Halo 3: ODST Co-Op Review

Review System(s): XBox 360

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo Sunday 20th of September 2009 08:33 AM

I'll admit right here and now that the Halo franchise is one of my favorite franchises in gaming. I was hooked from day one when the original was released, as I spent an entire weekend playing it in co-op with my college roommate. Now we've arrived at our fifth Halo title, and the fourth shooter in the series with Halo 3: ODST, and while Master Chief's story may have come to an end there's still plenty of lore left in the Halo universe. But like many, I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not a change in characters and formula would work.

ODST takes place between Halo 2 and Halo 3. The Covenant have just discovered Earth and are looking for something deep within the planet. As the ODSTs are dropped into action a Covenant cruiser suddenly makes a slip space jump right in the middle of the mega city of New Mombasa. The five ODSTs in our story are scattered throughout the city as a result, and you as the nameless Rookie must piece it all back together. You'll work through a darkened and wrecked city in the middle of the night finding clues to your squad's whereabouts. With every piece collected, you'll trigger a new flashback and a small scenario is played out. Bungie has touted the game as more opened ended, and to some degree its true. You can walk around the city exploring areas and unlocking audio clues about how the city of New Mombasa fell. That being said, you are limited to where you can go by locked gates and shields, supplied by the City's AI known as the Superintendent.

Speaking of those audio clues, the audio logs are extremely well done, and have a hint of I Love Bees flavor to it. The ODSTs are voiced by an all-star geek squad of actors from Firefly and Battlestar Galactica, which is definitely a nice touch. And finally the music in the game is probably the best that Martin O'Donnel has created to date. There's some truly atmospheric stuff here that just shines.

While there's not a whole lot of "new" in ODST, there is a whole lot of polish. Graphically it's the best looking Halo game to date, with some truly gorgeous effects and back drops. There's the visor system, in place of the old radar system, which aids in discerning enemies, items, and cover by supplying colored outlines of these objects. You also have access to a full screen map and waypoint system you control. The biggest change to ODST is a return to something that Halo 1 had - a health system. In a day in age when the "take cover to regenerate health" is the norm, it feels very refreshing to go back to the health system. Why? It's tension. The tension it creates when your health is beeping, begging to find a med station, it adds so much to the game. It causes you to make a decision. Do I attempt to take out that small squad of Covenant? Or do I backtrack and find health? It gives you a consequence.

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Tags: xbox 360 4 player co-op halo 3 odst reviews

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Reader Comments

txshurricane at 10:14 AM on 9.20.2009

I think it's important to note that there is no matchmaking in either the campaign nor Firefight. For me, the game loses cred for that. The fact that I can only play 4-player Firefight when three of my friends also want to is not optimal at all. Glad to hear gameplay is intact, though.

bapenguin at 10:16 AM on 9.20.2009

Yeah I made sure to note that in the review. It made it really difficult to find people to play with for this review. I ended up using MGC's "Who's Playing" feature to find people that had the game and send random messages.

That and split screen.

Bakken Hood at 11:32 AM on 9.20.2009

Sounds good, but I have one question about the return of the hit point does the game ever give you a checkpoint when you're down to your last HP and your last half clip, with 9-foot space monkeys in every direction? You run that risk in any game with checkpoints, but Halo has generally been pretty good about that, partly thanks to the Chief's shield.

Maybe if we spam them with enough angry remarks, they'll patch in matchmaking for Firefight. Probably not.

smurphster at 11:34 AM on 9.20.2009

there are fire grenades in halo 3, are they the same?

nice review. i'm a bit disappointed by the lack of matchmaking but with only 4 spots, it shouldn't be hard to find friends to play with. what's more disappointing is the lack of ODST multiplayer. i want to play some objective games as ODST squads. CTF, assault, VIP, and territories would all be fun.

bapenguin at 11:37 AM on 9.20.2009

Hrm, why don't I remember the fire grenades from Halo 3.

Anyway the checkpoints are dynamic, they've always been. So there's no set checkpoint system where if you get here your guaranteed to get a checkpoint. Just like Halo 3 had. So yes, there is that risk, but the health for the most part is pretty plentiful and there's always an escape route it seems.

txshurricane at 11:53 AM on 9.20.2009

I wish we knew something about Reach, so we could determine if the beta/preview was worth a portion of the price for ODST. I know that considering bonuses as a part of the price value is a bad practice (see Crackdown and Halo 3 beta), but after all isn't that what Bungie is doing? Either way, I am buying ODST for the Halo goodness and because ODST Marines rock.

