Reviewer: Halo:ODST is Underwhelming

I can't really comment since I haven't seen much of the game, but I'm still surprised they are charging $60 for an expansion pack. The whole package just seems kind've weak. Short campaign and only 3 multiplayer maps. Really the highlight to me seems to be the "firefight" mode which sounds awesome, but still seems like it would be better at $29-39 tops. I'm interested to see what "real" reviewers think.EmperorSupreme

well, it does include all the halo 3 DLC map-packs... so thats at least a $10-$15 value right there

"but it's all built on an old engine (which looks pretty much untouched) and looks nowhere near as good as games such as Gears of War 2 or Killzone 2. It smacks of no effort and is a teensy bit cynical. Microsoft needed a big franchise title for this Christmas and presumably there wasn't enough time to build something new, so they gave us new missions on old, ageing technology that didn't really look that great first time round."

That's an unfair assumption because he doesn't consider the context. ODST has larger levels than Halo 3, large, open, non-linear enviorments with that same nice HDR lighting, the physics for both ragdolls and vehicles, and of course the engine supports many more characters onscreen at one time.

Mordred19

[QUOTE="WAIW"][QUOTE="heretrix"]

"This is Halo. HALO! One of the most recognisable and popular franchises the videogames world has ever seen. In terms of overall quality, it SHOULD be up there with Gears and Killzone, not limping along at 640p. Let's be clear, we say this as people who want Halo to be amazing, not 'fanboys' or 'haters', as backwards-cap-wearing American teens will no doubt accuse us of being. It doesn't matter if you're the biggest Halo and 360 Fan going - don't bury your head in the sand, demand better!"

Do thay not know that Halo 3 ran in the same resolution? This is really silly.

heretrix

As trivial as it may sound (and, I think, is) to some, it's a perfectly reasonable complaint. He wants one of the most popular series ever to take full advantage of modern hardware. Sure, why not.

[QUOTE="charomid"]

[QUOTE="TheArmyGuy48"] you mean......Gran Turismo 5? the game in which the highest selling installment of halo has only matched the lowest selling GT game? and every first iteration each gen of gran turismo has outscored every halo game on gamerankings also. Lol, at getting personal with me...."Cow".....my e-feelings am hurt. I am a cow, lol, I didnt need you to point that out to me so what are you getting at? Lol, at how quickly lemmings get the claws out when someone talks about halo. Theres still lemmings that think halo is the best selling franchise ever.

EDIT: and LOL, at kotaku being COWS now, even though theyve been known for their 360 bias for years :roll:

I guess everyone who says something bad about 360 is a cow now

TheArmyGuy48

ummmmmm you gotta be kidding right? do u even know what the first halo scored? it got a 9.7/10!!!!! thats higher than any gran turismo game out there! even halo 3 scored a 9.5/10 which is higher than any gran turismo game out there as well. type it in on gamespot and you'll see what im talking about. even on your precious gamerankings, halo was given 95.45% while the highest gran turismo game was given 94.71%. next time find out the REAL answers before posting bs, because ppl will look to prove you wrong!

your still WRONG! gamerankings, halo still scored higher than GT. halo scored 95.45% and GT scored 94.71%. whatever site you check, halo still scored higher than any GT game.

all they're pretty much talking about is the graphics... what about the actual gameplay?

ogvampire

Please gameplay is not important for games. Graphics is where it is at now.:D

(that was joke fyi;), they can be hard to getacross the interweb)

[QUOTE="Cicatraz_ESP"]

Reviews from a no name journalist FTW? lol.

Leejjohno

Doesn't make his opinion worth any less that any other reviewer. He would be one of the first that doesn't seem to hype everything to the high heavens. If he was saying "one word: awesome" instead everybody in the thread would be saying "OMG AAA am confirmed".

But he is litterally a no name journalist., can you find any name in that story? Anything that is from an unnamed source should raise red flags.

[QUOTE="Mordred19"]

"but it's all built on an old engine (which looks pretty much untouched) and looks nowhere near as good as games such as Gears of War 2 or Killzone 2. It smacks of no effort and is a teensy bit cynical. Microsoft needed a big franchise title for this Christmas and presumably there wasn't enough time to build something new, so they gave us new missions on old, ageing technology that didn't really look that great first time round."

That's an unfair assumption because he doesn't consider the context. ODST has larger levels than Halo 3, large, open, non-linear enviorments with that same nice HDR lighting, the physics for both ragdolls and vehicles, and of course the engine supports many more characters onscreen at one time.

Brownesque

Look at what I posted. I'm not talking about textures or polygons.

Well, it was supposed to be an expansion with a shorter length and all, so I imagine upgrading it to real game status might have made people expect more. Still, I was never expecting anything too new anyways, but I'll still play it. Jeez, its not lke Halo is a deep shooter or anything, its just arcadey fun is all.

This guy can't even spell correctly. :lol: What a professional journalist.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

[QUOTE="Leejjohno"]

Doesn't make his opinion worth any less that any other reviewer.

Leejjohno

yeah, those pics look pretty terrible.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

[QUOTE="WAIW"] What does it matter if they do or do not?WAIW

As trivial as it may sound (and, I think, is) to some, it's a perfectly reasonable complaint. He wants one of the most popular series ever to take full advantage of modern hardware. Sure, why not.

Did you write that article?

heretrix

LMAO. That's quite likely.

I don't trust this at all, but seriously, I thought the graphics looked really good from the screens, and much improved over Halo 3. Anyways I don't use HD past 420p so I'm all good with that.

Here is a pic. killzowned24

Does posting bad ODST screenshots make you feel better?

Article about a fake interview is what I find underwhelming.

