Review: Halo 3 ODST

The Halo games have been the flagship franchise for the Xbox family since the first Halo: Combat Evolved shipped way back in 2001. It has been synonymous with high quality production values, quality gameplay and outstanding multiplayer experience. Does Halo 3 ODST manage to live up to its lineage or does it make too many changes  and shake up the established formula too much?

The Story

Halo 3 ODST takes on a new story arc apart from the previous Halo titles as you are not playing as the almighty Master Chief. You are part of the ODSTs (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers), an elite squad of the UNSC, whose specialty is falling from orbit to the drop zone of any conflict in which they’re needed. Your 5 member squad begins their flight path over Earth at the point just before the slipsteam event over New Mombasa. As this takes place during Halo 2 in the Halo timeline, we’re actually going back in time to the point when the Covenant first find the Earth.

You start off the game playing as the Rookie, a non-visaged, non-vocal everyman waking up in New Mombasa after your squad was scattered across the city during a missdrop. Your job is to find everyone in your dropteam while taking out the Covenant scattered throughout the city. You’ll play as every member of your squad, who all have their own specializations, at least once as the story progresses from the viewpoint of the Rookie. He’ll find an old recon helmet, and then a flashback chapter begins showcasing one of your squadmates, the original owner of the helmet, and how they struggled through the city hours beforehand and how that helmet got to be stuck in a TV in someone’s apartment. It flows rather well and has a natural feel to it.

The night time is the right time for your Rookie in bombed out New Mombasa

Throughout the course of the game you’ll play as the Rookie during nighttime in New Mombasa, and that’s a good thing because the Rookie packs silenced weapons. It seems as though each member of your squad is in the right place at the right time too; the squad’s heavy weapons man lands in the middle of a vehicle battle, the sniper end up on the rooftop. It makes for some great gameplay and makes the best use of each character’s loadout.

The Gameplay

Halo 3 ODST is not your old man’s Halo. Gone are the recharging shields and dual-wielding weapons from past titles. This may be a letdown to some (especially the dual-wielding) and really changes what we’ve come to expect from a Halo game. What we’re given, especially playing from the Rookie’s standpoint, is a game where if you rush headlong into the battle, guns-a-blazing, balls to the wall… well… you’re done. Loading last checkpoint. You need to plan your route through the city a little better than just rushing into every situation. I’m the kind of guy who likes to clear out an area of bad guys before proceeding on to the next waypoint, but there were more than one instance in Halo 3 ODST where I realized that I was more than outgunned… I was outmatched. Sometimes you’ll save yourself a half an hour or more by picking your battles with a little more care. Don’t be afraid to skip past those two massive Hunters prowling the streets for you. Take the alley instead.

You ODST squadmates actually help you out... not like in previous Halo games

What replaces the shield system is stamina, your ability to withstand a couple of direct hits before your health bar starts depleting. So yes, you’ll be hunting for health packs throughout the game. Gone are the easy days of sitting behind a rock for 3 seconds while your shield regenerates. This all plays into the ‘stealthiness’ factor and ups the tension dramatically. The system works well, but makes you rethink the strategies that helped you in previous Halo titles.

Also on hand are two new weapons for your Rookie. The silenced SMG and silenced pistol. Silenced weapons are new to the Halo franchise, but these are a little more than cosmetic and add little to the experience. Isn’t the point of a silenced weapon to not alert other enemies in the area? You can snipe a Grunt with a headshot with the silenced pistol, but somehow all his buddies still come running and seem to know your exact position. It takes away from the stealth feeling that they’re going for. The silenced SMG sounds good and fires well in short bursts before recoiling up into the stratosphere, but the real winner here is the silenced pistol. It’s almost a headshot magnet. I have wiped out entire battalions of unshielded enemies with one shot from this gun. My brother was playing through the campaign and immediately ditched the pistol when he came across a Needler. I told him he was making a mistake, but he didn’t believe me until trying it for himself. It’s the one gun in this game that you should have in your inventory at all times, even if ammo is scarce.

Also new is the VISR, a heads up display for your helmet that outlines the environment for you in low light situations. Structures, secrets, enemies and weapons are all color coded and outlined to give you the best vantage. It works great when playing as the Rookie at night but try using it as the sun comes up and the entire screen becomes a washed out blur. Usually these daytime situations are the more dynamic, action packed chapters with little need to be a stealthbot, so there is balance to the VISR.

