The Halo title that fans of the series have been waiting almost 2 years for has recently dropped in the form of Halo 3: ODST. One should note, however, that the key phrase in the previous sentence is “fans of the series.” The fact of the matter is that if you consider yourself a big fan of the series, then chances are you already own ODST and are firefighting as Sgt. Johnson and/or own a Master Chief helmet. A dilemma does exist for the normal gamer, not-so-hardcore fans of the Halo series, and other gamers who feel like they they have to keep up on new releases in order to stay “relevant” or “educated.” If any of these describe your situation, then perhaps you weren’t waiting for this title to drop as intently as the others. So, the question is: should you get Halo 3: ODST?
ODST is laid out differently than the other three (FPS) Halo games and actually begins during the events of Halo 2. You begin playing as the rookie ODST (Orbit Drop Shock Trooper) who has crashed landed into the African city of New Mombosa. The majority of the time you spend playing as the Rookie consists of navigating your way through this hub world that Bungie has laid out for you in order to discover the whereabouts of your crew. I would actually describe these portions of the game as lonely, which I welcomed. This feeling of loneliness is further amplified by the improved soundtrack and the fact that the Rookie spends most of his time at night working his way through the city by him- or herself (with the exception of re-spawning brutes, grunts, and jackals).
In the same way that Super Mario 64 used paintings as a portal to different levels, ODST uses the clues that the rookie finds to send the player to prior events via flashback. During the flashback events (let’s be honest — they’re levels), the player assumes the role of other (uninteresting, cookie-cutter) team members during different times of the day (the whole game takes place over the course of a day) and in different areas of New Mombosa. In addition to these clues, various devices in the city contain audio logs (a’la Bioshock) that describe the events during the initial Covenant invasion of New Mombasa through the point of view of a girl named Sadie. This is a layer of story-telling that hasn’t been explored by a Halo title before.
The hub world does tend to get a bit old after awhile. Since it takes place in this futuristic mega-city, many “rooms” or street intersections do look like one another. After playing the 6-8 hour campaign, I never did get around to memorizing the city and always needed my map and compass to help me find my way.
The gameplay can best be described by discussing the differences between a Spartan (such as Master Chief) and an ODST. Unlike Spartans, ODSTs can’t dual-wield, don’t know how to make rockets home in on a target, and don’t have an overshield (thus making them much more susceptible to, you know, death). The usual argument someone would make here is by asking why one would want to play as an ODST if they can’t do as many things as a Spartan. Here, I would argue that it’s not really a matter of more versus less — it’s a matter of difference. Combined with the perks of being an ODST, these shortcomings do lend a different experience to the player since you’re not playing as an indestructible super-soldier like the Chief.
Because one has to be more careful as an ODST, you often have to be more strategic about how to take down a pack of Covenant. However, the addition of the new magnum and silenced SMG are nice when dealing with a large group of brutes and grunts. Instead of an overshield, you have to keep an eye on your ODST’s stamina, which is depleted very easily. After that, any damage incurred is permanent until you find a med pack. The idea of having to find med packs to stay in fighting shape and having a pistol you can snipe with is very reminiscent of Halo: CE (which, for me, was welcomed).
While playing as an ODST, you will notice that they have a different HUD than a Spartan. Pressing the X button activates the VISR, which allows the player to see better in the dark, spot enemies (outlined in red), friendlies (outlined in green), and usable weapons/vehicles (outlined in blue). I do wonder about the VISR and the hub world because most of the you play as the rookie take place at night. This forces you to keep your VISR activated almost all the time which may make you feel like you’re missing a lot of what Bungie wants you to experience when it comes to the environment they’ve created (think of playing Batman: Arkham Asylum with Detective Mode on the whole time).
The game is not without its technical problems, however. One problem for me came about in ODST’s auto-save function — specifically, in the fact that it doesn’t exist. I once lost 2-3 hours of gameplay because one of my buddies invited me to play multi-player with them. I thought that reaching a checkpoint implied that the game was saving. Much to my chagrin, I was mistaken. So, when playing ODST, it’s important to pause and hit “save and quit” when you want to save. Considering that we live in the year 2009, and things like Amazon Kindles and Blackberries exist, we shouldn’t have to pause our game, save and quit, be sent to the title screen, and resume our campaign just because we’re afraid of a short power glitch occurring. Including a save and continue option in the pause menu is the least they could have done.
A lot of the different things you’ll also notice lie in ODST’s multiplayer mode, Firefight. Unlike previous Halo games, the multiplayer is no longer PvP. In Firefight, a team of up to four ODSTs will be put up against an endless horde of Covenant. During different waves, different skulls will be activated which will make things harder on a player (such as enemies throwing more grenades and having to melee an enemy in order to regain your stamina). Unfortunately, there is no matchmaking for this mode, so you’ll have to rely on your own friends list in order to get a game going. When I had a group of four buddies playing Firefight, I found it to be very enjoyable.
ODST also comes with a second disc which contains all of the Halo 3 multiplayer maps and game types (so, you’ll be playing as Spartans and Elites). So, if you never ended up buying the map packs off of Xbox Live Marketplace, this may factor into your decision of whether or not you should buy this game. I, personally, would like to know if Bungie plans on making an add-on to ODST which will enable players to be pitted against one another in PvP multiplayer as ODSTs (especially with those pistols in mind — Hang ‘Em High, anybody?).
Though far from being the second coming of Christ on the 360, one should take a look at Halo 3: ODST for what it actually is — a solid, more-than-competent FPS. Fans of the Halo series (like myself) will absolutely eat it up. But if you just want to take a peek and be on your way, the $60 dollar price tag is a bit much. I think the sweet spot for this title lies in the $40-$50 range. So if you’re unsure as to whether or not you should buy this game or not, the fact that you’re unsure makes me think that you should wait. If you had $60 to spend on a game and really wanted ODST, then you would already be pistol-sniping around New Mombosa by now. Therefore, the question changes from “should you get ODST?” to “why don’t you already have ODST?” If the answer to the latter question has nothing to do with getting $60 together, then you should probably wait for the price drop anyway — either that or move on.
Editor’s Note: Although this review was written as unbiased as possible, the reader should keep in mind that Ryan Gan identifies himself as fan of the Halo series.
[Images courtesy of Bungie]
[Sgt. Johnson link via Joystiq]
[Hub world link via GiantBomb]
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