Game Review: Halo 3: ODST
Luke Earhart
September 25, 2009
Filed under A & E
Originally thought of as a side project between Halo 3 and Halo Reach, Halo 3: ODST was eventually constructed to be its own game. Taking place during the events of the second Halo game, you play as one of the new ODSTs (Orbital Drop Ship Troopers) named Rookie. All major characters in the game are also new, including your other fellow Troopers. Buck, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo make up the versatile cast in ODST, each with their own unique personalities and skills. Does this game live up to its partial stealth gameplay, or is it just another Rambo-like charge from start to finish?
The Rookie and his teammates are dropped into New Mombasa right after Master Chief leaves with the Covenant ship. The explosion from the teleported ship pushed almost all of the troopers off course, especially the Rookie, who was knocked unconscious for pretty much the whole fight. You awake at night and burst out of your pod, wondering where everyone is. It’s up to you to make your way through the Covenant-infested streets to find your missing squadron.
Your adventure starts with an introduction to gameplay, the regular Halo controls except for one new feature. Since there are no deployables like the bubble-shield from the third game, the X button now activates a second visor mode. This aptly named VISR amplifies the light sources around you, outlines enemies in red, and outlines friendlies in green. This VISR really helps in the dark streets of Mombasa, but only use it during the day if you want to blind yourself. Other than that, the controls are still exactly the same.
This time around you aren’t a seemingly invincible “Spartan” super soldier. You are constantly reminded of this by your low health. First is Stamina, after that runs out, then it’s your health bar. Health doesn’t regenerate either; you have to find health packs scattered throughout the stages. The reason for this is to somewhat force you to sneak around the hordes of enemies, and to conserve your ammo.
The campaign mode is shorter than Halo 3’s but makes up for it with an actual unexpected plot twist. To advance through the story you must track beacons as The Rookie, giving you a “flashback” moment as to how that beacon came to be. For example, you find a bent sniper rifle at one point, and the flashback shows that it was a gravity hammer that bent it. During these flashbacks, you play as one of your teammates in a usually intense battle, these missions are pretty fun, but some are too long while others too short.
To spruce up your adventure, ODST includes some relatively well known sci-fi actors to voice your fellow troopers. Most of these actors are from the cult-classic Firefly, including Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk as the squad pilot (something that I found funny seeing as that he was the pilot in Firefly). Another quasi-famous actor is Tricia Helfer, who was apparently on America’s Next Top Model and some other sci-fi shows.
The new multiplayer mode is called Firefight. It is essentially like Horde mode from Gears of War 2, except for its first-person point-of-view. You and up to three friends take on wave after wave of Covenant forces. This mode can be seriously hard because that many enemies can really deplete your health and ammo. Your team also shares lives in this mode, leading towards a cooperative and protective gameplay style that Bungie (the developer) was aiming for. My only gripe with this mode is that it lacks matchmaking, meaning that you must have friends who are going to play it with you, or find a party that wants to do it.
The second disk of Halo 3: ODST (that’s right, two disks) contains the entire Halo 3 multiplayer experience. This is one of the best deals of the game for the sole reason that it contains all three of the DLC (Downloaded Content) Map Packs from the last game. The good part about that is that it saves you around $30. Still, tens of thousands of people play the multiplayer in Halo 3, so you’ll never be short of games to play.
All in all, this game is only a good deal if you haven’t bought the map packs yet. It you have, give this one a rent. The campaign can be done in 5 to 6 hours. It is a great deal for what it’s worth (again, if you haven’t got the DLC), and the fun of Firefight doesn’t seem like it would run out to quickly. In today’s economy though, be wary of what games you spend money on, and if they’re worth it in the long run, $60 just seems like a bit too much of a reach for this one.
