Halo 3: ODST Review

Since this is the first game review I've posted, I feel an explanation is in order. I am not one to run out and buy a game at launch. I have done in the past, but I generally don't. The two main reasons for this are: 1) I like to take my time with a game and wont buy another while I have one on the go. I refuse to diminish my enjoyment of a good game just to keep up with the release schedule. 2) In general, the older a game is, the cheaper it is. Since there are still many great games I haven't played, I have plenty to keep me entertained while I wait for the new releases to drop in price.
So this is why I give you this Halo 3: ODST review now and not several months ago. Enjoy.

For the uninitiated: The year is 2553 and the human race is in the middle of having their shit ruined by a bunch of alien scientologists known as The Covenant. This menagerie of religious extremists is made up of several different alien species with devotees numbering in the tens of billions (I assume). The Covenant worship a once great, but now absent group of beings they call The Forerunners. They gallivant around the universe scavenging Forerunner artefacts and ruins with the kind of blind determination only religion can provide. For some reason, the Covenant hierarchs decided that the human race was unworthy of joining The Covenant and that it would be better for everyone if every last human was slaughtered. Most of the human race thought a bit more of themselves than that and put up a fight. Thus, the largest war this galaxy has ever seen rages on.^{+Yes. Even larger than World War II}

Set during the events of Halo 2, ODST sees you shrug off the MJOLNIR armor of the Master Chief and strap on the boots of a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. These squads of elite soldiers are to the general infantry what the S.W.A.T. are to the police. When things get too hot for the GIs, the ODST will be deployed from orbit, each in a one-man pod (See: missile), armed and eager like care packages from Heaven dropping feet first into Hell. Hence the nickname "Helljumpers".

You and a swag of your ODST brethren are called upon to assault a Covy cruiser hovering over the South African city of New Mombasa. But as you're enjoying the gut wrenching terror of the most hazardous from of transport known to man, the cruiser makes a slip space jump and the ensuing blast wave devastates the city and scatters your inbound squad like a firecracker in a bowl of Skittles.

After you come to from your involuntary nap, you find yourself alone in New Mombasa which is deserted but for the roving patrols of Covenant infantry. It's now up to you to make your way through the city and discover what has become of your squad mates.

This "Rookie" portion serves as an overworld of sorts. Markers indicate locations of interest where you will discover artifacts related to the fate of your comrades. Each time you discover one of these objects, a kind of sub level is triggered where you swap heads with one of your missing squad mates and play through a flashback mission; each shedding more light on what went down while you were snoozing. While there's still plenty of combat to be had as the rookie on the Covenant occupied streets of New Mombasa, the most interesting and exciting gameplay comes from the flashbacks. In these sections, you will find the typical (because it works) range of Halo campaign activities. Including, but not limited to: Scorpion Tank Skirmish, Banshee Dog Fighting, Warthog Run Down and Spartan Laser Tag.

A perk of being an ODST is that your helmet comes equipped with VISR functionality. When activated, the Visual Intelligence System Reconnaissance Class or VISR enhances visibility in low-light environments as well as high-lighting the the silhouettes of objects and making your surroundings more discernible and easier to process. Better still, objects are colour coded. Enemies are outlined in red, friendlies in green, weapons and vehicles in blue, everything else is a neutral yellow. Since the rookie portion takes place at night, you'll want to have your VISR activated for almost the entire time as you skulk the streets, but be sure stop every so often and take in the unfiltered visuals. The dark, brooding atmosphere of a deserted New Mombasa deserves to be appreciated.

What really sells the atmosphere is the soundtrack by Bungie's resident music man, Marty O'Donnell. The backing music is quality all the way. It's fresh, yet it still has that distinct Halo flavour. If I had one music related complaint it would be that the contextual music for hostile encounters could have been synced a little better.

On the topic of visuals, I've read some reviews that have criticised ODST's graphics saying that they look "dated". Piss off. Anyone who deducts marks from this game for dated graphics has rocks in their head. I can, however, understand that not every one is a fan of the Halo aesthetic which side-steps photo realism in favour of chunky models and a muted palette of high saturation colours. It's a matter of taste after all.

Lighting, shadowing and particle effects all look fantastic. While the polygon count and frame rate where consistently fine, the textures did vary somewhat. For example, the resolution on the New Mombasa door control panel was a bit low, while the health packs were clear enough for you to read the instructions on them.

On the down side, we have the opening cinematic. The character's motions are so jerky and unnatural that it looks like they were animated by Michael J Fox. Subsequent cut scenes do see an improvement, but I can't say I was impressed. Another disappointment was the below average faces of the main characters. Buck and Dare are the only two characters modeled on their voice actors and while the resemblance is there, the result is underwhelming. Buck makes it across the line, but Dare is an unflattering rendition to say the least. The recipe for a likeable female video game character is simple; She must be hot and not annoying. It's not hard. Dare is unattractive and bitchy.

Which brings us to the cast. Halo: ODST boasts some pretty big names for a video game, including the boys from the ill-fated, geek-worshiped Firefly television series. Buck, Dutch and Mickey are played by Nathan Filion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk respectively. Joining them is Tricia Helfer as Dare and Nolan North as Romeo, which is a little odd considering Nolan is white and Romeo is black. Does that count as black-face? I think it does. The voice acting is great and as a Nathan Filion fan, I had a blast listening to his battlefield taunts and commentary. - "Bam! ...said the lady."

