Review: Halo 3: ODST

       Halo 3: ODST has mixed opinions in the Halo community. Some praise it for it's story and new look at the Halo Universe. Others despise it due to it's full $60 price tag, and short campaign. I'll be honest. I didn't buy it when it came out. I waited until just a week ago, when Gamestop had it for $12. Here's what I think of it.

       ODST is... well, different. Sometimes I even forgot I was playing Halo. You aren't playing as Master Chief, or even a Spartan at all. You are an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Known for their toughness and heroicism, ODSTs are better that normal marines, but lower than Spartan-IIs and IIIs. Another difference is the fact that it's an open-world. And then there's VISR. During low-light, you turn this on, and it gives you better vision, it outlines enemies and allies in red or green, and camoflauged enemies show up better. The weapons were different, too. No trusty MA5, or even BR55. The only full-auto is a silenced SMG. I've never been a fan of the SMG. It just feels to crummy. It takes several short controlled bursts to even take out a Grunt. But, you can shoot it while in scope mode. Another new gun is the M6C SOCOM. I really liked this gun. Very effective with the Grunts. One shot, one kill. Barely makes any noise, and you can scope it. There are no power-ups or armor abilities, and no shields either. Instead, you have "stamina" and after that, "health". There are, of course the health-packs from CE and Reach, but they do look a little different.

       The campaign was actually pretty good, but very short. Shorter than Reach, actually. It jumps around from perspective to perspective (sort of like the movie Vantage Point). I really did not like the "Rookie" levels. I just didn't like being alone, and it was all dark and dreary. There were no living Sangheili during the campaign, due to the Great Schisim; only dead bodies lying around. The Covenant presence included Jiralhanae, Mgalekgolo, Kig-Yar, Unngoy, Yanme'e, and Huragok. The only improvement I would've made was make the campaign longer. But, what are you going to do? It was originally to be released as an expansion-pack.

       I'm probably going to get some hate-mail from the following, but here goes. I hated the Firefight. It was in no way customizable, besides Skulls and Difficulty. Half the fun of Firefight is customizing the gameplay, shields, health, speed, enemies, etc. Of course, this was the first iteration of Firefight, but still... it just didn't cut it for me.

       So I guess that brings us to the Halo 3 Mythic disc. It includes every single Halo 3 multiplayer map, plus three new ones, Heretic, Citadel, and Longshore. That alone is well worth the $12 now. I havent played on all of them yet, but so far I really enjoyed this disc.

       If you didnt get ODST when it came out, I dont blame you. But now, at $12, you really have no excuse. Its a good game, even though its quite different, and the Mythic disc tops it all off. The ODST campagin disc gets a 3 out of 5, and the Mythic, a 5 out of 5.