Developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, Halo 3: ODST is a new, stand-alone expansion to the Halo saga that lets players experience the events leading up to the epic tale told in Halo 3 through the eyes of an completely new reputation the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), as they search for clues leading to the whereabouts of their scattered squad and the motivations behind the Covenant's invasion of New Mombasa. The game adds a new dimension to an all-on all sides of universe that gamers around the world have known and loved since the relief of the first Halo game in late 2001. 
New hero, ancient enemy.
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Join the ODST.
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Stunning cinematics.
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New co-op multiplayer mode.
View larger. | New Campaign, New Hero, New Tactics
Much more than an expansion, Halo 3: ODST allows players to explore treacherous new ground, search the dark, abandoned streets of New Mombasa for clues, and fight back hostile to the Covenant invasion from manifold perspectives. Reducing in as "the rookie," a new member of an elite squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) sent into New Mombasa on a classified recon mission, you'll be armed with particular weaponry and upgraded equipment, counting silenced weapons and a VISR enhanced vision mode. Separated from your squad, you'll have to scour the city for clues in order to learn what happened to Buck, Dare, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo. As you collect new clues, you’ll experience the tale from their perspectives, fighting through the occupied city hours earlier. A New Way to Play: 4-Player Co-op Firefight
Drop feet first into a new way to play Halo with the cooperative campaign mode, Firefight. Form a squad of your friends over System Link or Xbox LIVE and place your skills to the ultimate test hostile to the invading Covenant war machine for glory, high scores, and achievements. Do battle in manifold environments, on foot or in vehicles, and hostile to increasingly hard waves of Covenant attackers while Halo 3's skull modifiers progressively activate to up the ante. After the Firefight, relive and review every last kill you earned and see how your high scores and stats stack up hostile to your friends' and the convergence overall using Bungie.net's persistent online stats and Firefight leaderboards. 3 New Halo 3 Maps
Three all-new maps make their debut for Halo 3's traditional, chart-topping multiplayer. Heretic, Longshore, and Castle drop in alongside the first Halo 3 multiplayer maps, all packed in and playable from one standalone disc. Twenty-four maps in all, counting the Heroic, Legendary, Cold Storage space, and Mythic Map Packs, grant a peerless multiplayer experience, near limitless content foundation and customization via the Forge and Sandbox, and a slew of new multiplayer achievements for Halo 3. New Challenges and Achievements
For the first time, Recon Armor for use in Halo 3 multiplayer will be made unfilled to players who complete the "Road to Recon" challenge. Earn all seven of the Vidmasters, a series of Xbox LIVE achievements that span Halo 3's Campaign and Multiplayer and Halo 3: ODST, and then visit your Bungie.net Service Record with a linked gamertag to enable your sweet new set of digital duds. If you already own Halo 3, you can get started now by collecting the "Annual" campaign achievement and the "7 on the 7th" and "Lightswitch" multiplayer achievements in matchmaking. And, if you've already downloaded the Mythic Map Pack, you can collect the hidden skulls on Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox today. Convergence Features
4-Player co-op experience over Xbox LIVE or System Link, screenshots, saved films, custom Halo 3 multiplayer map and game variants via the Forge…all of the award-winning features built-in in Halo 3 are packed into Halo 3: ODST with an extra 1,750 unfilled achievement points piled on for excellent measure. And Halo 3: ODST introduces an all-new single player experience with new characters, new weapons and equipment, and the frenetic cooperative experience, Firefight, an completely unique way to play Halo. Bungie.net Integration
What excellent is winning if you can't brag about it to your friends? Extend your gaming experience beyond the console with Bungie.net's expansive integration. All of your time stats are aggregated into your online Service Record - every last kill, every single medal, and your entire collection of career post game carnage intelligence, plus robust charts, graphs, and leaderboards allow you to instantly see how you stack up hostile to the rest of your squad and the Halo 3: ODST convergence at large. Challenge to the Halo: Reach Beta
As an added financial support of buying Halo 3: ODST players hear an challenge to participate in the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta due to hit Xbox LIVE in 2010. Halo: Reach is Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie's imminent prequel to the events of the first Halo: Combat Evolved game. Based on Eric Nylund's novel "The Fall of Reach," it is packed with fine points surrounding the origins of the Sparten II soldiers, of which Master Chief was only one of many and the beginnings of the conflict with the Covenant and the Flood. If you want in, hold onto your copy of Halo 3: ODST and stay tuned to Bungie.net and Xbox.com for more fine points. |
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 Excellent, for what it is |
| Review Date: September 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Andrew B. Leadford, Colorado |
I've read a few reviews here, and I reckon that, although there are some valid points, people are treating ODST as a touch that it was never meant to be.
