Halo 3: ODST Review

Take my advice, Rookie. You ever fall for a woman, make sure she's got balls.

Wow, I am really just blasting through these Halo games, aren't I? The second I'm done with one I'm blasting away at another like no one's business and already am somehow onto the one Halo game that I actually did play back in the day; Reach. (But that's for later) This will come of as something of a truncated review, because a lot of what 'Halo 3: ODST' does is covered in my earlier Halo 3 blog, and the series didn't totally reinvent itself this time around, however that's not say there aren't still some points worth going over in all of my usual categories. So join me in defining specifically what made 'Halo 3 ODST', in my opinion, a more satisfying campaign than raw Halo 3. (By a smidge) I know, quite the scandalous take to throw out there, but hopefully you'll get the chance to see what I mean in this lightly sprinkled spoiler review. If you don't wish to see the spoilers, the summary at the bottom of this blog is the place for you. Thanks bunches.

Firstly, this is a game that tells a story from the perspective of one of the many ant-like-marines that Master Chief totally ignores in the best case scenario, or indirectly gets killed in most scenarios, all mere roadbumps on his journey to rescue his blue AI girlfriend from the clutches of personified space Covid. The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODST, are special forces units that don't get fitted with special spartan armour and cyborg implants, and the ways in which Bungie tweaked the gameplay in order to ground the players in comparison to their Master Chief antics is the core of what makes this experience so stark to all of the Halo games. This is the only Halo first person shooter game in which you aren't in direct control of a Spartan the whole time. (Or decent Spartan equivalent; through the Arbiter) and after feeling some of that vulnerability I, in the sado-machoistic way that I often do, felt myself really gelling with that style of gameplay and honestly wishing that there were more games in that vein.

Gameplay

At it's core this part of the review can be summarised fairly easily. You remember Halo 3? This game plays exactly like that. Very solid first person controls, an array of enemies that prove more varied and challenging than typical first person fodder and solid overall gunplay. The improvements and tweaks here are minor but welcome, such as a few new weapons, (with functionally useless silencers) no power-up bonus equipment whatsoever, the ability to hold up to three explosives of each type instead of Chief's two (All those pockets in the marines suits are useful for something!) and slightly less hop power behind those meaty non-super powered legs. The details behind the way that the game controls are where Bungie put in little tweaks to the core game in order to hammer home the human nature of these characters in comparison to the Green Demon of Master Chief. Such as the new health system which relies on 'Stamina' rather than shields (Apparently grunts can shake off damage as long as they've got the 'stamina' to withstand it) and the return of limited health and health packs from 'Halo: CE'. Stamina restoration is slow and causes you to play much more cautiously, and the urban environment allows for much more natural reasons to pepper the levels with health packs. Although, to be fair, I did see one pack inside of dentist's station. Not sure what kind of services they're offering there, but if it requires a first aid kit to be constantly on hand, maybe I don't want to.

This more grounded approach plays alongside generally more sedate selections for the enemies that are thrown at you, which still play very much they way they did in Halo 3 (Brutes that have armour which need to shot off before a finishing blow) and are paired off with much less unpassable odds. Which does feel a bit like a free-pass because the ODST marines don't feel that much weaker than Chief. Yeah, there were a few heavier encounters when the game forced you to hide behind cover and cower like the squishy human that you are, but as long as you know how to deal with them it wasn't too much of an ask to mow down squadrons of Brutes with a Needler or the like. Also, I respect the restraint of the team to bring back the improved vehicle controls of 3 but not add in another bloody moon-buggy obstacle course level. Thank god, I am so done with that trend.

Narrative

This title follows the exploits of the ODST marines, an elite squad of drop shock troopers that are said to be the best of the best. And when I say 'said', I mean in the intro screen. That's right, Bungie actually told me something straight up without sticking it in a comic book and expecting me to find it! Wow, this is a real breakthrough in the therapy, team! I'm glad basic storytelling techniques such a single screen of introductory text has entered their repertoire of presentation, I wasn't significantly contextually loss throughout this entire story! (Can you even imagine that?) Of course, I still didn't realise until the final epilogue that this story is supposed to be set in the time during Halo 2 whilst Earth is being bombarded and actually before The Prophet of Truth turned up in his forerunner ship at the beginning of 3; but I'm sure that's just my own stupidity. I mean, why would I possibly expect this narrative to run parallel with Halo 3? The narrative of 'Halo 3: ODST'? I must just be being unreasonable.

Through breadth, the journey of this story is actually fairly straight forward for a military sci-fi shooter game, less about the 'fate of the universe' and more about the struggle of Humans under siege from an overwhelming alien force. And with that simplicity comes a greater connection with the individual human cost of this war. The game will have you prowl the empty streets of New Mombasa, picking across abandoned apartments and seeing the angry graffiti sprawled on walls, (Which is often as frustrated with the invaders as they are with the USMC; likely for picking this fight to begin with) It's a humbling perspective and one which we rarely get to see whilst jumping across alien planets and squashing Covenant with Gravity Hammers. That's probably why I found it easier to connect with the characters and people that inhabited this space. I believed them more.

