There are some games that transcend the industry. The 80’s had Mario. The 90’s had Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. In the turn of the century, we got Halo. A game does not have to be the best on the market, or even the best in its genre, it just has to change the way people think and act about gaming. To say Halo reshifted the landscape of gaming in the past decade is an understatement. People miss work for Halo. People don’t sleep for Halo. Whenever any new Halo IP comes out it is like Carnivale for gamers. Halo 3: ODST dropped on us last week and made quite a dent in both the sales market as well as the Xbox Live charts. Is ODST an overpriced expansion or a standalone giant we will all be playing until Halo: Reach shows up?
Halo 3: ODST is not a new storyline but a tangential direction from the events during Halo 2. The Covenant have found Earth looking for Forerunner artifacts and we are screwed. With only a few Spartans left spread thin throughout the war, everyday soldiers must step up and face impending doom. There is nothing everyday about the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Second to only Spartans in combat prowess, these are the best of the best and for the first time in the Halo series, you get to play with someone other than Master Chief. (I know about the Arbiter, but that’s like Jar Jar. I blocked it out.)
There is a 6-10 hour campaign based on who you ask. Fellow writers at Loot Ninja and I are going through again on Co-op on Heroic and have put in 4 hours and are only halfway through because we are exploring the city and finding all the audio books and weapon caches. You can steamroll through on normal with 4 friends in probably under 5 hours, but what is the point of that? I waited well over a year for this. I’m watching cutscenes and taking it all in. What you will notice right away is the need to get health packs. You do have stamina that recharges, but health does not. Your stamina, like armor, is not exactly that great either. Running and gunning will get you killed. This does change the landscape of playing Halo completely, and will take you awhile to get used to, but is for the better. This is one facet where the game does not feel like an expansion.
The mode everyone is playing is Firefight. The mode is not easy in the least bit. We played a 3 man team, on Normal, and could not get through the round. I beat every Halo game on Legendary both solo and Co-op and I was getting my ass handed to me. Weapons are sparse and health even more so; you must play as a team or die alone. The maps are varied enough where it is worth playing on them all and we can be assured that Bungie will be releasing at least one DLC for ODST. Maybe.
The multiplayer for the most part is unchanged. An added bonus is you now have ALL the maps from all the map packs. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get a game going with buddies to find out one guy did not download the latest map pack, cough cough, Matt. Now there is nothing holding you back from getting all the skulls on the new maps and hopefully those achievements you have been staring at for months wondering what the hell they mean. ODST has its own page at Bungie in your service record with new medals and stat packing for all modes. As with all Halo games, there is a ton to do here.
Now for the $64,000 question. Should you buy Halo 3:ODST? Let me answer it like this. Do you want to be the only kid at school without the coolest backpack? That is how I feel. Is 60 bucks a lot for a medium length campaign, a few new maps, and a new game mode that does not include matchmaking at the present time? I don’t think so. Halo 3: ODST is a well polished game with a great back-story and lot of fun to be had. Isn’t that what gaming is all about anyways? Whether playing through Co-op on Legendary or going for the high score on Firefight or wasting another entire day on multiplayer, Halo brings people together for good times. I can’t put a price on that.
Don’t hate the playa. I got all the maps now. No point in buying them a month and a half ago when I knew they would be included with ODST.
I only bought the map pack with forge so currently I don’t have any of the new ones. Makes me want to buy ODST but I don’t play Halo online…
It’s interesting to note that not one kid in my grade has purchased ODST. Most of them have all of the map packs and play MP exclusively. For the rest of us we’re saving our money for Forza 3 and MW2.
Just an overpriced piece of DLC. I Who cares about “having the coolest backpack” if that backpack is double the price it should be.
Terrible review.
Hah, that was a great review. Just because you don’t want the coolest backpack doesn’t mean the review sucks… And no way is this game a waste of money. I’ll get ton more gameplay out of it then any other 60 game comming out.
cuz u a nutsack chad
I have mixed feelings about ODST. I beat the campaign 3 times and played 10 firefight matches, and I feel like I’m done with the ODST disc. I know I will go back to it, but its not as addicting as Halo multiplayer is by a long shot.
i guess this is the best its gonna get on the 360 until holiday season. dont see any reason why you guys shouldnt pick it up.
yeah, halo is fun if you enjoy listening to prepubescent 13 year olds screaming “I ownt you” every time they get a kill” don’t get me wron, i loved halo 1 and 2, but 3 sucked ass. and don’t even get me started on the OVERPRICED EXPANSION called ODST. 60$ i could buy 3 chinese hookers with that money, oh yeah or a full sized game…end rant
o dear god my eyes hurt.
how can you possiable give this a 5/5
seriously that goes against all logic.
i i i i i cant think of where to start.
O i give up!
trying to knock some seance into you would be harder than convincing michael atkinson to allow a R18+ rating into australia for games.
well said m8, but they give a 5 for every hyped up game that isnt complete shit
Man let me tell you something it was way worth the 60 bucks to me, firefight is for when we get bored, and Halo 3 map packs is the main reason I bought it. Than I found out I get to play Halo Reach whenever it comes out. Awesome.
Trust me I could waste 60 bucks on something else but all that leads to is me waking up with a fcking headache.
f beer smoke blunts. lol