Halo 3: ODST

The _Halo_ franchise is an entertainment juggernaut, one that devours its competition and holds the honour of a “system seller”; _Halo_ games instil such desire in the masses that people are willing to pay hundreds of their hard earned pounds for an Xbox 360 to simply play one game. To put it in perspective, when _Halo 3_ was released in September 2007 it grossed more money in 24 hours than any other entertainment event in history. The UK launch party even had Pharrell Williams as its guest of honour, although it appeared that he’d never played a game in his life, let alone _Halo_.

Fast forward two years and although _Halo 3_ was meant to mark the end of the trilogy, Microsoft has only just begun milking its biggest cash cow. Back in February this year, _Halo Wars_, a generally mediocre real time strategy game set before the events of the first _Halo_ game, rather quietly began to fill store shelves and now the second spin-off, _Halo 3: ODST_, has landed with slightly more media coverage. Don’t worry, there’s a lot more to come; before the end of the year your eyes will be feasting on some lovely _Halo_ styled anime, _Halo Legends_, while you explore the online Xbox Live destination that is _Halo Waypoint_. After that, the next real game, _Halo: Reach_, will come blazing onto our 360s, redefining how excited a 20 year old man can get about a computer game (I’m talking about myself, of course).

So the _Halo_ name seems to be getting slapped on anything these days but, unlike _Halo Wars_, _ODST_ was developed by Bungie, the folks who ever so kindly crafted the masterpieces that are the first three _Halo_ games. Not only is the franchise back in good hands but luckily _ODST_ isn’t the directionless continuation of the main story arc involving the Master Chief that might have been expected. Instead the game focuses on a side story occurring in parallel to the latter half of _Halo 2_ and the beginning of _Halo 3_, one that puts you in control of a regular Orbital Drop Shock Trooper as opposed to the superhuman beast that was the Master Chief.

Although the character you play is still “the best of the best”, there are some noticeable differences between you and the “demon” of the previous games; there’s no rechargeable shield, no dual wielding, no hijacking of vehicles and you can’t jump as high. Do not panic, as I did, as there have been a number of additions and changes to the gameplay that mean you can still kick some Covenant arse.

Firstly, the shield mechanic found in _Halo 3_ has been replaced by “stamina” and the return of non-rechargeable health. Although bringing back health packs, and the generally tedious task of searching for them, might sound like a considerable change, it isn’t, mainly due to the “stamina” system working just like the shield did. If you hide like a coward for a while, you’ll get your stamina back, allowing you to take another barrage of hits before meeting your maker.

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Secondly, the addition of the _ODST_ visor adds an element of stealth to the limited run-n-gun tactics of the previous games. By allowing you to see in the dark, while displaying additional information about your environment, the visor is a key component in the _ODST’s_ arsenal giving you the ability to surprise unsuspecting Covenant forces with ease.

Overall the character does feel weaker than the Master Chief but not completely pathetic; having the ability to carry around mounted machine guns still seems like a superhuman feat to me and the new, _ODST_ only, silenced machine gun with scope feels considerably bad-ass.

Minor gameplay changes aside, the defining factor of _ODST_ is how the story is conveyed and it’s divergence from the linearity of the previous _Halo_ games. The story revolves around the player dropping into the city of New Mombasa to complete some form of secret mission; while in your drop pod, a Covenant cruiser “slipstreams” directly above the city, damaging your pod and throwing you wildly off course. Upon waking up 6 hours later, its night time and the rest of your team is nowhere to be found. From this point, the linear progression of the previous _Halo_ games is thrown out of the window for a multiple path exploration of the city, which to some extent could be called open world.

While progressing through the city you’ll come across beacons that activate flashbacks filling in the gaps between the orbital drop and you awakening 6 hours later. Instead of simply viewing a cutscene or video, you assume the role of the member of the team that the flashback is about; playing through the events that lead up to the city being in the state that it currently is.

This is an interesting way of delivering a story as you begin to piece together what’s happened to each individual member of your team. However, it can be a little confusing, especially if you’re like me and have a terrible memory; by the time I’d reached the next beacon, I’d forgotten what had happened at the previous one. This, combined with the fact that you can activate the beacons in a variety of different orders, makes for a rather disorientating narrative.

While in the open world aspect of the game, the main objective is to simply reach the next beacon rather than killing off all Covenant forces in the city. Therefore there isn’t an advantage in engaging the enemy, sneaking past can be beneficial, especially on the higher difficulty settings in which ammo conservation is key. The ODST visor helps you in this regard and the change of gameplay is refreshing when compared to the usual _Halo_ styled missions found within the flashbacks.