HobocidalManiac at 11:59 AM on 9.20.2009

Adding in matchmaking to ODST is apparently a large endeavor. The game is running of the Halo 3 co-op engine which does not support matchmaking. I have no idea why Bungie designs their games with such strange limits (You *really* can't add in more armor the game? REALLY?) but they've said the game would have to be delayed a long time to add in co-op. Luckily, I have you guys plus my college friends to co-op with, so this shouldn't be a problem.

ShadokatRegn at 12:02 PM on 9.20.2009

Wow - the Firefight using skulls to create challenges at 5 level increments is probably one of the coolest things I've ever heard. I'm impressed, and will be standing in line at midnight on Tuesday to get my hands on it.

I am still disappointed about the Elites, but only because they're my favorite enemies. With all the reverting back to some of my favorites (I'll admit, when Master Chief gained the ability to recharge all his health, some of the charm was lost for me) I was hoping to hear my old school Elites.

Also @Smurphster I don't recall any fire grenades in Halo 3 - There were the two types of stickies, and two regular types. They may have been patched in later (Like some of the "items" and such that I noticed were new.) Which would still make them a new addition for an out-of-the-box Halo 3 game.

HobocidalManiac at 12:12 PM on 9.20.2009

Stickies: Plasma, Spike
Normal: Frag, Firebomb

There were fire grenades in Halo 3, but they're rare and never show up in Matchmaking,

Bakken Hood at 12:39 PM on 9.20.2009

The firebomb grenades first showed up on "The Ark." They're a good way to kill a Chieftain, as I recall. You don't even get the indicator until you pick one up, so it took me a while to notice that they existed, but they're in there. Fun, too. Who doesn't love setting space monkeys on fire?

Glad to hear the checkpoints aren't totally unforgiving. There have been a few scripted checkpoints from the beginning-- kill X enemies, hear Cortana make Y comment-- and they've given me some trouble at times, but it sounds like they did a decent job here.

smurphster at 12:43 PM on 9.20.2009

yeah they were only in a few areas during the campaign. i think you can place them in forge for custom games too.

Jackel at 03:04 PM on 9.20.2009

Without matchmaking in firefight mode, this will go in the rent pile for me. I don't want to have to rely on my friends wanting to play, if I want to get my firefight on.

Biohzrd451 at 07:36 AM on 9.21.2009

Yea this one is hanging back for me, while I like Halo I just dont feel like it will be a lasting game for me, Firefight mode while sounding awesome makes me wonder if it will get stale quickly.

hedgehogaj at 10:29 AM on 9.21.2009

I pre-ordered so I can play as Sgt. Johnson. Annoyingly I don't think I'll have the game for co-op night.

Willtur at 10:48 AM on 9.21.2009

I havent done anything besides the campaign which was really like 5 hours but besides being the same mission, find beacon over and over it is still Halo and the vehicles are always a blast. You're not mounting 3 story monsters or the other multiple classic moments in the others but hell a few more hours is always worth it to me.
Props for still keeping system link so I can play 4 player lan. I have yet to check out firefight but I probably will tonight if I dont do more Marvel UA2 which has a fun story even if the action gets a little dull at times.

iHydro at 06:18 PM on 9.21.2009

Yea id have to agree thats its kinda BS, that Bungie did not make a matchmakeing for either FireFight nor Campaign... Game lost alot of credit there from bunch of people i believe, But thats nothing we cant fix, We got great gaming communities such as this one i came across. GLAD TO BE HERE.

MisterDeeth at 10:04 AM on 9.25.2009

Fire grenades were a part of the campaign, usually only in certain areas with the flood...although they were pretty useless anyways.

ong_elvin at 11:09 AM on 9.25.2009

Fire Grenades make a potent return in ODST. Especially against Chieftains, since Plasma and Spike Grenades just bounce right off like a Frag Grenade. Firebombs, on the other hand, will kill on a direct throw.

I was greatly disappointed to find out that the ODST, despite supposedly being weaker, plays and feels stronger than the Master Chief ever did in any of his titles. Spartans might be superior canonically, but in terms of the game, why would you need Spartans when mere ODSTs can even flip over a tank?

Total Comments: 18

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