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September 20, 2009 | 9:44 PM PST
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Sometimes it's best to just keep your mouth shut. Bungie did nothing wrong a few years ago by announcing that they were working on a new Halo project, a DLC expansion pack that would put players under the visor of the ODST units featured throughout the Halo fiction. It was true at the time. Things change however, and by the time the game was finished development, the little expansion pack had snowballed into quite a full-featured game. Now Bungie, a team that has repeatedly been challenged to validate increasingly outlandish levels of hype for their games, is facing a challenge no one in their right mind would have ever predicted. They have to convince Halo fans that the latest Halo title is worth paying full price for. And it is. Far more than a meager expansion pack, ODST offers Bungie's most compelling and well-realized Halo story to date, a tightly-paced campaign built on reinvigorated gameplay mechanics, and a new multiplayer mode so addictive that it will have surely have entire wings of substance abuse clinics devoted to it.
What's Hot
ODST feels noticeably different from the core Halo trilogy. It's still unmistakably Halo though, from the flawless controls and weapon feedback to the brilliant enemy AI and distinct color palette, and still an absolute blast to play. Orbital Dropship Shock Troopers are badasses in the Halo universe, but they're not on the same level as Spartans like Master Chief. They aren't strong enough to dual-wield weapons, they don't have fancy armor with recharging shields, they can't leap ten feet into the air or drop fifty feet without a scratch. Hell, the military won't even shell out the cash to give you a motion tracker! If you play Halo 3: ODST like you played through Halo 3, a steady push forward through every combat scenario, you will die quickly and repeatedly. As an ODST you'll have to approach combat more tactically, analyze the situation from a distance, use guerilla tactics to attack suddenly and viciously from the darkness, and know when to get the hell out of dodge.
To that end, the ODSTs have access to some special equipment that help them get the drop on their more powerful adversaries, including silenced weaponry like an improved SMG and a zoom-capable pistol similar to game-breaking abomination from the original. Neither weapon is a powerhouse, but they do allow you to pick off enemies silently from mid-range, leaving the remaining enemies anxious and aware of your presence, but not your location. You have an advantage in the dark, thanks to the special-issue ODST VISR, which amplifies light and highlights items of interest with various colored outlines. This VISR allows you to see enemies long before they see you, although it's sometimes hard to tell how close you can get without being seen yourself. The VISR also interfaces with an AI called the Superintendent, which offers you a real-time map including enemy positions and points you in the right direction by hijacking street-signs and other cute tricks.
Thanks to the new toys and squishier human body, the ebb-and-flow of the gameplay naturally skews towards the tenser, more thoughtful combat in the original Halo than the more recent, action-packed follow-ups. Intelligent weapon selection and adept combination of your two firearms is integral to survival again, dropping enemy shields with an energy weapon before following up with hot lead. Every shot counts, not only because ammo is precious but because every shot that rings out is more likely to give away your position to your targets and any other patrols in the area. The longer any battle rages, the worse your chances of seeing the next one. Every enemy encounter and combat scenario, no matter how familiar in setup, has been injected with new excitement thanks to the increased tension and increased demands for creative tactical thinking. The urban environment of New Mombasa provides plenty of opportunity to experiment with new approaches and flanking maneuvers, thanks to an abundance of paths through buildings and alleyways.
The same futuristic Earth location that players did battle in and around during portions of Halo 2 and Halo 3, New Mombasa finally feels like the significant, poignant location that Bungie has been trying to position it as for years. In the last two Halo titles the city felt soulless and non-descript, like I could have been fighting in front of any city on any planet in any future setting. Now New Mombasa feels like it has character, like it has a soul, like people have lived in its streets and made it their home. You'll explore most of the giant city at night while you're filling 'The Rookie's boots, the pitch-darkness punctured by stabs of neon-light from street signs and billboards. Between the dark hues, the neon light and the misty weather, New Mombasa gives off a decidedly Blade Runner vibe. The narrative unfolds through the use of 'clues', items of interest like smashed helmets and destroyed cannons that insinuate tough times for your brothers in arms. These items trigger flash-backs that put you into your comrades boots in the previous daylight hours, and the combat in these day-time missions are more in line with the action found in Halo 3. I won't spoil anything more about the story, but I will say that the character development, dialogue, and flash-back delivery mechanic all come together to create the best, most human Halo story yet.
