Release Date: September 22, 2009
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios
Developer(s): Bungie
Genre(s): First-Person-Shooter

  ”Prepare to drop.” What an awesome slogan, eh? This game most certainly deserved it. It was, by far, my most enjoyed Halo single player experience. I honestly never thought I would like a Halo game more than I liked Halo 2, but here it is. There’s not a whole lot to say that’s different between it and Halo 3; but the few, really huge differences are what make it amazing.

  You start off as the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST), “The Rookie”. After being assigned a mission in orbit, you are sent down to earth. You end up crash landing somewhere in the city New Mombasa where the other ODST’s were assigned. Unfortunately, the landing knocked you out for a large enough amount of time for the other members to move ahead with their assignments and effectively leave you stranded. What a bummer, huh?

  That’s where the story differences really hit me. To find your lost squad mates, you must move through the city in search of clues and hints to give you an indication of what happened. This “Rookie” must be Batman in an ODST uniform because the amount of information he gains from one bent sniper rifle is amazing! After finding each hint and watching a little cutscene of you checking it out, the game puts you into the other ODST’s shoes. You have to run through the mission that lead them up to the point of leaving behind the evidence. This makes the story FAR more interesting to me than the original Halo’s, and gives the player a relationship with each solider. (My personal favorite being Dutch. “I’m paraphrasing, ya heathen!”)

  Weapons doing less damage, a lack of energy shields, smaller jumps are some of the things that change the actual gameplay from a regular Halo game. …Those, and an orange HUD. I personally love the HUD, but the orange color reminds me of F.E.A.R 2, and I never really liked the color very much. Weapons on Halo 3: ODST do a lot less damage. This makes sense for the melee weapons, but even the sniper rifle suffers from it! That doesn’t make much sense to me, honestly. Why would your firearm do less damage just because you weren’t as strong as a Spartan? It would make me pretty angry if the military had standard issue weapons and then it had “Insanely strong but still look the same” Spartan grade weapons. That being said, it’s not that big of a problem. You also get a really cool silenced SMG that you can SNIPE with, and the amazing pistol from Halo: Combat Evolved makes an appearance, also with a 2x scope and a silencer.

  It seems as though along with the weapons being weaker, Bungie also dumbed down the enemies for us too. Brutes are a pain to kill, as always, but enemies like hunters are almost a breeze to take out compared to what they once were. I can understand why Bungie would do this, of course, and I certainly can’t complain about it. It’s just one of those things that doesn’t really make sense to me. If you’re so weak as to actually turn down the weapon strength, why are the enemies weaker too?

  Your once never-ending energy shields have been replaced by “stamina”. Once your stamina runs out, it goes to a CE styled health system where your health actually drops and then you must go find a health pack or a health station. I thought this was pretty creative, and for a Halo game, quite realistic. I’ve never had this problem; but I could imagine it can be pretty frustrating to be in the middle of a firefight, lost health, then have to sprint to a health station only to be shot in the back once you’re almost there by some coward grunt. …Just sayin’.

  Online Deathmatch modes are…Well, exactly the same! ODST didn’t come with any new armor for Halo 3, new gametypes or a even a new weapon or two. It did, however, come with a second disc that had the original Halo 3’s online multiplayer on it, along with every map pack released. That sounds like a fair enough deal to me. I’m just not a huge fan of Halo 3’s online modes compared to games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

  ODST DID come with a new online game though. It’s exclusive to the ODST disc, and is absolutely the coolest multiplayer gametype I’ve seen from Halo. It’s called “Firefight”. What it is, is a never ending death match between you, your friends, and the Covenant. It has unlimited waves, it activates skulls as you progress, and you get to play as any of the ODST’s that you’ve unlocked in the single player. (You can also play as Sergeant Johnson if you pre-ordered the game. Which I think is…pretty sweet.) There’s not a whole lot to say about it beyond that. Those of you that played Horde mode in Gears of War 2 will recognize this kind of gameplay. If you liked Horde mode, you’ll like this. If you hated Horde mode…Well, you’re out of luck I guess because it’s pretty much the same thing. Sorry guys. Oh, and it IS designed with multiplayer in mind. I would most definitely not recommend going in by yourself and trying to fight off wave after wave of Covenant forces unless you feel like getting very frustrated very quickly.

  Graphics, voice acting, and the overall feel of the game are all very, very nice. Bungie, yet again, did a great job on making a beautiful game. Scenery is dark, but gorgeous and fun to explore at the same time. You do have to be careful though, it is easy to get lost in the city if you don’t use your map often. Some of the AI’s faces in the cutscenes aren’t rendered very well, and there are some buggy movements here and there; but none of it takes away from the experience at all. In my opinion, Halo 3 was a better looking game. It did, however, take almost five years to release.

  All of the voices in the game are crisp, clear, and there is enough funny dialogue to keep you entertained even if you’re bored with the missions. I’ve never liked the sounds and voices of the brutes, but they are done well nonetheless. Marines, as always, have funny dialogue and some hilarious easter eggs; and the ODST’s all have great senses of humor that will attract different people to each one. It’s rare that I see games with as great of voice acting as the Halo series. As critical as I may be of the storyline itself, the characters are always voiced well and have great personality. That’s an impressive feat considering the amount of enemies, marines, and other NPCs in the game.

  Is this “expansion pack” so to speak worth sixty dollars? That’s a pretty big maybe. I wouldn’t pay that much for it myself simply because the campaign is so short. I had beaten it from beginning to end in under 7 hours, and also grabbed a lot of achievements from it while I was at it. It would be worth it if you’re a die-hard Halo fan, even if you haven’t seen that much about this title because you won’t be disappointed, I promise. It’s a fun game with a well told story with a number of lovable, relatable characters that will draw you into the game and keep you going until the end. Even if that end is only six hours away.

Single Player Campaign: 7.8/10
Multiplayer (Firefight): 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Voice Acting: 9.5/10
Overall Value: 8.5/10