User Reviews

Three Cheers for the Rookie!

Platinumus Prime — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 02:57:00 GMT

Playing as the Master Chief in any Halo game makes you feel close to invincible...that is until your shields give way and you have to find cover...or when a grunt sticks a plasma grenade to your shiny, metal armor,... or when an Elite cuts into you with a plasma sword... or a Brute Chieftain bashes your head in with a gravity hammer...but anyway the experience is quite gratifying. In certain parts of ODST where you play through flashbacks of missing teammates you can achieve the feeling of awesomeness as you fight the Covenant as a toned down version of Master Chief. Like I did in past Halo games I'd set the difficulty to Legendary, snipe enemies from afar and when they get too close I'd chip away at their shields then melee the hell out of 'em (a tried and tested tactic in multiplayer) that is if their buddies are already taking a dirt nap or otherwise preoccupied. Of course if all else fails, chuck some grenades and run for cover. Vehicles return to lend fire-power and speed for fast getaways as do fan-favorite weapons sans dual-wielding. Now the big difference in this version of Halo 3 is when you're in the armor-plated shoes of The Rookie. His rain filled, night time missions are reminiscent of horror games where music sets the mood in dark and dank quarters that are made more visible through the use of night vision VISR enhancements. Squads of Covenant forces patrol the city looking for survivors to exterminate as you make your way through alternate paths to flank, sneak or just plain avoid enemies when possible. Phantom drop ships constantly hover above the skyline resupplying troops in areas you already cleared making it detrimental to keep moving before you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Wrecks left from previous battles loom on the battlefield. Car alarms go off, motion sensitive street lamps turn on at certain areas that may give away your position. Corpses of UNSC and Covenant forces tell stories of final stands within building hallways, rooms and city streets. It's all very humanizing and shows you a different side to this conflict, the non-super-soldier side. You'd think a game that forced you to play as Clark Kent when you're used to playing as Super Man would be a major let down but in this case it's refreshing especially when you know that under that shirt and tie there is an 'S' on your chest.

Halo 3 ODST is different, but real fun

Juanolo — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:50:00 GMT

I have a PS3. I don't get to play alot of XBOX360 games. When I played ODST, I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was different, but by how much? I played it, and it was fun.

Graphics pretty good. Some mishaps time to time, but overall pretty good. Story descent. Overall it's like 4-6 hours. Gameplay is till pretty fun, and so is the multiplayer.

Halo 3: ODST is a little different, but it's still a great game. If your a Halo fan, or Xbox360 owners, you should get this game. Overall, I give Halo 3: ODST a

9 out of 10

So the Spartan Assassin says....

Zac the Spartan Assassin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 04:41:00 GMT

It was a great game and still is, you can give all the reasons you want but i like it for one simple reason. That reason is that it takes everything great about Halo and a little bit of an open-world style. You may not be MAster Chief but that doesn't mean your not killing covenant scum and winning a war.Besides, who knows, maybe your a Spartan in disguise.

Halo 3 ODST let you down? what a shame...

squadcar — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:27:00 GMT

I was not turned away by the lack of competitive multiplayer, though it would have been greatly interesting to play as an ODST in multiplayer, relying more on stealth than you normally already need to.

This game was really fun and was very interesting. This was a more campaign led game and that disappointed a lot of people I knew but I really enjoyed it. The campaign intrigued me with its odd time switches, how people got where and what happened in between. You may have ran through the campaign for achievements and not know what happens, skip cutscenes and such like some achievement hunters do. Some of you think you know all of what's happened by playing the campaign and listening to the dialogue and such but you really don't. If all you did was play the campaign you only found out half the story, the rest of the story lies within these scattered audio logs. I got 29/30 and never found the last one and never got the achievement which greatly irked me. But the story that lies within these logs completes all of ODST's storyline. It was a fun campaign and you had to play carefully on Heroic like you would on Halo 3 on Legendary, because now you have stamina and health not shields. Your melees suck, you can't dual wield, you have less resistance to damage, cannot jump higher than a normal human nor run faster than a human. Because now you are simply a human, a highly trained human, but not some natural born BadA** that was later genetically modified to be even better and then given a suit to help even more. A Spartan is a bit more than human, an ODST is just like a special operations group. This element completely made the game much more interesting because you can't go crazy, balls out, dual wielding spikers mowing everything in your path.

