Prepare to Drop, Halo 3: ODST Has Arrived

Some San Diegans got their chance to play Halo 3: ODST at this years Comic-Con. Now the wait is over for the rest of us. Bungie has released the newest installment of the Halo franchise, titled Halo 3: ODST.

This may not be the typical Halo game that you are used to seeing. The biggest difference is that you are no longer playing as Master Chief. That’s right, but don’t be upset. Change is good sometimes and in this case, rather exciting. You play as “the Rookie,” a normal, non-Spartan soldier in the UNSC army.

The graphics of ODST are truly amazing building off the same game engine as Halo 3. The fighting environments are also superb, ranging from close-quarter melee battles to large-scale sniper battles, so make sure you are skilled in various types of weapons. You also get to pilot the much loved land-air vehicles such as the Tank, Ghost, Warthog, Banshee and more all with the same comfortable and familiar feel. Take a look for yourself:

Another part of gameplay that has changed is the lack of super-human-strength, gravity defying jumps and the ability of a regenerating health shield.  Your strategy may have to change up a bit if you want to survive as an ODST in this game.

The story telling in ODST is a little different than before, in a sense that it is not one continuous story, rather in fragmented pieces with flashbacks in your squadmates’ shoes. Finding clues triggers these flashback memories and helps put the story together piece by piece.

The newest game mode you’ll find is the FireFight mode, where wave after wave of increasingly difficult Covenant rush you and up to 4 players in a do-or-die survival mode.

Your full stats are tracked both in-game and at Bungie.net for those who crave competition. All of this action just on the first disc. That’s right, there are two discs.

On disc two you will find the full 24 map Halo 3 online experience along with 3 new maps Heretic, Citadel, and Longshore. The Halo 3 online multiplayer even to this day, continues to be the most played game on all of Xbox Live.

So even though the campaign is somewhat short (6-7 hours) on what was originally supposed to be an expansion game, Bungie has turned ODST into a unique saga in the Halo series with hours upon hours of replay value with a brand new campaign mode, classic Halo 3 online multiplayer, and the new FireFight mode.