Review: Halo 3 ODST [360]
SabreSeed, 27-Sep-09 » 
Halo3: ODST. Welcome to Bungie’s latest instalment to the universe that is Halo.
No more Master Chief: SPARTAN - II John -117, you are an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) A voluntary force of specially trained marines who go into conflicts and situations considered too risky or too difficult to handle for the average trooper.
I’m dropping at over 1000kp/h and you want me to do what?
Set in the timeline of Halo2, from the get go you start out in the eyes of “The Rookie” the first and main of five playable characters you experience the campaign as. Straight out you meet your fellow playable squad members: Buck, Dutch, Romeo, Mickey, who are headed up by an NPC (non playable character) ONI: Office of Naval Intelligence agent call signed: Dare.
Concept art of ODST
Following a good few minutes of cut scenes, you start play in the African port city New Mombasa. You notice, it’s dark, you move a bit slower, and you can’t jump as high, you’re closer to the ground, grenades don’t float through the air as far. Finally confronting some enemies you notice, you can’t just power around and go like a machine. Halo has suddenly changed slightly.
Overall, the game feels reminiscent of the first title Halo: Combat Evolved.
Forcing the player back to single wilding is a nice play as one way to show that you’re not as dextrous as your previous main character. Also noticed with single wielding, is a few changes in armament most noticeably is the M7 submachine gun and M6 magnum both are silenced and both contain variants of zoom sights, and the magnum feels like it once again has a punch. One noticeably removed weapon however is the BR55 Battle Rifle which was introduced in Halo2. However the Magnum with a 4x zoom does help make up for it.
Silenced Magnum against a heavily armoured hunter, what could go wrong?
Unlike the Master Chief, you no longer have a personal shield, instead you have an amount of stamina which acts similar, but can not take the amount of beating. Loss of stamina goes back to a health system, forcing the player to go looking for Health-packs to replenish your then loss of health, giving a different edge of tension. The radar/motion tracker no longer exists. Instead ODST are equipped in their helmets with a technology noted as VISR mode. A style of night vision that differentiates between friendly, enemy, important interest points by drawing a coloured outline around the character/object.
The VISR also has included a Database mode, which includes a map overview, showing the location of your next objective and if enemies are in range of roughly 20-30 meters, the game will display diamond locaters of their positions. Be warned, the game will keep progressing even if you are in the Database, and if you haven’t made sure the surrounding area is clear, you can still be killed.
Three grunts, one brute… is that all you got?
When it comes to enemies, the game feels quite off in places. Fighting ‘squads’ of four/eight enemies gives a very odd impression to Halo as players are used to mostly wave and wave of covenant forces. Place the game up on Heroic or Legendary and later on you start to see that even those small cells start to really get a pain in the you know where.
At times though the AI has its moments, enemies trying to run up walls, or just looking at you without reacting as you pummel round after round into them, only to react as they’re just off being about to die.
Puny human go squish!
Multiplayer adds the anticipated co-op mode Firefight (better known as Survival or Horde). Up-to four players can get together in this mode, where you have three rounds, each split up into five individual waves of Covenant forces charging in on you. The game does adjust the amount of enemies you will play against depending on your team size and difficulty setting so it is highly recommend, grab three of your mates or fellow gamers and hammer through wave of wave of those Covenant badies. Firefight can be played using all 6 main story characters, plus to those who pre-ordered Sgt Mjr. Johnson.
Some red versus blue action on xbox live anyone?
Also for those who have never played it, don’t have a copy for multiplayer or are missing the expansion content from the live marketplace, included with ODST is the standalone Halo3 Multiplayer Complete. Once you’re done with the Campaign, finished the Firefight, feel like more Halo and want to take on the masses, whack in that disk and enjoy some great fragging.
Halo3: ODST is available from the RRP of $99.95 or better at most gaming retailers.
Halo3: ODST. Welcome to Bungie’s latest instalment to the universe that is Halo.
No more Master Chief: SPARTAN - II John -117, you are an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) A voluntary force of specially trained marines who go into conflicts and situations considered too risky or too difficult to handle for the average trooper.
