Halo 3: ODST Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

When you think of Halo the first thing that pops into your head is Master Chief, the tough-as-nails lead character that single handedly fights back the covenant while saying as little as possible. So when you load up Halo 3: ODST and start out playing the campaign as a no name ODST soldier you might find yourself a tiny bit disappointed. Don't worry though, Bungie has something special in store for those that persevere...

Before we get into the game itself a quick recap for those of you who don't live and breathe Halo news to give you an idea as to where ODST comes from: just over a year ago Bungie broke the news that they were developing a Halo side project to sit between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo: Reach. It was initially going to be sold at a knock down price and was more a labour of love that would serve to fill in the gaps between Halo 2 and 3. Fast forward to the present day and ODST has taken on a whole lot more meat to its bones with Bungie's take on the Gears of War Horde Mode, known as Firefight, and a second disk packed to the brim with Halo 3's multiplayer maps (with three of them being new maps).

The main mode of ODST is the campaign which is similar to Halo 3 in that you can jump into it with a couple of friends or take it on by your lonesome self. This is probably where ODST's first little surprise pops up with the realisation that ODST is best experienced by yourself first and foremost. This allows you to truly appreciate the ambience created by the night time setting, backed by a moody soundtrack, as you try to locate your ODST squad that are scattered across the desolate and defeated streets of New Mombasa after the Covenant attack and occupation. Walking through empty streets trying to avoid combat is the exact opposite of all the Halo games before ODST, so it takes a bit of getting used to as you realise that the rookie and his ODST squadmates don't have the same ability as Master Chief to suck up bullets like some sort of bullet sponge. Instead they have a tiny bit of stamina that acts like a shield and once that's depleted their health will drop so fast you'll be dead before you know it. So whereas you could run head first into danger as Master Chief, here you'll find yourself creeping past grunts and brutes trying to conserve your ammo.

It's not all walking in damp and dark streets though, because as you make your way through New Mombasa you come across various items in the game that trigger flashback scenes that show you what happened to your fellow ODSTs. It's a rather clever storytelling mechanic that shows some ingenuity on Bungie's part. Not all the missions are winners though with a few being over rather quickly and not really hitting the highs we've gotten accustomed to with Bungie's previous efforts. Thankfully the final few missions see ODST getting comfortable with itself and giving you some epic battles that will please all Halo fans. Another clever feature Bungie has included in the campaign is the character of the Superintendent, the AI that controls New Mombasa's systems and helps you to discover audio logs which are scattered throughout the city. The Superintendent does this through subtle environment changes such as changing electronic signs or setting off car alarms to guide you to the nearest audio log, which in turn provides details on a side story.

The campaign can be over in only 4-5 hours if you're playing through on the easier difficulties so it was of real importance that Bungie give us something else of substance, and with Firefight, I think they've managed to create a Halo mode that will see countless hours wasted. It's simple really, take Gears' Horde mode, add a bit of Halo spin to it and season it with skull modifiers before serving it to gamers. You and up to 3 other friends can hop into Firefight and take on waves of enemies with a common pool of lives and scant ammo. It's the perfect time waster if you've played the campaign to death and you need a break from Halo's matchmaking modes with some sessions of Firefight going up to 3 hours on the higher difficulties.

One of ODST's most pleasing aspects is the great soundtrack you get to hear, with a suitably Blade Runner-esque selection of tracks playing throughout the game. It's rather good to hear a saxophone solo in a Halo game as you're walking in New Mombasa's streets with the rain pouring down. Graphically ODST manages to add a few licks of paint to the old Halo engine although it's definitely not the best looking title out at the moment.

So is ODST worth a purchase? That's going to depend on how much of a Halo fan you are. If you're a die hard fan of Halo then you'll get this regardless of what anyone will say but don't expect ODST to be similar to previous Halo games. Master Chief is nowhere to be seen here and the ODSTs are weaklings in comparison. For those of you who are looking for a FPS game to tide you over till Modern Warfare 2 hits in November then you might want to go for it. You're getting a fun campaign, a great long-lasting multiplayer mode in Firefight and every single Halo 3 multiplayer map that's come out all for the price of a single game. On the other hand you'll find nothing new or particularly great in ODST's campaign other than the setting and storytelling mechanic. One statistic I'll give you to help make your decision is the fact that at the point of writing this review I've played around 2366 games of Halo online and enjoyed every minute of it. Now that's something that's definitely worth every penny in my books!

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