Penning a review for a franchise which is full of expectations is a rather arduous task, where even maintaining a fine balance between the positive and negative aspects requires thought, detailed playthrough and experience, or should it? Look at it this way, if this was a review for Legendary (a game that no-one even bothered to touch), there would be a unanimous voice which would address the game as a poorly executed. Not digressing from the topic concerned, let’s ascertain the potentiality of Halo 3: ODST as an exclusive product on Microsoft’s platform.
The Good:
In order to avoid banality with almost a standard ODST review, the plot revolves around Rookie’s efforts on find his squad who have deviated from the original plan on landing on the massive Covenant ship that hovers around New Mombasa. In doing so the small team at Bungie came up with an approach of elaborating a narrative as imagined by a third person. The Rookie’s role is quite similar to most noir movies where the plot is presented through a sequence of disjoint events which ultimately culminate into a satisfying and clichéd ending where the characters live to tell another story.
The game, in sections, feels like what Halo 3 should have been, the theatrics, action sequences and presentation fall beyond what Master Chief was placed in. The urban topography of the design showcases the ferocity of the Covenant fleet and humanity’s determination to fight for survival. The set pieces that depict this motif are well presented and for a change do not rest and point in a penultimate direction that of relying on a Spartan warrior who was forcibly crafted to rescue the monstrosity that created him.
The flashbacks sequences focus on the importance of the helljumpers role in the battle against the covenant and feature action laden sequences which would honestly put Halo 3 to shame. Without the comforts of the Mjolnir armor, combat with the brutes becomes a tenacious struggle for victory (well this depends on the difficulty). The constant need to stay hidden and use of cover acquires a form of tension, the best bits come after subduing a Brute chieftain and teabagging over his corpse whilst grasping the gravity hammer the declare victory to the tribe that follows you through the struggle. Each path a character is intended to follow utilizes the specialty of each ODST, hence only as a team can they work like a Spartan.
The game also uses a dual narrative to keep the player engrossed, Sadie’s story is scripted through a bunch of audio logs/graphic novel that tell a non warrior’s outlook on the consequences of the invasion, a subject that does not seem to have been toughed upon so far in the long running series. Players are also rewarded for hunting for these logs by unlocking supply caches through the environment. Firefight deserves the maximum amount of accolade within the entire game, although games prior to Halo 3: ODST have executed such a mechanic, Our helljumper squad actually manages to set a new bar in this module of gameplay. With each passing wave and skulls the mode becomes more of challenge, keeping one addicted to the screen for a lengthy period of time. This also enables one to craft stories of how valiantly they overcame the fiercest of foes with just a grenade and the butt of a rifle, hence fulfilling and succeeding on the social aspect which it was primarily designed for.
The game still manages to look decent, given the palette of colors it uses and it masks the bad lighting models in the dark by using the VISR mode which admittedly looks rather nifty. The sound still manages to effortlessly convey the tone of the environment and the situation that is being depicted, adding another feather in the cap for Marty.
The Bad:
The excitement of battle starts to dim when you start to judge the game in line with all the other games that are out in the market. It’s easy to type out a line “If you like Halo, you’ll love what Bungie has done with this game,” but clearly the game does not exist in isolation with the bunch of shooters that have been released during this year.
This is where the cracks begin to appear. The level design is horrible with special references to the Rookie’s sequences, where the entire city of new Mombasa looks identical in every manner, a few steps here and there and players are brought back to a town square which they believe they’ve passed a few minutes ago. Since these sections follow a sandbox direction one constantly requires to look at the map to ascertain his direction which really tends to get frustrating if one is trying to follow a plot. This reaches its pinnacle when the Rookie is on his way to locate Dare and goes through an ill crafted area which would serve to remind everyone that Bungie were responsible for creating “The Library” in both Halo and Halo 2.
In addition to this if you are an ardent Halo player with a healthy memory you might just find certain sequences in the game being played out in almost exactly the same way they did in Halo 2 and 3. The story feels rather cheap when you go across the firefight mode and witness that the same map in the story mode are the ones that are set in firefight, making one believe that Bungie was actually crafting the Firefight module and added a story accidentally just to keep players occupied. The omission of ambidextrous behavior and the energy sword feel a bit strange given the fact the ODST can pretty much beat Master Chief in every sport barring high jump.
The Ugly:
Most reviews have not even picked this point since review copies were graciously sent in by Microsoft or they were invited to a plush event where they were treated royally during the course of the review. We had to buy our own copy of the game which makes it an expensive proposition. Given this year brings Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2, Forza 3, Assassin’s Creed 2, a common man is burdened with choices to make and frankly ODST does not seem to fit in this big list which promise a lot more to offer to players. One additional mode and three multiplayer maps somehow do not justify the price of the product. Maybe if they had included Halo 3’s campaign as part of the multiplayer disc, the price would have made sense. It feels a bit shameless on Microsoft’s part to include Halo: Reach’s beta given that most games give out multiplayer invites free of cost to their target groups.
The Final Word: Halo 3 ODST manages to convey a lot through Microsoft’s marketing efforts and extensive public display of the game thus ensuring that the franchise remains embedded in the minds of public in a positive or a negative way, but as a package it feels hollow. If expectations are to be considered then it fulfills a lot more than Halo 3 which promised a lot with the insurmountable amount of hype but delivered quite a few notches below the fan-fare. The Firefight Module of ODST is the only pillar of strength on which the game can garner any form of accolade, but the weight of the entire package feels heavy for it to come shining through.
Graphics: 7/10.
Gameplay: 7 (solely because of Firefight).
Sound: 8.5/10.
Budget Pocket: 7/10.
Overall (not on an average): 7/10.