Halo 3: ODST Review
Written by Porshapwr Monday, 26 October 2009 11:42
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Halo. There are few other words within the gaming community that will elicit such a strong response. Halo is one of the few videogame franchises that will forever be held up as a classic - quite amazing considering its roots. Halo was originally intended to be a real-time strategy game for the Apple McIntosh in 1999. As game development progressed, it evolved into a first person shooter. Then in 2001, Microsoft was desperately hunting for exclusive franchises for their Xbox console that they would release later that year and bought developer Bungie. Bungie rushed to finish the game on Microsoft’s hardware and in November 2001, Halo released as a launch title exclusive for the Xbox.
An instant classic, Halo redefined what a console FPS could be. Unique physics, polished gameplay, intelligent A.I., a memorable soundtrack, and addicting multiplayer were all parts of what made the game successful along with the instantly recognizable hero; the Master Chief. Bungie followed Halo’s success with Halo 2 in 2004 and then completed the trilogy in 2007 on the Xbox 360 with Halo 3. To put into perspective just how popular the Halo franchise is, the Xbox is frequently called “The box that Halo built” and the Master Chief is commonly used as the mascot for the Xbox and Xbox 360. Sales figures for the series are mind blowing. The series has sold over 30 million units worldwide while Halo 3 set an entertainment record when it was released in 2007 – producing $170 million in revenue in the first 24 hours.
At E3 2009, Bungie officially announced that they are working on Halo: Reach which is presumably a prequel to the original Halo and will release in 2010. However, Bungie had also been working on creating a Halo game to fill the gap of time between Halo 3 and Halo Reach; enter Halo ODST. Halo ODST takes place during the time frame of Halo 2 and 3 but tells the story of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers mission rather than the Master Chief. The mission was originally planned as an assault drop on a Covenant ship but while dropping, the coordinates were changed sending the ODSTs crash landing in New Mombasa. As the rookie of the group you awake six hours after the crash alone in your pod. You now have to find your squad mates and piece together what happened.
Presentation
Upon first turning on ODST, you immediately get the sense that this is a more sombre chapter of the Halo franchise. The overlays and menu structure fall right in line with Halo 3s, but a darker tone and more mellow music set the mood. The darker tone is certainly apparent as soon as you begin to travel around New Mombasa. As the game is set in a specific time frame, your time spent in the city is solely at night and working in combination with the ODST visor, is constructed quite well.
Unique to the ODSTs are a secondary visor function on their helmets which will aid you during the night time. Enemies are outlined in red, friendly characters green, and weapons/pickups are highlighted as well. While it sounds rather trivial, it is of great assistance and adds a unique touch to the game.
The rest of the game features the same high level of polish players have come to expect from Bungie. Cinematic moments are all handled in real-time to maintain continuity throughout the journey, the soundtrack ebbs and flows as circumstances arise and checkpoints save automatically as you play. From the menu screen you can access a map of the city which will show you what roads are blocked, where the key pieces are that you have to recover, and where any garages may be where you can access ammo and weapons. You can also listen to any of the audio logs you’ve collected in case you missed something the first time.
There’s nothing here that’s revolutionary, but when you’re sharing your roots with the already solid Halo 3, there’s not much to fault either.
Presentation Score: 18
Graphics
Bungie created their own engine for Halo 3 and they utilize the same engine for ODST. There are some minor technical improvements compared to Halo 3 but for all sakes and purposes, the game looks very similar. While Halo 3 isn’t a graphical masterpiece, it’s no slouch either. Weapon and character detail are still very well done and enemy animations are exemplary as well. The environments you’ll travel to during the flashback sequences (we’ll get to that shortly) are well varied and relatively high in detail.
The standout of ODST is definitely the city of New Mombasa. Bungie did an excellent job of making the city feel as if it were ravaged by war and abandoned. While the structure of the city is mainly intact, you’ll find cars and busses crashed throughout, fires still ablaze, and general disorder throughout. You would imagine that roaming around a desolate city at night would prove to be quite eerie – ODST proves that theory to be correct. It’s this overall ambiance in the game setting that really sets the tone.
To further accent the setting, the lighting effects are stellar. Weapons such as the carbine and plasma rifle light up the air around you and incoming plasma grenades look like shooting stars through your visor. Incoming light sources also affect your visor view quite strongly. If you walk into a building that’s well lit, you’ll need to turn the visor off otherwise you’ll be essentially blinded. It’s a small touch, but one that certainly adds to the experience.
