It’s been about two years since Halo 3 came out and since then Halo fans have been waiting for a new installment in the franchise. Halo Wars came out but lacked the traditional gameplay instead focusing on an RTS scheme. But now Halo 3: ODST has come out and it is everything that Halo fans have been waiting for.
ODST comes with two discs; on the first one is the campaign mode and the brand new firefight mode. The campaign follows a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST’s) scattered in New Mombasa during the Covenant invasion just before Halo 3 begins. You are a nameless, faceless rookie who is attempting to figure out what happened to the squad and try to regroup. Along the way you will come across beacons where other ODST’s have been and you will find an object that will trigger a “flashback” of sorts (it is a flashback of the memories of the other ODST’s not you) then you will play as that trooper so you play as most of the squad at one point or another.
The gameplay is varied and is slightly different than Halo 1,2, and 3 because you are no longer the Master Chief. You will have to be a little more strategic and killing enemies is harder. You don’t jump as high or run as fast and this adds a terrific element to the game, it reinforces the character change. You can still board enemy vehicles and carry turrets so it keeps the popular features while adding some new weapons and equipment. You will initially have a scoped and silenced SMG and a pistol that is similar to the Halo1 pistol with the zoom mode. All of the familiar covenant weaponry is there too so Halo fans will be at home with the weaponry.
The game also features a new Visor mode that outlines enemies in red and allies in green, it also shows key locales and acts as night vision. But this does have a downside; the goggles make it hard to see if you are playing a level during the day. The “X” button toggles the goggles on and off. There are health pickups like the other games and most of the gameplay and features are the same. You will drive a variety of vehicles and fire a variety of weapons. There are weapons caches throughout the map that will show up on your map.
The game’s campaign is good but a lot of the replay value will come from the new firefight mode. This mode allows you and three friends to battle waves of covenant foes ala Horde mode in Gears 2. You get points for destroying enemies and enemy vehicles, you are given 7 lives and if you pass a wave you get an additional life. You can play this mode online or local however if you want to play online there is no matchmaking so you need to invite friends to a game and this is disappointing. The mode is great and challenging, classic Halo fun.
The second disc includes Halo 3 multiplayer modes, matchmaking, custom games, and forge mode. The disc comes with all map packs including the Mythic map pack and this allows the player to play any multiplayer game. The game is basically Halo 3 without the campaign mode. This is good for someone like me who never got around to downloading the map packs and couldn’t play certain game types.
The game is a great addition to the Halo franchise and hopefully Halo: Reach will be like this. With a fun single player campaign and awesome multiplayer modes this game is a must have for any Halo fan. I would highly recommend.
Gameplay: 10
Story: 9
Replay Value: 10
Graphics: 9
Overall: 9.5
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