Yes yes, we can all rejoice that Bungie’s latest cash-in Halo game is finally here! After waiting eagerly for months and being teased by the questionable Halo Wars, a Halo game that has us lacing up our FPS boots has finally arrived. But is it worth throwing down the money for the pleasure? Read on to find out.
ODST immediately drops you into the battle for New Mombasa, taking place during the events of Halo 2. However, rather than stepping into the MJOLNIR armor of our beloved Master Chief, we are instead tasked with battling out as ODSTs – Orbital Drop Shop Troopers that were the UNSC’s previously most coveted bad asses. Initially, you’ll take on the role of the Rookie, but after boarding your HEV and attempting to drop to a Covenant ship, things go awry as a shockwave destroys much of the city and the ensuing EMP sends you colliding with another ODST and plummeting to the ground. You wake up 6 hours after the initial assault and must traverse an eerily dark New Mombasa to piece together clues of what happened to your squadmates. The rest of the story is explained in a series of flashbacks to catch you up on what you missed as the levels ping-pong back and forth between the dark,isolated missions of the Rookie and the decidedly more action-packed levels of your squadmates as events unfold.
The contrast here is a somewhat jarring change. The Rookie missions do a great job of making you feel hopeless and disoriented as you trek across the derilect city collecting audio logs and other clues to keep the story moving. It’s dark and while enemy encounters are less frequent in these levels, they’ll often take you by surprise, popping out at you in packs from behind darkened rubble or mercilessly sniping at you from far distances.
One thing becomes immediately clear as you first begin; you’re no Master Chief. There’s no dual-wielding, no shields, and no protection from falling damage. However, you’re far from defenseless, equipping a newer version of the SMG with a silencer and an integrated VISR system that basically functions as glorified night-vision, but with the added bonus of outlining your adversaries in red. Also aiding you is the city’s integrated AI, the Superintendent, that while not overly intelligent will assist you by illuminating billboards and road signs with caution messages if enemies are detected in your vicinity. It gives you an edge in battle, but not so much that you can go charging into any fight recklessly, especially on legendary. I’m not afraid to admit that I got my ass handed to me on several occassions, but you’ll fare much better if you team up with three other players to tackle the campaign mode on Xbox Live. How do these extra teammates factor into the story? Uh, well, they don’t. They’re just sort of there. It’s a minor gripe, but a gripe nonetheless and while co-op is an absolute blast, it does detract from the Rookie’s levels a bit, removing some of the tension of scouring the scarred landscape on your own.
Speaking of which, the multiplayer is as smooth as you’d expect, and even amidst all of the chaotic gunplay of the daytime missions it stays silky smooth with only the occasional hiccup. Another welcome addition is the expansion of call signs to four characters, making for some slightly more descriptive names when identifying your friends on the map. Another advantage of the VISR system is an in-game map you can pull-up to get your bearings as you search for clues. Be careful though, as it’s a real-time system meaning you’ll have to choose when to use it wisely unless you just really enjoy pissing off your teammates as you try to find the nearest Starbucks in New Mombasa while knee-deep in a Brute assault. All in all you can expect anywhere from six to eight hours of campaign to tear through depending on your difficulty level and how many friends you’ve got willing to join up with you.
After you’ve dusted yourself off from beating the campaign, there’s still more fun to be had with the new Firefight mode. This is essentiall Horde mode from Gears of War, where you choose a map and wave after wave of enemies mobilize against you in rounds where your goal is to endure amidst a pool of shared lives between you and your friends. As each round ends more and more powerful enemies will appear and you get some extra lives between rounds. I didn’t find it quite as punishing as Gears, but it sure is a lot of fun and is a welcome addition in a game that many feel should have been offered as a downloadable expansion.
While some might scoff at the meager campaign and the inclusion of a Halo 3 multiplayer disc that essentially has everything on it that we’ve already bought (save for 3 maps), ODST does have some redeeming qualities about it. For instance, the Halo 3 engine has been pushed to its limits, providing more vivid landscapes and a slightly higher level of polish. The environments mostly remain varied, keeping encounters fresh with the Rookie’s levels serving as a nice breather. The soundtrack is acceptable, hitting all the right notes (Jeez, I gotta quit with these puns) and adapting appropriately to each conflict. While ODST is very sharp visually, the character faces are so fugly you just wish they’d leave their helmets on the whole game. It’d be forgivable if the voice acting held up,but alas, Firefly‘s Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin come off like they’re phoning it in.
Halo 3: ODST isn’t a bad game but nor is it exceptional. The Live experience is as solid as its ever been and while they tried a few new things, one can’t help but get the impression that straying too far from the established formula might impact sales. In the end, if you’re a Halo fan you won’t be disappointed, save for the price. If you’re not a fan of the series, this entry likely won’t win you over and if you’re just curious, save your money and try cutting your teeth on Halo 3 before diving into ODST.
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