Oh, and the romance? Here's a tip: Since I don't have ovaries - like most Halo fans - I don't instantly care to hear about other peoples romantic relationships without at least knowing them first. You can tell me indirectly with a brief dialogue that two people are involved, but you can't make me give a shit as quickly.

Being a Spartan, the Master Chief sports a suit of the iconic MJOLNIR armor (Mark VI) which includes a regenerating energy shield. This time around, as and an ODST, you'll have no such luxury. So you may be wondering how this effects gameplay. The answer is: Very little. Instead of an energy shield, you have "stamina". If you cop a few rounds, find some cover and wait for your stamina to come good just like the MC's shield. What IS different is the return of health a la Halo: Combat Evolved. Your health is only depleted if you take damage while your stamina is exhausted. To patch yourself up, you'll need to keep an eye out for Optican health packs which will completely restore your health with a single application. You can find these handy cure-alls at Optican first aid stations at hundreds of convenient locations throughout New Mombasa. Optican: Health care on demand. As mentioned before, if you look closely, you can even read the instructions on the front of the pack.
The combination of stamina and health works well enough but for the the incessant beeps of warning whenever you health is not completely full. When I'm searching for a health pack, I'm less concerned with improving my health than I am with silencing that Goddamn beeping.^{+It's like being that parent at the supermarket trying to ignore their begging child. They've stopped saying no because the child wont take it for an answer and just keeps whining. Seriously, I don't know why they don't have childcare facilities out the front of supermarkets.}

Pretty much every other aspect of the gameplay is as it was in Halo 3. Being a mere ODST does not inhibit your ability to carry turrets, operate alien weapons and vehicles or even use the spartan laser. In fact, with the addition of the VISR, you're better off as an OSDT. Supposedly you can't take as many hits as a Spartan can, but having only played on legendary difficulty, I can't say I've noticed.

Almost all of the vehicles, weapons, and equipment from Halo 3 are at your disposal and we even have two new weapons in our Halo toolbox: The M7S sub-machine gun and the M6S Magnum. The M7S is a silenced version of the Halo 3's sub-machine gun with a 2x scope and the M6S is a silenced version of the standard magnum that comes equipped with a 4x scope. Both of these weapons are stepping in for their non-silenced counter parts. I also saw a free standing gauss turret that I don't recall seeing in Halo 3. As for enemies, you'll have to contend with the same creeps from the previous installment. Since Halo ODST was set during the events of Halo 2, I had hoped to come up against some elites. No such luck. According to Bungie, the timeline didn't quite allow for this.

Pro-tip: One of my favourite tricks - which I'm sure is old news by now - is to give one of the npc allies a high powered weapon once it's down to its last round. Since npcs never run out of ammo, they can blast covies on your behalf until the cows come home. If you're driving a warthog and you have a rocket launcher or fuel rod gun, give it to the npc riding shotgun. Add a rear gunner and your going to do some damage.

Similar to the horde mode found in Gears of War 2, Firefight sees you and up to 3 mates fending of endless waves of enemies, desperately fighting to delay your inevitable demise. The hectic battles take place on various maps, each taken straight from the campaign. 5 waves of enemies comprise a round and there are 3 rounds to a set. After each round your weapons and health cache is replenished and at the end of each set there is a "bonus round" where you have the opportunity to add to your pool of lives. This pool is depleted every time you or one of your buddies respawns. I've only played Firefight with one other person (Skitta), but even with just the two of us, it's a hoot 'n a half. Campaign scoring is in effect and you can earn medals for kill streaks and the like. It really does feel like campaign has invaded multiplayer.

It is also worth mentioning that the saved films functionality seen in Halo 3 is present for all modes of play in ODST. For those unfamiliar with saved films: They are basically a recording of everything that is taking place in the game on a data level. Rather than simply watching a video clip of a game from a single perspective, saved films allow the recreation of the entire scene, enabling you to view past events from any angle you fancy. Playback can of course be slowed down or sped up. It's interesting to see a past match from another players perspective and it's a great way to pick up some useful strategies from the match winners.
Halo multiplayer could still use a Call of Duty style death cam. Halo Reach would do well to include this.

Bundled with the ODST campaign is a Halo 3 Multiplayer disc which contains the "entire Hale 3 multiplayer experience". This is no exaggeration. Simply whack this disc in your 360 and you're away. (Provided you have an XboxLive Gold membership, of course.) This is not a map pack. You don't need Halo 3. They have simply taken Halo 3, removed the campaign and included every Halo 3 multiplayer map ever. You can't - as I had initially thought - copy maps from the disc onto a friend's console like you could with the Halo 2 map pack. This is a little disappointing, but understandable.
The value four money here varies depending on how much you have already forked out for the multiplayer maps and whether or not you even have Halo 3. I've heard many people complain that the game is "just an expansion pack and not worth the cost of a complete game". These people are retarded and should be forced to play the Sega Saturn until they realise just how good they have it. (Sorry, Phats.) When it comes to electronics/consoles/games/technology; remember: If it costs too much, wait a few months. In fact, many games will drop in price much sooner than that.
Oh, and if you needed another reason to pick up ODST: You will need to a copy in order to access the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta due in the first half of 2010.

If you like playing first person shooters on the Xbox, I highly recommend this game. I'm giving Halo 3: ODST a score of 4 dead zebras out of 5.