There's not much to the multiplayer in this game but it was still fun, when Gears revived an old style of gaming that they named Horde many other popular games tagged along (examples: Halo and Left 4 Dead) and Halo's was Firefight, you fought different waves of enemies and the longer it goes the harder. Having a set amount of lives and gaining lives at the end of sets made it a fun gametype but not something anyone that is MLG oriented would necessarily look for.

ODST disappointed many of my MLG friends and I played MLG all the time, but I'm not as a tightwad about my Halo, this game did great and Reach had it's multiplayer again which satisfied me. Anyone that's a real Halo fan would probably have enjoyed this game.
93/100

Review: Halo ODST

SquashSkin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:34:00 GMT

It's been a while since ODST's launch, yet once I played the newest installment in the series I discovered I had skipped a game. Thank goodness I went back and found this hiding gem, for that's exactly what ODST is: A hidden jewel of wonderment.

The main enjoyment I've drawn from this game came from its unique single-player campaign. Told primarily through the eyes of the character known as "The Rookie" you wander the streets of a war torn Earth city after an orbital drop goes bad. The open ended sandbox style of running around causing mayhem really lent itself well to the series, offering both a refreshing take on what was starting to become formulamatic and an entirely different experience from Halo 3's "take on the world" style. The game knows you are more vulnerable and takes advantage quickly. The flashback squences that keep the storyline focused provide some nicely human characters to keep things from getting stale. In them you discover that Bungie has shrank the scale of events yet at the same time, they become easier to understand and follow.

The firefight mode is as addicting as ever providing some extreme challenge in both skill and tactical thinking, though in my opinion it becomes impossible far to quickly. It is very easy to get through a round and then think that the next will be just as easy, only to find that the black-eye skull has suddenly turned on to make your life miserable. The variety of the maps just lends to the fun too with each one requiring different tactics and advantages. The only issue with the firefight appears when you don't have a buddy to play with there to cover your back as it gets Gravity Hammered.

There are some issues with the game. Firstly, it was intended to be an expansion pack, thus the graphics run off basically the same engine as Halo 3. Second, the enemies have a nasty habit of suddenly spotting you in the dark even though you're well hidden. while this isn't too annoying on Normal difficulty, on Legendary such an occurence is almost always a death sentence. Yet despite some minor shortcomings, ODST shows its true colors well by distinguishing itself from its brtheren but still retains that Halo feel that makes fans remeber why they love this series. Considering this review is being written so much later from ODST's launch, it's price has dropped substantially, making Halo 3 : ODST not only a requirement for any Halo fan to play, but also a video game fan as well.

Prepare to Drop in this full-priced expansion

Brawldud — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:34:00 GMT

A year and a half ago I purchased Halo 3: ODST. Originally Halo 3: Recon, Microsoft decided to make a full-priced release out of an otherwise $30 expansion. The result? I don't think it's worth $60, but the price has gone down since launch and it has many great features to keep you hooked. ODST takes place during the events of Halo 2, as the opening scene shows the slipspace jump the Prophet of Regret made over New Mombasa, Africa that he made in the Metropolis level of Halo 2. A side-story is also buried under audio logs players find throughout the city chronicling the events for young Sadie Endesha as she tries to rescue her father and escape the city before it is overrun by Covenant forces.

ODST's campaign is remarkably different from other Halo games'. Instead of playing through the game in a linear path, between missions players are roaming the streets of New Mombasa as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper on a classified counterintelligence op. This open world structure embraces a more tactical approach for co-op, and the game finally brings much-needed features to the table, such as the ability to set waypoints and having a detailed map of players' surroundings. Players can choose their route through the urban nighttime environments, but they will have to fight a squad of Brutes, Jackals, Grunts, and occasionally Engineers regardless of which route they take - while their map details enemy positions, it's hard to go on an all-out stealth. It's just a matter of choosing which cover appears better.

This game should be treated as an expansion, not as a new game. Enemies are still the same, there's still the obligatory (but very exciting) Scarab boss battle, and it fills in the gaps of what the hell was happening in New Mombasa after the slip-space rupture. Vehicles are still the same (although with some tweaks) and overall the gameplay is largely the same, just with different environments.

The best addition in ODST is the Horde-like Firefight mode, although it is different from Horde in that you face intelligent Covenant forces, rather than mindless cannon fodder. With good enemy AI and a variety of maps from the campaign, this will keep you occupied for a longer period of time, but expect the occasionally swearing whenever the skull Black Eye is turned on, or an enemy Brute Chieftan rushes your friends with the devastating Gravity Hammer.

Halo fans will be thrilled with ODST, and one scene that involves a missile pod made me feel like a bad*** commando slaughtering hordes and hordes of Covenant ships effortlessly as I defended a downed Pelican.

