Earlier this week meant the arrival of yet another Halo game, Halo 3: ODST - which has grown from its humble beginnings as an expansion to a full-blown game. My interest in the Halo universe has dwindled since the release of Halo 3 and with the exception of the past few weeks i doubt that i have even touched it in roughly a year. Halo Wars came and went unnoticed, only playing my brother's copy for half an hour or so.
So i wasn't too excited about ODST. Yes i had preordered it and looked into the previews, but there was no real anticipation or excitement towards the new game. I actually played Halo 3 on Live a fair bit over the weekend which actually assisted in raising some enthusiasm for this new game. Early reviews spoke of how disappointed they were in the fact that the campaign only lasted 4 - 6 hours on average. Perhaps reviewers should actually go through and play the game on Legendary and take the time to wander around the streets of New Mombassa and explore the content as much as possible.
Personally I have found the game incredibly enjoyable. The game is actually more difficult and far closer to the original Halo as opposed to Halo 2 or 3, in which you so ridiculously overpowered that you cruised through the game without a second thought that you may actually die if you try and take on those 10 guys by pistol whipping them to death. Speaking of pistols, it is nice to see the pistol back in a capacity that makes it my go-to weapon once again. As we all know Halo 1's pistol was incredible. Ridiculously overpowered, but still fantastic. After realising how ridiculous it was Bungie dumbed it down to the point that it was not usable (except in desperation). So that was a thrill, as was Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tyduk voicing 3 members of your squad (being a Firefly/Chuck/Castle fan it is glorious). I was suprised to see that Fillion's character was actually modelled after himself, especially since Adam Baldwin did not appear as himself.
There is alot to adjust to in the game, such as Hunters finally providing the challenge that i feel they were always supposed to. No Battle Rifle, no bubble shields (etc) and the inability to take over Wraiths and Banshee's after boarding. These seemed like steps backwards, but after some thought i came to the conclusion that all these were reasons why the game was more challenging - which is something that i value. There is the bonus that you can carry soooo many more grenades which accounts for alot of these.
Despite the age of the Halo 3 engine the game looks amazing - the Art Direction was fantastic. The stark contrast between the night and day levels is magical, the music most definately adding to it all. The feeling of intense loneliness at night when playing as the Rookie is breath taking and the fact that you are actually on Earth for the whole game is always a bonus.
Overall, although I am yet to complete the game I am very satisfied with the game. Especially since the 2nd Disc includes all new multiplayer maps for Halo 3. One disappointment is the fact that apart from the Firefight Mode (which is fantastic, but not quite as good Horde in Gears of War 2) and Co-op there is no stand alone mutliplayer - i believe that free for all multiplayer would have been a fantastic alternative to Halo 3.
