A game which doesn't reach the bar that Call Of Duty set, but still manages to boast a great campain.
Halo. The single word which will send parents backing away in terror and the kids spiralling out of control. Just stick the name 'Halo' onto anything and you've automatically got a game with reviews of ten, amazing sales and ultimately a lot of fans. Now this review is not going to do that. Forget the Halo series. I'm going to review this as a standalone title, something that some reviewers tend not to do. I will only reference the original game if I have to. This is not the hyped up Halo series which automatically is amazing. This is without the hype. This is without the fans. This is Halo 3: ODST.
The story is rather simple; you are an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper dropped into New Mombasa just as Master Chief decides to cock everything up and cause you to crash into New Mombasa. The five characters which the story follows - Buck, Romeo, Rookie, Mickey and Dutch - all wake up after the crash, dizzy and alone. Although, for these five characters, this is not the worst part about it; They all awoke at different times with nothing but their drop pod to accompany them, and now must find the rest of the team before they are slain at the hands of the Covenant Forces that stormed New Mombasa. The worst case of this is Rookies, who woke up six hours after the drop. You now follow this squad though the thick and thin combat of the game and the New Mombasa streets, accompanied only by your trusty silenced SMG and a bunch of grenades.
Visually ODST is average, with the bleak, boring visuals failing to impress against some of this years new releases. The draw distance seems to be rather impressive although mainly blocked out by large, repetitive towers or a conveniently placed ocean to stop extra detail. The levels on the New Mombasa streets are far too dark which forces you to turn on your VISR, but then the signs become too bright. The levels set during daytime are more impressive even though the draw distance can be seen more clearly. The distance is not terrible, it is just not up to the standard the games like Mass Effect has set, which must be said, is raising the bar rather high.
The music seems much more well composed them Halo 3's music (Comparison) with sweet tunes of classical music streams flawlessly through your speakers as your roaming around the city at night or the loud, pumping music blaring from your speakers as you try to fight off a Covenant horde. These seem to set the scene well and almost perfectly change from scene to scene, whether it's a battle, a quiet moment or you just free roaming, there's sure to be a melody to fit the scene.
The actual missions tend to grow a bit tedious after a while, with the missions repeating the same boring setting with the same objectives over and over again, all falling under the average FPS tradition for them just to be "Go there" and "Find That." The only thing that kept me going through the story was the actual storyline, being a pretty interesting one at that which makes you care for the characters.
ODST also boasts a new fire fight mode, which seems almost compulsory for any game wishing to pass the ratings board this year. Frankly it is just a copy of Gears of War 2's horde mode. Kill everything to survive. This isn't necessarily bad in this case, but it does grow a bit tedious after you lose the first time, and does not leave you wanting more straight after, unlike Call Of Duty's 'Nazi Zombie' mode.
Frankly Halo 3: ODST is not worth £40 or in America $60 due to the fact it is simply only an expansion to Halo 3. If you have Halo 3 already on your shelf, do not buy this game until it is lowered in price. Even better so, just rent it due to the fact you would have completed it in less than 10 hours if you are an average gamer. Or, on the other hand, you have yet to purchase the Legendary or Mythic maps, or fancy a shot at the famous Recon Armour then this may be the game for you as all the maps come free. Overall the game play is fun but tedious, co-op is great but yet there is still something missing, something to make the winning formulae. Hopefully we will see something new with Halo Reach... Hopefully.
(THIS IS ONLY A REVIEW OF THE ODST DISC AND NOT THE ADDITIONAL MULTIPLAYER HALO 3 DISC)