It's another Halo game, by Bungie, so you know it's going to be fun but the price tag is a bit high for what's offered.
THE GOOD
-Firefight is highly additive
-Same old solid Halo controls and weapons
-Beautiful visuals
-Nice voice work and soundtrack
THE BAD
-Campaign is short and uneventful
-Too much recycled Halo 3 stuff; not enough new material
-Probably should have been sold as DLC
OVERVIEW
Any Xbox fan knows what Halo is; a solid first person shooter series. We've grown to love the mysterious hero named Master Chief. Halo 3: ODST takes us back to the events of Halo 3 but you won't be playing as the famous Spartan, instead you play as a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). The rookie is apart of small group of ODST that are on a one-way mission to defend Earth's last hope; the city called New Mombasa. Right from the beginning, the ODST get scattered all throughout New Mombasa when a Covenant ship makes a jump to space and igniting a huge explosion. You're teammates, Buck, Dutch, Romeo, Mickey and Dare, landed a few hours earlier and have been fighting the Covenant. When the Rookie awakes, he has to try and piece together the clues that were left earlier in order to meet up with his friends. If the ODST can succeed in their mission it will be a huge win for the human population on Earth.
Before this game was released the previews made it seem like this story was going to be another epic Halo-style adventure. That and the ensemble cast of voice actors fueled the hype even more. Unfortunately, the story is short and rather unimpressive. The characters are some-what likeable but easily forgettable. However, I will say that Nathan Fillion's character, Buck, is quite entertaining.
GAMEPLAY
The game comes packaged with two discs; one for the campaign and Firefight mode and the other with Halo 3 multiplayer. Like I said previously, the campaign mode is way too short. It should take you about 5 hours to finish the game on the normal difficultly and only about 2-3 hours more if you play on legendary. When I completed the game on legendary, for the first time, I remember muttering to myself, "That's it?!?"
Halo 3 ODST has one extremely redeeming factor and that's in the new Firefight mode. You and three other friends can team up and take on wave after wave of Covenant forces. Firefight is one of the best "survival type" modes on the market. In my opinion, I think it's better than Gears of War 2's Horde mode and Left 4 Dead's Survival mode. There are plenty of stages to pick from which are memorable moments from the campaign. The waves start off easy but progressively get a lot tougher when the enemies get enhancements (via skulls) like the ability to throw more grenades and double health. Teamwork is key and since you share a certain number of respawns, the "one man Rambo" missions hurt the team more than help.
Bungie decided to stick with the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" in regards to the controls, weapons and other aspects of the gameplay. This is both good and bad. On the good side, Halo fans will find it really easy to pick up and play because the controls are the same from Halo 3; which rock by-the-way. Most of the weapons are familiar except for the addition of two new and quite effective weapons: the magnum (from Halo 1 with a scope) and silenced submachine gun (SMG). The bad side to this is that there is hardly any new material; which gives the purchaser a slight sense of feeling ripped-off. For sixty bucks you get a short campaign, intense firefight mode, and a recycled Halo 3 multiplayer disc. Now grant it you do get all the Halo DLC maps plus 3 new ones but let's face it, the people who are going to buy this game are hardcore fans of the series that probably already have these maps.
There is another noticeable different in the action which involves the way your shields regenerate. When you take hits your shields won't decrease right away unless you take too many consecutive hits in a short time period. If you do take on a barrage of strikes your health will decrease, however, when you go to take cover you're shields won't recharge fully. The ODST aren't as tough as the super soldier Master Chief which means that they need to find health packs. This new feature slightly changes around the way you play and actual makes the fighting slightly more realistic; which is a nice plus.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Halo 3: ODST is just as visual stunning as Halo 3. You'll really enjoy fighting your way through the city streets of New Mombasa. The character design is great and it's pretty cool that Bungie obtained the rights to use Nathan Fillion and Tricia Helfer's faces for the character models. The lip syncing may be a little off but that's the only grip with the visuals.
The sounds effects rock. Explosions, gun fire and screams of terror fill this action packed game. The music may not be as engaging as Halo 3 but it is still an excellent sound track in its own right. The voice acting is really impressive with a cast of notable Sci-Fi actors like Nathan Fillion, Tricia Helfer, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk.
CONCLUSION
Halo 3: ODST is another fun game for the Halo series. There is plenty of action to enjoy and the Firefight mode is highly addictive. Unfortunately, the short campaign and lack of new material makes it difficult to justify spending $60. If this game came out as DLC (with a DLC price) it would definitely be worth the money. There is no doubt that die-hard Halo fans will enjoy this game which is why I would recommend to them. For others new to the series, I would wait until this game comes down in price before purchasing.