So, what is ODST? It's an expansion. Expensive? Yes, but one has to realize that in reality, it's several expansions built into one, a `collectors pack' for Halo 3 fans. (After all, it's named Halo 3: ODST, not just Halo: ODST)
So, before I break the game down, let's inspect what ODST really is.
1. Campaign (Small, yes...Fun? Very.)
2. Fire Fight (One could say a different campaign. After all, a single match with excellent people can be hours long, and that's one match.)
3. All the maps (A $20+ value, considering there's two map packs worth 1600 Microsoft points, not to bring up the three new ones.)
4. Halo: Reach Beta (Remember lockdown, with it's Halo 3 Beta? Yeah...)
Okay, first things first. The Campaign:
This is fun. It's far more tactical than any Halo game before it, and allows for so many new opportunities. Once in Heroic, you find yourself preparation assaults, sneaking, factoring in how many shells you have. Ammo is so sparse that you're constantly forced to re-adapt and pick up new weapons, rather than keeping with the same two weapons (As was much the case with the first three halo's). The characters are new, which again, is appealing. The Visor?...Man, doubtless my favorite addition. It's so cool to able to switch around views, to get tactical or go all out. Wonderful. Not to bring up the addition of engineers, which do not anything but add to the depth of game play and emphasize strategy.
Fire Fight:
Let's be honest. Bring up Gears 2? You hear about horde. Bring up Call of Duty WaW? Nazi zombies. Now halo has it's own, and it is gorgeous. Fuller maps, with each donation their own advantages and disadvantages. The new call-sign features allow for quicker identification, and the new drop-off system (The enemies come in on Phantoms, rather than just spawning) allow, again, for strategy. Ammo shortages are common here, so know your weapons. The skulls always add a bit of flair and make each and every round a new experience. My only gripe? When I play with my Australian friends, the game is pretty laggy.
All the maps:
I wish I had known this going in. Woulda saved me twenty bucks. You know about new maps, right? The new three; awe-inspiring. A much called for remake of midship, an open map that will make for appealing swat, and a dock that features dingies and perched crates. Awe-inspiring, right?
Halo Reach: Beta trailer:
-This- is Halo 4. This is the one that's going to blow people away. (For those who know the tale, well done. Reach is in fact...er, Halo -1? It's a prequel). This is the unsung hero of ODST, as I already can't wait. Remember people buying Clearout ($60) for Halo 3 alone? This is much the same thing; only you also get the above mentioned features. No brainer, right?
So, overall? If I knew someone who only had 60 to spend, I'd point them in the direction of Oblivion or Fallout or the like. But, for someone who knows they're getting a huge expansion, and likes Halo? This is all but a must have. Just know what you're getting into; it's not a standalone, but it's still pretty awe-inspiring.
