This Is No Halo 4 Although ODST Is Still Perfect A-Grade Content
It's fanfare will of died down since it's climatic finale back in 2007 but Halo 3, and the rest of the Halo series in general, still has a powerful legacy as the Xbox's major IP. It has seen books, comics, multiplayer DLC, references in all forms of pop-culture, an RTS spin-off and an upcoming series of short anime developed films. Yet an actual expansion pack for the main game itself still hasn't been fleshed out, until now.
Halo 3 ODST, the first of an assumed series of Halo expansions, has you play as a member of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper unit. They're the chaps in the black armoured uniforms, who are regarded as the elite forces and recon squad fighters of the UNSC Marines Corps. As such you and your comrades: Dutch, Romeo, Mickey, Buck and Dare are placed with a classified objective of retrieving the technician of New Mombassa. There is no Master Chief but this game is still Halo to the core. The shock troopers are surprisingly nimble and strong like the spartan previous, with the ability to carry two weapons, operate a variety of vehicles and take on a whole onslaught of covenant forces while successfully living to tell the tale. There are some differences - namely in that the troopers can't dual wield like the chief and also they're far more prone to damage thanks to the lack of shields. Instead, ODST relies on fatigue which really varies as a lifeline in combat. Powerful strikes can instantly kill you straight from the get-go but absorbing a number of threats and heading into cover still works just as well as it did in Halo 3.
Which is a necessity as the campaign mode of ODST sees you demolishing bridges, flying through tunnels and checkpoints in a banshee, taking on wraths in a simple three man warthog and speeding down highways in a mongoose. it's the typical Halo take on gameplay, with four player co-op support if you want to bring any friends along for the journey. Besides that, Halo ODST is a very cinematic experience with high quality produced visuals and music - especially during cut-scenes. The only real departure is that each level is experienced through flashback, which the Rookie (you), has to search out for by detecting clues near each SOS beacon sent out in the game. To help with this, the shock troopers have a special feature to their hud known as VISR which highlights enemies, allies and helpful items during play.
On the whole, the campaign is an entertaining fare. All the old guns make an appearance as do the covenant foes from Halo games of past. As far as new is concerned, you do have a custom designed machine gun and magnum to use. The magnum is very reminiscent of that from Halo 1, it's accurate and powerful yet limited in ammunition. The story and sub-plots are also mildly engaging but forgettable and unoriginal. The majority of the squad sits under the usual soldier stereotypes, if you've seen Aliens, you'd quickly establish who your Hicks and Hudson of Halo ODST is. Yet the biggest problem with the campaign is that it's short. Fortunately the campaign isn't ODST's main selling point. Its instead its multiplayer. Firefight in particular turns Halo ODST from a generally solid shooter to an absorbing and utterly brilliant one. It moulds itself on the Gears of War Horde mode/Call of Duty 5 Nazi Zombies template where you face increasingly resistant numbers of covenant forces in a survival type mode. There is a limited amount of ammo and prioritizing who to kill becomes a major area of discussion in the short time it takes for brutes wielding gravity hammers to pose any threat
Eventually, as you progress to later rounds, handicaps and gameplay modifers are added such as having to melee enemies in order to heal and avoiding the limitless grenades that the grunts have at their disposal. Firefight can be infuriatingly frantic and a great social get-together with a bunch of friends online. Eventually you get bonus rounds and weapon drops for doing so well after a while. Yet unfortunately social is as far as firefight goes as there is no matchmaking or lobby systems available in order to join anyone else games. Matchingmaking however is a potent feature on ODST's second disc, Halo 3: Mythic. This disc is a stand-alone multiplayer Halo 3 featuring all the maps including Heroic, Legendary, Mythic and Cold Storage. There are also three new maps of Citadel, Longshore and Heretic. This makes the bargain value of ODST palpable, believing you have the ability to play online anyway as gaining these map packs separate would undoubtedly cost more to begin with. And since the new maps are all located on the disc, there is no need to download them straight to the hard-drive either.
If you're unknowing of how fun Halo 3's multiplayer is then ODST will open so many doors for you. The depth and design of levels like The Pit, Pit Stop and Last Resort are amazing and there is a good choice of small, medium and large levels. As far as servers are concerned theres the usual lone slayer, team slayer, and capture the flag but also obscure modes such as VIP, Infection and Assault. You can choose between social or ranked servers if you wish to do so and they're all vastly populated with 100,000+ players online, at the time of this review. You can also create custom maps and game modes via Halo's forge mode, a sandbox style game, allowing you to freely create and re-decorate levels as you wish.
Chances though are, as Halo-a-holic gamers we are, you might already have most of the map-packs and Halo 3 on Xbox 360. Which leads me to the flaws of ODST. Basically, besides being a short and somewhat unoriginal entry into the series, Halo ODST is just too similar to it's predecessors. It really feels like Halo 3, despite the different set of levels, new weapons and gameplay features. There isn't enough to make this feel like an expansion pack but rather a DLC add-on instead - if it wasn't for firefight anyway. The flood are missing and variation between levels is weak in comparison to Halo 3's jump from green, lush rainforests, to sparse and dusty deserts or spine-chilling winter wildernesses.
However, as it stands, Halo ODST is a solid shooter. It is made twice as tempting with the inclusion of firefight, with it's intense four player fighting, and made three/four times as tempting with the value for money Halo 3 Mythic bonus disc. It is a win/win situation. If neither those interest you then as a last lifeline Halo Reach's upcoming multiplayer beta will. In anyone's case, there isn't much reason to ignore Halo ODST. It is a bargain, exclusive to Xbox 360 and has all the A grade content perfect for a £30 or perhaps even £40 release.
