21Nov
Halo 3: ODST
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Product Description
Halo 3 ODST – 360 Game
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #36 in Video Games
- Brand: Microsoft
- Model: 5EA-00001
- Published on: 2009-09
- Released on: 2009-09-22
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .59″ h x 5.40″ w x 7.55″ l, .47 pounds
Features
- Halo 3: ODST contains 1,750 new Xbox LIVE achievement points, as well as new weapons, technology and an invite to join the Halo: Reach beta in 2010.
- Stand-alone expansion to Halo 3 that doesn’t require ownership of the previous game to play.
- New campaign, hero and tactics from the Halo universe as players take on the role of a rookie in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers sent into New Mombasa.
- 4-player co-op “Firefight” mode offers a whole new way to play Halo with friends both via system link and over Xbox LIVE.
- Along with all the existing Halo 3 maps, ODST contains three new multiplayer Halo 3 maps: Heretic, Longshore, and Citadel.
Editorial Reviews
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 New hero, old enemy. View larger. |
 Join the ODST. View larger. |
 Stunning cinematics. View larger. |
 New co-op multiplayer mode. View larger. |
Customer Reviews
ODST – Overpriced Dark Short Tale
Concept: 7/10
Halo 3: ODST introduces a new Special Forces Recon Soldier for the Halo Universe. The Orbital Drop Shock Trooper is a darker, ligher armored version of a Spartan with silent weapons. That’s pretty much it.
Story: 9/10
The story is very well written, well told, and well acted by Firefly and BSG veterans. It is really entertaining and one of the best parts of the game. However, it is told through flashbacks and is somewhat difficult to understand your first time through. You might be confused at times, but in the end, it all makes sense.
Gameplay: 8/10
It’s Halo 3, with a couple new guns and a slight improvement to the health system. Your character sounds ‘in pain’ when your health is low, reminding you to stay behind cover. There’s also a night vision visor that you can toggle on and off. Unfortunately, the game seems too dark if you don’t have your night vision on, and if you use it in areas that are fairly well lit, you’re almost blinded. In the end, the night vision seems extraneous. The game would have been better if the dark areas were just a bit brighter, but still cloaked in shadows.
Level Designs: 6/10
There is an open ended city area where you can explore and Convenant troops are being dropped in to battle. This is new to the Halo Universe and it works quite well. Most of the game takes place in New Mobasa, a futuristic African City that is being invaded by the Covenant. The look and feel of the city is pretty impressive, but overall, the levels feel redundant. Fight in corridors, defend an area… You know you’ve got problems when the Campaign is only 5 hours long, and the Missions feel repetitive.
Sound: 9/10
The music is foreboding and adds to the grim atmosphere while the effects bring the battles to life.
Replay Value: 7/10
You can start the campaign after lunch and finish it before dinner.
There is a Firefight Mode which is like Gears of War 2′s Horde Mode, but ODST features an additional challenge where each wave of enemies has a special behavior like “Dodges Grenades.” This mode is for friends and invites only. I understand that Bungie is trying to prevent the Leroy Jenkins of the world from ruining the fun, but it really sucks to not be able to play a pickup game.
There are 3 new Multiplayer Maps for Halo 3, too.
Maturity – The game is rated M because the Halo series is rated M, even though the action is pretty tame.
Overall: 7/10
Buy this game if you’re a Halo Collector, you’ve got a bunch of buddies that still play Halo 3 and will use the Maps and Firefight Mode.
Rent this game if you just want to play the Campaign. It’s only 5-6 hours long.
I’d recommend waiting for the price to drop before buying ODST because if you spend $60, you’re going to feel ripped off.
$35 for this game feels about right.
Too much for too little….
Its a decent game, but I feel as if I had played it three times before. Its mostly just more of the same with a few little bits of new thrown in. Couple weapons, Night Vision, firefight (but the fact you cant play with random people REALLY brings this game down.)
Not bad, but 60 bucks just isnt worth it. Im sorry I bought it. Just rent this game.
Good with some Eye Rolling Flaws
A side-story taking place in the Halo universe, “ODST” puts you in the role of the titular Orbital Drop Ship Trooper – a regular marine compared to the Master Chief, the series’ normal protagonist. Using the basic gameplay and graphics of Halo 3, ODST is neat and different in some ways and disappointingly samey in others.
ODST follows a squad of drop troopers – primarily through the eyes of Rookie, a silent protagonist. Rookie proceeds through the abandoned, dead city of New Mombasa looking for records of his teammates, who he was separated from. Finding these records allows you to play a segment as another trooper – Buck, the leader, Mickey, the tech specialist, Dutch, the tough guy, or Romeo, the sniper.
Rookie’s segments are really freeform and open – you explore the city, going through apartments and back alleys and occasionally running into random patrols of Covenant soldiers. The city’s AI, the Supervisor, will occasionally try to get your attention by hijacking various city systems – signs will change to point you in the right direction, phones will start ringing, ticket machines will start spewing tickets, crosswalks and traffic lights will change, and so on. These directions will lead you to audio diaries – clues to a side-story – or weapon/ammo caches. All in all, it makes for a really great feel – almost to the level of Silent Hill – and it’s backed up by some of the best music in the series.
The action stages are pretty good, too, but far more traditional. There is some openness in the levels, but for the most part they’re similar to normal Halo 3. This is where the main promise of ODST – the fact that you’re playing as a normal soldier – kind of falls flat. You can basically do everything that the Master Chief can do, including but not limited to flipping over cars and punching through tanks. Your health works slightly differently, but it still basically equates to “if you get hit, go duck behind cover until you recover”. You can get away with running up to Brutes and punching them in the face until they die. All in all, you basically demonstrate the same level of “super-soldier” that the actual super soldiers have, as opposed to having to rely on your wits and your guns to overcome your weakness.
In addition to the campaign mode, ODST also offers a four-person co-op mode called “Firefight”. In this mode, the human players attempt to hold out as long as they can against waves of Covenant troops. Like Gears of War 2′s Horde mode, this can be a blast with the right people. To add a bit of difficulty into the mix, each wave of Covenant has a special effect attached to them – the ability to dodge grenades, or being more resistant to plasma, and so on. This ensures that the endless waves of Covenant continue to be challenging for as long as you play.
The graphics are similar to Halo 3′s, but the urban environment is much more well-designed than those in Halo 3. A lot of care went into designing the city and the various signs and objects scattered around it, and the end result feels pretty natural. The sound is really good, too. The most obvious change, sound-wise, is that an injured ODST will pant and groan realistically instead of offering a single grunt like the Master Chief does. This makes it feel a lot more immersive, and is almost worth the fact that – for game reasons – you can heal up really easily and dying’s not really that big of a deal.
On the whole, I understand why ODST didn’t take a more realistic approach, but that doesn’t mean it’s not disappointing. As a game, ODST is good, but with some eye-rolling flaws that could’ve been turned into something more meaningful than “another Halo game”.
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