Halo 3: ODST

At the heart of ODST is another polished Bungie FPS with an enjoyable story, a ton of content for Halo newcomers and a Survival mode which is currently the best out there.

 
   
 
When a game does something right the normal course of action is not to change a thing. This is exactly what Bungie’s thoughts probably where when making Halo 3: ODST. Yes they have change the main protagonist. Also you can’t duel wield or hijack vehicles. Plus you have a health bar to worry about. But at the foundation of ODST is the same solid formula that has worked for the Halo series since day one.

The ODST experience is broken up into two discs. One featuring the ODST single player and the new survival mode called Firefight. Whilst the second disc holds the original multiplayer of Halo 3, including all the downloadable content released and three new maps. It still uses the same servers as well so stats carry over, in fact if you can just imagine the Halo 3 disc without the single player that is what is on the second disc.


Starting off with the first disc the biggest change I can mention in the entire package is the story. Instead of playing the super soldier Spartan Master Chief, you are placed in the shoes of the Rookie, who is part of the elite UNSC (United Nations Space Command) soldiers the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper). You are dropped in with your team onto the city of New Mombasa during the events of Halo 2 where the Profit of Regret is jumping into slip space causing a massive slip space rupture and causing all the drop pods to go utterly off course. You wake up as the Rookie some hours later at night and must somehow make contact with your squad by searching the half destroyed city. This is where the single player takes a turn from the normal Halo formula as instead of a linear story you get a decent sized city to roam and explore in. The only problem I found is that even though in the beginning it was very atmospheric and about midway through the campaign I started to find it a chore to run from one part of the city killing enemies to get to the next activation point. It is a nice feature but is definitely not Bungie's strong asset.

 

Guiding you around is the cities A.I called the Superintendent. He will lead you to audio logs hidden around the city by using the neon signs and setting off car alarms when close to one. This cleverly adds a sense of a companion similar to Cortana out of the other Halo games but in all honesty it doesn’t work as well seei ng how he doesn’t have a voice. The audio logs that can be found tell the story of a civilian in the city called Sadie and adds a much needed perspective of the Halo story for fans. As the city is at night a Visor mode can be used to highlight the world. This works much better than Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Detective mode as instead of changing the games look it just outlines the edges of objects in a light beam, giving everything a more defined look. This visor mode highlights enemies and is particularly useful if sneaking around the city as the enemies do not have this feature so staying in shadows is rewarded. But at the same time the visor mode eliminates some of the atmosphere of the city and you cannot read the Superintendent’s messages as it’s just a white light.

The main objective when exploring the city is to find small clues to help you find out what happened to the rest of your squad. When activated it causes a flash back moment in the game where you take the roll of one of the other members of your ODST squad. These fill in what happened during the hours you where unconscious and also some of the events that happened when Master Chief was off doing Halo business. These missions follow the linear path of other Halo games and keep the same formula of dynamic open area fights, vehicle sections and set pieces. On the weapons front a new silenced SMG has been added and a pistol similar to the one in the first Halo, but don’t be looking for another Spartan Laser called the ODST Beam. The story will take about seven to ten hours to complete and feature the regular difficulties but it’s recommend to play on Heroic (Hard) to get the best experience.

 

Bungie has been pretty passionate about the second addition of the ODST disc, Firefight Mode. This is your typical four player survival mode where you can play any of the ten maps on offer that are from parts of the story. It is broken into five waves that make one round and completing three rounds complete the set. You will always start each round with small grunts and jackals but after that you cannot guess what is coming. Also at the end of each round a skull will be added to ramp up the difficulty. These are your standard Halo skulls like Catch, which causes the enemy to throw more grenades or Blackeye, where you must melee the enemy to regain your stamina. You will also be given a set amount of lives and at the end of each set you will be given additional lives. Once you know what you’re doing the aim of the game is to survive for as long as possible. This mode is particularly fun if you have three friends that know what they’re doing but it is a downer of the mode that no match making system has been put in place meaning if you do not have friends on Xbox Live or real life you won’t be playing this with other people.


The overall presentation of ODST is a tidied up version of Halo 3. The story adds a nice bridge between Halo 2 and Halo 3 and also a great side story from the audio logs. Gameplay has not changed except you can’t jump as high and you call your shields stamina. If you enjoyed the gameplay and health system in the original Halo you will love ODST. I can easily recommend this game to people who never bought Halo 3 or the downloadable content as it is a bargain, giving you the complete multiplayer package of Halo 3, a new game mode and single player. However, the core market for this game (Halo fans) may not be getting such a good deal as they probably own all the maps bar the three new ones found on the second disc and so will be buying a $60/£35 for half the game newcomers will be getting.