I think Halo fans should definitely pick up ODST, but Halo haters won't have their opinion changed - the new Firefight mode is more than enough to compensate for the silent protagonist and 5 hour campaign. The game also includes the map packs for Halo 3, so offline players aren't missing out on the new maps.

Cool Expansion

Dustin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:07:00 GMT

This game is not $60 worth of new content, but it doesn't cost that much anymore, so who cares? The campaign is short but fun (Nathan Fillion FTW!) and features the much needed addition of a map. Firefight mode is cool and all the Halo 3 multiplayer content is cool if you don't have it already.

Halo 3: ODST tmcclelland47

tmcclelland47 — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 04:21:00 GMT

Halo 3:ODST is the perfect way to waste an entire weekend - while having fun in the process. In short - you get some good weapons, target a coupla alien dudes - and blow 'em up. It's a shoot-em-up kinda game, and it takes place on the planet Reach. The Spartans are trying to fend of the Covenant, to save their home planet. Savor this one as much as possible, and kick one of your buddie’s butts in the process.

I wasn't expecting to review this but what the hell

Gamecrow — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 00:40:00 GMT

This game was fun for a whole year. The campaign is super good but short. This should have been a small game inside halo 3 but Microsoft. had screw it up for Bungie. This short game had new mode called firefight well it's kinda like horde in gears. It was pretty fun for a small guppy game like this. I'm just in for REACH.

Halo 3: ODST my review

Gamatron — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:58:00 GMT

Superb, not pitch perfect, but superb. A truly fun game. Less open combat and less vehicles but the storyline was amazing. Besides allies faces, graphic were elite. Your person, Rookie is a bit more mysterious. You never even hear his voice. Pretty sure it's a guy because it would be weird how the other characters spoke to him. Lot's of humor and action. If you manage to collect all the audio logs it leads up to good story. Some cussing. Never heard the F-Word. In it your Rookie but other missions your people from his squad. All of it is fast paced aside from Rookie's story. Your primary mission is to learn what happened to your squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers [ ODST ]. Locate them at all costs. There is no flood in the game. The game's worth a lot but not too expensive.

A new faceless hero gets his fifteen minutes of fame.

Orochisama LEVON, Spectre — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:37:00 GMT

It's been a while since I've played Halo 3, and I had never touched ODST until recently. Now that I've had the time to play this title - without the residual effects of the smear campaign against its sixty-dollar pricetag plaguing my judgment - for myself, I must say that this game, regardless of its shortcomings in that department, does offer a campaign experience that far exceeds my expectations regardless. It also offers acolytes and new inductees of the Halo series a new, story-driven lens, as seen through the eyes of a person who might as well be called Master Chief's long-lost reject of a love-child.

Designed as some kind of quasi-prelude to Halo 3, you assume the role of the anonymous protagonist known only by the name "Rookie." Supposedly the "best of the best" of Earth's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, players watch as Rookie is eventually stranded from the rest of his ODST squadmates in the sprawling futuristic city of New Mombasa, Africa. It is in this overrun and deserted place, save for the lingering stench and presence of Covenant forces, that the modest journey of Rookie will take place. Compared to the ventures of Master Chief, the adventures you experience through Rookie don't even hold a match. The true meat comes through the evenly-paced backstories of his squadmates, activated by the clues you find while searching for them in New Mombasa; and yes, there will be blood, huge guns, lot's of Covenant enemies, needler supercombine explosions, and major pwnage inflicted upon you.

In terms of gameplay, the campaign mode is superb, refining the intelligence of the AI while entertaining us: I once heard a grunt yell "Feet don't fail me now!" shortly before wildly fleeing off into the distance. The new health system, using a concoction of regenerating shields, and a health meter - this can be restored entirely with the use of medical packs, scattered throughout the city's stages - puts a very human "face" (forgive my oxymoron) on your protagonist, making you feel vulnerable for the first time in the Halo series, even on Normal difficulty. While this new mechanic may surprise anyone who's familiar with the superhuman abilities of Master Chief, it introduces added meaning and depth to your accomplishments over challenging enemies, namely the Axe-wielding Brute Chieftains and terrifyingly-powerful Hunters. The presence of audio logs is an interesting nod to video gaming's most overused mechanic since context-sensitive button sequences, a quaint addition that thankfully isn't integral to the story's development, although they do enrich one's experience of New Mombasa. Bungie however, avoided the errors of taking itself too seriously, and the payoff is excellent. To note, the driving controls of the Warthog and the Mongoose are still pretty lackluster, and in higher difficulties, will undoubtedly leave you more than a little frustrated, especially on Coastal Highway. However, the Scorpion and all the Covenant vehicles still ride like a dream, so that qualm is assuaded. Then there's that annoying thing that happens when you want to listen to your own music...

