3 Hour Review: Halo 3 ODST

I have to admit that I was expecting another plain old Halo game with ODST. I hadn't read much about it but I knew a couple of key gameplay details: you're not Master Chief, you can die faster, and you play as different Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. That is so little of the game and only partially true.

You play as one character trying to find his other squad mates after they had a bad drop from space down to earth. You, as the Rookie, stalk around at night looking for their drop ships. Every time you find one, you get to play as them after they drop and wake up. The flashing back and forth give the game an entirely different feel than just running and gunning around as Master Chief. The night scenes are calm and quiet with a few gun fights here and there as the city's A.I. takes control of street signs and traffic road blocks to guide you where you need to go (and of course there is a map). Then when you flash back to your other squad mates, it's daytime right after they dropped and your smack in the middle of the Covenant grunts, jackals, brutes and hunters. Each member of the team has specific achievements tied to their level, which really makes you play each flashback differently. You can also go back at anytime and replay their levels to keep trying for the achievements (they reset every time you leave or finish) and it's really like playing a bunch of mini-Halo games. I enjoy that change of pace from the long drawn out stories from this game's predecessors.

I don't really think that not having regenerative health makes a big difference in the game play. You'll still die just as often as you would any other Halo game. The fact is that if your getting creamed with weapons fire, you shouldn't have gotten yourself stuck in that situation to begin with. Needless to say, I still die often and enjoy it every time.

I really like the Rookie gameplay at night. It's dark and fun and lonely. You really feel like your in a post-apocalyptic city that's crawling with bad guys and you feel desperate to find your squad mates. The daytime sections of the game are filled with teammate chatter (from a few of Firefly cast members and Six from Battlestar Galactica to boot!). Nathan Fillion's character even looks like him.

And we easily slid back into the Halo gameplay controls. The sniperific pistol is back. Flanking enemies in huge areas works really well in co-op. And for the first time, two people can really go along way away from each other to search out ammo and weapons without being sucked back to each other at a checkpoint.

We made it through three or so different levels last night playing co-op and we still have to check out the Firefight mode and play some regular online matches with the new maps. I really did want to stay up all night and play it, but, as the title of the website does decree, pesky work gets in the way once again.

I love this game. It's quite a change from the old Halo games. It's a great addition to my collection as well as a new chapter in the Halo series.