Overall there’s nothing here that will shock and awe you, but ODST is still a pretty game.
Graphics Score: 17
Sound
The soundtracks accompanying the Halo games have always been some of the most recognizable and well orchestrated in the industry. Sales figures of the soundtrack CDs speak for themselves and ODST is no exception. Quite simply, the soundtrack is amazing. The composers chose to go with a more personal, less sci-fi style of music for ODST, which suits the environment and storyline beautifully. While traveling through the city mellow overtones fill the air rising in intensity often when a battle breaks out. At key points during the various missions, specific tracks will play and they always seem to fit the situation remarkably well.
The remaining sound effects throughout ODST are shared with Halo 3. Fortunately they were done right the first time. Enemies will shout out your location, grunts will scream and yell as they run from you, and the weaponry sounds surprisingly sharp. There are even some unique touches for Halo fans that I found quite funny. For instance, a grunt stuck me with a grenade and when I died it yelled out “You’re not the Demon!” (“Demon” is a reference to Master Chief pointing out the fact that I wasn’t a super soldier).
The composers of the ODST score truly deserve a pat on the back and a beer. I can’t remember a more notable soundtrack in any recent game.
Sound Score: 20
Gameplay
As a game that started as an expansion for Halo 3, it should come as no surprise that the game plays almost identically to the game it shares its lineage with. Weapons, grenades, enemies, etc…. will all be familiar and if you’ve spent any time at all with Halo in the past, then you’ll feel right at home. Yet again, ODST is fortunate to share its roots with Halo 3 as the polished controls and excellent enemy A.I. benefit the game immediately.
The few changes present in ODST are a result of you no longer playing the role of the Chief. Rather, you’re a standard soldier now and as such, you lose some of the abilities that the Chief, and even Halo games are famous for. The first thing you’ll notice right away is your lack of health. The Chief could take quite a lot of damage and usually take on several enemies at once. That’s certainly not the case anymore as groups of enemies will make short work of you if you try to take them head on. The other key feature players will notice missing is the famous “Halo jump”. You’re merely a mortal white guy now – deal with it.
There are a few weapon changes in the game as well. Gone is the assault rifle. Rather now you carry the ODST standard issue silenced SMG. I found this gun rather useless as despite firing a lot of shots quickly, they are quite weak and the massive kickback makes the gun inaccurate. The second weapon change is the pistol, and what a change it is. Finally Halo 1 players have their pistol back. A pistol with zoom and the ability to pull off chained headshots is exactly what we’ve been asking for, for a long time now. It’s fantastic. Despite the remaining arsenal in ODST, I think I used the pistol more than any other weapon. The visor is the last change to the standard gameplay. When turned on, it acts almost as a dull night vision that will highlight notable items/enemies in the game. Given the scenery and setting of New Mombasa, it’s quite effective and a feature that further reminds you that you’re not the Chief.
Polish has always been critical to the success of any game and it’s an area where the Halo games have always shined. Fortunately, ODST is no different.
Gameplay Score: 19
Comments
The story was not 2 hours, Firefight is the best "horde" mode of all the games with the mode, and Halo 1 MP has been #1 for over 2 years running for a reason. :)
The lack of matchmaking for Firefight is a negative but it's about the only one. And honestly, it's a friend mode anyway so I didn't see it as that bad. I've never played Horde with random people but again, that's personal opinion.
Either way - to each their own.
Halo ODST really had no re playability...
Story: boring 2 hour story
Firefight: NO MATCHMAKING, Only fun with other people so you would have to wait for your friends to play and its not even that much fun... gets repetitive after an hour or so.
The multiplayer is the same unimpressive halo 3 multiplayer
The price $60
The price it deserves: $20
I felt like an idiot when i bought ODST seeing how big of a waste of money it was... i took it back the first day... and i had to wait in a line to take it back lol, there were like 50 people wanting their money back at the gamestop (LOL) so i got store credit and used it toward a much better game : Uncharted 2 (which is amazing)
Thats all that i feel about halo: ODST
(This is My Opinion, not a flame)
however, it's still a great game. it just didn't give me a reason to keep it in my xbox for more than 6 hours in my xbox for me to complete the single player.
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