Formally, the presentation is a mixed bag. With character renderings that might as well have come from the PS 2, the spectacular, intense, and moody set pieces of New Mombasa (try exploring without your VSIR on and marvel at the art direction) make the unremarkable faces of the characters feel a couple gaming generations out of place. The music, while composed with excellence, also holds little rhythm in its execution, resulting in periods where your character will go wandering around for minutes at a time in complete silence. However, each of the jazzy, ensemble tunes give the epic and classical scores a more provincial feel that speaks to the heart while you are out venturing as Rookie. The campaign, clocking in at a little over ten hours, may leave many a newcomer satisfied, yet yearning for more. This most likely will be sated by the new Firefight mode, which makes facing waves of enemies more than a grind through fodder. In this case, the mixed bag that its presentation offers is left up to personal taste. The same can be said in terms of the multiplayer experience.

Longtime diehards of the Halo experience have complained enough for readers of this review to have even a modest inkling about the controversy over the sixty dollar - now a bargain at about thirty to fourty dollars, which some argued should have been its initial sales price - pricetag this game used to have. With twenty-four maps and a fantastic multiplayer experience, Forge, and a Theater mode, it would only seem fitting. However, the consideration that only three of these maps were new, accompanied with the shortened campaigning experience, cast doubts on the minds of a lot of gamers who felt as though their hard-earned money was spent buying the same material they'd already purchased with a game that might as well have been DLC. This of course, is irrelevant now, as the game's price has lowered. However, while perhaps a tad too high - about fifty dollars would have been the appropriate price range, in my opinion - it is definitely worth the purchase, and, taking the addictiveness of ODST's campaign mode and Firefight mode into consideration, one whose quality certainly surpasses its quantity.

Any problems that I had with ODST are, as has been shown, primarily modest and philosophical in nature. Any admirer of Halo or gamer who's interested in the series will enjoy the chance to take the reigns of the franchise in a new direction, however short-lived. We'll just have to wait and see if the Rookie goes anywhere else in his exploits.

An "expansion" more than worthy of the franchise

Jeph — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:17:00 GMT

Had Bungie not forgotten to tie their shoes before walking out the door and avoid the words "expansion pack" regarding this game's release, I don't think anyone would have balked at the full-price tag on ODST. Sure, the campaign is shorter than any of the others, and yes, the Halo 3 engine is certainly showing its age (thank God they're retooling it for Reach), this is probably the most enjoyable campaign of them all...thanks in no small part to the fact that it doesn't require a PHD in Halo mythology to know what's happening. It's just a simple tale of a squad separated and fighting their way through enemy territory to reunite. The removing of nearly everything that makes a gamer feel invincible as Master Chief (heath regen, dual-wielding, blatant disregard for the laws of gravity) serves to make every victory harder-earned and sweeter.

Plus, there's the inclusion of all Halo 3 Multiplayer maps on one disc.

And I'll just go ahead and say it: Firefight is the most fun I've had on a videogame with 3 friends since Goldeneye. Hours and hours will go by, and still you'll be ready for more. Every time the game throws some new wrinkle at you, finding a way to overcome it becomes exponentially more rewarding. Overall, this might be the best Halo game so far.

An Expansion That Thinks It Is Its Own Game

vickeryoliver — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:19:00 GMT

Bungie set out with the intention of making an expansion for Halo 3. What they achieved instead was a product that provides more content, story, and multiplayer action than most of the full games on the market.

The campaign of ODST provides a great twist to the traditional Halo gameplay. Don't expect major differences, it still plays very similar to Halo 3, but with minor tweaks that add refreshing new scenarios.

As an ODST, you feel alone as you explore the city of New Mombasa. This feeling of isolation is credited to the amazing soundtrack Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell has crafted. This is some of his best work yet and is one of the main reasons to check out this game.

Besides the traditional Halo-esque campaign, there's firefight mode that adds a wave based survival game mode to the mix. This is a great addition to the franchise and makes it feel like that survival modes were meant for Halo from the beginning. Out of all the franchises with a survival mode, ODST's has to be at the top. It's just a perfect marriage.