The VISR really helps you to not shoot your buddies

There is one new enemy in the game but I won’t give too much away. I will say that these guys lend a helping hand to any Covenant that are around, so it’s in your best interest to take them out first. Everything else is pretty much Halo as it’s always been… the gameplay and A.I. don’t seem to have had much of a facelift. That’s a testament to the well-crafted gameplay of the other titles, but you’d almost wish for that Grunt to jump out of your grenade’s way just a little differently this time.

Oh, one thing I’ll mention as an aside: you can’t use equipment like you could in Halo 3. Those Bubble Shields and Power Drains you relied on are gone. But the fun thing is that you can watch all your enemies use those tools against you. Dammit.

The Package

Halo 3 ODST comes with everything that you’ve come to expect as far as perks go. Forge, Theatre, File Sharing, it’s all there. The is a new mode outside of the campaign (which will run you around 8 hours if you don’t hunt around for the secrets… more on that later) is Firefight. Firefight won’t be anything new to you if you’ve played Horde mode in Gears Of War 2. It’s wave after wave of respawning enemies that get tougher as you go along. After each set a new skull (damage modifier) is introduced making it even more hard than the last round. Once the Catch Skull is activated (enemies throw more grenades) it’s like the Fourth Of  July. You can play Firefight locally with one person and over Xbox Live with up to four fellow ODSTers. Fun, fun, fun. But, with a caveat: you share your pool of lives with everyone else. That means if someone sucks and keeps dying, you’re all done. Also, a strange fact: there’s no online matchmaking. That means if you want to play Firefight online with a team, you better have them in your friends list (or your friend’s friends list). I have no idea why this is or the reasoning behind it. Either way, it’s still a blast with some matches lasting hours.

Firefight is great with a seasoned team of players

Another bonus is the inclusion of a second disk with the 21 multiplayer maps that have been released since Halo 3 came out 2 years ago. That’s the original 11, plus the 10 downloadable maps that been released since. While nOObs will enjoy getting the full package on one disc, those Halophiles out there who have downloaded everything already won’t find anything new in the multiplayer department. Not to take anything away from the Halo multiplayer experience: I’ve found it more rewarding getting schooled by 12 year olds from Alabama in Halo than destroying people in some other online games. But for those of you that have tired of the Halo multiplayer experience, you won’t even take the second disc out of the box.

Also, throughout the campaign in ODST you will come across audiologs of one girl’s attempt to escape New Mombasa after the Covenant turned it into a warzone. This metagame is a compelling, deep and well-told story, and well worth hunting around the city to complete. Plus, finding more and more audiologs opens up supply depots scattered throughout the city that offer advanced weapons not found lying about and even vehicles to make your journey a little quicker. The first time that a supply depot opened up and I found a Mongoose gassed up and ready to go was a little slice of heaven. Not to be overlooked.

P.S. Owning Halo 3 ODST opens up the Halo Reach multiplayer beta for you when it hits sometime next year…

The Spartan Laser manages to sneak its way early into the Halo timeline

The Bottom Line

The Halo universe has always been well crafted and Bungie and Microsoft have done well to cradle and nurture it the way they have. Although the Halo 3 engine is starting to show its age, ODST still looks and plays great in 1080p. Audio is still top notch, with great voicework from Nathan Fillion , Trisha Helfer, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk. An outstanding orchestral score complements not just the action sequences, but also reminds you of the fact that you’re a trooper stranded all alone in a hostile city behind enemy lines. While the multiplayer may be pretty much recycled from Halo 3, it’s still every bit as compelling for those who haven’t played it to death. Firefight is a mode that you can have fun with either by yourself or with friends and is a welcome addition to the entire package. All in all, Halo 3 ODST is a well told story from a new angle in the Halo universe. While purists may dislike some of the unconventional changes to the way a traditional Halo game is played, no one should pass up the chance to play what continues to be one of the premier action franchises on any console.

The Good

Intense action sequences combined with semi-stealth gameplay
Well told story with believable characters in a fleshed out world
Firefight Mode will suck away hours of your life
The silenced pistol!

The Bad

Recycled Halo 3 multiplayer
VISR display goes wonky for too long when taking damage
If you don’t have Xbox Live, you’ll be missing a lot
Where’s the Flood?

9.0 / 10