Review | Halo 3: ODST
The immersion doesn’t just come from playing the game. Hidden audio logs found scattered around the city add a unique civilian perspective to the experience, providing a little more information to the extensive back-story of the franchise. With the extra lore Halo 3: ODST expands on, and the unique perspectives it provides, fans and newcomers alike will certainly feel like this chapter only touches on the greater struggle humanity is going through. The Halo universe has never felt more epic.
While previous Halo games often moved away from the urban environments, offering only the odd level or two, Halo 3: ODST almost exclusively remains there. But even on the occasions where play moves outside the city, everything still feels fresh, thanks mainly to the squad-based set pieces. As far as the difficulty curve goes, there isn’t really one to speak of. The game remains challenging from the get go and maintains the balance consistently. Weapons pack the same punch as they did in Halo 3, so as long as you keep out of the Covenant’s line of fire you can take down most enemies just as effectively as your larger-than-life counterpart, the Master Chief. The lack of any obvious difficulty curve makes Halo 3: ODST feel wholly organic, maintaining the feel of a fictitious scenario, but delivering it in an agreeably realistic manner.
//Short and sweet
Halo 3 ODST suffers a little bit from its own success: being so immersive means that, when playing, time just flies by. And with the story only clocking in at around six hours, there’s a real feeling of disappointment that the experience has to end so quickly. With ODST being an expansion to Halo 3, perhaps the story’s length is appropriate for the format – but with it retailing as a full priced game, it does raise questions as to its value.
At least, it would be if it weren’t for the multiplayer, which goes along way explaining excusing the price tag. Firefight is the new multiplayer mode bundled with Halo 3: ODST, in which you and up to three friends must survive waves of Covenant forces swarming the map. It’s not a new game type for the genre, but it is for the franchise, and its core focus on teamwork makes it great fun to play, as well as offering a very different experience to those familiar with the more traditional Halo multiplayer. Each round consists of several waves of attackers, and at the beginning of the round random skulls are activated which benefit the Covenant – with double health, for example. With the help of the random skulls, every game plays out differently, and with the compulsion to better your own or a friend’s score, Firefight sports huge replay value. The only real downside is the lack of Xbox Live matchmaking.
The multiplayer mode doesn’t end there; Halo 3: ODST comes with a second disc with the entire Halo 3 multiplayer package, inclusive of the DLC. It’s a great way for those yet to try Halo 3’s online mode to experience what the fuss is all about, and with the inclusion of the extensive downloadable content and a trio of brand new maps, the apparently high asking price suddenly seems quiet the bargain.
The collection of multiplayer content is huge, and although the single-player experience still feels a bit too short, the mentality certainly seemed to be quality over quantity. Though it only lasts a few hours, the campaign is wonderfully constructed, with every section feeling meticulously designed, never lowering itself to artificial lengthening tactics. It may be short, but it’s an experience worth exploring time and time again.
Because ultimately, Halo 3: ODST is a fantastic game, and although the campaign is a short one, every minute is golden. With the beta invite to Halo Reach included, ODST is certainly a Halo fan’s dream, as well as a perfect introduction for those yet to try Halo 3’s multiplayer phenomenon. This is a brave outing for Bungie, but one that proves both they and their beloved franchise have a bright future ahead of them yet.
9/10
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Interchangeable characters? since when is that a good thing?
You’re right, a lot of the time interchangeable characters can make for an inconsistent gaming experience between a series, but with ODST it works. No one wants to see Master Chief disappear entirely but if (touch wood) he ever does, the Halo franchise can still survive, which is great news.
I assume what Greg means is that Halo isn’t relying on Master Chief as an identity for the franchise any more. ODST shows the gameplay itself has its own personality, and that means there’s plenty of room for further work in the series.
Not that I’ve played it yet. Halo’s one of those series that I’ve always begrudgigly accepted is very good, while always being left slightly cold by it. I loved the original way back when, but I returned to it a couple of years ago and couldn’t stomach the blandness of both the story and level design. I know plenty disagree though, and with good reason.
I too recently went back to the original Halo and has a similar experience. It seems to have aged badly.
I want to respond to both issues here.
First, with respect to the main character (MC) I don’t see it as a strong character. He is deliberately made superficial and bland so as not to obscure your immersion in the storyline. For me the real character of the game is the world he inhabits.
Secondly, I recognise that Halo can be quite bland, but only find this irritates me when I play it on too easy a setting. What I want is to be challenged, to rely on thought and not just reactions. What I don’t like is to be constantly dragged out of my immersion by bad controls, stupid AI etc. Halo is just reasonably good at giving you the former without too much of the latter, but only really works when it is hard (I found a similar quality to the original Ninja Gaiden).
I think the point about difficulty is spot on. It’s an issue that crops up more frequently these days, too.
For instance, Dead Space on hard is probably one of the most exhilerating games I’ve ever played, but most people I talk to finished it on normal and came away with an entirely different experience. It’s exactly the same with Halo, I think. It really takes on a new life when played on Heroic difficulty.
I feel slightly guilty talking about this, partly because Halo already gets talked about too much (this from a fan), but also because I don’t want to sound like an fanboy (I don’t like using the word fanboy either).
I have spent some time wondering about what elusive quality some games have that makes them more addictive or enjoyable. You can never trust a human being to explain their reactions, as they are more likely to rationalise their prejudice than derive their opinions from objective reasoning (We judge games we like as better more than we like better games).
Anyway, now to my point. Finally. When you are weak in a game, you lose the initiative. You spend your time hiding. When the enemy are weak, they spend their time hiding. When both sides are weak (as in most military shooters) both sides spend most of their time hiding, leading to a very static, predicatable game. The game becomes dominated by terrain, reducing variability. The ideal, I believe, is for the player to be weak and the enemy strong. This balances the fact that the player is far smarter than the game, without allowing the AI to cheat. The AI can’t use cover properly anyway so let it roam freely. In this scenario the enemy can display far more varied behaviour, leading to greater replayability (unless you actually like repetition). Halo gives you this, as do many other games, including sports games like Fifa, but only when played on a setting you find hard.
Difficulty setting can be a nuisance at times; I feel many games would benefit from their omission. A lot games do play better on harder settings, feeling more challenging and rewarding as well as shifting the pace, in the Halo series for example the heroic difficulty setting does state “How Halo is meant to be played”.
I wonder if having a dynamic difficulty built into the AI or even the creation of artificial luck, might please both those who like a challenge and those who don’t.
Just a small niggle: the opening line for the article on the main page states the ODST fight is “ongoing.” Not strictly true, as the game is set just after the events of Halo 2. In fact, the area looking so shabby is mainly due to John’s hasty exit in the big purple ship.
Cannot wait to sink myself into the campaign, though.