Whether rookie or veteran, you’ll be sure to enjoy your drop into ODST.
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release Dates and Platforms: Sept 22nd, 2009 (Xbox 360); May 30th, 2015 (Xbox One); Sept 22nd, 2020 (PC); Nov 17th, 2020 (Xbox Series X/S)
Total Gameplay Score: +7 Total Story Score: +2 (This is a campaign only review)
Summary
ODST marked a pretty substantial tonal shift in scope for the Halo series. For the first time, players followed lead characters who were not superhuman. This ended up being hit or miss for some, since Master Chief exhibits more strength, speed, and general power than the ODST troops, but it also opened the way for some new mechanics and a refreshing tonal shift. This downshift in power necessitated a different atmosphere, one of covert ops and nighttime stealth, and ODST capitalizes on it quite well.
You’re a rookie on your first mission, and as you make the rough landing to the warzone, you notice you’re alone at night with not a person, or alien, in sight. Where do you go? What do you do? This is the scenario ODST puts players after the intro cinematic. The earth megacity serves as the invasion spot for the Covenant, and you land right after the action. When you land, all your squadmates are missing in action and you must search for clues to their whereabouts. Many of these covert night outings will consist of sneaking up on a group of Covenant, exploring the city at your leisure while soft rhythmic jazz is playing (another shift for Halo), and generally chilling to the noir atmosphere. You can stock up on ammo any time you like through the use of ammo caches scattered throughout the city, and take out a mongoose bike to speed up the whole process while making some noise.
I thought the pacing and structure of the game was very appropriate and well done, mostly because the three different branches of points of view between the Rookie at night, the ODST squad members as they first landed, and Sadie through audio log flashbacks to the start of the war, all show different perspectives of the war on New Mombasa. I enjoyed taking my time exploring the nooks and crannies of the night streets, and then when I wanted some new scenery and an adrenaline rush, going to the next clue zone to activate the squad section, which is much more like your typical Halo mission with the heavy action, semi-linear, and setpiece-strewn campaign Halo is known for. The audio logs provide a more personal story mainly focusing on Sadie and her companion Virgil, who happens to hold the all-important key info both sides of the war are desperately after. This charming series of 30 audio logs all tell one continual story featuring voiceovers and sound effects, almost functioning as a full fledged audio drama. While the voiceover didn’t really blow me away in any arena of the game’s story, it did the job of fleshing out the multiple perspectives of the Covenant war on earth and how ordinary people and soldiers alike dealt with it all.
While the soldiers had plenty to say, they mostly spoke with their guns, which are as good as they were in Halo 3. All the weaponry feels perfect to control and has that wonderful Halo sound that makes them pop and whiz. The enemies you’ll be using the guns on have some new reactions and animations since Halo 3 and generally behave the best here in the series to date. The arenas where most of the fighting will be happening are fairly well designed. The Mombasa streets at night can get a tad repetitive, but the open ended approach lends to more creativity and freedom in gameplay. The more linear and cinematic missions are more standard Halo fare, with one particular mission being a standout must-play for any Halo fan. Which brings me to the conclusion that this game can be enjoyed not just by Halo fans, but fans of FPSs in general. Gameplay is tight, responsive, and open-ended, and story and character moments are good with lots of lore to flesh out, yet not overwhelming for a newcomer (despite being the 4th in the series.) Halo ODST simultaneously managed to hit two birds with one stone, it can appeal to the audience not familiar or initially interested in Halo due to its differences from the main series, and still caters heavily to those already invested due to the bevy of lore and continuity regarding the Mombasa war. While it may not be my favorite FPS of all time, I certainly have very few, in any, strong complaints with this game. It manages to do its job well, like a well trained ODST.
Gameplay Pluses and Minuses
+ Co-op campaign up to 4 players online and 2 players split screen is awesome. Not too many FPS campaigns are co-op, which is a shame, but when Halo 1 first released in 2001 the potential of a full co-op campaign was fully accomplished, and what fun it was/is. The co-op in ODST doesn’t make much sense from a in-character perspective since part of the atmosphere and identity is being on a lone mission at night searching for your squad, but the full Halo co-op experience is still here and tons of fun.
+ The skulls have been a great gameplay mutator since Halo 2, and they’re here in ODST in good form. There are your usual difficulty enhancers skulls and the fun ones like grunt birthday party. There’s 3 hidden skulls as well, which is fun for those who want a scavenger hunt. This is a plus to gameplay for gameplay customization, replayability, and fun factor.
+ Guns each have a unique purpose, and have a unique action and sound to them. While it is a shame the magnum is nerfed from Halo 1 (as it is in all games after it) the zoom function and silencer is still useful for many ODST circumstances, even if the SMG kind of replaces it in terms of DPS. The shotgun remains one of the best in gaming due to its one-hit kill power on most mid enemies and its range. The covenant typically have weapons types parallel to the humans but with a twist. For example, the plasma pistol functions like the magnum, but has a charge feature instead of a zoom. It would take a page or so to list all the great features of the weapons in this game (which shares the same weapons as Halo 3), so it’ll suffice to say the weapons are varied, useful, and are fun to play with.
+ Good sound effects. Guns in particular all sound unique and snappy. Vehicles like the classic warthog and covenant vehicles have unique engine timbre, and the explosions sound visceral and appropriately bombastic and add substantially to the immersion of the experience.