[QUOTE="killzowned24"]Here is a pic. EndorphinMaster

Does posting bad ODST screenshots make you feel better?

Article about a fake interview is what I find underwhelming.

vaderhater

This reminds me so much of how PSU faked the interview with Valve.

Here is a pic. killzowned24

Does posting bad ODST screenshots make you feel better?

[QUOTE="EndorphinMaster"]

[QUOTE="killzowned24"]Here is a pic. Brownesque

Does posting bad ODST screenshots make you feel better?

They're not bad at all. I suppose one could make the case for average, but in all honesty those pictures are fine.

Here is a pic.killzowned24

[QUOTE="killzowned24"]Here is a pic.heretrix

[QUOTE="vaderhater"]

Article about a fake interview is what I find underwhelming.

EndorphinMaster

This reminds me so much of how PSU faked the interview with Valve.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

[QUOTE="killzowned24"]Here is a pic.Brownesque

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="heretrix"]Why are you posting screnshots where there has already been better looking video shown? Hell, the off screen stuff at E3 looks better than that.

heretrix

[QUOTE="EndorphinMaster"]

[QUOTE="vaderhater"]

Article about a fake interview is what I find underwhelming.

vaderhater

This reminds me so much of how PSU faked the interview with Valve.

all i know is that the 22nd ill be going to gamestops midnight release geting my copy and my code for SGT johnson, and going home and playing it coop 4 players with 3 of my friends from meijer.

All i know is i will have more fun with this game then any ps3 game i've played.

Well, Half-Life 2 has dated graphics, but I play it all the time. I wouldn't care if Episode 3 looked exactly the same.

Considering I don't know what this guy is talking about, other than graphics, I won't let it bother me.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

[QUOTE="Brownesque"] Because according to the website hosting those screens, they're direct grabs. Meaning that should be the only objective look at how the game is short of a 720p gameplay video.Brownesque

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="heretrix"]How does that change anything? The videos I've seen look better than that.

heretrix

the game doesn't look that good if you ask me. Game looks like a cartoon, everything has an outline on it. Other than that, it's Halo 3 all over again. I'll passmohfrontline

I like how cows are flocking to this review calling it gospel. Sort of like when Game Critics game Halo 3 a 7.0. It's like if something Halo related scores high it's called "teh biased" or "they were payed by M$". But when someone gives it a low score it's "teh honesty".:roll:

Here is a pic. killzowned24

Ewwww....that looks really bad. If I was a massive Halo fan, I'd be quite frustrated. But Halo fans can always wait for Halo Reach. Just wait...

well, personally trust kotaku more than a "source" who stated the game was underwhelming.

http://kotaku.com/5356366/halo-3-odst-campaign-impressions-the-tension-bungie-built

[QUOTE="charomid"]

[QUOTE="TheArmyGuy48"] you mean......Gran Turismo 5? the game in which the highest selling installment of halo has only matched the lowest selling GT game? and every first iteration each gen of gran turismo has outscored every halo game on gamerankings also. Lol, at getting personal with me...."Cow".....my e-feelings am hurt. I am a cow, lol, I didnt need you to point that out to me so what are you getting at? Lol, at how quickly lemmings get the claws out when someone talks about halo. Theres still lemmings that think halo is the best selling franchise ever.

EDIT: and LOL, at kotaku being COWS now, even though theyve been known for their 360 bias for years :roll:

I guess everyone who says something bad about 360 is a cow now

TheArmyGuy48

ummmmmm you gotta be kidding right? do u even know what the first halo scored? it got a 9.7/10!!!!! thats higher than any gran turismo game out there! even halo 3 scored a 9.5/10 which is higher than any gran turismo game out there as well. type it in on gamespot and you'll see what im talking about. even on your precious gamerankings, halo was given 95.45% while the highest gran turismo game was given 94.71%. next time find out the REAL answers before posting bs, because ppl will look to prove you wrong!

WTF? On game rankigs Halo CE: has a score of 95.45 with 82 ****ing reviews. GT 1 the first GT on the list has a 94.71 with only 21 reviews. Metacritic has the best reviews Gran Turismo the first one with a 96. Halo :CE on Xbox has a 97. Strike 2. 1) You're wrong. 2) You try way to hard to spin for Sony. Hope they give you a check.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

[QUOTE="Brownesque"] You just said you saw an off-screen video. Have you seen 720p direct feed gameplay footage?Brownesque

I read the 1st paragraph and came to the realization that this "guy" is not a fan of Halo, and a total graphics whore. He just keeps complaining about the game looking the same as Halo3, its on the same engine.... WAH WAH WAH!

If this "reviewer" gets paid, then I really think he needs to get the boot. He's among one of the worst I've heard and has some personal issues with Halo in general. He didn't go in as an open reviewer, thus he wasn't doing his job, if this is a real, paid, reviewer.

BioShockOwnz

Jim Sterling of Destructoid is still worse. I love Destructoid by I can inly take so much of his stupid caption jokes, weird headline pictures, and perverse nature.

all they're pretty much talking about is the graphics... what about the actual gameplay?

ogvampire

He is a Cow like you, that explains it, sorry Kotaku is saying its going to be a great game. It sure will outsell anything on the PS3 thats for sure...

PrimusGears

[QUOTE="PrimusGears"]

He is a Cow like you, that explains it, sorry Kotaku is saying its going to be a great game. It sure will outsell anything on the PS3 thats for sure...

djsifer01

You played it???

How was it??

[QUOTE="PrimusGears"]

He is a Cow like you, that explains it, sorry Kotaku is saying its going to be a great game. It sure will outsell anything on the PS3 thats for sure...

djsifer01

I'm sure you'll feel better if you keep telling yourself that.