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Halo 3: ODST
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| Review Date: September 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: iHyphy, Oakland, CA |
the question on all's mind was....is Halo 3: ODST worth the $60 price tag? for people who already own the first Halo 3, this will be overpriced for you unless you don't own any of the Halo 3 multiplayer map packs. if you do own the first halo 3 and all the map packs i recommend you try to find someone promotion the odst on ebay or craigslist or try buyin it used somewhere.
lets do the math on the inside of halo 3: odst:
-the full halo 3 multiplayer experience on a separate disc $15 (half the price of halo 3 full version)
-all of the halo 3 multiplayer map packs and 3 new maps unreleased which price at nearly $40
-ODST campaign and firefight experience $30
-Free Sgt Johnson download for preorders
-Free Halo: Reach beta challenge
that puts the total at $85 and i payed $60 so i got my moneys worth!
i felt the campaign for odst was small in evaluation to its brother halo 3...depending on problem, it can be anywhere between 5-10 hours of gameplay...i beat the campaign on normal in 5 hours solo play and around 11 hours solo on legendary.
you start off as a rookie in an odst unit...while during drop you get separated from your squad and this is where you start the tale tryin to maneuver through new mombasa finding clues into where the rest of your squad is. as you unravel a further clue to a further one of your squadmates you get to play a level as one of the other sqaud mates--the level is all the events the squad mate endured between the drop and up to the point where you found the clue. the clues are also beacons which help download data to your visr and intel. with out spoiling the whole campaign, you pretty much find your self fighting covenant, finding audio logs and clues, and tryin to rejoin up with your squad while at the same time diggin more into the tale of halo 3.
this game plays alot more tactical and different then the orginal halo 3 because yoru not master chief no more. you have to find med packs in the game to regain health and theres some new weapons introduced and some ancient weapons that aren't offered in the game i.e. br assault rifle w/scope.
the firefight mode is similiar to horde on gears of war. you fight off reinforcements of enemies through manifold round. where you and your team share a collective of lives. during particular stages particular skulls are activated/deactivated/collective to make the game more appealing and hard. between rounds there are bonus rounds where you can't lose lives but you can get some juicy points by killin as many covenant as possible in a 60 second period..as of right now there is no matchmaking for firefight, but the reason it was left out was because it was going to push the relief date six months so they released the game and will relief an update later.
but if you need a firefight or campaign partner just hit me up on xbox live my gamertag is Mister Hyphy
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New Mombasa by starlight.
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| Review Date: September 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: trashcanman, Hanford, CA United States |
First off, that's pronounced Oh-Dee-Ess-Tee, fellow gamers. The game store clerks wish to punch you in the face when you have a crack to say a game's acronym as an actual word. Trust me. Anyhow, "Halo 3: ODST" is a separate Haloverse tale that strips itself of the series' iconic hero Master Chief. There are no super-powered Simple cyborgs to pull humanity out of the fire in this one. Just you and your squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers standing between the hostile alien alliance known as The Covenant and the death of humanity. No pressure, though. The game was formerly formulated as a mere add-on to Halo 3, but eventually grew to full-fledged game status. This has offended a lot of sniveling whiners who ran out and pre-ordered their copies based solely on the predictable Halo hype and then sobbed themselves to sleep because they have no thought of tale and ran through the game with 3 friends on Simple problem and found it too small on action for the money they spent. Real gamers will find that while the price tag may be a bit high if you already paid for all of the downloadable maps and don't gather your friends together evenly to partake in the phenomenally fun "Firefight" mode. But if you plot on enjoying this game to the fullest, you will not be disappointed.
As a single-player game, "ODST" runs a bit small and may be less bang for the buck then one might hope for. But, the manner in which the tale is told is absolutely phenomenal. You start your ill-fated mission hurling towards the Earth (which has just been invaded by Covenant forces) on a special-ops mission. But a touch goes incorrect and your pods are separated and crash in different locations all over the Covenant-occupied African city of New Mombasa. You wake up as a trooper known only as as "the Rookie" many hours after striking the ground in the dead of night. From there you search the city for clues about the whereabouts of your comrades. Each time you find a clue (such as a broke helmet or bent sniper rifle) the game flashes back to a different member of the squad and you play out the scenario as that reputation and witness the events leading up to the object finding it's resting place where it will be learned hours later by The Rookie. In addition, there is a further side tale besieged throughout the city in the form of 30 audio files that tale the adventures of a young girl caught in the middle of the invasion. It's quite enthralling and I found myself looking forward to finding more pieces of that puzzle even more then the main tale. "ODST" is a masterpiece of storytelling in that rite and it's why a lot of people won't delight in it. They prefer to skip past the tale segments and run around with their friends teabagging each other along the way. To really experience the game as it's meant to be played, you need to go it alone and absorb the ambiance,loneliness and ambient noise of the ruined cityscape. Half of this game is enjoying the tension of relying on cover of darkness, using your brilliant night-vision visor to it's utmost, examination the incredible soundtrack, and exploring the city looking for audio files or finding the best ways to get the drop on roving patrols of enemies or the entrenched Covenant forces.
