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The biggest change this time around, both in the gameplay and in the story, comes from the fact that you no longer play as the Master Chief. Instead, the game puts you in the shoes of the Rookie, a new addition to a squad of experienced Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (normal grunt soldiers who are dropped into the battlefield in pods from a space ship) about to make a jump onto a covenant warship sitting tight over New Mombasa. The story starts where Master Chief left Earth in Halo 2 and the opening cinematic is easily one of the most impressive ones I have seen this year. And as the jump goes to hell, the Rookie ends up getting separated from the rest of his squad and wakes up, six hours later, alone in the night in a city that’s is now under Covenant control. The rest of the game is spent putting the pieces of the failed jump together and finding out what happened to your squad mates.
It’s a radical departure from the normal Halo story line where the scale is bigger and the stakes are higher. The change in the scope and scale of the story does allow Bungie to show a more human side (no pun intended) of the war and it makes for a more accessible story. The characters are well written but I do wish we had gotten to see more of them. The time we spend with them is limited due to the fact that you play the majority of the game as the Rookie, who doesn’t talk. At all. Well, to be honest, it could be because for about 80% of the game, he is running around all alone and doesn’t have anyone to speak to. And I am guessing the Brutes aren’t on speaking terms with the ODSTs. But it still leaves him as the weakest link in the characterisation of the squad.
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The change in gameplay comes from the fact that the ODSTs don’t have the recharging shield that Spartans do. In place of it, you now have a health and stamina system. You can take a few hits before your stamina is gone and after that, every bit of enemy fire will eat up your health. Stamina recharges, but health damage is more lasting. To replenish your health, you need to be on the look out for med kits. Similarly, since you are no longer a 7-foot tall, genetically enhanced soldier, your melee attacks are weaker as well, so running up to enemies and punching them in the face is no longer an acceptable combat tactic. Both these factors give the combat a more tactical feel than the previous Halo games. You pick your spot and you pick your battles and if you ever run into a pair of Hunters, you pick your god and say your prayers.
With the radar and the equipment functionality removed, you always feel exposed to danger and the fact that you cannot dual wield stresses on the fact that you are no longer an invincible man-tank. Your vulnerability is further amplified by your loneliness (there is no Cortana chattering away in your ear, Commander Keys isn’t there to give you orders) and the ubiquitous covenant patrols in the city. With the addition of a silenced SMG and the silenced Pistol (back to its godly status) the parts where you play as the Rookie turn into a series of hit and run assault tactics on covenant patrols in the cover of dark, often guided by the friendly city AI, the Superintendent. The Superintendent also helps in navigating the expansively large city with the help of waypoints, which can also be placed manually in the game map if you want to explore.
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The new VISR mode is there to further help you with the guerrilla warfare. It’s an enhanced version of night vision that highlights enemies, friendly units, weapons, equipment and collectibles. Collectibles are in the form of 30 audio logs scattered throughout the city. The audio logs tell their own story separate from the campaign and are well worth listening to. You will also need the VISR mode to find clues about your missing squad mates, which trigger the game’s flashback sequences. In these sequences you get to play as the Rookie’s missing squad mates. It’s an interesting way to piece together the story and find out what happened to the others after the initial drop. And even though the bits where you play as the Rookie drip with fantastic atmosphere, it’s the flashbacks where the game truly shines.
Next page: Multi-player, presentation, and IVG verdict
The flashback missions add some great variety to the gameplay. They also allow for a welcome change in pacing compared to the on foot sequences in the night. From an all out assault with a Scorpion Tank to a desperate last ditch defence of a crashed Pelican ship on a building’s rooftop, there is enough to keep you entertained for the first play through and have you coming back for more. And as you progress through these, you ultimately find out what your team mates were up to while you lay unconscious in the pod at the begging of the game. There are even a couple of throwbacks to the old Halo games; a drive along a bridge while a battle rages around you that’s very reminiscent of Halo 2 and a search among an abandoned data archive facility that’s heavily inspired from the dreaded Library level in Halo 1 (minus the samey level design and the annoying Flood of course).
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Along with the single player campaign, there is also Firefight to keep you busy. It’s Halo’s take on Gears of War 2’s Horde gameplay. 4 players play co operatively and try to hold out against wave after wave of covenant enemies. During the course of enemy waves the skull effects (difficulty modifiers) kick in. Different skulls have different effects, so the players are constantly changing tactics to adapt to the enemies. If you can get 4 players communicating and working together, it’s insanely addictive. But it does have its drawbacks. For one, the 10 maps that you can play Firefight on are all variants of single player campaign levels. Secondly (and more cripplingly), there is no matchmaking for Firefight, which means you can only invite players to play with you i.e. the game will not find random people for you to play with. Bungie’s reason for that omission is that Firefight is based on the existing campaign technology and it would have required a large rewrite to get it working, which wasn’t possible with the time constraints they were working with. But to be honest, I would have been a lot more amenable to that excuse if the game wasn’t charged full price.
Also thrown in to sweeten the deal are all the maps released so far for Halo 3, including 3 maps exclusive to ODST that aren’t for sale on the Marketplace. It’s a fantastic deal for people like me, who didn’t buy the old maps from the Marketplace, but if you already paid for the old maps, you might feel a bit short changed. The new maps are good fun though. Heretic is a tight corridor, multi level map and perfect for slayer battles. Longshore is a fantastic big map that really shines in capture the flag matches. Citadel is the weakest of the lot but still decent fun in free for all matches.
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The entire campaign took me about 7 hours on Heroic difficulty. As with any Halo game, the replay factor is pretty good and the campaign, along with every other game mode, has a split-screen option (something I wish other developers would take note of). Graphically speaking, its using the same engine as Halo 3, so don’t expect a giant leap in quality of visuals. However, the lighting effects and texture effects have seen some improvement from Halo 3. The loading times are faster as well, mostly since the game is now optimised for HDD installation.
One last thing that deserves a mention is the sound. The music is absolutely sublime. The Halo trilogy has had some fantastic music throughout but quite honestly this is the best of the series by far. It’s easily the best soundtrack you will hear all year and probably one of the best soundtracks in videogames, ever. And as usual, it compliments the gameplay perfectly. Also of note is the excellent voice work, it (as much as the writing) helps sell the characters as real and likeable.
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Conclusion
While parting, lets acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room. “Is there enough content here to justify a full price?” The answer is a resounding “YES!” Even if I change the question to “Is there enough NEW content here to justify a full price?” the answer still stays the same, but it’s no longer written in capitals nor has an exclamation mark besides it. Which answer fits you best will depend upon too many variables for me to comment upon, so I will just end by saying this – ODST is a game of fantastic moments and what is there is very, very good. In fact, it’s almost flawless at times. And if you are a fan of the series or even an FPS fan in general you, would be doing yourself a huge disservice by passing on this.
(+) Great single player campaign
(+) Firefight is addictive
(+) Includes all the Halo 3 maps
(+) Superb music and voiceovers
(-) Campaign is short
(-) No matchmaking in firefight
Title: Halo 3: ODST
Developer/Publisher: Bungie Software/Microsoft
Genre: First-person shooter
Rating: 16+
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Rs 2,299)
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