You're not Rambo this time
At the Tokyo Game Show in 2008, Bungie announced their new title, Halo 3: Recon. After a name change and some hard work its finally came out on September 22 2009.
The biggest thing about this game is that your not playing as Master Chief. You are playing as an ODST, a soldier that is essentially and paratrooper without a parachute. The game takes place in New Mombasa, a city in Africa that has been invaded by enemy covenant. As you are dropping into the city a covenant ship takes off into slip-space causing a large explosion.
You are stranded away from the rest of your squad. The game consists of you walking around the city and having flashbacks about each of your comrades that are in the city. The story boils down to this, your mission messes up and you need to escape the city. The story in ODST leaves me wanting more. All of the characters are very forgettable, even the main ones. Overall the story is just not comparable with the first 3 games.
The main difference between this Halo and the others is the health system. It is identical to the first Halo's health system. You no longer have shields it is called stamina now, your stamina recharges but your health doesn't meaning you have to find health packs in the city to recharge your health. You also cannot duel-wield weapons anymore like in the first Halo. You cannot jack vehicles if they are moving.
Instead of acting like Rambo you are given weapons with silencers on them. You get a silenced SMG and magnum. The stealth quickly ends when you run out of ammo within 30 minutes into the game and hardly see the new weapons again. Instead of the flashlight from the other Halos, you get a form of night vision called VISR which places a filter over the game that outlines the edges of objects in the world which looks fantastic (turn it on when you see grass).
The game mostly takes place in the flashbacks, the flashbacks feel like traditional Halo style gameplay with vehicles and rockets. I feel like the whole game should of taken place in the present, the flashbacks are too long and complex. I like the parts outside of the flashbacks more, the only thing is that it feels like the only thing you do outside the flashbacks is go from point A to B, flashback to flashback. The ending is fine, it feels like the story is wrapped up nicely.
Another big feature with ODST is the new multiplayer mode, firefight. Firefight is a co-op mode. You or up to 3 of your friends are spawned on a map and the goal is to survive. Constant waves of enemies spawn and try to kill you. There is a multitude of weapons and vehicles at your disposal during the rounds. It is fun but it can get repetitive, its the same affair as Horde mode in Gears of War 2.
That's not all though, ODST comes with two discs. On the first disc is the ODST campaign and firefight. On the second disc is Halo 3: Mythic, which essentially is Halo 3's multiplayer with all of the map packs built-in for free. If you don't have Halo 3 or any of the maps then this is a great package.
Overall the question for most people has been, is the game worth $60. If you don't own Halo 3 I think its a great price. If you already own it and the map packs you may want to think it over a bit.