+ Enemy AI is really really good. Each enemy behaves differently and reacts differently depending on how you approach them. Grunts in particular have a variety of behaviors, and the game spaces these out perfectly so the player can get acclimated to each one. For example, you will find some grunts sleeping, which you will hear thier cute snores on approach. Some grunts clutch two plasma grenades as they kamikazi their way to your position. And the majority of grunts will take the lead position until they see you and then run for dear life as you hear them say funny voice lines. The other covenant have their own unique behaviors as well, but the grunts in particular show off why enemy in general deserves a plus, as it is consistently good and varied.
+ Structure of the game is different from the rest of the franchise, but very interesting and immersive. The game cuts from going through the city at night in a freeform ‘mission’ looking for the rest of the ODST crew, to playing as other crewmates during traditional flashback missions. Another story thread from the beginnings of the Covenant invasion on Earth is being told through the 30 audio logs you find on the streets during the Rookie’s night search. This plus goes to gameplay specifically because the intermittent break from the ODST squad missions to playing as the rookie on the Mombasa streets is refreshing and a change of pace. This change of pace is due to the open ended nature of the night streets sections. You are free to explore the streets at your leisure without anyone barking orders at you or any mission objective. This means you can backtrack to get precious ammo and loadouts at an equipment cache or search for a valuable mongoose vehicle to traverse the streets at a faster pace. The level design on the streets is pretty good, but kind of samey as well, mostly due to it always being at night with some copy/pasted layouts. But thankfully, the squad missions as you find clues add diversity and fantastic level design to break the occasional monotony of the street sections.
+ ONI Alpha Site mission is a standout. It’s perhaps my favorite retreat mission in an FPS to date. You really feel the tension as Covenant forces close in on the ONI building chokepoint. I didn’t know if I was doing something wrong to cause a retreat or if it was scripted, and I love the tension of that. Banter between squadmates added to the fun factor.
+ Aggregate plus to good tutorialization, good cutscene direction/cinematography, and good music.
Tutorialization: The game successfully integrates gameplay and story with its tutorials through in-world events and set pieces such as looking around the drop pod to activate the door and using the computer terminal to access the map after drop. The tutorials are snappy and optional as well. The only reason this doesn’t get a full plus is because there is effectively no real ‘training’ mission to test out guns. As soon as you drop you are placed in the dangerous Mombasa streets at night full of covenant with no real practice.
Scene direction: Storyboarding and scene direction use appropriate camera angles and cinematography utilizing all key focal points the game wants the player to see. This is done really well without constant cuts and jump edits, which generally tend to obscure action. The only knock against it is the texturing and animation on the character faces, as well as character animation in general which I found to be a tad cartoonish at times.
Music: The main theme, Rain, is absolutely wonderful in its somber melancholy and hopeful tone. Jazz tracks have the right ambience for the night sections, with a harmonic pattern very similar to Bond music and Miles Davis-esque trumpet parts. The high adrenaline sections playing as the squadmates has driving guitar music that is memorable and reminiscent old school Halo vibes. The only issue I have is the music direction and placement in the game, which tends to be intermittent and wrongly placed in some circumstances. There are far too many quiet sections that go on for longer than atmosphere and tension warrants. There is also a general problem where hopeful music plays right as you begin a Mombasa Streets section. The warm, reflective, hopeful music just didn’t go well when starting out in a wave of covenant, (Which happened to me often.)
– Checkpoint system discourages higher difficulties by causing constant redos due to mistakes and death. Some checkpoints won’t occur for a while due to waves of enemies as well, and since checkpoints don’t activate until all enemies are eliminated on the screen and one has progressed past a certain point, this can get frustrating. If Half-Life 1 from 1998 can have quicksave at the simple push of a button anywhere in the game, Halo can as well, but alas no Halo game to date has quicksave features.
8 positives 1 negative
Net Gameplay: +7
Story Pluses and Minuses
+ Banter of the covenant and ODST troops is consistently great throughout the game. I particularly like how your squadmates will get mad at you and bark orders if you perform poorly or stall on a task, which is a welcome counterbalance from the solitary Rookie sections. What makes the dialogue banter great is how natural it seems, the various reactions based on what the player is doing, and the quality of the voice acting.
+ Both the story of the ODST squad and the story of Sadie told through the 30 audio logs weave a similar strand that both fleshes out the Halo universe and goes smaller in scale for the first time in the series. I like that we get to see multiple angles of the war on New Mombasa told through different characters and tiers of power. While the main ODST story lacks the weight and grandeur of the Chief’s story, it does feature some good camaraderie between the soldiers and continues a major plot point of Sadie’s story. Sadie’s story is way lower tier than even the ODST story as it follows a civilian escaping the beginning of the Mombasa Covenant invasion. The core plot point of the superintendent and the data it holds links directly into ODST proper and then Halo 3, but Sadie’s personal harrowing adventure through the wartorn streets are what particularly had me interested. There’s some pretty good voicework and sound effects in these audio logs, and it provides a glimpse at how the average Mombasan civilian handled the initial invasion. The thematic framework of Sadie’s story is cleverly structured, as each ‘act’ resembles a circle of Hell from Dante’s Inferno. The character Virgil is also a reference to Dante, as Virgil is the Roman poet who guides Dante through Hell. Some may not care for the cheesy, on-the-nose tone this sometimes goes into, but I love how much it went for a morning serial vibe. A good example of this is a salesman who attempts to ‘bargain’ with the covenant, and promptly ends up dead within seconds of the exchange. There are lots of small scale character moments from everyday people here that you don’t see anywhere else in the Halo games, and for that I appreciate it.
2 positives 0 negatives
Net Story: +2
Overall: +9
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