Halo 3 ODST
How do you start a review for what Microsoft would likely call ‘One of the most anticipated games of the year’, a game which got a name change and went from being a stand alone expansion to a full retail game not to mention a halo game without a halo, mention of a halo and indeed no Master Chief. Probably with a big sigh and a gritting of teeth.Â
First off you get two discs with ODST, The campaign/firefight disc (actually ODST) and a multiplayer disk. The multiplayer disc is a replacement for the halo 3 disk and is essentially the map packs, a few tweaks and the halo 3 multiplayer engine, naff all new, you cant be an ODST in multiplayer and essentially puts a valid argument on the table of why don’t I get a discount because I already have the map packs. Halo 3 multiplayer is a slow passed epilepsy inducing affair where the one who will win is the one who can bounce around the most like some kind of power armoured punk. That is to say I am not a fan, there is no running, there is no going prone, there is only jumping around and using a full clip of any gun to drop their shields before the inevitable need to reload which always equates to being shot by the one gimp who has a sniper rifle before you can finish of the guy you were shooting at.
I’ll admit I am rubbish at halo MP because it doesn’t make me want to play it like CoD but I do enjoy the single player experience, its a nice mix of absurd, overly macho Hollywood story with mixed infantry and vehicle tactics. ODST however drops Master Chief and replaces him with Nathan Fillion (Cap’n Mel from Firefly/Serenity), which is a decent substitution, sure to pick up a few actor fans.
To outline the story the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) launch an assault seemingly on a Covenant ship which blows a raspberry and jumps into hyperspace before their pods land on it, not that they were on target anyway, which leaves the troopers to crash down in the South African super city of New Mombasa. You are ‘The Rookie’ and wake up in your pod 6 hours after crash down and find the city dark and empty. From there you hunt around for beacons to locate your squad then investigate little objects at the site to hit a pulp fiction style mash up as you are put in the boots of one of the other ODSTs and relive one their experiences from earlier in the day. This carries on until you meet up with your commander and head towards the end of the game. The voice acting is passable and the story is all right. The Rookie scenes are saved somewhat by having a sandbox section of the city to run round in with lots of patrols and checkpoints to assault or avoid, the flashbacks are all strictly linear.
Keep in mind that ODST uses the Halo 3 engine however it is used quite different. Graphically ODST is a lot grittier and darker than Halo 1-3 with a lot more grit all over the place. I actually like the effort they put into detailing their levels. This however is wasted as half the game is set at night and deep in the streets of the city its so dark that you spend a good portion of the game walking around in wire frame view which is provided by the tactical filter on you helmets visor. It’s so dark the ambient light from the buttons on the doors wasn’t enough to even enough to light the hallways. This game is so dark that even shooting the most rapid-fire flashlight in your arsenal doesn’t light the surrounding terrain.
The orchestral soundtrack certainly conveyed the sombre tones of an empty city but this game was short and easy, I mean really easy. I blitzed through on Heroic before finishing it on legendary with 2-player co-op in a paltry four and a half hours. It may be a little more challenging on single player legendary but I wont know till later. I was a little disappointed by the length as they could have had lots of optional side quests helping survivors out.
Firefight is a new addition and is an arena battle mode, which pits up to 4 ODST’s against an unending horde. Nothing new but always a crowd pleaser.
All in all I think I was playing a different version of the game from other reviewers, this game doesn’t have enough content to warrant a 96 rating. I would in-fact question any reviewer who gave it rating over 75. It’s to short, to dark and although it’s an enjoyable romp its nothing new. If you’re a fan of Halo 3 multiplayer its worth it for the $50 worth of DLC maps.
Reviewed on: XBox 360
Available on: XBox 360
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I think it’s fair to say up front that I’m not a big Halo fan. I’m not a hater either; I’ve just never got into Halo as much as some other FPS. I think I prefer my games (and I know I’m going to get mocked for saying this) to be grounded in some degree of reality. If it’s a FPS, I want to be using a gun that actually exists, even if it’s not in general use quite yet. I really would rather have an obsolete World War 2 rifle than a plasma gun any day. If it’ a racing game I don’t want to be able to bounce off walls with on damage – there has to be consequences. Halo never really had this. There was little in the way of one-shot kills (as far as dying yourself) and the weaponry was just to futuristic that I never quite knew what was the best weapon for the job. I must admit however, to enjoying the silence SMG and side arm that the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are kitted out with, but at my rate of fire (some might call it ‘spray and pray’) I was always running out of ammo and having to pick up alien technology. Getting rid of Halo’s mainstay, Master Chief must have been a hard decision, but it’s one that I think pays off big time. This is still a Halo game through and through – It has that feel, and the same enemies, but this time you’re not an enhanced solider, you’re just the best humanity has to offer. With Hollywood cinematic, we are introduced to the storyline, dropping in on New Mombasa in the midst of a Covenant attack, something goes terribly wrong and deployment is a disaster. You get to play the rookie, who awakes in his battered pod hours after the jump, to find yourself dazed and alone in a city running amuck with alien nasties. You first job as a trained ODST is to try and located the rest of your squad, and in doing so have to battle your way though the dark city streets with the help of your combat HUD and a map that you handily download from a still working ATM machine. It’s kind of like a detective story, where you have to piece the story together, bit by bit. Fortunately you don’t have to do it alone, as you get to time warp every now and then and play a different character and get to see part of their story. Graphically it seems like it’s the same as Halo 3 on the surface, but look a little deeper and you can see that Bungie have drawn a lot more detail out of the graphic engine, though a lot of the detail is put to waste when fighting with the combat HUD engaged, as your world turns into a wire framed shooting gallery. The AI seems pretty good, even if the aliens seem pretty dumb from time to time, they will out flank you if you give them the space. The pacing is good, with plenty of action to keep your adrenaline glads in production mode, punctuated with occasional quite moments that lull you into a false sense of security. It’s game that challenges you enough to make you want to keep on playing, keep on pushing through to uncover a little bit more of the varied story. All in all, the stand-alone game is a decent FPS that should keep fans and casual gamers happy. But wait, there’s more. One of the biggest highlights of ODST is the Firefight multiplayer mode. You get to play with three mates in a single location firefight, where you have to try and hold off wave after wave of increasingly difficult Covenant forces. It’s a high octane blast that will see your evening disappear in the blink of an eye. I’d liken it to the Nazi Zombies co-op feature in COD:WAW. It’s fun, but sadly it’s about the best part of the whole multiplayer experience. ODST comes with a second disk containing the ‘complete Halo 3 multiplayer experience,’ but this is only one for die hard fans, as you really have to know your stuff. Game play seems to centre around jumping around like the Easter bunny on P whilst shooting anything that moves. It’s a frantic place to be for anyone used to the careful but dealing hunting that Modern Warfare allows; stay standing in one spot for too long and it’s like you’re sinking in quicksand the speed at which you will die. This might be good for kids who’ve had too much sugar, but for the casual, not Halo gamer, it’s sure to be a little too much pace with not enough time to get used to how things work.
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