Halo 3: ODST Review

I followed ODST news from its inception and to say that I was excited about this game would be an understatement. I watched the counter tick away on Bungie.net during E3 2008, and was angry when Microsoft pulled the big announcement. I searched through every “prepare to drop” message and background searching for any clue about what the game would be. I was optimistic.I stood in line, picked it up from a local Gamestop during the midnight release, and started playing through the ODST campaign. The campaign took about 10 hours to complete on Solo Legendary and when I had finished, there was already plenty of criticism plastered across the Internet.

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The Graphics

Though the graphics are not a dramatic improvement over Halo 3, they are no doubt better. The scenery, people, and even the weapons have all had improvements. The graphics are still impressive and add a lot to the story.

The use of lighting techniques to properly light the city streets of New Mombasa is great. Though it is easier, and cooler, to use the VISR mode during the night scenes, you can easily navigate through most areas without it due to the clever lighting.

New to Halo

Halo 3: ODST welcomes a new line up of characters. Dutch, Romeo, Buck, Mickey, and Dare join the new main character, Rookie, who has been separated from his team of ODSTs on the streets of New Mombasa.

The new VISR mode allows players to see in low-light areas of the game, offering an outlined view of all objects as well as all of your enemies. The VISR mode also allows you to access additional information such as your map and audio files that help you work through missions.

Also new to ODST is a silenced SMG and the Auto Mag. The Auto Mag is a game favorite, offering a flashback to the Halo: CE pistol.

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The Campaign

Halo 3: ODST has an extensive campaign mode. Though many people have complained about the campaign being to short for a $60 game, I disagree. People running straight through the game with three other people on Heroic are going to finish quickly. If you want to enjoy the game, finish the game on solo, or with a single friend, on Legendary and actually explore each level.

The playable characters are much weaker than Master Chief, so you will constantly be running for cover and searching for health packs throughout the game. Sometimes it will be extremely difficult to get away and you will find yourself in a stalemate for several minutes before discovering an escape.

Though it is unfortunate that no Elites are not found throughout the game, you will encounter grunts, jackals, brutes, hunters, and a new enemy, engineers.

Firefight

The most captivating part of the Halo series is its ability to provide some of the best, and most addictive, multiplayer. I’m an avid Halo 3 player and always find myself gravitating back to its multiplayer.

Firefight offers a new type of Halo multiplayer. Though it has been compared to the Gears of War Horde Mode, you will find that it is quite a difference in play style and is much, much harder. It is some of the hardest multi-player I have ever played. Waves of enemies will continue to come at you, each one, more difficult than the last. Unless you can find some way to filter enemies through a small corridor of some sort, you will start to lose lives quickly on Legendary. If you are playing on solo legendary, you will be extremely lucky to make it through the first two rounds, or 10 waves.

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How it stacks up

Firefight is a great co-op multiplayer, offering different results every time. If you are playing co-op, you will need a lot of teamwork to make it some of the waves. When you have five Brute Chieftains charging at you, it’s important to have some teammates putting in as much fire on them as possible.

With that said, I am now at the one-month point of playing through this game and playing the multiplayer. At this one-month point, I must say, I’m not playing it at all. The multi-player and campaign are great, but it does not offer the multi-player captivation that you find in the other Halo games. In addition, if you are going to play a game of Firefight, I hope you are planning to set aside a lot of time. To play a full game of Firefight, you need at least a solid hour or two.

Final Thought

This game is great. It offers an amazing campaign mode and an even better multi-player. If you like any of the Halo games, you will like ODST. Though I have personally criticized the Firefight mode, it is an awesome addition to the game and I will eventually play it again. The game is $60, or $100 for the limited edition, and is worth every bit of it.

If none of that sells it, the game also gets you access to the Halo: Reach beta and comes with a stand-alone disc of all the Halo 3 multiplayer maps.