2, to recover the Earth supercity New Mombasa. This fresh story is played through in a deservingly original way, told through the eyes of mutiple troopers after their drop into the city goes awry and splits them up. Beginning the game as the trooper known only as "The Rookie", you've been unconscious for six hours since the drop-gone-wrong, and must search the city to reunite with the rest of your buddies. Exploring and discovering artifacts related to the lost troopers' experiences will trigger flashbacks, and these establish the story's chapters and progression, though the pacing and order is somewhat up to the player.
It's with this chronological divergence that the game is able to play in a couple different ways. When playing as the Rookie, roaming the New Mombasa streets at night, ODST offers a sylish open world to explore. Occasional light jazz accompanies you through the deserted city. A new, convienently named VISR system provides navigation as well as a wonderful night-vision that's both beautiful and practical. Collectible files piece together an intriguing sidestory, as an extra incentive to look around. Enemy encounters are scattered and isolated, and feel convincing as guerilla ambushes, necessary to make it through New Mombasa alone. Overall, these additions do a great job of slowing the pace for the game a little bit, allowing you to take in the city and appreciate some fantastic design.
It's worth mentioning that these troopers aren't the Spartans we've grown used to playing as, and there's some significant changes to the gameplay because of this. Probably the most noticeable change is the inclusion of health that doesn't recharge and must be mended with stationary kits found along the way. Rechargeable stamina still acts essentially as a shield, but once that's gone, an eariler battle can easily catch back up to you. Other weaknesses our puny human protagonists face include the inability to dual wield, or jumping and falling great heights. None of these things impede the game, though; they feel genuinely different and welcome to a world that doesn't involve Master Chief. At the same time, it never steered from the tight and fluid controls with the action that make the Halo series.
The action was delivered, but the story didn't make it.
You can't have Halo without epic battles through huge, sprawling environments, and this dramatic change from New Mombasa's nightscene can be found in the game's flashbacks. These dayside events are more of the callback to big action that you would expect with a Halo title, and it plays like it should. With the troopers being sprinkled across the different parts of the New Mombasa area, the game offers a good variety of surroundings, ripe for fun in creative ways. These parts seem more suited for coop as opposed to the slower night time exploration. Crazy action is best enjoyed with friends, but still perfectly enjoyable on your own. ODST doesn't disapoint on its difficulty scale; it feels playable for mutliple levels of gamers. That and the return of competetive scoring and game modifying skulls offer some reason to come back. Personally, I was about sick of the campaign after blasting through it two or three times.
To be honest, I've never been that enthralled with the stories of the Halo franchise. Most of the cutscenes felt like deserved breaks and lead-ins to jump right back to the running and gunning. I believe part of the reason Master Chief was so popular as the series' hero was 1) he was a badass, and 2) because he was damn near a silent protagonist. Not having too much personality get in the way of your FPS is crucial for the level of immersion. You want to be the Master Chief. You want to be that badass.
The issue with ODST and their new lineup of protagonists is that they try to bring that extra personality to the game, some Hollywood type of comradery within the ODST unit, and it fails. Buck (anyone else immediately think Kill Bill?), Dutch, Romeo, Dare...all these new guys offer very little as far as coming off interesting, likeable or personable. The voice acting is well done, but sadly a large amount of the story seemed insignificant or unnoticeable. Everything wraps up rather quickly and largely comes off as unspectacular.
But wait, there's more!
Had ODST come equipped only with the new campaign, I believe the game would have been a large let-down. Fortunately for everyone, ODST also brought along a new Firefight mode, which lets you and up to three friends hunker down in an arena and hold off endless waves of Covenent dropships. These arenas come from significant standing points in the campaign, and all of them are unique and play great. There are waves, sets, and rounds- which equates to loads of constant enemies. They require patience and caution, as there's a limited number of lives shared among the team, with more lives added upon success. Believe me, nobody wants to be "that guy" who uses up the last life. Or the guy after him.
The risk with a wave survival mode is becoming too formulaic, and ODST manages to safely avoid that problem with its addictive new mode. The variety of enemies will definitely keep you on your toes, and the inclusion of increasingly difficult skulls, like enemies throwing mad-crazy grenades or having resistance to bullets, adds some serious depth to keep it interesting. Firefight is a blast and has great potetntial to consume many hours with your friends...if you have them. Unfortunately, both the campaign and Firefight lack a matchmaking option to meet and play with strangers. There's also no ranking system, which could have easily added some encouragement to keep grinding away. With the success of Halo's multiplayer, it's surprising these potentially further addictive elements weren't included, but hopefully this won't hold anyone back from enjoying some Firefight.
A Bittersweet return to Halo 3 Multiplayer
If you never left it, you don't need to be convinced. If you did, or never really started, then ODST has what you need to try, but be warned: it will be difficult. After so many successful years of Halo's multiplayer, people are really good, and jumping into that can be somewhat offputting.
But getting spanked isn't always bad. Having all the maps and modes available is an amazing upgrade, and there's tons to do and see. There's a reason Halo multiplayer has done so well: because it's so damn good. Multiplayer can easily eat up your time, and it will if you're going to get good. Again, it's always best to play with friends, and if you don't have any you can easily make some. Just send a request to the one person that's not a kid singing into their headset.
For me, it wasn't enough to win me back. I appreciate being up-to-date with everything...before when I had the occasional itch to play Halo multiplayer I was severely limited in what I could do without the map packs. Now that itch can be scratched in all sorts of ways, most of them involving getting my ass thwomped. Halo 3's multiplayer no longer has the hook or long lasting satisfaction it once did, which may be because I know less people playing it. It could also be because since it originally came out, a lot of other games have made huge multiplayer advances past what was at one point the best.
And a little exta sumthin
Bungie seems to know how to keep their players hooked, and alongside the true ODST package are some big jumps in the Halo universe.
Waypoint, coming in November, will offer an organized fanservice, provided by Bungie, but with the involvement of the Halo community. It'll include Halo art, episodic anime... all sorts of content you might have never wanted. More crucial for the obsessive Halo gamer would be the new achievement tracking across multiple Halo games, with many detailed awards to cover your career. Waypoint seems like a service to keep those that are still heavily into Halo asking for more.
Also included with ODST is the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta invitation, which more than likely is all the motivation a diehard Halo player would need to pick this up. Reach will be the next big Halo game, and we can all expect quality and quantity, though few details have been announced. The beta is said to be scheduled for early 2010.
On the whole...
ODST feels good. It's hard not to recommend it for someone that has enjoyed past Halo games. It's not going to take your breath away with anything new...but the changes made to it are great additions that break from the same old Master Chief stuff we already know so well. The campaign is dependably fun, and the new Firefight mode offers a fantastic new way to enjoy some intense coop action. The option to return to multiplayer matchmaking is there, if you can handle it, and some extras thrown on top are enough to keep the franchise alive.
Halo 3: ODST gets 4/5.
Thanks for reading,
Tom aka Gangstar