I’m dropping at over 1000kp/h and you want me to do what?
Set in the timeline of Halo2, from the get go you start out in the eyes of “The Rookie” the first and main of five playable characters you experience the campaign as. Straight out you meet your fellow playable squad members: Buck, Dutch, Romeo, Mickey, who are headed up by an NPC (non playable character) ONI: Office of Naval Intelligence agent call signed: Dare.
Concept art of ODST
Following a good few minutes of cut scenes, you start play in the African port city New Mombasa. You notice, it’s dark, you move a bit slower, and you can’t jump as high, you’re closer to the ground, grenades don’t float through the air as far. Finally confronting some enemies you notice, you can’t just power around and go like a machine. Halo has suddenly changed slightly.
Overall, the game feels reminiscent of the first title Halo: Combat Evolved.
Forcing the player back to single wilding is a nice play as one way to show that you’re not as dextrous as your previous main character. Also noticed with single wielding, is a few changes in armament most noticeably is the M7 submachine gun and M6 magnum both are silenced and both contain variants of zoom sights, and the magnum feels like it once again has a punch. One noticeably removed weapon however is the BR55 Battle Rifle which was introduced in Halo2. However the Magnum with a 4x zoom does help make up for it.
Silenced Magnum against a heavily armoured hunter, what could go wrong?
Unlike the Master Chief, you no longer have a personal shield, instead you have an amount of stamina which acts similar, but can not take the amount of beating. Loss of stamina goes back to a health system, forcing the player to go looking for Health-packs to replenish your then loss of health, giving a different edge of tension. The radar/motion tracker no longer exists. Instead ODST are equipped in their helmets with a technology noted as VISR mode. A style of night vision that differentiates between friendly, enemy, important interest points by drawing a coloured outline around the character/object.
The VISR also has included a Database mode, which includes a map overview, showing the location of your next objective and if enemies are in range of roughly 20-30 meters, the game will display diamond locaters of their positions. Be warned, the game will keep progressing even if you are in the Database, and if you haven’t made sure the surrounding area is clear, you can still be killed.
Three grunts, one brute… is that all you got?
When it comes to enemies, the game feels quite off in places. Fighting ‘squads’ of four/eight enemies gives a very odd impression to Halo as players are used to mostly wave and wave of covenant forces. Place the game up on Heroic or Legendary and later on you start to see that even those small cells start to really get a pain in the you know where.
At times though the AI has its moments, enemies trying to run up walls, or just looking at you without reacting as you pummel round after round into them, only to react as they’re just off being about to die.
Puny human go squish!
Multiplayer adds the anticipated co-op mode Firefight (better known as Survival or Horde). Up-to four players can get together in this mode, where you have three rounds, each split up into five individual waves of Covenant forces charging in on you. The game does adjust the amount of enemies you will play against depending on your team size and difficulty setting so it is highly recommend, grab three of your mates or fellow gamers and hammer through wave of wave of those Covenant badies. Firefight can be played using all 6 main story characters, plus to those who pre-ordered Sgt Mjr. Johnson.
Some red versus blue action on xbox live anyone?
Also for those who have never played it, don’t have a copy for multiplayer or are missing the expansion content from the live marketplace, included with ODST is the standalone Halo3 Multiplayer Complete. Once you’re done with the Campaign, finished the Firefight, feel like more Halo and want to take on the masses, whack in that disk and enjoy some great fragging.
Halo3: ODST is available from the RRP of $99.95 or better at most gaming retailers.
Related Articles
Image unavailable
Want more of the same? Check out these articles:
Want more of the same? Check out these articles:
| 28-Nov | Review: Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3 [PC] |
| 26-Nov | Review: Batman : Arkham City [PS3] |
| 23-Nov | Saints Row: The Third |
| 30-Aug | From Dust Review |
| 3-Aug | Review: Fear 3 [PC] |
Articles by Author
Want to read more of SabreSeed's articles? Check out these:
Article Stats
| Category: | Game Reviews |
| Posted: | 27-Sep-09 9:00:21 pm |
| Author: | SabreSeed |