Same ancient Halo gameplay here. That is to say it's as excellent as first-person shooters get. But since you are not a Simple, there are differences. First off, no shield. Your armor can take a few hits before your screen will turn red, indicating that you are fatigued and are taking hurt to your health bar. To renovate your health, you must stay out of combat for a time. It's not a lot different from past games, but you can't take quite as much punishment. You also no longer have gravity-defying jumps or one-hit kill melee capabilities, and no more dual-wielding. Don't go jumping off any cliffs either. Wipes your resilience right out. You also get one new Covenant race -whose mystery turns out to be central to the tale-, a groundbreaking new weapon in the form of a silenced SMG which promptly became a favorite of mine, and the exceptionally salutation return of zoom capabilities on the pistol. I was hoping for more of a focus on secrecy aspects, but Bungie couldn't help but make most of the levels predictable shoot-em-ups. This certainly diminishes Master Chief's importance as I felt I kicked as much or more tail as an ODST compared to when I played the penultimate Simple. But I sure as hell did have a fantastic time doing it. There's also plenty of vehicular mayhem to delight in. They could have easily recycled the epic score from before games, but as a replacement for they crafted a new one that is as excellent as any they've done. And that says a lot considering every Halo score is among the greatest in gaming.
Okay, enough about single-player. Games like Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead gave us a new mode of gameplay where you are challenged to take on wave after wave of increasingly hard enemy attacks and survive with a small help from your friends. Not to be outdone, Bungie has crafted their answer in Firefight mode, which can go on for hours at a time if you're excellent enough. If the campaign wasn't action-packed enough for you, get three buds together and get ready to be dropped in a very rock-solid spot with a set number of lives (more can be gained) to endure endless waves of attack from every baddie in the game. Watch those snipers! The longer you survive, the more hard the game makes it for you. It will start rotary on "skulls" which make the game harder by decreasing ammo drops, empowering enemies, or otherwise making your life harder to keep. This mode is ODST's crown jewel, for sure. They've even added extra kinds of medals for you to earn based on your normal in battle. Firefight is unlimited fun and a FPS fan's co-op wet dream, plain and simple. If that still is not enough, the second disc of the set contains "the complete Halo 3 multi-player experience" which consists of every map ever made for the game and three groundbreaking new ones. 24 in all. That is a ton of maps and seeing as they run a few bucks apiece if you download them from Xbox Live that is a large value if you've been holding out. Even if you haven't bought Halo 3, you can join in the fun and madness of murdering complete strangers and then desecrating their corpse while they are forced to watch with all of the extra content using this bonus disc. If you are that guy, then this game is a steal. But I don't know that that guy exists.
Killer tale: check. Awe-inspiring action: check. Multiplayer badness: check. New additions to the ever-growing Haloverse mythology: check. Incredible soundtrack: check. Yup; this is one fine game. Haters, keep on hating. Bungie gave the hardcore fans a treat with this. I'd have liked to see it priced about $20 cheaper, but I also want my very own Simple armor and that ain't experience either. The fact is, I'm pleased with this game in spite of it's brevity and the fact that I've already bought most of the maps. If you've no interest in the tale and mythology of Halo, I'd recommend you pass on this. The campaign is no challenge with 4 player co-op even on Legendary problem and there often are not enough enemies to go around so you will have to look for distress to find it at times which will enrage many a fratboy. Firefight mode will still be a blast, but one can hardly be probable to shell out $60 for a single gameplay mode. And considering their is no matchmaking on that mode, you can only play it with people on your Friends List which is a pain. ODST isn't perfect, but it's obvious a whole lot of care went into it and it's a fantastic experience all around. Plus, with a dream team cast featuring a Firefly reunion of Nathan Fillion, Alyn Tudyk, and Adam Baldwin plus Battlestar Galactica sex idol Tricia Helfer and voiceover basis Nolan North -who has provided the voice for Deadpool and various other full of life comic book characters- who the hell can really nag? It's more Halo, and that's never a touch to whine about.
