![]() ![]() As the Rookie, you need to piece what has happened to your comrades and then complete the mission. You drop into New Mombasa and get split up. You have three guys in your squad (all voiced by Firefly actors, could Bungie be preparing something in that universe?). It's enjoyable but not new in any way and I feel that the developers could have delivered something much more interesting by using their resources to expand the Rookie experience rather than giving us reheated firefights. These are more straight up classic Halo, with a lot of quick combat, more enemies, some vehicles to be controlled (always, always drive that Warthog) and bigger enemies to blow up. Unfortunately, Bungie injects in the night walk some combat sequences tripped by the Rookie character you control finding pieces of gear that belonged to his comrades. ![]() This is the tone hinted at in the promo videos and it could have marked a significant departure from Master Chief and what Halo meant before. The atmosphere is heavy and it could have led to a Halo game showing how a normal human took the war and how the tragedy of combat unfolded on Earth. The player can go in guns blazing and take out packs of enemies or can get behind them, sneaking in the less illuminated areas. ![]() Oh, and the only people you meet are military or Covenant, which makes it a perfect battlefield. It's pretty big, industrial, futuristic and dark. The real innovation coming from Bungie in ODST is the city of New Mombasa. If not specifically told, probably 80% of gamers would never notice the difference between the two protagonists. Other than that, the guy behind the helmet could just as well be Master Chief. Cortana never utters a word and you need to use the VISR (worst abbreviation ever?) to look around, identify enemies and get access to an overall map. The new weapons, like the suppressed SMG, seem to lack a bit of punch but are useful in combat. The jump is supposed to be less powerful but in single player that's not really a problem and co-operative matches are another matter entirely. They are weaker, meaning that you will learn to drop into cover quicker to conserve health but it's not a major change as there are enough health packs lying around. Sure, the Shock Drop Troopers are not able to do all the things Master Chief so expertly does. If you've played any of the Halo titles until now, then ODST is nothing new. ![]() Still a fun experience, just not one designed to breathe new life into the Halo universe. Unfortunately, that distance is not there most of the time. #HALO 3 ODST AUDIO LOGS SERIES#Unfortunately, ODST is just a more contained, sometimes brilliant game, best when getting as much distance from the usual mechanics of the series as possible. A quantitative improvement, like the one from Halo 2 to 3, would just not do, they needed to deliver something qualitative. But after delivering better and better experiences over the years, the company needed to do something innovative. Bungie doesn't make those kinds of mistakes that would render a fan put down the controller and say they’re done because of low quality. Make no mistake, after getting into the action, this is a game you can actually play continuously until it is done, finished, complete. Think of Halo 3: ODST as being a game too ambitious to be an add on and too shy to be a full-fledged installment in the franchise. Half exciting experience and half disappointment. Half attempt at innovation from Bungie and half need for commercial success on the part of Microsoft. Half complex story delivered in interesting ways and half military stereotypes acted out in a flat manner. Half classic firefights, pitched battles that never let you hold your breath and get the adrenalin pumping, and half quietly sneaking through a dark city, almost afraid to shoot the enemies. In the case of Halo 3: ODST, it is clearly half Master Chief and half human. Or as any other creature that is half an entity and half another. ![]()
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