The Gaming Experiment

You probably have read a lot of different reviews for the new entry into the Halo franchise, Halo 3: ODST. Let me start off by saying that this is a great game. The single player offering is a new take on the standard Halo 3 formula, with an open hub world space and interesting storytelling mechanics.

Now let me put this out there right off the bat, you are not Master Chief. You play the Rookie, an ODST that is dropping into New Mumbasa to fight the covenant. The ODST's drop to earth in single passenger pods, but as the team was dropping there was a problem, and the Rookie slams into the pod of another and goes unconscious for about 6 hours.

The Rookie wakes up in a barren world at night time. Luckily you have a type of night vision that outlines the game area and highlights visible baddies. You go through the world tracking you ODST buddies, and you play as them. I dont want to spoil any of the story because I do think that it is well constructed and told. You should really give it a chance.

I enjoyed the single player campaign, but it was the new multiplayer mode, Firefight, that keep me coming back for more, and even stopped me from completing a game a couple weeks ago.

Firefight mode is similar to Gears of War 2's horde mode, where waves of of enemies come and attack, and you must hold them off. I did enjoy GoW2's horde mode, but it didn't really stick with me the same way as Firefight. My biggest complaint with Firefight mode is that there is no matchmaking. You have to play with friends, which makes for a fun time, but if you dont have a lot of Xbox Live friends, it can be tough to make much progress.

I would have to say that overall, I really liked Halo 3: ODST. Unlike some other reviews, I do think that this outing is actually more than just an expansion, but not quite a full retail game. However, ODST packs in a pretty good single player story, the new multiplayer mode Firefight, and comes with a second disc of Halo 3 multiplayer with every map that has been released to date, plus 3 new ones.

For any shooter fan, you must Add it to the Pile.

What did you guys think about the singleplayer story? or firefight mode? Let me know in the comments!