Halo 3: ODST or Halo 3: Orbital Drop Shock Troopers may be a bit of a mouthful to say; both the short and long versions do not exactly flow off the tongue but any awkwardness that’s in the game’s title does not reflect on the game itself as Bungie deliver a game that to be frank is a heck of a lot more fun to play than Halo 3 in my opinion.

Originally called Halo 3: Recon, ODST is a free roaming shooter that brings all the beloved elements of the Halo franchise together again but makes the story smaller and much more personal. The player assumes the role of an ODST during the events of the second and third Halo games. The Covenant are in ascendancy and Earth is losing the war.

Many of your comrades are missing and you get to search for them in the burnt out ruins of the city. Probably my biggest issue with the game is that it does flitter about to show differing viewpoints of differing ODSTs and it does so quite arbitrarily and it’s not until much of the game is finished does the coherent nature of the plot finally begins to work itself out. (I’m still unsure about some parts though). This convoluted plotting is a Halo thing, (IMHO) as the original 3 campaigns do tend to take a reasonably long term view of the whole campaign and taken in parts the Halo universe can be a tad confusing.

So there is no Master Chief which is one of a number of critical differences between the Halo series. You play as primarily the rookie but there are three others you do solo missions with in a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks make up a more fulfilling campaign than Halo 3 I think and the action is more defined and more visceral. Some may like the surprise element of the story told in flashback style but not me I tended to shrug my shoulders and take each mission as independent from the others. But it does come together in the end.

Another nice change is the HUD, it has a new feature called the VISR (Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance). The display clearly shows friendlies, enemies and items of interest with different shiny coloured outlines, much of the game is played at night so the night vision aspect is great. Along with the VISR another new addition or you may see it as a exclusion but the Master Chief’s advanced armour and reflexes is not available to ODSTs the game rather than allowing you to jump or run Master Chief style brings the ODST’s stamina to the fore. If you are injured and rest you recover and there are also health packs conveniently place around the ruined city etc to use, just listen for the automated medical announcement by the local city authorities to know you are near one.

Another change or exclusion is that you cannot dual wield in ODST. I’m pretty happy with that because it felt like I was coming back to the original and also reminded me much more of other First Person Shooters that I enjoyed because the controls were simple yet engaging and it allowed me to worry more about the game play story rather than the mechanics of the game. Another missing element is the Halo Gregorian chant the music is more…well orchestral and kinda jazzy.

One last new addition and it is an addition and smelly and kind of gross looking is the new alien entity called the Engineer. It plays a major but non violent part in the game. Interestingly the best missions of the game I felt involved the Engineer especially the vehicular mission late in the game.

Halo 3: ODST has Hunters; I hate Hunters they are so hard to effectively fight and are just plain annoying. But they are there and the game is better for it, if they were not boy the outcry would be loud I reckon…it’s the hard that makes it good , to quote a movie line.

Confession time, I’m not a big Halo fan, quite frankly Halo 3 was wearisome and frustrating for me, Halo: Combat Evolved is easily the best in the series I reckon and yet Halo 3: ODST is thoroughly enjoyed. The characters are much more identifiable and the action albeit short is much more entertaining. There are the usual bug bears of setting up your controller to suit you but on the whole they seemed to flow. It was good to see the old combat pistol back similar from the original I must admit.

A couple of smallish things to be aware of: the AI especially in vehicle missions is not as good as it could be but the settings of those missions are again much more engaging and entertaining than previous games. Save and exit the game to properly record your progress do not rely on the checkpoints when you have finished your playing session. Other than that I’d recommend ODST over Halo 3 and definitely Halo Wars. Graphically it’s nothing new but that’s okay it’s the action that’s important and ODST wins in that department big time. I recommend Halo 3 ODST to FPS fans as well as Halo fans.

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