On top of all this there are also audio logs scattered around the city which, once collected, tell an additional story through pictures and audio in 30 parts. These are generally hard to find but you’re given some help; an AI called the Superintendent controls the city and leads you in the right direction through means of traffic signs, car alarms and road lights. This is an extremely intuitive and subtle method for delivering hints and is truly impressive.

All of the above gives _Halo 3: ODST_ an enjoyable campaign, similar enough to keep fans happy but with enough changes, both in the gameplay and the story progression, to make it feel like a new game; this isn’t a clone of the original _Halo 3_. The only real issue I had with the campaign was that the protagonist is silent. Although a lot of games are similar in this regard, the _Halo_ franchise has always had the hero express his opinion so it seems strange that the hero of _ODST_ doesn’t talk at all. At some points it was pretty ridiculous; asking some questions along the way probably would have helped.

Considering that _ODST_ is built on the 2 year old _Halo 3_ engine, the game still looks good. Although not technically brilliant, the art style used leads to some iconic scenes of the burning city of New Mombasa as well as some more epic moments nearer the end of the campaign. The franchise’s signature of vibrant colours is used to good effect with blood red skies and bold desert scenes found in a number of the flashbacks. The only graphical blemishes are the character’s faces; they look somewhat disproportioned and are generally low detailed. Luckily they have helmets on most of the time so it doesn’t become an issue.

The real graphical change comes when activating the visor; a standard night-vision effect is applied and there’s also some impressive environmental object outlining. Not only does this look fantastic but it also has gameplay implications due to the colour coding system that’s employed; enemies are outlined red, team mates green, weapons blue and audio logs yellow. This means that from a distance you can tell what every object is, greatly improving your combat effectiveness.

High budget titles such as _Halo_ usually have a bit more money to spend on their soundtracks and _ODST_ is no exception; there are some incredible orchestral pieces throughout the game which I enjoyed so much, I actually looked online to see if I could buy them. The pieces are reminiscent of the music found in _Halo 3_ but are different enough to stand out on their own. They’re also a testament to how good music can really add emotional weight to what could have been a rather mediocre plot. In addition to the soundtrack, the voice acting is also fantastic with actors such as Tricia Helfer from _Battlestar Galactica_ fame and Nathan Fillion, star of the film _Serenity_, voicing the two main characters. And of course all the returning weapons, vehicles and Covenant forces sound just like they did in the previous games in the franchise, meaning fans will feel right at home.

The campaign isn’t the only thing _Halo 3: ODST_ comes with; on the same disc a new mode called Firefight has been added and there’s even a second disc supplying all of the _Halo 3_ multiplayer experience, downloadable map-packs included.

Firefight puts a group of up to four players against multiple waves of Covenant forces, in arena style battles; there are three rounds, each divided into 5 waves of increasingly harder and numerous enemies. The mode is a test of how long you can hold out against the continuous horde of bad dudes, scoring points for killing enemies in a variety of different ways. At the start of each round a different “skull” is activated which causes the enemies to be even harder to despatch than usual; these range from doubling their health to allowing them to avoid danger (such as grenades) much more effectively. Since you never know which skull will activate next you really have to be on your toes if you plan to survive, especially on the harder difficulty settings; getting to round two can be pretty challenging, even on Normal.

The mode is cooperative at a basic level, as you and the people you’re playing with have to work together to make it through each round, but the addition of this points system also adds a layer of competition, excellent for those who like to brag.

Although this new mode is extremely entertaining when playing with a group of mates, it has one fundamental flaw; the lack of matchmaking. All other _Halo_ multiplayer modes allow you to be thrown into a game with a load of randomers, this being useful when your friends aren’t online or if you don’t have any at all. With this functionality missing, it’s pretty difficult to get a game of Firefight going in the first place, let alone a game with the maximum of four players. Having been excited about Firefight since it’s announcement, this has to be the only true disappointment I experienced when playing _Halo 3: ODST_.

Overall, Bungie have created another slice of _Halo_ action that has enough substance and meaning to be more than just the milking of a profitable franchise. The campaign, although relatively short at 7ish hours, is consistent with the linage of _Halo_ and fits in well with the game’s canon, filling in a few of the gaps found in the previous game’s stories; it’s a must play for any _Halo_ fan. There’s also a lot of additional content, making it good value for money to say the least. The enjoyable campaign combined with the hours upon hours of possible gameplay to be had from the multiplayer aspects, make this new chapter in the _Halo_ universe hard to resist for any keen FPS player, let alone a _Halo_ fan.