On the multiplayer end of things, ODST eschews the franchise's bread-and-butter of traditional competitive multiplayer for a cooperative arena challenge mode called Firefight. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Cliff Bleszinki and company at Epic Games should be blushing a beat red right about now. Ironically, Bungie's take on the mode feels a great deal more tactical than the one in Gears of War 2, which is advertised as a tactical shooter. This is due mostly to the fact that in Firefight, all four players draw on the same 'pot' of lives. Losing all your lives means starting over from wave one, so keeping each other alive becomes a huge priority. Additionally, the enemies in Gears of War – even the largest and nastiest, just seem more manageable for one player, whereas even common enemies like the standard Brutes often require a few ODSTs to put down effectively. Bungie throws additional twists into the mix by introducing those pesky skulls after the completion of each round, thereby giving players less ammo, more agile enemies, and other annoyances to deal with. The medals and scoring system from Halo 3's multiplayer and single-player meta-game return for this mode, and a post-game carnage report illustrates who pulled their weight and/or carried the team on their back, all of which combine to make the mode more addictive than heroine Red Bull. Somebody alert the World's leaders: GDPs around the world are about to take a massive hit thanks to the incoming drop in productivity.
What's Not
Halo 3: ODST isn't a straight-up stealth game, despite the fact that players are basically nudged by the balance of the mechanics to stay unseen and unheard for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the stealth element doesn't feel fully developed. The game doesn't do a great job of letting you know when you're visible or not and it's pretty hard to gauge contrast with the light-amplifying VISR activated. As such there are a lot of instances where you'll be trying to silently pick off members of a patrol party, only for an enemy 30 feet away and below your position to see you in the shadows cast by a building. Likewise, there will be other instances when you can clear out an entire group of enemies from 15 feet away in what feels like a spot-light, and they'll just keep looking around yelling that there's someone there. It's not an AI problem, it's simply a matter of the game don't doing a better of job of letting players know how illuminated their position is relative to the enemy. Sound on the other hand, works fairly consistently: use a weapon without a silencer and get ready for enemies to come running.
Master Chief apparently took the last Battle-Rifle on Earth with him when he left, and it's exclusion from ODST feels like an attempt to validate the new pistol and SMG. The problem is, neither of those weapons is particularly effective at taking out Brute units at range, especially the more dangerous, armored variety. Even the pistol, which Halo: CE fans are overjoyed to see 'replace' the battle-rifle, can't three-shot a Brute at medium range unless it's shields have been cracked. So while the game mechanics encourage you to keep your distance, the weapons offered for mid-range attacks don't feel as up to the task as the good old battle-rifle, and they force you to come out of hiding and deal some damage up close where you're vulnerable. The fact that it's not silenced would have been more than enough to differentiate it from the new weapons and give it a place, since players would have to be smart about deciding when to let that loud, chunky three-shot-burst ring out into the city streets.
More offensive is the lack of equipment, the presence of which would make perfect sense from both a gameplay and narrative perspective. The ODST are more vulnerable than Master Chief, so it makes sense that they would be forced to utilize items to even the playing field. Instead, the Brutes that already outpower you get to use them, but you don't. Adding those items into play would make the street-level guerrilla combat in ODST even more tactical and nail-biting than it already is. It's not as though the 360 controller is hurting for buttons. Yes, the X button is now used for the ODST's nifty VISR, but the left bumper is now basically useless since ODSTs cant dual-wield weapons.
There are also some issues with the multiplayer content. It's a bit paradoxical, but while the Halo titles have always been incredibly fun in co-op, co-op play has never been particularly well integrated into the experience. In Halo: CE and Halo 2, the second player just dropped in as a second Master Chief and became an added gun. In Halo 3, Bungie took an extra step and concocted two new characters out of thin air, but the experience was basically still just a few more people on board a single-player ride. That tacked-on feeling is twice as bad in ODST, because unlike the previous Halo titles, ODST actually has a storyline worth immersing yourself in, and it's one of loneliness and despair within a war-torn city. Adding up to three players not only takes away from the narrative and lonely atmosphere, it also makes the skirmishes with enemies a lot less difficult and a less tense, ruining the distinct feel of the game. If you're going to play co-op, which by all means do because it's still very fun, play it after you run through the game once solo.
Firefight has its own problems as well, the most egregious of which is the total absence of matchmaking playlists. I'm not sure I would want to tackle the Firefight challenges with random strangers, but the option should definitely be there for those who do want to play and don't have a friends list full of Halo fans. That one omission alone might be enough for some players to consider holding of a purchase. Harsh, but true. The mode isn't fun alone.
Final Word
Halo 3: ODST has left its humble DLC roots in the dust, and is definitely worth the $60 price-tag. It probably won't win over any new fans to the Halo franchise, but it provides an invigoratingly fresh experience and plenty of fan service for those that have lived and loved the series for years. If you're even entertaining the thought of buying the game at this point, then you're more than enough of a Halo fan to make this purchase a no-brainer. Prepare to drop, and enjoy the ride.
