‘Halo 3: ODST’ lives up to legacy

• By JOSHUA WASCOM
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Oct 16, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

The “Halo” series has always been more about polish and presentation than producing anything new or groundbreaking, and “Halo 3: ODST” lives up to that legacy. There isn’t much here that we haven’t seen before, but it’s all so carefully crafted that it might still be worth playing-- provided, of course, that you aren’t already sick to death of the standard first-person shooter.

For the first time in the series, you’ll be behind the combat visor of someone other than the nigh-indestructible Master Chief. As a rookie member of a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, you have to search for the rest of your team after a disastrous drop into the Covenant-overrun city of New Mombasa.

The basic gameplay of “ODST” is indistinguishable from the rest of the series. There are a few minor changes to your characters’ abilities -- the troopers are only human, after all, not mighty cyborgs like the Chief, and thus they aren’t quite as fast or strong. You lose a few abilities, and you gain a target-identifying, night-vision granting new visor, but none of the differences have a large impact on the gameplay.

The level design has a few brief moments of brilliance, but generally feels a bit too familiar. It must be said, though, that the environment of New Mombasa is probably the most interesting and well-realized setting in the series so far.

The layout of the story in “ODST” is the game’s most unique feature. You wake up after most of the action is over, and have to piece together precisely what happened to your squad by finding clues they left behind. Each clue leads to a playable flashback sequence, and while the story that unfolds isn’t amazing, it is better than that of most first-person shooters. The voice-acting -- featuring a mini-reunion of the male cast of “Firefly” -- is also well-above average and goes a long way toward making the single-player campaign work.

The greatest success of the game lies in its multiplayer component. The “Firefight” mode isn’t exactly original -- cooperative battles against infinite hordes of unrelenting enemies have become more or less standard as of late -- but the normal level of Bungie polish is on display here, and their version of the co-op last stand really comes together better than anything else so far.

“Halo 3: ODST” isn’t a must-own title. The campaign is a bit short, the price tag is a bit high, and the new multiplayer mode lacks matchmaking support, meaning you’ll have to have some friends with overlapping free time to make use of it. It is, however, a solid entry in a solid series, and if you aren’t turned off by the overall lack of originality, it will probably be worth your while.