Halo 3: ODST Press Conference Demo Impressions

Today Microsoft demonstrated Halo: ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) for the first time, providing a glimpse of what this prequel to Halo 3 will offer. It's set just a few weeks before the events of Halo 3, and you play as a new character known only as "rookie" (sorry Master Chief fans). The sequence began from inside an orbital drop capsule, offering a beautiful view outside as it careened through the atmosphere on course to land on an enemy airship. However, a sudden attack threw the trooper's capsule violently off course, causing it to crash-land in the city of New Mombasa, far below.

With the rookie isolated from his squad, we watched as he fought through the dimly lit streets to reunite with the others. Thankfully, this provided us the opportunity to see some of the trooper's special abilities, such as night vision and sound-suppressed weapons, allowing him to kill quietly and stealthily. However, despite the new silenced weapons, this is still a Halo game, and nothing cemented this more than the confirmation that the fan-favorite pistol from the original Halo is back, though we have yet to see whether it's as overpowered as it was originally.

After turning a few corners, the rookie spotted a discarded detonator lying on the ground. Picking it up resulted in a quick flashback, showing the fate of the trooper who had dropped it. Flashbacks such as these are reportedly sprinkled throughout the campaign, offering clues about what exactly happened in New Mombasa.

A second sequence was then shown, this time occurring on a bridge. The sequence bore a strong resemblance to the bridge section in the second level of Halo 2, only this time it was being traversed on foot instead of in a tank. We watched as the shock troopers pushed forward across the bridge, blasting Banshees out of the sky as they planted charges on the bridge's main supports. With the charges in place, it was up to our favorite rookie to trigger the detonator, unleashing a wave of massive damage, leveling the bridge and concluding the demo.

Following the presentation, it was announced that Halo: ODST will include a new cooperative game mode called Firefight and will be released worldwide on September 22, 2009.