Halo 3: ODST
Is it more than an expansion?

There have been many great parings throughout history; Rogers and Astaire; Shearer and Sheringham; Fred and Wilma; Schwarzenegger and DeVito. Adding to this list, then, is the video gaming world’s Microsoft and Bungie. Arguable neither are the best in the field, but combined they produce something beautiful.

And that’s the way it has been since we first set foot into the world of Halo: Combat Evolved, way back in 2001. In 2004 we saw the release of the much anticipated sequel, Halo 2. And again in 2007 we had the third and final part of the trilogy, Halo 3. So given the fact that the trilogy already had its three parts, and given the austere presence of its forebears, is there any room in the franchise for a game that steps off the well-trodden Master Chief tracks?

Given that Bungie were keen to announce that ODST is more than an expansion, it would seem that they think so. Buying ODST you are given the “two-sided coin” that every FPS/TPS gamer has become accustomed to over the years; campaign and multiplayer. For this episode (if one can call it that) we do not see Master Chief, and we do not see a sequel (it is Halo 3: ODST after all). Instead we see a side story following the events of a Rookie as he fights his way around New Mombasa. And for multiplayer one gets access to all the same stuff as Halo 3, but with one small and hardly noticeable difference, and that is something called Firefight. Actually it’s neither of the aforementioned adjectives at all, and I will cover that a bit later.

As I have already mentioned, in this game you do not get to play Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, the enhanced "SPARTAN" super-soldier we have all grown to love over the years. In this incarnation you play primarily as a lone UNSC soldier, known as the Rookie. Whilst Master Chief is off fighting the Covenant on the ring-world of Halo (in Halo 2), ODST follows the events on Earth, in New Mombasa, where the Covenant still have a stronghold. Whilst on your way to the drop zone, where you and a bunch of other marines are going to fight 'the baddies', your pod crashes and you are knocked out for six hours. You wake up alone, and the main point of the story kicks in here. You have to find your way through New Mombasa and locate your squad mates, but without the benefits one would expect playing as Master Chief. You do not have any of his cybernetic enhancements; you are not as powerful; you do not have a shield; you are not as fast; you cannot jump as high. You cannot simply blast your way through this sandbox city, because if you do then you die (at least, you are more likely to die quicker). Without a regenerating shield you have to rely of medipacks and first aid stations, and so you will find you need to adapt to the environment more. Attacks on enemies should be planned and more cautious, picking which one to target first and how to escape if necessary. Long gone are the jumping in and shooting everything that comes at you. No, this is a very different experience.

As you travel through this respectably large sandbox environment you pick up clues left by your squad members. There are also flashbacks, where you take control of other squad members, in which you will have to complete side missions and collect more information. And so the mystery of your missing six hours, and indeed the truth behind your mission to New Mombasa, is gradually revealed. After about 6 hours of gaming you will have completed ODST, and that is one of the complaints I have about this game. For a franchise this rich in story and characters I feel it could have been longer and more engaging. Don’t get me wrong, it is an enjoyable 6 hours of playing, but ODST does not really add anything to Halo or the genre. It is using the same graphics engine as Halo 3, the characters are shallow, and to be honest I didn’t really care for the story much either. If that was it, I would not recommend you buy this game.

But let’s have a few home truths here. Most shooters these days do not rely on a great story. You do not always need awesome and mind blowing graphics. You do not need realistic physics and inch perfect collision detection. These need to be of a standard where by they do not impact gameplay. The point is that you need to get something right with the game itself. And the one thing that Bungie and Microsoft have combined to create is arguably the best FPS multiplayer experience money can buy. And this is ODST’s raison d'être.

Halo 3: ODST has a second disc. This disc contains all of the maps you can buy for Halo 3. It also contains a few new maps to boot. And it also has something called Firefight, and whilst the concept may sound familiar this certainly should not detract from the amount of fun to be had playing it.

Firefight is a four player co-op mode that sees you and your three counterparts defending yourselves against waves of random enemies. As you defeat wave then another one comes, and so on, in increasing difficulty each time until your team runs out of lives. Technicalities aside (it is four players instead of five), the premise is pretty much the same as Gears of War 2’s Horde Mode. Except in theory there are an infinite number of levels, and that the only thing stopping you are the limited number of lives your team has got. Get someone who is a bit careless and/or rubbish on your team and Horse is a bit more forgiving. In Firefight after so many deaths your team is out and you have to start again. Harsh, I know, but that’s the reality. And believe me it adds to the tension. You will literally be wetting your pants with excitement and nerves.

Plus you get all the old stuff from Halo 3. It is a bargain, right?

Well here is the problem. Fans of the Halo series will have seen much of this stuff before. The campaign is a slight deviation, but really offers very little that is new and exciting. A couple of new guns and characters (none of which are Master Chief, who in the FPS world is cooler than Coolio on a block of ice in the middle of the North pole) doesn’t quite add up to being more than an expansion. Fans will have bought the DLC and will have played on a majority of the multiplayer stuff ODST is offering. What they will be getting is three new maps and a new mode (as awesome as that might just be). This is hardly value for money, and in my opinion does not justify the full RRP.

If you have not played Halo before, on the other hand, this seems a lot more appealing. You are getting a bit of an introduction into the Halo universe, whilst getting your hands on a load of extra maps for one of the best online experiences around. But then again, you are not getting Master Chief, and you are not getting the Halo story, and in that respect doesn’t give you access into the franchise proper.

I am really in two minds about this game. It is more than just an expansion, but does not quite justify being released as a full title. If you have bought this game already I daresay it was because of the trail that has already been blazed by Halo: CE, Halo 2 and Halo 3. Fans of Halo will have bought it for exactly that reason. Newbies to Halo will have bought it because it is a well known franchise and is good value for money if you don’t own any of the DLC already. And for those of you who are stuck in the middle? I would say wait for a price drop in a month or two’s time. The campaign is fun, but what you really want is the multiplayer content… especially Firefight co-op mode. You will have a lot of fun with this I can guarantee, and this is the reason you should buy this game.

I am going give this game two scores, as I think it really depends on the experience of Halo. For people who are familiar with Halo I would score this game 75%. It is still a strong FPS, but I think it will disappoint fans a little. It is different, but does not offer enough that is new. If you have been living in a box and are new to Halo I would award a score of 90%. You will be buying into a well grounded franchise, and this will give you a good introduction into Halo (but not Master Chief). The second disc will also give you just about everything you need at the moment for the best online experince available.