On the second disc is the complete Halo 3 multiplayer experience which includes all of the extra DLC Maps. This disc alone is enough to warrant a $60 purchase, even 2 years after is release. Halo 3 is by far the most complete multiplayer experience and if you haven't experienced it yet then where the heck have you been? You need to play Halo 3's multiplayer. This is a great deal if you haven't bought the maps, however if you've spent $10 on each map pack then this is kind of a rip off because all you're getting is 3 new maps and repurchasing all the maps you have already bought. However, you get the opportunity to obtain Recon armor which makes it all worth it.

Simply put, ODST is a must for all Halo fans. It's an expansion that has the personality and physique of a full blown AAA game.

The supposed expansion

Deputy Alek K. — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:36:00 GMT

Halo 3 ODST is a mixed bag. It gives Halo fans the most well rounded expeirience in the sereis while subtracting from a core element, the campaign. It is saddening that this campaign while enjoyable is half the size of a regular FPS which definetly detracts from its appeal. The multiplayer maps are definetly a nice addition but if thats the only thing that appeals to you from this title I would just buy the DLC online. Now one thing that I admit is that the firefight mode is one of the best CO-OP expeiriences ive had in a long time. Overall heres what I think

Gameplay: 8.5/10 Definitley an incomplete yet enjoyable package.

Controls: 10 /10 Halo controls are as smooth as butter and are easy to grasp

Multiplayer: 10/10 Halo has always been one of the best when it comes to online and this is no exception.

Overalll: 9/10 Good for a rent or if it becomes cheap you could buy it

Halo 3... Just Better

Joe — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:30:00 GMT

As soon as I picked up my controller upon inserting the ODST disc, I knew I had a halo game under my hands. This game feels and looks like its predecessor, Halo 3, and does a good job of improving the original Halo formula. The most obvious difference between this game and Halo 3 is that this game is considerably darker. It's story is more sad, and the actual atmosphere of the game is darker. Thank your stars that you are an ODST, and thus have a visor which brightens everything in the game to a visible level. Another difference between you and good ol' Chiefster is you cannot dual-weied small weapons. This surprised me a great deal, since, apparently, the ODST can carry a behemoth turret faster than the Chief, but can't hold two puny pistols. The ODST's physical attacks are also, obviously, weaker than the Master Chief's. Another difference is that the humans pistol is different. It is a weaker pistol than the one in Halo 3, 2, and Combat Evolved, complete with puny sound effects. However, it does have a scope on it (similar to Halo: Combat Evolved). I guess that makes up for the difference... The SMG has a suppressor on it, and a scope. Plus, you can hold up to 3 grenades of every kind, with a total of 12 'nades to use wasting Brutes. Sweet!

Anyway, that is pretty much the difference in controls, weaponry, and equipment. On to the Singleplayer and Multiplayer feel.

Single:

In my opinion, the campaign for ODST is equal to 3's. It has a more realistic and emotional plotline, and is a little more concerned with stealth and secrecy than with runnin' 'n' gunnin', which is what ODST's predecessors were all about. Like I said, this game is darker, and sometimes is so dark that even with the visor activated it is still just barely possible to see. It feels much more open, and far less controlled and narrow than 3, which, in my opinion, is a great improvement. I always thought the Halo series was far to controlled, since there always seemed to be 3 walls in sight. If you get what I mean. (;

Multi:

ODST's Multiplayer is exactly the same as Halo 3's except for 2 things: 1.) It comes with the Mythic Maps, a new map pack including 6 sweet maps, and 2.) Firefight. Firefight is a mode where waves and waves of covenant come to attack you, gradually becoming harder and harder as time passes. If you've ever played Gears of War 2, it's pretty much Horde mode with Halo. =D However, I don't like it as much as Horde because they added the use of skulls into Firefight, adding more and tougher skulls with every level. Personally, I hate the skulls in Firefight. They include Catch, Black Eye, Famine, Tilt, Tough Luck, and more. Firefight mode supports up to 4 players working together as a team to fight off the waves. But anyway, 'nough 'bout Firefight. Everything about the multiplayer is the same as 3's except for firefight. Yes, you are still the Chief, and no, you don't get any of the sweet stuff the ODST do. It's just Halo 3 Multiplayer, all over again. This is the biggest downer, besides the lack of dual-wielding.

That about sums it up for Halo 3: ODST. I give it a 9.5, which is .25 point difference from what I rated the original Halo 3 (9.25). I really like this game, and if you are a Halo fan, and/or are just looking for a great FPS, Halo 3: ODST is a perfect choice. Improving on the traditional Halo recipe, Halo 3: ODST makes a great new addition to the Halo series.