Speaking of, I loved the unique way this game told it's story in comparison to past entries. There's this semi-free roam perspective as the Rookie where you wind up on your own and have to find your teammates by following the traces of their crash several hours earlier. You'll find several personal effects and each will inspire a story mission from that character's perspective. Sure, everyone functionally plays exactly the same to one another; but the novelty of having a different voice ring out of that helmet every once in a while is breaking whole new grounds in this series! Plus, it allows us to get to know, even briefly, each member of the team. If only these games were longer and we could use that new found understanding to appreciate the team in full battle, (You literally never fight together as a complete squad once in the whole game) but Bungie still did the 'play their stories' style of storytelling better than 'Call of Duty: Vanguard' ever did; so that's something at least.

Characters

The ODST team are the heart of this game, as their relationships and drives push the bulk of narrative; and they are... fine. Just fine. Pretty much every member of the group is a typical team-member stereotype from the charming leader type who gets a little stern when giving orders, Buck, to the nagging ex who annoys the heck out of everyone with every sentence, Dare. Dutch and Mikey seem to share a love of blowing things up, although Mickey is the supposed specialist in that regard. Oh, and the Rookie, player insert, character doesn't speak. To this game's credit, they pull of each off these characters very well and makes them likeable, and relying on stereotypes and clichés helps the narrative sell these caricatures in a reasonably speedy fashion so that you get to the action, so I don't knock it. Although I will say that personally, I could not stand Dare (as I said, she was annoying) and Romeo, (because he was a total creep) which is quite some feat considering he was rather clearly voiced by Nolan North. You made me hate a Nolan North character, game, that takes doing!

I just wish that these games were a bit longer because it really did feel like this team just got themselves established by the time the credits rolls around. I'm sure there's some extended universe book that follows their post-war adventures (provided they survived Truth's slipspace shockwave from Halo 3) but I'm here to play. 'Homo Ludens' and all that noise- don't make my enjoyment into a book report, Bungie! Also, and this is totally irrelevant to everything, maybe I totally misheard some important piece of contextualisation, but I felt like Buck's story with Dare was just that he had a one night stand with her years ago and fell totally in love with her. The way they interact makes it sound like they were in a big relationship, with hints about 'things not said' and the like, but then Buck turns around and says "What can I say? It was an incredible night." and the original premise you're told seems to back that up. So I'm just saying that I think Buck needs to learn to let things go, falling hopelessly for the first woman he sleeps with after a single night together certainly raises a flag. Not sure if it's bright red or just slight mauve, but it's a flag.

Level Design

In it's entirety, the campaign of Halo ODST takes place in the city of New Mombasa as it's undergoing assault from the Brute-led Covenant, which sounds like it might get old super fast, but Bungie really knew how to take advantage of their urban environs to keep things interesting. From the shifting times of day starting with the Rookie's perspective in the dark rainy night to the various perspectives of his squadmates throughout the previous day, sun soaked afternoon to moody dusk hours. There's also quite a diversity in urban locations, from wide plaza's with little cover to close-quarters hallway shootouts, to building-top rumbles and sewer bug hives. There's a lot more going on in this game's level design then one would typically expect.

My only real complaint would come in the actual number of these missions because like I've been implying, you only really get to play as the protagonist for two out of the eleven mission. During the rest you're in this semi-free roam state which is unlike anything the series has done before, but also not even remotely groundbreaking to anyone who has played a game other than Halo. (still, I guess we got to see the groundworks for what Bungie wanted to do with Halo CE and what 343 managed with Infinite.) I didn't even mind the few vehicle heavy missions that were in the game because they didn't ask me to drive over bloody ramps. (Okay, there was one ramp but that a cutscene trigger, I couldn't possibly mess it up.) It's odd to think that some Marine's had as exciting missions as Master Chief would later, but I had just as much fun, even if I didn't get the customary ice level.

Music

Just to quickly touch on this, I think the music for ODST was non-typical, understated, and simply fantastically scored. Some of the incidentals made me actually stop playing just to soak in the atmosphere for how different they were from anything else the series had to offer. Big call outs go to the noir jazz track which sounds like something out of Cowboy Bebop, (the good one) and that one piano track that sounded like a mix between the Dark Souls Bonfire theme and Resident Evil 1 save room theme. I mean really sounds like them, as in I'm decently sure it was a send-up to Resident Evil in some obscure fashion. There are of course your typical Halo bombastic themes, but none of them especially stood out this time around; I just hope that 343 have time for some quieter bangers like these when they take ahold of the series.

Summary

'Halo 3: ODST' is a rare new take on the Halo universe that manages to refresh a solid formula to the extent that it can surprise you all over again. The story was grounded and simplified, but managed to worm into your steel-trap heart a bit easier, and Bungie learnt how to convey basic simple exposition. (Which they then totally forgot how to do again when making Destiny. Good looking out, guys.) Despite functionally providing a pretty comparative experience to Halo 3, the small improvements and more personable cast led me to actually enjoy this title just a little bit more, but is that enough to equal a whole integer on the rating grade scale? Unfortunately, I don't think so as this game does falter on some of the merits I just listed, in doing them better than Halo 3 but not spectacularly in their own right. Thus I'm giving Halo 3: ODST a B grade, however, I will be recommending this game because I genuinely was impressed with what I played and think it deserves to be looked at as an essential playthrough for those trudging through the series like I did. It won't blow your socks off, but you'll learn to appreciative it's more human stakes and angles yet, just give it the chance.