4 1/2 stars, rounded up for a new wrinkle in the series.
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To be or not to be an expanison pack
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| Review Date: September 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Craig Moller, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA |
Halo: ODST was rumoured a small expansion to Halo 3. But, what you get is a six hour campaign which further expands the boundaries than that of Halo 3, a fantastic new mode built on cooperative called Firefight and an entire second disc filled with every single map released for Halo 3's multiplayer.
Halo: ODST brings about some changes, there is no Master Chief and there is no sight of the game being played by his rules. This includes no dual wielding, recharging shields and gravity won't feel mocked any longer by Chief's jumping. As a replacement for, you'll take the role of the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST. These guys don't have all of the strengths of the Chief. They can only aim one weapon at a time. They have a health bar that requires health packs to renovate once their light overshield is depleted. They can't jump as high or fall as far or take as many bullets lacking stumbling into Death's open arms. They handle quite like Master Chief did in Halo: Combat Evolved, and they have a powerful scoped pistol to complete the throwback feel.
The ODST may handle like the Halo of yester year but the campaign among other modes is as fresh and exciting as one could hope for. With the Chief sitting this one out, Bungie has gone from its usual Simple driven romp and has focused on a more reputation driven, thus making one of the most satisfying Halo storylines yet in the franchise. The ODST events take place during the events of Halo 2 (ah, the memories), just as Master Chief is wreaking havoc on the Covenant and forcing the Prophet of Regret to make an urgent situation slipstream escape.
But, the huge guns of this army is the the new mode firefight. The action is non-stop with one random wave of Covenant foes coming after a further. As you make it further into the match, problem modifiers, called skulls, get turned on, dramatically increasing the level of challenge. It's a hell of fantastic time. My match with some mates lasted just under three hours and by the end of it all we restarted for a further load of fun. Excellent times.
Halo 3: ODST isn't a right sequel, but it is more than a standard expansion. If you're on the fence about buying it, drop your reservations and go snag a copy. If you like Halo, you owe it to yourself to pick this up as soon as you can. |
Halo 3: ODST (although, I liked the prior title "Recon")
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| Review Date: September 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Negative, Illinois |
This game is the prototypical HALO experience for me. You are outnumbered, out gunned, and over matched throughout the game. You have really cool, particular ODST weaponry, but, you are restricted on ammo, don't have the powerful shields of the Simple armor, and are susceptible to losing health (rapidly, if you aren't careful).
You truly walk into a no-win situation as the "runner up", and you have to be smart about avoiding patrols, fighting when you must (but, picking your battles), conserving ammunition, and using secrecy to go from objective to objective.
If you thought facing one (not to bring up manifold) "Hunters" as Master Chief was tough, just wait until you face them as an ODST!
This, for me, is the defining game in the HALO series, and, as much as I like the HALO universe (and Master Chief), what HALO should have been all along.
If you are a "run and gun" player, and just like to run about (in the open) and fire mindlessly everywhere in between grenade tosses, then, you will doubtless find this game to be frustrating. Also, it can be hard surviving with underpowered equipment (in evaluation to what Master Chief had).
If you take your time and reckon things through, moving stealthily between objectives and avoiding Covenant patrols (and detection)and pick your battles, you will find that this is a very enjoyable and challenging game.
Also, Firefight mode is very enjoyable. It really tests you. Once again, you are over-matched and under-non-brittle (and armed). It truly tests your skill. |
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