The overall result of this observation is that if you like Halo you should definitely play ODST. I advise against buying it now as it seems like little more than an expensive expansion to Halo 3 but root around for a second-hand copy in the bargain bin in a few months time. The new gameplay yet again breaks from convention which is both good and bad. Because you now have locked down finite health reserves it reduces the opportunity for charging into the enemy, absorbing epic amounts of damage before hiding behind a rock and waiting for your shields to recharge. The rest of it looks like a natural evolution of traditional gameplay. Enemies and weapons have been slightly tweaked, you can’t carry equipment. Ah that last one raises a good tip: You aren’t Master Chief. Keep that in mind.
The new campaign also gives you the opportunity to explore New Mombasa at night time in order to find new missions. This is unhelpful. The mission menu was confusing enough in Halo 3 without requiring you to trawl through a city at night. Not only that but because it can’t hold both save points for a single player and a co-op campaign I’m now reduced to having to re-play an old mission in order to carry on with the campaign (if you don’t understand, it’s okay, I don’t either).
The story is messed-up and I didn’t follow it too well, it seems to have degenerated into the simple objective of ‘saving the earth from alien invasion’. Halo 3 had a far superior story with characters who had real personalities, this one has several different characters who all look the same and nobody really cares about their personality. The audio logs are a nice touch, or rather they would be if my speakers didn’t mess up.
Music is lovely. It’s a Halo game, so of course the soundtrack consists of a booming orchestral score with drums and cellos and violins celebrating humanity’s final battle. They’re still doing it right.
Firefight adds replay value, especially good for local multiplayer as your team is united against the covenant.
Halo Wars is far better than anyone else will tell you.
I got Sergeant Johnson as part of the pre-order deal, since grabbing this screenshot I’ve played as Buck (with the helmet on). Expressionless faces are creepy:
Another overly-exposed image of an OSDT boarding a brute chopper:
I forgot to mention the extra multiplayer maps. These were a good idea on the part of Bungie, all the Halo 3 multiplayer and maps (plus the rest of the Mythic Map pack) are included on one disk. This has certainly led to me playing the multiplayer a lot more than I used to (especially ranked matches). Here’s my second remaining screenshot of Ghost Town:
Lastly, I changed my Gamertag from The Clagnut to Clagnar and bought some new clothing. The Halo 3 hoodie and Highwayman gloves were a petty waste of 270 Microsoft points which I happened to have left over after the name change, here’s what my avatar now looks like:
Anonymous brother of author said on October 17th, 2009 , 3:44 pm
Change of name was a waste. It is pretty much the same.