What the Game's About
Sometimes it's best to just keep your mouth shut. Bungie did nothing wrong a few years ago by announcing that they were working on a new Halo project, a DLC expansion pack that would put players under the visor of the ODST units featured throughout the Halo fiction. It was true at the time. Things change however, and by the time the game was finished development, the little expansion pack had snowballed into quite a full-featured game. Now Bungie, a team that has repeatedly been challenged to validate increasingly outlandish levels of hype for their games, is facing a challenge no one in their right mind would have ever predicted. They have to convince Halo fans that the latest Halo title is worth paying full price for. And it is. Far more than a meager expansion pack, ODST offers Bungie's most compelling and well-realized Halo story to date, a tightly-paced campaign built on reinvigorated gameplay mechanics, and a new multiplayer mode so addictive that it will have surely have entire wings of substance abuse clinics devoted to it.
What's Hot
ODST feels noticeably different from the core Halo trilogy. It's still unmistakably Halo though, from the flawless controls and weapon feedback to the brilliant enemy AI and distinct color palette, and still an absolute blast to play. Orbital Dropship Shock Troopers are badasses in the Halo universe, but they're not on the same level as Spartans like Master Chief. They aren't strong enough to dual-wield weapons, they don't have fancy armor with recharging shields, they can't leap ten feet into the air or drop fifty feet without a scratch. Hell, the military won't even shell out the cash to give you a motion tracker! If you play Halo 3: ODST like you played through Halo 3, a steady push forward through every combat scenario, you will die quickly and repeatedly. As an ODST you'll have to approach combat more tactically, analyze the situation from a distance, use guerilla tactics to attack suddenly and viciously from the darkness, and know when to get the hell out of dodge.
To that end, the ODSTs have access to some special equipment that help them get the drop on their more powerful adversaries, including silenced weaponry like an improved SMG and a zoom-capable pistol similar to game-breaking abomination from the original. Neither weapon is a powerhouse, but they do allow you to pick off enemies silently from mid-range, leaving the remaining enemies anxious and aware of your presence, but not your location. You have an advantage in the dark, thanks to the special-issue ODST VISR, which amplifies light and highlights items of interest with various colored outlines. This VISR allows you to see enemies long before they see you, although it's sometimes hard to tell how close you can get without being seen yourself. The VISR also interfaces with an AI called the Superintendent, which offers you a real-time map including enemy positions and points you in the right direction by hijacking street-signs and other cute tricks.
Thanks to the new toys and squishier human body, the ebb-and-flow of the gameplay naturally skews towards the tenser, more thoughtful combat in the original Halo than the more recent, action-packed follow-ups. Intelligent weapon selection and adept combination of your two firearms is integral to survival again, dropping enemy shields with an energy weapon before following up with hot lead. Every shot counts, not only because ammo is precious but because every shot that rings out is more likely to give away your position to your targets and any other patrols in the area. The longer any battle rages, the worse your chances of seeing the next one. Every enemy encounter and combat scenario, no matter how familiar in setup, has been injected with new excitement thanks to the increased tension and increased demands for creative tactical thinking. The urban environment of New Mombasa provides plenty of opportunity to experiment with new approaches and flanking maneuvers, thanks to an abundance of paths through buildings and alleyways.
The same futuristic Earth location that players did battle in and around during portions of Halo 2 and Halo 3, New Mombasa finally feels like the significant, poignant location that Bungie has been trying to position it as for years. In the last two Halo titles the city felt soulless and non-descript, like I could have been fighting in front of any city on any planet in any future setting. Now New Mombasa feels like it has character, like it has a soul, like people have lived in its streets and made it their home. You'll explore most of the giant city at night while you're filling 'The Rookie's boots, the pitch-darkness punctured by stabs of neon-light from street signs and billboards. Between the dark hues, the neon light and the misty weather, New Mombasa gives off a decidedly Blade Runner vibe. The narrative unfolds through the use of 'clues', items of interest like smashed helmets and destroyed cannons that insinuate tough times for your brothers in arms. These items trigger flash-backs that put you into your comrades boots in the previous daylight hours, and the combat in these day-time missions are more in line with the action found in Halo 3. I won't spoil anything more about the story, but I will say that the character development, dialogue, and flash-back delivery mechanic all come together to create the best, most human Halo story yet.
