Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)

First of all... Halo 3 rocked; one of the best console FPS franchises ever made. Halo 3 released in 2007 and since then MS released additional DLC (mp map packs).

The problem with ODST is that all the DLC you paid for comes now in a second disk. New Halo players may thinks this is great, but for those who already paid for these (Halo3 packs) it feels more like a robe. The way I see it, is like paying twice for something and thats not fair.

Now about ODST, it offers a 4-6 hours long campaing which is poor compared to its prequels, there are no graphical improvements in the game. The ONLY cool and new stuff is Firefight, wich is like GOW's Horde mode.

In other words, it feels like you are paying full price ($60) for a HALF-BAKED game. This is not a sequel to Halo 3, this is Halo 3.1, the most expensive DLC evermade. Hopefully Halo Reach will be a true sequel.

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Plays okay but it seems just a little off from halo 3. The character moves too fast for one thing But it is kinda fun

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Though there seems to be a bit of negativity surrounding this game just days after its release, I believe this game deserves credit for being one of the better 360 titles to come out since Halo 3 two years ago. I consider myself to be an extremely picky gamer, and ODST kept me both intrigued and entertained until the very end. A number of reviewers have suggested that the campaign is far too short for a complete game. I completely disagree with that notion. I played the game on Heroic and neglected to explore New Mombasa to it's extent. I would estimate that it still took me in the area of 12 hours to complete. I'm not suggesting that 12 hours is long by any means, but I don't think it was any shorter than CoD4 or Uncharted (two games that have received worldwide recognition over the last couple years.) The length of the campaign was, at the very least, satisfactory in my opinion. The plot was totally awesome. Though it tends to be a bit confusing towards the very beginning, everything slowly begins to come together until the very end at which point you realize that every mission had a purpose in creating the story. I also really liked the in-game background music. It had a bit of a dramatic effect to it and I really think it helped show how dire the situation really was in New Mombasa as you set out to explore completely alone. Its also really cool to experience the war from some viewpoint other than Master Chief's. No enemies will fear you like they would in Halo 1-3, it is nearly impossible to perform the sort of acrobatics that Master Chief was capable of, and just a couple of grunts are capable of taking you down if you aren't careful. Basically it just helps prove how much of a badass Master Chief really is. There really aren't any new guns in this game, though I don't necessarily see that as a negative. There are only so many guns in the Halo universe; I just don't really see a need to add any more weapons. They do, however, bring back the pistol from the original Halo. Though its silenced this time around, it packs plenty of power and can take down groups of grunts and jackals at a time. If theres one thing I could fix, it would definitely be the graphics. If this was 2007 I would probably view the graphics as about average. This is 2009 though, and I've come to expect much more from a game in terms of graphics and cinematics over the last couple years. I do not believe that the graphics improved at all between Halo 3 and ODST. I think that the brutes could have used a lot more work to make them more realistic and lifelike, while just random objects such as automobiles and dumpsters could be greatly improved as well. Cutscenes in which the ODST's had their helmets on looked awesome - the armor looks incredibly lifelike and the helmets just look sweet. Scenes in which characters didn't have helmets on is a different story though. Faces hardly look lifelike, and I would even go as far as to suggest that some PS2 games are capable of the sort of human animations that ODST has. I just finished playing MGS4 on the PS3 before starting ODST, and there really is no comparison. MGS4, which was released well over a year ago, just blows away ODST in terms of graphics, animations, and cutscenes. Overall though, I would say that this is a really good game. And while I wish that it would do a better job of bridging the gap in the series (a la Star Wars Episode 3,) I would certainly suggest it to any fan of the Halo series. In conclusion:

Pros-

*Intriguing plot that develops each member of the squad

*New perspective on Human-Covenant war

*Ability to use stealth or open combat to proceed

*Semi-open map that gives you the ability to explore and/or decide how to approach the next destination

Cons-

*Average graphics

*No ability to dual wield or use items

*Use of nightvision goggles seems to get a bit cheesy after a while; nighttime missions in New Mombasa are a bit dry and tend to be a bit repetitive.

*No mention of Master Chief whatsoever - it just seems like he should have at least been mentioned in the game seeing as he pretty much won the war single-handedly.

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