It may not be the huge step forward Halo 3 was, but there is enough to make this a superb game worth playing
In Halo 3: ODST, you don't play as the famous Spartan, Master Chief. You start game play as Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST. Your character is simply known as, The Rookie. Your mission is to attack a covenant ship, which is flying above Earth. As soon as you, and your squad drop, something goes wrong. You end up missing the ship completely, and landing in the covenant invaded city of New Mombasa.
Once you start playing, you'll quickly notice a few things that make this different the last couple of Halo games. For one, you no longer have a shield. You now have stamina which isn't as strong as the shields of the Spartan. Once your stamina goes down you start losing actual health, which you will then have to find med packs to restore. This is a lot like the original Halo. And that's not the only similarity it shares. The famous scope pistol makes a come back in new form. Along with a Silenced SMG, which is completely new.
Along with new weapons and health system, there is something completely new about the campaign that has yet to be done in a Halo game, and that is the way the story is presented. Once you land on New Mombasa, you find out that you've been passed out for six hours, and your team is no where to be found. Your main mission as The Rookie is to figure out what happened to your team, and find them. You do this by searching around the city and finding clues left by your squad. While your doing this, you'll get a feeling of loneliness as you search your through the city. This feeling is created by the look of the city, its completely dark. In fact, its so dark your have to use the new visor mode to see. This lets you see in the dark ruined city, and will put a glow around any enemy, teammate, or important objects. But the thing that makes the atmosphere feel so different from other Halo games, is the music. The Halo games have always had great music, but Halo 3: ODST tops them all. The standout songs are the ones played during the investigation sections while playing as The Rookie, it strongly gives you the feeling like you are alone, trying desperately to find your squad.
But investigating isn't the only thing you'll be doing. Every time you find a clue, you go hours into the past to play as whatever teammate left the clue behind. When you enter these sequences, you'll get the classic Halo feeling you know and love. Playing as the other members of your squad is intense, and exciting. As you play through these sequences, you'll start to unravel the mystery. These elements don't make this the best story in the Halo series, but for the way the story is told, this one tops the other Halo games.
One of the things that made Halo 3 so good, is that it was one of the first shooters that had four player cooperative, and it didn't feel like it was just thrown on. Halo 3: ODST's campaign can be played with four players cooperative, but it feels like it was just added on. In Halo 3 the other players got to play as different characters, when ODST has the other players playing as The Rookie at all times, even when he isn't in that part of the story. But there is one new cooperative mode that, for the most part, Bungie got right.
Probably the best new feature in this game is FireFight. This mode allows you to play as any ODST you have unlocked, in a cooperative mode that has you and up to three other people fighting against wave after wave of covenant. This may sound a lot like the Horde mode from Gears of War 2, but FireFight adds something to give it that Halo feel that makes it stand out from other "Horde modes". Each round has you fighting different covenant, and each set has you fighting the same covenant, but a bit stronger. But what makes Firefight different from other Horde modes, is that FireFight has skulls that turn on every set. The skulls add more difficulty to the game, for example one skull makes your enemies throw more grenades, and another makes it so enemy shields deflect bullets. The skulls make things more difficult, and more fun. It's also what makes FireFight the best new part of Halo.
But if cooperative modes aren't your thing, then disk 2 is for you. Disk 2 is the return of the classic Halo 3 multiplayer. It has every map, including all the maps released as DLC, plus three new maps. Halo 3's competitive multiplayer is still one of the best multiplayer shooters out there. But this is also the games greatest weakness, besides the fact that there is three new maps, there isn't anything new. There are the same game types, rules, and even the Forge mode and Theater return. Even the achievements you earn go towards Halo 3. But the multiplayer is still fun as ever. And the three new maps are great. So there is still great fun to be had here, just don't expect anything different from the same old Halo 3 multiplayer that people have been playing since 2007.
Halo 3: ODST is an superb game. The campaign may not have the best story, but its presentation is the best in the series, and is still fun to play through. FireFight is a great way to have some quick intense fun with your friends. And the multiplayer is as addictive as ever. Those strengths make it easy to overlook the slap on cooperative campaign, and the fact that there is nothing new about the competitive multiplayer. If you consider yourself a Halo fan, or enjoy first person shooters, its hard to go wrong with Halo 3: ODST.