On the multiplayer end of things, ODST eschews the franchise's bread-and-butter of traditional competitive multiplayer for a cooperative arena challenge mode called Firefight. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Cliff Bleszinki and company at Epic Games should be blushing a beat red right about now. Ironically, Bungie's take on the mode feels a great deal more tactical than the one in Gears of War 2, which is advertised as a tactical shooter. This is due mostly to the fact that in Firefight, all four players draw on the same 'pot' of lives. Losing all your lives means starting over from wave one, so keeping each other alive becomes a huge priority. Additionally, the enemies in Gears of War – even the largest and nastiest, just seem more manageable for one player, whereas even common enemies like the standard Brutes often require a few ODSTs to put down effectively. Bungie throws additional twists into the mix by introducing those pesky skulls after the completion of each round, thereby giving players less ammo, more agile enemies, and other annoyances to deal with. The medals and scoring system from Halo 3's multiplayer and single-player meta-game return for this mode, and a post-game carnage report illustrates who pulled their weight and/or carried the team on their back, all of which combine to make the mode more addictive than heroine Red Bull. Somebody alert the World's leaders: GDPs around the world are about to take a massive hit thanks to the incoming drop in productivity.
What's Not
Halo 3: ODST isn't a straight-up stealth game, despite the fact that players are basically nudged by the balance of the mechanics to stay unseen and unheard for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the stealth element doesn't feel fully developed. The game doesn't do a great job of letting you know when you're visible or not and it's pretty hard to gauge contrast with the light-amplifying VISR activated. As such there are a lot of instances where you'll be trying to silently pick off members of a patrol party, only for an enemy 30 feet away and below your position to see you in the shadows cast by a building. Likewise, there will be other instances when you can clear out an entire group of enemies from 15 feet away in what feels like a spot-light, and they'll just keep looking around yelling that there's someone there. It's not an AI problem, it's simply a matter of the game don't doing a better of job of letting players know how illuminated their position is relative to the enemy. Sound on the other hand, works fairly consistently: use a weapon without a silencer and get ready for enemies to come running.
Master Chief apparently took the last Battle-Rifle on Earth with him when he left, and it's exclusion from ODST feels like an attempt to validate the new pistol and SMG. The problem is, neither of those weapons is particularly effective at taking out Brute units at range, especially the more dangerous, armored variety. Even the pistol, which Halo: CE fans are overjoyed to see 'replace' the battle-rifle, can't three-shot a Brute at medium range unless it's shields have been cracked. So while the game mechanics encourage you to keep your distance, the weapons offered for mid-range attacks don't feel as up to the task as the good old battle-rifle, and they force you to come out of hiding and deal some damage up close where you're vulnerable. The fact that it's not silenced would have been more than enough to differentiate it from the new weapons and give it a place, since players would have to be smart about deciding when to let that loud, chunky three-shot-burst ring out into the city streets.
More offensive is the lack of equipment, the presence of which would make perfect sense from both a gameplay and narrative perspective. The ODST are more vulnerable than Master Chief, so it makes sense that they would be forced to utilize items to even the playing field. Instead, the Brutes that already outpower you get to use them, but you don't. Adding those items into play would make the street-level guerrilla combat in ODST even more tactical and nail-biting than it already is. It's not as though the 360 controller is hurting for buttons. Yes, the X button is now used for the ODST's nifty VISR, but the left bumper is now basically useless since ODSTs cant dual-wield weapons.
There are also some issues with the multiplayer content. It's a bit paradoxical, but while the Halo titles have always been incredibly fun in co-op, co-op play has never been particularly well integrated into the experience. In Halo: CE and Halo 2, the second player just dropped in as a second Master Chief and became an added gun. In Halo 3, Bungie took an extra step and concocted two new characters out of thin air, but the experience was basically still just a few more people on board a single-player ride. That tacked-on feeling is twice as bad in ODST, because unlike the previous Halo titles, ODST actually has a storyline worth immersing yourself in, and it's one of loneliness and despair within a war-torn city. Adding up to three players not only takes away from the narrative and lonely atmosphere, it also makes the skirmishes with enemies a lot less difficult and a less tense, ruining the distinct feel of the game. If you're going to play co-op, which by all means do because it's still very fun, play it after you run through the game once solo.
Firefight has its own problems as well, the most egregious of which is the total absence of matchmaking playlists. I'm not sure I would want to tackle the Firefight challenges with random strangers, but the option should definitely be there for those who do want to play and don't have a friends list full of Halo fans. That one omission alone might be enough for some players to consider holding of a purchase. Harsh, but true. The mode isn't fun alone.
Final Word
Halo 3: ODST has left its humble DLC roots in the dust, and is definitely worth the $60 price-tag. It probably won't win over any new fans to the Halo franchise, but it provides an invigoratingly fresh experience and plenty of fan service for those that have lived and loved the series for years. If you're even entertaining the thought of buying the game at this point, then you're more than enough of a Halo fan to make this purchase a no-brainer. Prepare to drop, and enjoy the ride.
February 8, 2010
